Leolaia's Scenic Travel Photos (page 8)

Sad emo

Leo how did you manage to find a huge field with only 1 cow in it - or was the rest of the herd behind you?!

Either way, you're braver than me, they can turn on you in a split second and then you're in really deep trouble.

The year after that photo was the foot and mouth epidemic so a pic of a lone cow seems a bit poignant/prophetic in some ways

Hi jgnat...I have used three cameras over the years. Up until 2002, I used a 1965 Nikomat FT SLR with a 43-86 mm zoom lens. Still a fine camera, but I haven't used it in years. Then I went digital in 2002 and switched to a Casio QV-4000 digicam (3X optical zoom and 4.1 effective megapixels). I chose this camera because of its versatility and ease of use, as well as its compatibility with AA batteries. Then I switched in 2006 to a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 (12x optical zoom and 8.0 effective megapixels). You may think I'd get a digital SLR, but this camera is a sort of best of both worlds in having a huge fixed-length zoom, full manual control, and the ease of use of non-SLR digicams. The zoom range is 35-420 mm equivalent, with some nice wide-angle and telephoto capabilities, which is hugely convenient because I'd have to switch lenses in a digital SLR and when I'm travelling I try to pack as light as possible. The zoom is simply amazing and the best thing is that it doesn't retract like the lenses of compact cameras, so when you turn it on you're instantly ready to go (rather than having to wait 5-10 seconds for the lens to ready itself). It also has good video features, so I am able to quickly toggle between pictures and video, so I can often videotape the same event I am taking a picture of. And being a Panasonic camera, the Lumix also has a great image stabilizer.

I always have my usual cadre of filters, including a split-grey filter, a polarizing filter, and a split-blue filter. The split-grey can be used for dramatic effect in darkening clouds, but I more often use it to control dynamic range between light and dark sectors in a frame. The polarizing filture is essential for shooting through glass (such as through the windshield of a moving car), but of course it has other uses. And the blue filter helps improve the look of hazy skies (but I generally don't use this one as much). The camera also has built in "filters" that I sometimes use, such as in adjusting for artificial light indoors or bringing out the tones in sunsets.

The main thing is to shoot a lot of pictures. I have the camera on perpetual consecutive photo mode, which is essential if you are on the move. Often you get the right image once out of 3 or 4 or 5 tries, depending on whether your subject is moving, whether you're in the right position, or what not. This means that at the end of the day, I spend a good hour deleting photos. Of course, you couldn't really do that with a film camera, so digicams really help a rather mediocre photographer get good results.

The best lighting imho can be found in last hour or hour and a half before sunset. I love this time of day because the golden light is at such a low angle that brings details into fine relief. On the first page of this thread, check out the photos of the Yellow Waters at Kakadu and the aerial view of Sydney. Similarly, another good time for night views is the first half hour or hour after sunset, especially if you want to have artificial lighting in the picture, as there is just enough light outside to give a natural look. Look at the photo of the Tokyo train depot on the first page of this thread.... this was taken about 30 minutes after sunset, and there is a really nice contrast of the artificial lighting of the depot itself and the blueish natural lighting beyond, and there is enough dynamic range to make lighted signs look natural.

Another thing is to always keep a good eye out for an interesting angle, situation, or view. So in composing a shot, think about what angle best emphasizes or frames your subject, or what might make a shot interesting. It's pretty hard to do this when travelling with other people, because you're always on the go and don't have much time to compose shots, let alone take re-takes. One theme I like is to contrast foreground with background (look at how the crocodile is in the foreground in the Yellow Waters photo on page #1, sneaking out into the water towards the birds in the middle ground). To kinda go through a few of the examples of composition in this thread:

