Katin Images Travel Photography

Travel Photos, Travel Photography Tips and Software

Category: travel photography

  • An Introduction to Travel Photography

    An Introduction to Travel Photography

    An Introduction to Travel Photography

    Definition

    According to Wikipedia the definition of Travel Photography “is a genre of photography that may involve the documentation of an area’s landscape, people, cultures, customs and history.
    The Photographic Society of America defines a travel photo as an image that expresses the feeling of a time and place, portrays a land, its people, or a culture in its natural state, and has no geographical limitations.
    There are other definitions but those two pretty much nail it.

    History

    Travel Photography, unlike most other genres is a later addition to Photography.
    When Photography was first invented in the early 1800’s few people travelled and for the next few generations any who did were only the wealthy ones.
    The major pioneers in travel photography were explorers who wanted to visually document their experiences whilst exploring.
    But you had to be keen as they had to carry the bulky equipment.
    Not only was the camera equipment itself heavy but, as the frames needed to be developed almost immediately, the photographer needed to have a darkroom and enough chemicals for a small laboratory.
    Of course that all changed when Kodak invented a camera that used a roll of film and then introduced the Kodak Brownie.
    Almost immediately photography was a lot more accessible and therefore popular with explorers and traveller alike.
    But it wasn’t until colour film was introduced that travel Photography became a mass media.
    Even then not everyone had a camera or if they did they didn’t use it whilst travelling.
    Digital photography changed all that. And then Smartphones come along.
    Now anyone who steps outside their door takes pictures. 

    We have millions of images of exotic and not so exotic locations being circulated by social media and other forms of communication.

    The Travel Experience.

    It wasn’t until I went travelling that I took an interest in Photography.
    It was to be a 7-month trip around the world and I felt that we needed to document, as well as we could, our experiences.
    So it was I had 2 very different skills to learn, how to travel and how to take photos of my experiences. It was a challenge, but it was one that I learnt so much from.
    That’s the beauty of Travel Photography. Yet, there are times when you must forget all the techniques and the technical stuff and be in the moment of the experience.
    Knowing when to take that shot or not is a skill in itself.

    That too me is what Travel photography is all about. 

    Genres

    Of course, when you travel there are lots of subjects that you will want to take photos of:

    Landscapes, People, Festivals, Entertainment, Urban, Food and Drink and Wildlife are the most popular.

    Landscape

    Landscape Photography is taking images of usually the area in front of you.
    That can be a mountain range, a field of flowers, the desert, pretty much anything that is of a natural beauty.
    Some manmade objects e.g. a lakeside house or a sailing boat can help with context.

    Reservoir close to Yosemite NP, California, USA is an area of lakes and reservoirs.
    Reservoir close to Yosemite NP, California, USA in an area of lakes and reservoirs.

    People

    Always a difficult one to get right. People move, blink, frown and often, whether posed or not, can assume unflattering positions.
    Taking portraits in different cultures are a great way to get to know locals and customs.
    We are all fascinated by the daily life of those in other countries. Travel Photography gives you the option to capture that.

    Festivals

    The Colour and movement of some of the world’s most famous and not so famous festivals can make great photos.
    Even the local fete can offer some interesting character or scene shots

    Entertainment

    Shopping in the market, Music and Theatre performances are two events that come to mind when taking photos in the field of entertainment.
    But there is also sporting events like a game of footy or nightlife. The latter being particular challenging due to the lack of light.

    Urban

    What is urban? Good question!  I guess it’s Street Scenes, Street Art, Sky Lines, Architecture, both inside and outside and even Light Shows.

    Food and Drink

    There are many food and drink situations. You may want to take some photos of where you are, what you are doing, eating or drinking.  
    In a restaurant, a winery, in a field or at the market.
    Food and Drink is quite a diverse genre. But it can also be the most creative and satisfying, especially if you are having a great experience at the same time.

    Travel Photography
    Table on the beach. Kefalonia. Greece

    Wildlife

    Who doesn’t want to capture that great shot of a Lion or Leopard in the wild somewhere in Africa.
    But there is more to it than the big 5 (the big 5 is Lion, Leopards, Rhino, Hippo and Elephant).
    Even going to a Zoo or Sanctuary can provide some great photographic opportunities.
    There are various types of environment for grabbing a shot or 2 of wildlife. Marine, Forests, National Parks even the Urban Environment can have wildlife.
    But be wary of two things, firstly your safety is paramount, don’t be that person who steps outside the car in a Lion park.
    Secondly, wildlife photography is challenging.
    There are photographers who have devoted their lives to taking great wildlife shots. They will spend days even weeks waiting for that ‘one’ shot.

