We’ve all been there. You go on vacation armed with either your point-&-shoot or your shiny new DSLR and you shoot the crap out of anything you see that’s mildly interesting. But when you get home, you’ve got 3,000 pictures, and 2,500 of them are of the same 5 clouds. Photography blog Mostly Lisa discusses what steps you can take to minimize the stress during and after your vacation, so that you can actually enjoy it and come back with good photos.Beyond picking the right gear to bring with you, there’s the issue of how everything is seen. Relax and smell the roses. Don’t shove your lens into your loved one’s faces every ten seconds or they’ll come out angry in all the later pictures. Pick and choose your key shots wisely. Not only will this pre-editing method save you time sorting through hundreds of jpgs later, but you’ll actually get to experience your destination with your own eyes, and not a through a viewfinder.
Lisa’s weapon of choice is her beloved Canon 5DMKII, with which she pairs a wide-to-medium zoom lens and a hot shoe flash with omni diffuser. She also brings a point & shoot and her trusty iPhone4. While I’ve always been a big fan of the “boy scout” arsenal, I usually find that its overkill, especially on vacation. Bear in mind, the full frame DSLR already weighs enough to kill a small rodent if dropped from your waist. Not to mention the extra heft of the flash etc. All this weight may discourage some novices from pulling out the camera after a couple hours. The hands and neck get tired and suddenly some rare moments have been missed due to caddy fatigue.
I say, bring what works for you. Chase Jarvis says “The best camera is the one you have on you”. This is absolutely true if you understand a few fundamentals of photography. I have composed and shot some of my favorite pictures with my Motorola Droid and Droid 2. (Granted, there was plenty of natural light to feed the anemic sensor on those phones) You don’t always need the biggest, baddest mama jama camera out there. Practice and be patient with what you’ve got, and you’ll start liking the results.
