COVER FEATURE IMPROVE YOUR HOLIDAY PHOTOS

YOUR GUIDE STEVE BAVISTER

Steve Bavister is an experienced photographic journalist and freelance photographer. He is
editor of The Photographer, a leading magazine for professional photographers, and author of
ten books on photography including Digital Photography and Take Better Family Photos
www.dcmag.co.uk/SteveBavister PORTFOLIO STEVE BAVISTER

Improve your
holiday photos
Steve Bavister offers a host of tips and techniques for making the
most of your holiday this year

oes your heart sink when your neighbours invite hands to try out new techniques and ideas.

D you round to see their holiday snaps? More to the

point, do your neighbours suddenly find they have
You’ll also be able to explore all the exciting places in and
around your destination. Stunning sunsets, beautiful scenery,
something more important to do when you invite them over famous monuments, along with local people and crafts –
to see yours? everywhere you look there will chances to capture the colour
If so, you might like to start thinking about how you could and character of the place.
make the shots you take this summer more special. Just The main thing you need to remember when on holiday is
suppose your family and friends were clamouring to see not to get too snap-happy when faced with a wealth of new
them when you get back – wouldn’t that make it worth sights and sounds. It’s tempting to shoot anything that looks
finding ways of coming up with something more interesting remotely interesting when you’re away but you’ll end up
and appealing? with hundreds of pictures and very few memorable ones, so
And there’s no doubt that a trip away provides the perfect remember: quality not quantity is the order of the day.
opportunity for you to make the most of your digital camera. Even the simplest digital camera will enable you to take
Whether it’s a week in Bognor or a month in Barbados the good quality pictures, and with a little thought you’ll be able
creative juices are bound to start flowing. Free from the to create a holiday photo album that will turn your
chores and routines of everyday life you’ll have time on your neighbours green with envy…

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4 WHY WE CHOSE
THIS PICTURE
The beautiful shades and ripples on the
surface of the water provide a highly
evocative background for the image

The sunlight on the model’s body gives the

image more depth and realism – and lets
us know that the sun was shining!

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 TIPS FOR BEACH SHOTS
When we’re on holiday, we’re (hopefully)
having fun and that’s a great thing to
capture in your beach photographs. In the
main image, here, the two girls are
splashing through the surf near the
shoreline and the wind is blowing through
their hair. This, along with the jaunty angle
of the shot, adds a realistic dynamism to
the photo that captures the emotions of the
moment. In the smaller picture (left), the
photographer shot from a low vantage
point, letting the long shadows cast by the
setting sun work their atmospheric magic.

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 2 PEOPLE AT NIGHT
One of the joys of holidaying in warm, sunny places, is eating outdoors as the sun goes
down. As the lights in outdoor restaurants are switched on, so a wonderful mood develops
under the orange glow. Capturing the atmosphere of such occasions isn’t difficult, providing
you follow a few simple rules. The first is to avoid using flash wherever possible. The colour
of the light you get from a built-in gun is neutral to blue, and it will completely obliterate
the mood that made you want to take the picture in the first place. Many outdoor areas are
lit up like Blackpool illuminations, and you’ll have no problems taking pictures without flash
– though you may need to set your ISO to the maximum and support yourself steadily to
minimise the risk of camera-shake.
Flash can be useful, though, if you want to show a person or group in front a floodlit
building or street lights at night. Many cameras feature a night portrait setting that both
sets a long exposure and emits a brief burst of flash. The idea is that the flash in the
foreground illuminates the people while the lights in the background are recorded by the
long shutter speed.
With most digital cameras you can also capture a wide range of night subjects, including
neon signs and light trails.

Life’s a beach and with a little thought it’s possible to overcome such
Although there are many different options these days, challenges with a few simple techniques.
with some people preferring to spend couple of weeks The problem with the light is that once the sun’s high
getting off the beaten track or exploring a city, it’s still in the sky you get dark shadows under the brow, nose
the ‘sun, sea and sand’ of a beach holiday that has and chin. These are unflattering in the extreme, but you
most of us heading for the Med come July or August. can avoid them by taking pictures at the start and end
And even if your budget doesn’t extend to jetting off of the day, when the sun is closer to the horizon and
somewhere exotic, chances are you’ll spend some time the light is much softer and warmer.
at the coast when the weather’s at its best. If you must capture images in the middle of the day,
Most of the pictures you take on the beach will be of try using a white towel or shirt as a reflector, to bounce
family and friends, and while the circumstances may light back into the shadow areas, or switch the camera
not seem conducive to creative photography that to the ‘fill-flash’ setting, which will give a low powered
doesn’t mean you have to end up with snapshots. burst of light to balance exposure. Alternatively, position
Certainly the odds are stacked against you. The sun is the person so the sun is behind them, with no direct
often bright and harsh, sand is reflecting light all over sun falling on the face, or find a place under a parasol to
the place, and it’s not unusual for backgrounds to be take out all the top light.
busy and messy. But where there’s a will there’s a way, The harshness of the light and the reflectivity of the