    Mother Nature

    Travelling over time means you will experience all types of weather which can make it difficult to use your camera equipment.
    Rain, Heat, Cold, Snow, Dust they are a few extreme weather extremes that we all will experience in our travels.
    But even though taking photos in such conditions will take you out of your comfort conditions, often it will be well worth it.
    So, don’t run for cover (unless of course your life is in danger) embrace the challenge.

    Copyright

    By copyright I don’t mean your copyright. More and more their famous landmarks (and People) want to control their image.
    For example, under French law it is illegal to take photos of the Eiffel Tower’s light show at night.
    Of course, we’re not all going to check on every possible landmark but it’s worth a quick google on a big-ticket item. 

    Photography Techniques

    So you now you know the sort of experiences that you will want to document visually, how do you do it successfully?
    Well firstly, you will never stop learning! I’ve been shooting for 22 years and I’m still learning.
    That’s not to say you can’t learn to take good even great pictures straight away on your travels.
    It takes time to know what to do in certain situations and as you have seen there are many genres that make up Travel Photography.
    I hope that this will motivate you to read more from this site and support some of the manufacturers or service providers that I recommend to help you.

    Additional skills

    Of course, it’s not all about techniques and composition.
    If you want to take Travel Photography seriously you need to also be prepared some of the time to:
    Plan but be flexible
    Be reasonable fit, so that you have the energy to walk for hours at a time
    Be Patient enough to wait for the right moment to get that shot.
    Develop good social skills so that you can converse with many people, often in a language which you can’t speak
    Be creative
    Be open to sharing. After all it’s no good taking photos if no one is going to see them!

    In Summary

    This introduction to Travel Photography should give you a taste of what’s involved in improving your travel or holiday experiences. 
    You can see that gaining the skills that allow you to take good or, indeed, great photos will help expand your travels and give other people pleasure.
    Travel Photography is about the gear, the composition and being creative
    But it’s also about being in a place that’s not your home, adding depth to your experience and bringing home great photos that will live with your memories for a very long time!

    Just click on any of the above images to view a larger version and for other options

  • Waiting for the Big One

    Waiting for the Big One

    Surfers waiting for the next big wave at Cottesloe Beach Western Australia

    Surfers waiting for the next big wave at Cottesloe Beach Western Australia. Click on the image for a larger view

  • Letterboxes

    Letterboxes

    Letterboxes on the a country road in the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia
    Letterboxes on the a country road in the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia. Click on the image for a larger view
  • Bell Gorge Pool 1

    Bell Gorge Pool 1

    Bell Gorge pool
    Bell Gorge in the Kimberley North West Australia. Click on the Image for a larger view
  • Chamberlain River Gorge Wall

    Chamberlain River Gorge Wall

    Chamberlain River Gorge
    Chamberlain River Gorge at El Questro in the Kimberley, North West Australia. Click on the image for a larger image
  • Waterfall

    Waterfall

    Waterfall
    Waterfall at Manning Gorge in the Kimberley North West Australia. Click on the image for a larger image

  • Kimberley Landscape

    Kimberley Landscape

    Kimberley Landscape
    The wonderous landscape of the Kimberley in North West Australia. Click on the image for a larger view
  • Pool at Windjana Gorge

    Pool at Windjana Gorge

    Pool at Windjana Gorge
    Pool at Windjana Gorge in the Kimberley in North West Australia. Click on the image for a larger view
  • Cemetery Boab Tree

    Cemetery Boab Tree

    Cemetery Boab tree
    Boab tree in Derby cemetery in North West Australia. Click on the image for a larger view
  • Crocodile Paparazzi

    Crocodile Paparazzi

    Crocodile paparazzi at Windjana Gorge
    Crocodile paparazzi at Windjana Gorge in the Kimberley in North West Australia. Click on the image for a larger view
  • The Prison Boab Tree

    The Prison Boab Tree

    The Prison Boab Tree

    The Prison Boab Tree near Derby in the Kimberley in North West Australia is culturally significant site for the local Nyikina people .
    Click on the image for a larger view

  • Luminar AI Update 4 and Portrait Bokeh

    Luminar AI Update 4 and Portrait Bokeh

    If you been sitting on the fence about buying this editing software, then this could be a game changer for you.

    Luminar AI’s fourth update gives us Precise Horizon Control in Sky AI, Improved Textures with visual preview and here’s the real deal breaker, Complete focus control with Portrait Bokeh AI.

    So what does that all mean? Well let’s get the minor upgrades out of the way:

    Precise Horizon Control in Sky AI

    A new on-screen tool makes it even easier to control positioning of new skies when performing sky replacements with the Sky AI tool. In the Sky Orientation controls three sliders have been replaced by a single, intuitive Horizon Position control which makes accurate sky alignment easier for any of us.

