Some tips for the shutter-bugs!
Getting the most out of your camera
Hi All!
This is Mike and I am going to go over a few tips that I have for those interested in bringing back great pictures from such beautiful places! I was told to bring back pictures we could print to hang around the house, with that in mind I tried to do a few things to get the most out of the pictures I took. I will try to not make this too nerdy, but quite a bit of photography requires understanding what the camera is doing! I am far from a professional of any sort, I have just picked it up over the last 2-3 years of owning a DSLR.
I will include some cliff notes further down for you to glance at before your trip!
The camera I brought with me is a beginner DSLR camera, it is a Canon T2i. I chose this for its versatility with full manual picture taking, being able to have a long battery life and taking great low-light shots. While many may not want to lug a big camera around for their entire trip, I enjoy taking pictures and really enjoyed the opportunities that Europe has to capture! I purchased a lens just for this trip that I used pretty much exclusively…I'm not sure I ever took it off the entire trip! It is a 10-22mm lens, this allowed me to get a very wide perspective while inside the buildings, museums and other tight areas of Europe.
This is Mike and I am going to go over a few tips that I have for those interested in bringing back great pictures from such beautiful places! I was told to bring back pictures we could print to hang around the house, with that in mind I tried to do a few things to get the most out of the pictures I took. I will try to not make this too nerdy, but quite a bit of photography requires understanding what the camera is doing! I am far from a professional of any sort, I have just picked it up over the last 2-3 years of owning a DSLR.
I will include some cliff notes further down for you to glance at before your trip!
The camera I brought with me is a beginner DSLR camera, it is a Canon T2i. I chose this for its versatility with full manual picture taking, being able to have a long battery life and taking great low-light shots. While many may not want to lug a big camera around for their entire trip, I enjoy taking pictures and really enjoyed the opportunities that Europe has to capture! I purchased a lens just for this trip that I used pretty much exclusively…I'm not sure I ever took it off the entire trip! It is a 10-22mm lens, this allowed me to get a very wide perspective while inside the buildings, museums and other tight areas of Europe.
Batteries!
Batteries are one of the biggest concerns for travelers, fortunately there is a reasonable solution for those that have cameras with specific batteries. I was able to easily bring four extra batteries with me to Europe. Before you say how expensive extra batteries are, type your battery number into Amazon.com. You'd probably be surprised to know that the cheap replacement batteries for my Canon DSLR are about $10 per PAIR!
While these aren't as good as OEM, they are far better than nothing! They lasted very well, worked just fine with my camera and charger. Speaking of chargers, yours is probably compatible with the higher voltages in Europe. Take a look at it, if your charger says something like "100-240v AC" , then as long as you have the correct wall adapter, you're good to charge in Europe! This goes for all of your other gizmos, phones, tablets, etc.
Bring a "Camera"!
While cell phone cameras have come a long way, they aren't to the level of a dedicated camera! With so many great opportunities, leaving all of your photos up to your phone will likely result in many pictures that just don't come out well. They struggle to figure out what you are trying to take photos of quickly, they can be blurry and very noisy in low light [lots of white dots]. Do yourself a favor and bring a camera to capture all of these great moments and experiences!
Batteries are one of the biggest concerns for travelers, fortunately there is a reasonable solution for those that have cameras with specific batteries. I was able to easily bring four extra batteries with me to Europe. Before you say how expensive extra batteries are, type your battery number into Amazon.com. You'd probably be surprised to know that the cheap replacement batteries for my Canon DSLR are about $10 per PAIR!
While these aren't as good as OEM, they are far better than nothing! They lasted very well, worked just fine with my camera and charger. Speaking of chargers, yours is probably compatible with the higher voltages in Europe. Take a look at it, if your charger says something like "100-240v AC" , then as long as you have the correct wall adapter, you're good to charge in Europe! This goes for all of your other gizmos, phones, tablets, etc.
Bring a "Camera"!
While cell phone cameras have come a long way, they aren't to the level of a dedicated camera! With so many great opportunities, leaving all of your photos up to your phone will likely result in many pictures that just don't come out well. They struggle to figure out what you are trying to take photos of quickly, they can be blurry and very noisy in low light [lots of white dots]. Do yourself a favor and bring a camera to capture all of these great moments and experiences!
Watch the clutter!