2The photographs on this

page are all different but
they all manage to
capture the holiday spirit.
Whether it’s Paris in the
springtime or a park
bench in Central London,
think about the best way
to capture the central
elements in a scene first.

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COVER FEATURE IMPROVE YOUR HOLIDAY PHOTOS

2 Your natural instinct is to place people in the

Imagine the joy of coming across this colourful scene – when you’re on holiday in a foreign
country, everyday things like houses can make great memories to take home with you.
centre of a picture but if you place them to
Keep your eyes open for photo opportunities as you walk around villages and towns the side you can capture the location too
sand and sea mean that you need to be careful with extending the zoom will reduce the sharpness of the inhibited on holiday, so keep the camera handy at all
your exposure. If you’re not careful your camera’s meter background. If you’re controlling the exposure manually times and grab shots when anything amusing happens.
will be fooled into thinking there’s more light than there choose a large aperture such as f/5.6 to throw it even
really is, and you can end up with muddy, under- more out of focus. Famous sites
exposed images. So make sure you review your shots Do take care, though, when photographing couples Of course, you won’t spend all your time on the beach –
as you go along, and make adjustments if necessary. that the autofocus sensor doesn’t go between their indeed, you may not be after a beach holiday at all –
heads and focus on the background instead of them. and you’ll want to photograph the cities, people and
Making your subjects stand out Either get them to bring their heads together or use the landscape you find inland. If you continually snap
Unless you think carefully about your composition, your focus lock facility. yourselves ‘in front of your hotel’ or ‘in front of another
subjects can easily get lost on a crowded beach However, the best holiday pictures are not posed at restaurant’ then your shots will get repetitive. Some
cluttered with brightly coloured towels and sun-tanned all, but captured as candids – without the person really interesting photos will need a bit more thought.
bodies. One simple option is to stand up when you want knowing you’re taking them. A good photographer lets One way is to vary the position of your subjects. Your
to take a picture, with the camera angled down, so the his subject get involved with what they’re doing before natural instinct is to place people in the centre of the
backdrop is sand rather than other people. they start snapping. This is most easily done using a picture but if you place them to the side – especially
If your camera has a zoom lens, use it to drop in zoom lens, and you’ll get lots of great shots – everything with landscapes – then you can capture the location too.
tightly around the person or group you’re shooting, to from kids having fun building sandcastles to people If you’re often absent from your own holiday photos, it’s
minimise distractions. Taking a few steps back and snoozing on sun loungers. People tend to be less worth investing in a mini-tripod that’s small enough to

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 2 SHOOTING STUNNING SUNSETS
No summer holiday would be complete without a set of stunning sunset pictures. But what
is it about a sunset shot that makes it ‘stunning’? To an extent it’s the sunset itself – you
obviously need rich, vivid colours – but there’s more to it than that. First, you need to get
the exposure right: if the picture is over-exposed everything will look washed out; if it’s
under-exposed, it will be muddy and indistinct. So check your exposure after the first shot
using the preview, and tweak it if necessary.
You also need a clean, uncluttered viewpoint. A row of parked cars in the foreground or
a line of pylons in the distance means your sunset will never be a masterpiece. When you
sense in the late afternoon that the sunset is going to be a stunner, start thinking about
where to shoot it from. Photographs in which the sun is going down over water often have
a special quality to them – but obviously you have to be facing west. A flat area of
landscape can work equally well.
That doesn’t mean you should avoid having other things in the picture. Anything in
the foreground will record as a silhouette, so if you can find something with a graphic
shape – such as a palm tree – you add interest and variety to your sunsets, to stop
them all looking the same.
Finally, if you plan to include the sun itself in the picture, wait until it’s weak enough to
look at, otherwise it will cause flare on your pictures.

