Travel Photography

Travel photography isn’t just about capturing the famous landmarks and sights of another country: postcard photographers have already done that for you. By all means take the classic shots of the Eiffel Tower, the Sacre Couer, etc - you’d be daft not to. But try to define through your lens what Paris means to you. For me, travel photography is all about trying to discover my own personal Paris. It’s how I see the city.

One of the ironies of travelling abroad is that you are never more open and responsive to the sights and sounds of a new place than when you first arrive. If you’re like me, you’ll want to get straight to work and fill up your memory cards. You’ll probably realise quite quickly that many of those early pictures are nothing to write home about. It takes time to absorb the life and culture of a new city before the process of creating something meaningful and personal can begin.

Finding your personal Paris starts with searching for something new either in subject matter or in the way you approach familiar subjects. Remember, though, that Paris is one of the most visited cities on the planet and it can therefore be very difficult approaching old landmarks from a new angle. I find it more productive just wandering the streets around the famous sights alert to anything that might make a picture. There is so much variety in the city as you travel from arrondisement to arrondisement that there is never a shortage of things to photograph.

I’d love nothing better than to spend a few weeks in the city just taking pictures but my photography has to fit in with the competing demands of family life and, consequently, has tended to take place around the major tourist attractions. In future visits, I hope to spend more time strolling around the back streets and out of the way areas - a “flanneur” as the French say.

There’s a knack to shooting the sights and scenes of your holiday so that your photographs go beyond being mere record shots and take on a more artistic appearance. With a compact digital camera set on program and autofocus, this can be very difficult. The huge depth of field inherent with the small sensor doesn’t easily allow for differential focusing, which is one of the key techniques for isolating elements in a photograph. The automatic settings on the camera give the photographer little control of the aperture and shutter speed. My advice would be to get used to switching to manual exposure or aperture priority. If you want to isolate the main subject, then use a wide aperture, shoot at the telephoto end of the zoom and get in close. That’ll help to throw the background out of focus.

Walkabout Lens
If you’re using a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera, then you have a choice of what lenses to use with it. The walkabout lens is the one that you’re happy to put on your camera when you’re traveling light. This lens, usually a standard zoom, should enable you to tackle most subjects with the maximum of convenience and without having to swap lenses. The zoom I use with my Pentax K10D is a 16-45mm DA lens. The equivalent focal lengths in the 35mm format are about 24-68. I’d like to have a little extra “reach” at the telephoto end but it’s a good, sharp piece of glass that’s capable of taking high quality pics. I’ll often add the tiny but very high quality Pentax 70mm DA lens (105mm equivalent in 35mm) which weighs hardly anything and can be slipped in a pocket.

Prime lens discipline
Many photographers choose a single focal length - or “prime” lens - when they’re walking the city’s streets. There’s a school of thought that being restricted to just one angle of view forces you to be more creative when shooting. I go along with this although it’s not everyone’s idea of fun. If I’m going somewhere in particular and photography is likely to take second place, I’ll often sling the K10D over my shoulder with the diminutive 21mm lens attached. That’s the equivalent of a 30mm lens. It gives a slight wide-angle view but isn’t really wide enough for that expanded perspective look. It makes for a very compact package, a camera that doesn’t attract too much attention when engaging in a spot of street photography. It’s also a useful focal length indoors where it squeezes a little extra in but without straight lines becomes distorted.

If you’re going to be splashing some cash on a digital SLR outfit before going on holiday then focal lengths ranging from 24mm or 28mm through to 200mm should enable you to tackle just about anything. This range can be achieved now with just one zoom lens but, whilst this may be tempting from a convenience point of view, you might well find that the lens just isn’t sharp enough for big enlargements. It’s better to cover the range with a couple of zooms or a wide angle zoom and a telephoto lens or two.

Be Composed
Perhaps the main thing that separates real photographs from record shots is composition. Some people seem to have an almost in-built sense of fine composition: others struggle over a period of years to learn it. It’s something that is hard to teach. There are all sorts of ideas such as the much-vaunted “rule of thirds” where important elements in a photograph are placed in the frame where lines would fall if it were divided up horizontally and vertically into three parts. This is actually a corruption of the “golden mean” which became popular with Renaissance artists. Do a Google search if you want to go down this road but you’re beginning to make work for yourself if you do.

The Geode (IMAX cinema) at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie - an ultra modern science park

Some art critics will say that, since the Western eye is used to reading from left to right, it scans a photograph in the same way. Elements can be positioned in the frame to encourage this sweep of the eye towards the main subject. Diagonal lines, for example, leading from the bottom left of the frame up towards the subject can work.

But often a photograph will click because the photographer deliberately flaunts these compositional rules. That’s even harder to teach!

Learn from the masters
My advice is simply to look at as much great photography as you can. Really study photographs in books or at exhibitions. Don’t just give them a quick look but spend time staring at them and ask yourself what is it about them works. Over time, you’ll start to develop a pattern of recognition and will see some elements from these images in the scenes you want to photograph. It’s not really a case of copying: more a way of identifying those things in a scene that you feel from your newly-developed recognition pattern will just work.
Edward Weston, one of the most famous names in American photography had this to say about composition:

“Now to consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk. Such rules and laws are deduced from the accomplished fact; they are the products of reflection.”

Lighting is another key element in travel photography, as it is in most forms of the art. You can spend a week in Paris and get nothing but grey, overcast skies. With the best will in the world, it’s not easy to produce great photographs under these conditions although it’s easier in black and white than in colour. Early morning light in Paris, striking the flying buttresses of Notre Dame for instance, can be quite magical. If you’re keen, get up with the lark and be in place on Isle St Louis to capture it. Or wait until dusk where the floodlit splendour of Paris is reflected on the underside of low altitude clouds giving even the blackest night skies an ethereal quality.

From an artistic point of view, noon summer sun is best avoided. It’s no coincidence that lunchtime falls over this period: it’s to give photographers something to do when the light’s not right…

Tidying up
One thing that seems to set great travel photography apart from record shots is an absence of “clutter”. Looking at the pictures of seasoned pros, it’s almost as if they’ve picked up the various elements and arranged them to suit. This is what happens when you pay attention not just to the subject but to the edges of the frame as well. Sometimes, moving just a couple of feet will eliminate a distracting bin, a bright street sign or a tourist wearing a track suit. Before you take the photograph, forget what your subject is for a moment and scan the entire frame. It only takes a few seconds but try to pick up anything than detracts from what you’re trying to achieve. The end of a wall protruding into the frame, a few stray tree branches poking in from above, even that bit of litter than can be quickly kicked out of the way (fortunately, you won’t find too much litter in Paris). They can all ruin a good shot. Wait for people to leave the scene as well if they make for an unattractive grouping or if someone might just be straddling the edge of your frame as you click the shutter.

Here’s another thing I hate: wonky horizons! I used to pride myself on the spirit-level exactness of my horizons but lately I’ve started to go slightly askew for reasons I can’t quite fathom. I have to make a conscious effort now to make sure I don’t have the Seine looking as if you can water ski down it without a towline. Personally, I think my spine is out of kilter and is needing whacked back into shape by a chiropractor. Seriously! I can’t think of another explanation. Few things spoil a photograph as quickly as a horizon that’s off the level. If you’re shooting on a tripod, you can use an accessory spirit level to check your verticals are vertical. For hand-held photography, you’re better off with a focusing screen that features a grid to help you line everything up. On some digicams, this grid can be “dialed in” (see the camera’s manual) but with DSLRs you will have to swap the standard screen for a grid screen, assuming one is made for your particular model.

Copyright © 2008 Paris Travelogue

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