While it is not always possible to remove the clutter from your pictures, it does help to keep an eye out for it. The road sign, light pole or unrelated people in your pictures can give you images that might not be what you are looking for. If you want great pictures to hang up and share, you want to try your best to get just the subject you want! Some patience is required, but you also need to be ready for it when it's there! Walking a little faster can help sometimes too :) .
Moving up just a little bit made all the difference!
While it is not always possible to remove the clutter from your pictures, it does help to keep an eye out for it. The road sign, light pole or unrelated people in your pictures can give you images that might not be what you are looking for. If you want great pictures to hang up and share, you want to try your best to get just the subject you want! Some patience is required, but you also need to be ready for it when it's there! Walking a little faster can help sometimes too :) .
Moving up just a little bit made all the difference!
Filters!
If you have a camera, like an SLR, that accepts filters, pickup a few! I don't have expensive filters, rather the inexpensive ones from Best Buy, they work well enough for me!
- Star filters: They produce what you see on this Eiffel Tower
picture. We were lucky enough to catch it shimmering!
- Polarizing filters - Circular polarizing filters can be very
handy on sunny days! Just like your sunglasses, they cut
glare. They allow for clearer shots involving water, windows,
etc.
Filters in general also have another great benefit, if you are shooting in some damp conditions. A light rain or mist, a filter will help keep some of that water out of your lens! It doesn't make it water proof by any means, but it can help keep water out of where it shouldn't be! Something to consider with polarizing, is they reduce the amount of light the camera sees. So you will need to remove it when in darker areas or inside buildings to help obtain a well exposed and sharp image!
If you have a camera, like an SLR, that accepts filters, pickup a few! I don't have expensive filters, rather the inexpensive ones from Best Buy, they work well enough for me!
- Star filters: They produce what you see on this Eiffel Tower
picture. We were lucky enough to catch it shimmering!
- Polarizing filters - Circular polarizing filters can be very
handy on sunny days! Just like your sunglasses, they cut
glare. They allow for clearer shots involving water, windows,
etc.
Filters in general also have another great benefit, if you are shooting in some damp conditions. A light rain or mist, a filter will help keep some of that water out of your lens! It doesn't make it water proof by any means, but it can help keep water out of where it shouldn't be! Something to consider with polarizing, is they reduce the amount of light the camera sees. So you will need to remove it when in darker areas or inside buildings to help obtain a well exposed and sharp image!
Clicks are free!
The beauty of using digital cameras is you are hardly limited to how many photos you can take! Extra memory is inexpensive and you can capture that moment easier than ever before! I came back with around 55GB of photos! [I shoot in a large format, .RAW]. I took many, many, "bad" pictures and was able to select what I thought were the best to use. To the left you can see is far from drawing you into the atmosphere, where the picture to the right was "it"! Keep clicking!
Extra Memory Cards!
Extra memory is a must, for a few reasons! You may be thinking that you should just get one giant 16gb, 32gb or 64gb memory card for your big trip. Which is a good idea, but you are putting too many of your eggs into one basket?! What if on Day 13 you lose your camera or it gets "borrowed" by someone?! What we did was pickup a couple of smaller cards. After a couple days of use, they were retired to stay in the money belt or backpack. So if something did happen to the camera, we still at our photos up to that point! Being a handy group member can also help save another members trip! If they lost a card in a remote location or for some reason are in need of one..there is a great chance your SD card will work with their camera. A small investment in memory cards can help your trip in a few ways!
Extra Memory Cards!
Extra memory is a must, for a few reasons! You may be thinking that you should just get one giant 16gb, 32gb or 64gb memory card for your big trip. Which is a good idea, but you are putting too many of your eggs into one basket?! What if on Day 13 you lose your camera or it gets "borrowed" by someone?! What we did was pickup a couple of smaller cards. After a couple days of use, they were retired to stay in the money belt or backpack. So if something did happen to the camera, we still at our photos up to that point! Being a handy group member can also help save another members trip! If they lost a card in a remote location or for some reason are in need of one..there is a great chance your SD card will work with their camera. A small investment in memory cards can help your trip in a few ways!
Where were we?!
After returning from your trip with eleventy-thousand pictures, it's hard to remember just where you were. The great thing about Europe is there are signs or something to tell you where you are at! Taking pictures of these before you go in are helpful for being able to remember where exactly you were! Room keys, hotel signs, restaurant signs, tickets, etc!