Introduction
Photography is a great way to perpetuate the moment, whereas traveling is one of the best tools to comprehend to know yourself, the people around you, and see this vast world. Making photos of nature, buildings, and natives during the trips is not only about posting them on Instagram. Instead, eye-catching pictures are excellent reminders of the emotions experienced during the trips. Since the concept of beauty is subjective, this essay does not provide a reader with a straightforward recipe for a perfect photo. Still, the present paper discusses several steps that will significantly improve the quality and attractiveness of pictures taken by beginners. More precisely, the essay informs how to choose the most appropriate location, set the settings of the camera or a smartphone, and manipulate the final photo.
Steps
To begin with, half of the success in taking a remarkable picture depends on choosing an object. A photographer should decide what to focus attention on sky or foliage color, a specific item or person, or the entire atmosphere of a place. The critical point is to listen to yourself to realize what makes your heart beat faster or, at least, provokes a smile. A perfect photo reflects the photographer’s feelings, and, thus, it is impossible to take a beautiful picture of a landscape, an object, or a model that is not inspirational.
Secondly, after you have decided what you want to photograph, you should choose the proper location. In other words, you should imagine what you want to see in the final photo and think of how to achieve this goal. For example, if you are amused by the color of the sky and would like to capture this, you should select a place that does not distract attention from the sky with buildings, trees, or other people. If you are fascinated with the shape of a building, you should ensure that this building fits entirely into the frame. Additionally, it is necessary to mention that a photographer should not hesitate to conduct experiments. The truth is that traditional landscapes, no matter how beautiful they are, are usually fearfully dull. Therefore, it is suggested to search for unorthodox ways of taking photos. For instance, you could try to capture how the sun’s rays are reflected from a mirror or a showcase or look at the sky through a frame of tree branches or a hole in the sculpture. Besides, at this step, it is essential to remember not to shoot against the light because this way, the pictures will be overexposed; remember that the source of light should be behind you.
The third step is to set the setting of the smartphone or camera properly. Thanks to modern technologies, the quality of pictures taken by some smartphones are not inferior to one taken by a professional camera (Wyman et al. para. 80). Notwithstanding this fact, you should manually adjust the brightness of a picture if you are shooting using a smartphone. If you have a professional or semi-professional camera, you should set the aperture-priority AE mode (AV) at f7.1 or more to take a landscape picture. In this mode, all details of the landscape will be clear. If you want to make a portrait or all details will be clear, set the AV at the level from f1.8 to f4. If you are intended to take a picture of, for example, a waterfall or a running dog, you should switch the camera to the shutter priority mode (TV). The higher value of a TV, the smoother picture will be. Users of cameras should not devote attention to setting darkness and brightness parameters (ISO) because the camera will do it automatically depending on the AV or TV settings.
The following step is to keep taking photos until you find the perfect foreshortening, light, and moment. Apparently, on Instagram, we see lots of awesome pictures. However, this one breathtaking photo posted on social media resulted in ten, twenty, or even fifty less successful ones. For example, recently, I was on a three-day trip to the mountains. During this trip, I shoot about 1000 photos. It took hours to download them and select the best ones. More importantly, out of these 1000 photos, only 2-3 percent will be posted on my blog. Be patient, and do not give up if the very first shot does not satisfy you.
The last step is to retouch photos you find good and interesting to make them perfect. Traveling pictures are mainly about nature, and the essential feature of nature is the sky. Commonly, the color of the sky is pale and unimpressive. Luckily, there are numerous apps and specialized software to improve such details. One of the most user-friendly programs is Adobe Lightroom. In contrast to Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom’s interface is intuitively clear, and it helps fix the color of the sky and the overall brightness of a picture within a minute. On the Internet, you can find a lot of tutorials on how to use Lightroom for your specific purposes. It is also a good idea to check that the horizon line is not littered. In case it is, you could easily change it by rotating the photo by two or three 2-3 degrees.
Conclusion
To conclude, taking a good photograph is easy and requires nothing but your willingness, patience, attention, and adherence to the advice mentioned above. The most crucial step is deciding what catches your eye and what you want to capture through the photo. Then, you should find the angle that will highlight the strong sides of an object or a landscape. At this point, you should think about how to express your emotions with this picture and how to make the audience comprehend your feelings. Do not be afraid to think out of the box and try something new, even if you might look weird to strangers. Next, pay attention to the light and the camera’s settings. Check that sun or light does not shine into the lens of your camera or smartphone. Finally, select the most successful pictures and retouch them but not overdo them. Most importantly, do not forget that nothing works out for a person who does nothing to succeed.
Work Cited
Wyman, Michele, et al. “Apple Unveils iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max — More Pro Than Ever Before,” 2021, Web.