2 LOCAL CHARACTER
One of the best ways of really capturing the character of a place is to photograph some of the people who live
and work there. When you’re in a foreign place, though, it’s important to gauge the mood of the people before
you start snapping them. Are they receptive to photos? Are they being treated like zoo exhibits? These are things
to consider if you’re going to shoot candid photos. Many amateurs are shy and that leads them to behave in a
furtive way – using long lenses from the other side of the street, for example – which can be intrusive.
As a general rule, and a matter of courtesy, it’s a good idea to let people know you’d like to photograph them
and see how they react. After all, the worst that can happen is that people will say ‘no’. Another successful
approach, if language is a problem, is to make it obvious that you’re planning to take a picture that includes
someone – and then allow time to elapse so they have the choice to be in it or not. Most of the time people will
stay where they are and let you take the picture.
The great thing about digital photography is that you can share the moment with your subject, by showing
them the shot immediately afterwards. Most people are curious about photos of themselves and it can be a great
ice-breaker, especially if you don’t speak the language of the country you’re travelling in.
For work of this kind a standard zoom is ideal. The wide-angle end is useful if you want to show people in their
environment, perhaps with a well-known landmark behind, and the telephoto end if you need to crop out loads
of other tourists. Bear in mind that, especially in poorer parts of the world, you’re more likely to be asked for
money and you need to decide how you are going to handle this if the situation arises. Many photographers,
rather paradoxically, will only ante up when they’re not asked, because they don’t want to encourage begging.
Remember that if you’re flashing camera equipment around, people will assume you have money to spend and
at the end of the day, a relatively small sum could make a big difference to someone dealing with poverty.

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COVER FEATURE IMPROVE YOUR HOLIDAY PHOTOS

2 BEYOND THE OBVIOUS

While people and places will obviously be the main things you photograph while on holiday, there are lots of
other things that will help bring the memories back in years to come. Don’t always go for the obvious shot - they
will never be the most rewarding.
It’s often the small details that give a place character, so keep your eyes peeled when you’re wandering
around. Fishing nets drying on the harbour-side, colourful flower arrangements, crusty old buildings, painted doors,
pots and hanging baskets can all add charm to an ordinary scene and provide the background that places your
busier pictures in context. Almost every country you visit will have a local craft industry – be it leather in Spain,
ceramics and gold in Crete, or cork in Portugal. Market places are often the best places to really capture the
flavour of a town since they’re usually a blaze of colour and texture.
With a digital camera you can go in close and still be sure that ‘what you see is what you get,’ so crop in tight
for maximum impact. Be original in your composition as well – don’t just plonk the main subject dead centre.
Experiment with different framing – see what happens with the focal point more to the edge. Create a sense of
depth by having part of the scene close to you and the rest of it further away. Make use of natural frames such
as arches to strengthen the picture.

To capture the scale and beauty of

sea views, visit during early morning
or late afternoon… the same is true
for landscape photography

carry around with you. That way you can use the
self-timer to get everyone in shot.
With famous sites and scenic views you’ll probably
want to take a number of different perspectives – with
and without people. You can always look at local
postcards to get a feel for the most popular composition,
but be prepared to wander around to find a different
angle so you can come up with something more
unusual and original.
Coastal holidays mean beautiful sea views:
picturesque bays and inlets, rocky cliffs, vivid blue water
and beautiful stretches of sandy beach. To capture the
scale and beauty of such scenes, visit during early
morning or late afternoon, when the sunlight has a
warm glow. A higher viewpoint will enable you to make
clever use of your foreground for added interest, or take
in boats on the horizon for scale.
The same is true if you head inland and try your hand
at landscape photography. The light during the middle of
the day tends to be flat and harsh, with little in the way
of evocative shadows to bring the scene to life.
The sharp crisp contrast of midday sun can work for
some architectural subjects, though, especially set
against a deep blue sky.
In fact, when taking pictures on holiday you’re spoilt
for choice – everywhere you look there’s the potential
for another great shot, whether you’re hiking through
jungle, wandering round ancient temples or relaxing on
the beach. Do make time to grab a beer or cocktail by
the pool or on a sun-soaked pavement cafe and simply
soak up the atmosphere. Hold on – that would make a
great still life…

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