The picture of the Golden Gate bridge in page #1 of this thread was the best out of about 10-15 pictures I took of that scene. This was the best shot because one of the parasurfers in the foreground was riding a wave at that moment which was emerging out from under the bridge, i.e. the picture was taken at the right moment. Since objects in the foreground tend to be bigger than those in the distance in most pictures, the reversal of this pattern in this picture emphasizes the enormity of the bridge in comparison to the people in the scene.
In the Vermont farm scene on page #1, the aged whitewashed farm house in the upper left background is complemented by the haystack in the lower right foreground, while the stream crosses horizontally along the middle.
In the Stonehenge photo on page #1, I walked around the thing to get into the right position to put the group of cirrus clouds directly above the structure....making them look like a crown over the ancient stoneworks.
We've already talked about the Empire State Building photo on page #2, which places the violet petunias in the foreground and affects the way the subject is viewed in the background. Is the ESB part of the flowering plant? Do Manhattan skyscrapers grow in a flowering garden?
In most of the photos, the foreground is the lower part of the photo and the background occurs in the upper part, but in the Porto photo on page #2, we have the building with the bronze bust in the foreground in the left, blocking out the building in the middle ground, which in turn blocks out part of the buildings in the background on the right.
The Todos Santos photo on page #2 is interesting in terms of perspective lines (from curbs, building rooflines, bricks in the road, telephone wires) and a vanishing point in the center of the photo. The Murioka photo directly below it, on the other hand, is striking for giving the exact opposite feel...a lack of perspective or organization, just a crazy chaotic mess of lines.
The Le Havre bridge photo on page #3 worked out beautifully imho, as it was taken at the right time and far enough in the middle of the road to get the second tower of the bridge nestled inside the first, and with the suspension cables of the first tower just high enough to draw the view's eye inside. The crisp lighting and the cloud pattern also accentuates the feel of the photo.
The photo of the police officer at Tiananman Square on page #3 is skewed because I took it surreptitiously as I walked past him, with the camera hanging to my side with my finger on the button. Apparently they get really mad when they catch you taking pictures of them. But this skewing also gives the picture a tosy-turvy feel, and since I took the picture at a low angle as the camera hung from my shoulder, it makes the policeman look taller and more imposing.
The photo of the jumping crocodile directly below was a real money shot! You can thank my zoom lens, the camera's consecutive photo mode, and a very fast shutter speed for that image.
The picture of the children carrying the bamboo tree was a real spur-of-the-moment shot....I was at a laundromat washing my clothes when I saw these kids coming with the tree so I grabbed the camera and shot 2 or three photos, this was the best of them, with the girl in the white-blue dress looking directly at me with those soulful eyes. As for the trio of French girls at the Centre Pompidou, I got down to a really low angle a few feet high to get a view that shows them at their height, rather than looking down at them. I used another low angle in the picture of St. Jean de Luz. I was in a moving boat at the time, and I actually hung my camera off the side of the boat (secure to my arm, that is), and took the picture just a foot or two above the waves! This gave the pleasing result of waves in the foreground with the city in the background.
Finally, the photo of the fireworks display at the Sydney Opera House was taken from my hotel verandah at a timed exposure, as the best of 15 shots. It was taken at f 3.6 at 1.6 seconds; I experiemented with 3.2 seconds, but that was too long as it overexposed the image and got too many fireworks in the scene. Usually when I take urban night scenes like this, I use a tiny aperature (e.g. f 8, f 11, etc.) and a rather long exposure, to give a starburst effect to city lights, but longer exposures involve more noise so I always have the ISO at the lowest setting possible.

stillajwexelder

Stonehenge, Surrey, England, August 2001

I thought Stonhenge was on Salisbury Plain county of Wiltshire not Surrey

Leolaia

Yeah I think you are right....I was going by memory and assumed it was since we were staying in Surrey, but indeed Stonehenge was outside the county to the west...

Leolaia

Sad emo....Yup, I had a whole herd behind me. That week we were staying at a 16th-century gatehouse in the middle of an open field (maintained by National Trust), and every day a herd of cattle would munch their way past the building. I got some pretty good pics of the cows and the gatehouse, tho this is my favorite. And yeah, that was the year before the hoof-and-mouth epidemic, and I was there in Wales and England when it was going on.... :(

YoursChelbie

Excellent photos, Leo. Can we see some shots from your latest trip to Texas?

YC

jgnat

Hubby is the camera buff. He's absorbing all your comments, especially to TAKE IT OUT OF THE BOX. Me, I enjoy the resonances of your experience with my hobby of choice, oil painting. I, too, prefer the contrasty golden light of early morning and evening. It makes for a more interesting picture. A lot of your comments about composition apply, too.

Darth Yhwh

WOW!

Leolaia is a hell of a photographer. Not to mention she's traveled the world.

Thanks for sharing.

Leolaia

jgnat....That's great! I hope I've helped kindle a bit of interest on his part. What do you like painting? My mom has always liked painting clouds.

YoursChelbie....I was there for only a day so I didn't get to see much of the city....but here are some views of Dealey Plaza that I took. This first one was taken from atop the Triple Underpass and I was able to capture a flock of birds in flight, which reminds me of the flock of birds that took flight during the assassination.

This next one is the spot where JFK was fatally shot with the Texas School Book Depository in the background:

And a view at the corner of Elm:

Leolaia

BTTT

Leolaia's Scenic Travel Photos

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