Make sure you pack a spare memory card and extra batteries when you hit the road with your digital camera, because these compact picture-takers are perfect travel companions. The best portraits on the road usually consist of two shots. The first frame, often called the establishing shot, is of the point of interest itself, such as an old church. Then the second image is a nicely framed portrait with an element of the structure included in the picture. Why two shots? For the same reason that movie makers use this technique. If you were to include the entire structure and the model in the establishing shot, the model would be unrecognizable. That’s the problem with so many vacation shots— they’re taken at too great a distance.
You can’t capture the grandeur of great buildings and monuments,
and take a portrait, in the same shot. Can you find
the model in Figure 10? Look in the oval.
On the other hand, if you shoot all of your travel portraits tightly framed only, your viewers won’t know the difference between Denmark and Detroit. By using the two-shot method you establish the scene and capture an engaging portrait.
Figure 11 illustrates the two-shot method.
One last note: don’t forget to take pictures of signs and placards. It’s a lot easier than taking notes, and the information comes in very handy when recounting your travel experiences.
Figure 10.The model is dwarfed within this travel shot of a beautiful mission (f-4.7 @ 1/600th of a second)
Figure 11.Once you’ve captured the establishing shot, you can move in close for the portrait—even if it’s of an architectural element
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