Three Photography Tips for Maximum Flexibility
From the Manual
Take Multiples
- Extra images reduces the chance of having to display closed eyes, awkward expressions, background distractions, sun glares, and sun flares.
Use a Tripod
- This can make a huge difference for landscape photos and especially photos taken in low light situations.
Crop in Photoshop
- Resist the temptation to crop images in your viewfinder as you make them.
- Images should be flexible enough to be clipped to a landscape clipping mask or a portrait clipping mask.
From the Transcript
If your travel date has not already passed, there are several things you can do to set yourself up for maximum flexibility when it comes to editing your photos and placing them in an album. This video will focus on three photography tips to point you toward travel album success. So get out your worksheet one last time and let’s take a look.
In the age of digital photography there is no need to be stingy with your frame count. With that in mind, tip number one is to take multiples of each photo. Extra images reduces the chance of having to display closed eyes and awkward expressions. In touristy areas, there’s also always a chance of background distractions, like someone walking into the image or a car quickly driving past in the background. You don’t always notice those things till later, so taking extra photos could possibly help. And, whenever the sun is out, you will always run the risk of a sun glare or flare slipping into the frame without you even noticing.
When this is a possibility, the best thing to do is not only take multiple shots, but to also slightly adjust the camera’s position or use your hand as hood to shade the lens from the sun. But, with multiple shots of each important photo, you will easily be able to choose which of the images is best and toss the others. \
The display screen on digital cameras and smartphones is relatively small—at least small enough that you cannot always tell if a photo is out of focus or slightly blurry. So, tip number two is to use a travel-sized tripod when taking landscape photos. There’s nothing worse than getting home only to discover that your beautiful landscape images are blurry. This photo was taken without a tripod. And here is the same image when photographed with a tripod. Using a tripod can make a huge difference for landscape photos and especially photos taken in low light situations. By the way, the tripod you use does not have to be big and bulky. Consider toting around a backpack size tripod that will easily sit on a picnic table or fence post.
There is always a temptation to crop images in your viewfinder as you take them. But, tip number three is to resist! Instead, crop in Photoshop. Here’s why. When taking photos for the purpose of placing in a photo album, you want those photos to be flexible enough to be clipped to a landscape clipping mask or a portrait clipping mask. This will give you maximum flexibility when placing the photos in the album templates.
I’m not saying to zoom all your images way out, I just want to caution you not to zoom in too far so as to cut off your options. As you are composing your shot, try to train your eye to give yourself room in the images composition so that you can orientate the image however best suites your album layout.
This videos concludes the Before You Go module. You didn’t think was going to forget the answers to the last section on the worksheet, did you? Here they are. I’ll see you in module two.