I have to make a confession, whenever people used to ask me for travel photography tips, I would refer them to researching online. It's not that I didn't want to help, but I just thought there would be tons of tips and articles online, and there were - and there still are. But when I finally took the chance to look through some of these articles myself, I was largely disappointed. Either the advice provided was too basic or it was too advanced. I have accumulated a lot of quick and easy tips to significantly improve travel photography, and I'm finally getting around to sharing a few here:

1) Research the location

My best shots rarely happen by chance, they are photographed with purpose. I spend hours researching before going on a trip in order to have a complete understanding of the sights that I need to and want to photograph. When I research a sight - whether a local market or a world wonder - I consider all the tiny details, including:

• the best time to photograph in terms of sun light


• the best time to photograph in terms of crowds and people, depending on if I want a clean shot or if I want to capture people


• cultural considerations around a location that I should capture


• the stories that have been told about this location already and the story I want to tell

My friend and photographer Sivan Askyo does this particularly well. She shoots design and details, especially in hotels and cafes. A while back she asked me to recommend some cafes and hotels in San Francisco that had the type of decor she liked to photograph because she was visiting the city for the first time. I’m not sure what the purpose of her trip was but she was so thorough in her research that she even made sure to find the type of accommodation that could lead to the pictures she was looking for. Next time you’re looking for a hotel to stay at and you think about your budget and location, think about Sivan.

2) Wait 5 minutes longer

Or 10, or in my case, 15:

I once stood at one spot in a museum for 15 minutes so I could get a clean shot of its interiors without any visitors. The end result appeared as if I had been invited into the museum during its off hours when it was closed to the public, but that was clearly not the case. That extra 15 minutes was well worth my time, especially if that image ended up getting published in a magazine. Patience is a photographer’s friend.

When I travel with friends, they sometimes capture a shot that is almost perfect but has one small imperfection: there was somebody walking by in the back, or there was a flicker in the corner of the frame. In that case, they generally walk away and say “Whatever, it was good enough”.  But sometimes just waiting for a few more minutes and shoot again can be the difference between good enough and amazing.

3) Take 10x more images than you do now

Back when I used to shoot fashion photography, thousands of shots would be taken and it would get cut down into the 6-8 that make a magazine. Yet somehow, when people see images in magazines, they think there was just that 1 shot, or just those 6 shots.

I probably take even more shots per “look” now that I’m a travel photographer. In an uncontrolled environment, I’ll take 5 shots of the same or near same composition. I’ll adjust the focal point, and shift the angle slightly, take half a step to the right or left, stand on my toes, or kneel down. All of the same shot. I do this to make sure that I always have choices to pick from in terms of angles, composition (landscape vs. portrait), and that I never have to worry if the shot I really loved was out of focus, because I’ll have another half a dozen to choose from. And I have never regretted having choice.

Let me know if you have some tips of your own to share. I'm considering offering more photo tools and tips in the futre so definitely let me know if you've found this helpful.

Psst, you're about to view a post with a lot of images. Want to know how I got my photographs like that? Let me show you... 

Last month when I was in San Francisco, I wrote about the salt water and ocean breeze that made me feel like home. For my most recent stay in California, I opted to stay in the Valley. I didn't want to give up the ocean so I spent some time in Santa Cruz where the beach and the boardwalk were bustling with visitors.

I captured plenty of blues in the images from Santa Cruz and then I realized - blue is a funny color, there are so many hues of blue, even in things as universal as the ocean, and the sky. The blues I captured in Santa Cruz were different than the hazy and misty blues of San Francisco. In Santa Cruz, the blues were sunburnt, sand-filled, and faded.

In Santa Cruz, the blues were worn out from the numerous sunbathers who had visited the area time and time again.

I have been using Photoshop for as long as I have been shooting with a digital camera, which is 6 years this summer. Over the years, I have been fielding questions about how I edit my images. Finally, I am letting others in on my Photoshop secrets. The key to making my photos look the way they do is Photoshop Curves.

Over the weekend, I created an Etsy shop so that lovely readers like you can take make improve the look and feel of your own photographs. I wanted to keep these curves affordable, starting at $7.50CAD. And for the rest of this week, blog readers will enjoy a special discount, just use the coupon code - JITLOVE - and get 20% off of your purchase. I stocked the shop with 4 of my most frequently used curves:

Kingston: I spent four years living in Kingston Canada, a city with long, dark winters. In those dark seasons, the photographs I captured would turn out to be darker than I liked. Living in Kingston inspired me to create this curve. With a gentle effect, it is my go to curve for any photograph. I call it the Photoshop curve for lazy photographers. ($7.50CAD) <click to purchase>



Seattle: I grew up a few hours outside of Seattle and visited frequently. Every memory of mine of the city is full of rain and dramatic clouds. Seattle inspired the photoshop curve of the same name. The effect adds drama to an image by darkening the shadows. This curve creates best to create a dark mood and emphasis blue tones of a photograph. ($7.50CAD) <click to purchase>



Oslo: Oslo is one of my favorite cities to photograph because of its vibrant street scene. I created this photoshop curve to give the same pop of brightness and color to my images. Compared to its sister curve - Kingston - this curve adds much more noticeable brightness and vibrance to an image. It works on a variety of images and conditions. ($7.50CAD) <click to purchase>



Napa: After a weekend in Napa Valley, I fell in love with the warmth of the always sunny Napa and orange flow it casts on everything. I created this curve, Napa, to add warmth and a beautiful sun glow to my images. This curve will bring flat images to life. ($10.00CAD) <click to purchase>


I hope you will drop by my Etsy store for a purchase, and hurry because you can get 20% off when you make your purchase this week, just use the coupon code - "JITLOVE". 

And here's how to use the curves in photoshop:

1)

after purchase, the curves will be sent to you a file. download the curves to either one of these locations:

for PC – C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop [your version]\Presets\Curves
for MAC – User/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop [your version]/Presets/Curves

2) this step is borrowed from a fellow photographer Julia Trotti

for mac:

- open photoshop and the picture you want to edit
- press command + m to open the curves window
- open the little box next to the "presets" bar
- choose the option "load preset", and find the curve you downloaded


windows:

- open photoshop and the picture you want to edit
- press command + m to open the curves window
- press the "load" button
- find your downloaded curve and press "ok"

Happy photo editing!

California, we meet again.

While I faced what I considered to be freezing temperatures when I visited San Francisco over the summer, October in California welcomed me with no shortage of sun. On this trip, I left San Francisco for the warmer temperatures of the Valley. With every visit to California, I am also considering moving here next year since I will have no official ties to Toronto when my apartment lease is up in the summer of 2013.

It would certainly be nice to be on the west coast again but a side of me is also concerned that moving to California means giving up the opportunity to move somewhere far and foreign - maybe Asia (it certainly has been a long time since I lived there), or maybe South America (which would be a first for me). There is still plenty of time to think this through, and while I am deciding, I have to admit,  warm weekends like the one I had in Santa Cruz certainly makes moving to sunny Cali very tempting.

Yours, cozying up to California.

It came and went. Before I could even tell my friends and family about it, I was home.

I'm lucky that my work sometimes takes me home , or at least close to it. Last month, I got to spend a short week in Vancouver on a business trip. Long time readers know that I live and breathe the city. Although I'm not sure that my work life will ever allow me to relocate back there, it will always be home.

On a mild Sunday, I took a quick trip to one of my favorite island markets with some old friends. Granville Island is a perfect getaway when Vancouverites cannot get away from the city itself. Attached to the mainland, and accessible by pubic transportation from land and sea, