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 Are you thinking about buying a camcorder, or did you recently get one and are trying to figure out how to use it? Here are a few tips to help you along the way.

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If you are a professional travel photographer, chances are that you wont get to choose the location for your next assignment. But if you are just starting out, creating your own assignments is a great way of building your portfolio and gaining some valuable experience. So how do you choose a location to shoot?

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 There is a mind numbing amount of considerations when packing for your photography trip. Such as which lenses you will need, how you are going to store your photos and how you are going to carry it all around. Then there’s the pleasure of getting it all past the ever tightening luggage restrictions of airlines. A little forethought and planning can help make sure you don’t get stuck without essential equipment and aren’t burdened by what you don’t need.

The gear

Perhaps the most obvious consideration is the camera and lenses. If you have planned your itinerary already you will have an idea of the types of shots you want to take. If you haven’t, stop what you’re doing right now and do this first. Once you know what photos you want to take, you can decide on the lenses that will best help you take them. Thinking landscapes? Then don’t be without your wide angle lens. Intimate portraits? Maybe a mid range zoom would be 

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useful.

If you are debating taking a spare camera body then don’t. Debate that is. Pack it. The last thing you need is for your camera to be stolen or break while on the road. You might not be able to find a repairer, and if you do they might not be able to fix it on the spot. That would be the end of your photo taking adventure right there. Don’t learn the hard way for the sake of a little extra weight.

Then there are all the accessories that may or may not come in handy. Should you pack that set of neutral density filters? Again, think of the types of photos you will be taking. If its landscapes, then yes, by all means put them in. If its portraits they are probably just going to take up space. This goes for the tripod as well. Usually, travel portraits are taken hand held, usually with abundant light. Landscapes however tend to be early morning or late afternoon.

Storage

Once you’ve figured out what your going to need to take your pictures, you need to put some thought into how to store them. Should you take your laptop, a portable hard drive or two, a bag full of memory cards or all of the above? How much storage you will need depends on how long your stay is and how much shooting you’ll be doing. A laptop is useful if you need to view images as you go, or want to do some editing back at the hotel room. But if not, its just one more expensive piece of equipment you need to worry about. Leave it at home. Some portable hard drives have a viewing screen so you can review your photos as you upload them, which can be handy to see if you have the shot you want and gives you the chance to go back and try again if you missed it.

As a rule, it is a good idea to have two copies of your images as hard drives are notorious for failing at inopportune times. If you have a good supply of memory cards, backup to a portable drive and store the used cards is a separate place.

Getting it around

There are a few different options for carrying your gear around with you at a location. Shoulder bags tend to be able to hold a large amount of gear, but have the disadvantage of all the weight hanging off one shoulder. These bags are a good choice if you don’t have to do too much walking, but carrying gear around like this for days can do serious damage to your back.

Backpacks have the advantage of distributing the weight evenly, making them ideal for locations where you will be doing a lot of walking. Many of them also have the extra benefit of not looking like camera bags and so tend not to draw as much attention.

Many considerations go into packing for a photography trip. But think it through and take the gear that suits the style of photography you want to do and the place you are going and it will allow you to focus more on what is around you when you get there, rather than trying to decide which lens to use and missing the shot altogether.

Mark Eden is a freelance travel photographer and owner of Expanse Photography, a photographic services company You can see Mark’s, travel photography and contact Mark through the Expanse Photography website http://www.expansephotography.com.

Digital cameras have certainly taken the place of the old style cameras . They are the electric trains in the field of photography. Can you remember the days when you had to put a roll of film into your 35MM camera?

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With these 15 innovative, budget friendly marketing ideas, any photographer can make the leap from freelancer to full-timer! Most of these tips cost virtually nothing and offer significantly better value than many high dollar paid advertisement strategies.

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The advantage with the free digital photography software is that you need not worry about upgrades that would require you to pay recurring fees nor you would you need to renew your subscription at any given time. Once you download it on your computer, you would get periodic free updates that would be automatically downloaded and upgraded to your software. In this manner you could be the happy owner of some great editing gear at no cost whatsoever.

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Hi Folks,

For the love of a great photograph, of which I have plenty of, I have a link that will take you to some great shots.  I like “Shooting Chalk” a great deal.  At this site, BestPicEver, there are even more great pictures. 

If you have some time, check it out.  Yes, is completely free.  I hope this leads to your time well-spent.  And you find some great, admirable, quality photos about our world around us.

http://www.bestpicever.com/pic-1604-Shooting-chalk

Happy Viewing,

Kathleen

MarginsXs