Take super snapshots on vacation

Prepare for your vacation with these digital camera tips

By Gerry Blackwell

Shooting great vacation photos, even with that new digital camera, takes smarts and know-how. To help you make the most of your digicam on your next holiday, Microsoft Home Magazine asked top photo gurus for their professional tips.

Badly taken vacation snaps can be awfully disappointing, but good ones are a lifelong treasure. Not only that, they’re easy to post online so you can share your best shots with family and friends.

Power up

Learn to manage power — dead batteries ruin great photo ops. Always take two sets of batteries and a charger, says Jorge DaSilva, manager of Henry’s School of Imaging in Toronto. Use one set in the camera while the other charges.
Or, invest in a super-long-lasting, clip-on, rechargeable lithium ion power pack, suggests photo instructor Larry Frank, a senior product specialist at Toronto-based photo wholesaler DayMen Photo Marketing Inc.
Find out what kind of power adapter you need for foreign locations — possibly a transformer, more likely just a plug adapter — and get it before you leave, says Vancouver-based freelance nature and travel photographer Danny Catt. If you can’t tell what you need from the camera’s manual, ask the retailer who sold you the camera.

Protect your gear

Digicams are very susceptible to water damage. After one of Catt’s cameras got a little damp in British Columbia, “it was toast,” he says. Stay away from water and carry your camera in a waterproof bag.
Add a pack of silica gel to reduce moisture further, DaSilva suggests. You can buy one in camera stores.
When going through airport security, put memory cards in the plastic tray provided to avoid x-rays, metal detectors or anything with a magnetic field.

Pack enough memory

The camera’s manual should tell you how many shots at a given size and quality you can store on your memory card. Use this information to calculate the storage required for each picture; then multiply by the number of pictures you expect to take. Hint: Biggest size = highest resolution for making jumbo print enlargements.
Conserve by using lower resolution for shots you know you’ll only want to print small or e-mail, says DaSilva.
Buy all the storage you need — and maybe a little more — before you travel, Catt says, so you can be sure it works.
Exploit your digicam’s greatest feature: edit as you go. Delete shots that don’t work. Hint: Take the camera’s AV (audio-visual) cord and plug it into a hotel-room TV to get a better look at the pictures. If you travel a lot, get a camera that has playback for different television systems around the world.

Know your camera

The nice thing about digital cameras is that you can shoot as many images as you like. Still, try to anticipate the shot. Then, check the display to make sure you got it. If not, shoot again.

When setting exposure, if in doubt, err toward underexposure (too dark), Frank advises. Overexposed digicam shots are prone to burn-outs — bright parts of the picture are rendered as pure white. Hint: Avoid shots that include the sun, Catt says.
Understand and exploit creative manual options, Frank says. “Use a fast shutter speed to stop action, for example, or a slow shutter speed to create a pleasing blur when shooting a waterfall or something with implied movement.“
Also understand and exploit advanced digital features, Catt urges. Many digicams help you shoot pictures you can “stitch” into panoramas. Most will also apply special effects — black and white, sepia tone, polarization. “Sometimes you have to think outside the photographic box,” he says.

Compose carefully

Make the main subject BIG, says Frank. “Assume your audience has the attention span of a three-year-old.”
More often than not, avoid placing your main subject dead centre. Imagine a tic-tac-toe grid overlaying the picture frame, DaSilva suggests. Try to place the subject at one of the grid’s intersections.
When shooting landscapes and sunsets, Catt says, decide which is pictorially more important: land or sky. If land, place the horizon in the top third of the picture; if sky, place it in the bottom third — seldom in the middle.
Look for natural frames in the scene to better compose the main subject, Da Silva says — a church spire framed by the arches of a cloister, for example.
Look for lines in the scene, Catt suggests — a road or footsteps in the sand — and try to frame the picture so the lines lead the eye from the left toward your main subject.

What to shoot — and when

Shoot more often in the half hour to two hours before and after sunrise and sunset. The low-angle light at these times produces dramatic and pleasing results, says DaSilva. Hint: When shooting in low light — outside or in — always use a lightweight mini tripod to hold the camera steady for the slower shutter speeds required, DaSilva says.
“Try and look below the surface” when photographing your travels, Frank explains. Look for shots that capture something of the local ambience and culture.
Check calendars ahead of time for festivals and other special events. Check out harbour areas and amusement parks. Shoot farmers’ markets early in the morning when locals are shopping.
Hint: Learn a few words of the local language, and always ask people before taking their pictures. Most happily agree.

Share and share alike

Now that you’re an expert and have taken tons of super vacation snaps, it’s time to share your adventures. Using an online journal or blog, such as Windows Live Spaces, allows you to easily share your photos with family and friends. Visit the Windows Live Spaces homepage and choose to Create your space. Now you can post up to 500 photos a month and describe your travels in a blog. After all, why take photos if you’re not going to show them off?