    Improved Textures with visual preview

    You can now visually browse Textures in the dropdown list just like you can with Sky Selection and instantly have an idea of what your result might look like.

    Now let’s talk about Portrait Bokeh AI

    For those that are not familiar with the term Bokeh, it’s the blurriness you find in the background of a photo. For more about this go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh
    Traditionally, creamy bokeh has always required expensive cameras and lenses. And has always been the main domain of full frame cameras.
    There are ways of creating it with mirrorless and crop frame camera. And I know the iPhone and Android mobiles have software that can create it. Plus, you can go to Photoshop and create it too.

    But Luminar AI’s Portrait Bokeh AI is something else.

    Using artificial intelligence, Luminar AI can recognize people in a photo – even groups of people, and people posed in unusual positions. And then will automatically generate bokeh to a certain point, then it’s entirely controlled by you with a single amount slider. This allows you to create beautiful background blur in seconds – adding realistic and dreamy 3D bokeh effects to your portraits.

    Lets’ take a look at it in practice.

    Here’s one I took on a shoot that the client wanted me to shoot these employees in front of this tree. On the review of the pictures, they wanted a blurry background. Well, they were really to close to get the a strong bokeh effect. And I wasn’t about to retake it a few days later, so I did attempt it in photoshop and gave up. I just don’t have the time, attention to detail and to be totally honest the enthusiasm to spend an hour or 2 on one image.

    So, let’s see how we go with Portrait AI

    Go into edit mode then scroll down to the portrait section. The first section is portrait AI

    Once you open that, you get straight into the first and important slider “amount”. Now you can see by moving this, you get a good control of the bokeh. Lets’ slide right over and see what happens. Pretty good.

    The way it works is that it automatically masks humans (and just so you know it doesn’t work on anything else – yet).
    So you are able to get some control of the mask with the brush control but I’m going to go down to the background section and slide the depth correction over to see if it helps blur the bottom of the planter box that is still in focus.

    Now we can go back to brush control and tidy it up.

    Boom done.

    To me that’s more than impressive that’s something every photographer has wanted in their armour for decades.

    So, if you are still not sure about buying this software Luminar AI Portrait Bokeh should convince you. And that to the many more AI updates they have planned and you’ll have a great product to make your editing life so much easier.

    Go to Luminar AI to grab it and make your life a lot easier when editing photos.

  • Sunrays

    Sunrays

    Sunrays

    Sunrays at Beasley River Gorge on the Cheela Plains property in north west Australia. Click on the image for a larger view

  • Mangrove

    Mangrove

    Mangrove

    Mangrove Boardwalk, in Carnarvon, Western Australia. Click on the image for a larger view

  • Pixbim Unblur Shake AI

    Pixbim Unblur Shake AI

    Pixbim have a new software called Unblur Shake AI. As it sounds it reduces the blur in a photo.

    See the video to watch it in action or scroll down for more info.

    Ready to get now? Go to Unblur Shake AI enter the code KATINCSAI20 for a discount

    So why should you care?
    Well there would have been times when you took a photo whether it be with a mobile, DSLR, or mirrorless camera, and found that when you enlarged it looked blurry.
    The most common form of blur is caused by camera shake, which for those who don’t know, is when you have taken a handheld photo with a shutter speed that’s too low for the light available or the photographer just hasn’t kept the camera still. Very common with mobile images.
    There are other types of blur of course. Not being in focus is one kind. Motion is another.

    So, if this has happened to you then you’ll like this program which can fix the majority of images that have blur. Although it struggles with bad blur and motion blur (a speeding car for example).

    Let’s take a look.
    First you open the program and then click on the “load Image” button, select a photo and ‘boom’ the magic starts.
    Straight away it starts analysing the image and quite quickly previews the results.
    Once the preview is loaded you can see another part of the image by going to the preview panel and moving the red square.

    The buttons at the top (the magnifying glass and the double arrow) don’t work very well or maybe it’s just my copy. But they’re irrelevant anyway.

    There is also a an “Unblur Factor” slide that allows you to increase the process. At this stage there are only 2 settings “Low”, the default setting, and “High”. Setting it to high is going to take longer and sometimes can be too much.

    If you are happy with the result, just click on the “start process full image and save”. A window will pop up asking you to save it to a location of your choice with the same file name plus “unblurSAI_result”

    One last thing, the image formats you can use with exclude raw and psd files. I’ve only tried tiff, png and jpeg images so I’m not sure if you can use other non-raw files.

    Look it’s not fancy but at US$34.99 less 20% if you use my code KATINCSAI20, I think it’s steal and a great tool for photography enthusiasts. It’s a once off purchase with free updates for life.
    Go to Unblur Shake AI to grab this and enter the code KATINCSAI20 for a discount