Holiday & Travel Photography Course

Lesson 1

What Is Travel Photography?

This lesson introduces travel photography as a multi-discipline skill that cuts across several of photography's genres, notably people, landscapes, wildlife, architecture and interiors, with each of these introduced in turn. This is coupled with the notion that travel photography doesn't have to entail travelling thousands of miles - great travel photography opportunities may well be right on your own doorstep, even if you don't live in a tourist area. This moves on to consider the possible aims and priorities of any planned travel photo shoot, which may range from simply photographing the family on holiday, to shooting a range of globally iconic views, to lesser known sites, to aiming to get under the skin of a place and find out a little about what a place is really like. The lesson rounds off with tips on how to plan the trip, in terms of being sure you pick the right kind of destination at the right time of year for the type of photography you want to do, combined with selecting what equipment to take and how to consider the problems of image storage.

Lesson 2

The Human World: People and Events

Lesson 2 is all about the photography of people, whether posed in portraits or caught in action while at work, out on the street, involved in sport, or taking part in a festivel. Nigel takes you through a series of scenarios that help you work out how to cope with a range of lighting situations, both indoors and outside, making use of natural light and flash. This is coupled with the all-important compositional skills, not only in creating a strong main subject, but also in making best use of the 'negative space' - everything in the image frame that is not the main subject. Included here is the balance struck between getting people to pose versus catching people candidly while in action. The material covered in this lesson will help you to improve your people photography in a host of settings, from shots of the family on holiday, through street life, to fast-moving spots and festival images.

Lesson 3

The Manmade Environment: Street Scenes, Architecture and Interiors

This lesson is all about the photography of what we humans have built as part of our civilisation, namely our buildings, from towering skyscrapers to tiny cottages, from ancient ruins to the most modern constructions. The techniques described cover not just the buildings' external architecture, but also their interior designs, and the many street scenes that surround them. Composition and lighting are once again paramount, along with techniques to cope with issues specific to architectural and interiors photography, including frequent legal restrictions. While the section on external architecture looks at techniques for a wide range of building types, when it comes to interiors much of the emphasis is on restaurants, hotels, museums and large public spaces. The street scenes section looks at a range of scenarios from the cluttered city street to market views, to evening nightlights (both neon advertising lights and moving traffic), to the picturesque harbour - a much loved holiday photography scene.

Lesson 4

The Fantastic Natural World: Landscapes and Wildlife

The course rounds off with a look at the natural world, describing how to photograph landscapes and both plant and animal wildlife. The lesson starts off by describing how to move away from the 'point-and-snap' approach to landscape photography towards something a lot more considered. Techniques that put natural light, composition and focussing at the heart of any landscape image are described for a range of settings, including mountains, forests, coasts, lakes, rivers and waterfalls. Particular emphasis is given to photography during the 'golden hours', early and late in the day when the sun is low, along with photography while the sun is below the horizon. Techniques commonly associated with landscape photography are introduced, including use of graduated filters and shooting for the panoramic format. For wildlife photography, techniques for plants, ranging from huge trees to tiny flowers, are covered, including how to use close-up, or macro, equipment. When it comes to animals, techniques for both wild and captive mammals is covered, along with the approach to photography of birds, from large swans to tiny finches, along with specialist close-up techniques for photography of tiny bugs. Again, the critical role of light, composition and focus for both plant and animal photography, is explained.