Rant ON: I hate How to take Travel Photos books :)

[wakeme2008]

I am planning a cruise to New Zealand in late 2007, so I brought a couple National Geograpic books on Travel and Landscapes. :grr: While there are some good info in there, the major thing they talk about is taking photos at the right time of day. Grrr.. when traveling and on tours you have very little control on the time of day you are at any point.

I wish they would do more on working with the light you have no matter what time of day that is.

RANT OFF :)

Sidenote: While I did carry a tripod on a cruise down the Amazon and to Ft. Lauderdale, I traded that in for a monopod/walking stick in my travel gear after I hit Devil's Island. My Nikon D2H and lens is around $5,000 and the movies lied about Devil's Island being flat. :rofl: Very hilly and to get to the top of the island you had to go up water covered stone steps with no hand rail. I only went up so far before I wished I had a walking stick and stopped because of my thoughts of a broken D2H......

[Touchdown]

1. I have 4 pairs of cargo pants, and carry a sandbag.

My Mom made me a flap pocket out of denim the size of a quart Zip-Lock bag. So I filled one baggie with art sand a friend had left over. My Mom suggested rice, so I went to Safeway and bought a cheap bag of it, and slipped it into the sleeve. Makes it lighter. With Zip-Locks, the rice doesn't get wet. She can sew anything under the sun.

Sandbags are great when a tripod isn't practical or it's forgotten. Plop it down on any fence, trashcan, stone wall, table, bus stop bench or wherever, and lay your camera on it. Makes a nice solid, form fitting and stable way to shoot. Throw it back in your pocket and walk on. :thumbsup:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. Rice bags are a great tip.

I have used them on occasion, very handy.

[priller]

2. That's a valid RANT

And I know what you mean. Before heading to Yellowstone, I was looking at a nice photo book of the park that my brother had, and almost every single picture in it was from early morning or sunset. They were beautiful photos, but yeah, it did get kind of old after a while.

And sometimes getting photos like that on vacation isn't practical unless you're camping. Yellowstone is open from 8:00am - 8:00pm -- that's pretty sunny and bright for Wyoming in the summer.

But it's made me start to think about doing some hiking and camping, mainly so I can get off the roads, get to some remote scenery, and be there at sunset and sunup. I not really a camping kind of guy, so this is a big step. But I think it will be fun.

[regnaD kciN]

4. You think that's bad...?

National Geographic also put out a "Guide to Digital Photography" with content so elementary, it should have been included in the average point'n'shoot user's manual. As a "Digital Photography for Dummies" book, it would have been barely adequate, but of course the main selling point was the "National Geographic" name, and their reputation as the publisher of top-rank photos. I wonder how many people bought the book thinking that it would help teach them how to make world-class images...and found that all it really helped them to do was make the same kind of snapshots they had been getting all along with their disposable 35mm cameras.

[wakeme2008]

5. Hey that book cost me an additional $99 :)

I had Photoshop Elements 2 and I found out I could me a slideshow movie with PE 4... So 99 dollars latter :)

[F.Gordon]

6. I'm the last person to ask about "landscape photos"

But I would recommmend that you pickup one of these. $20 and they have the little screwy thing that allows you to attach the camera to it.

No tips other than... always try to shoot "down light" and maybe use a ND2 or ND4 filter or a P-filter.

Way.Too.Much.Coffee.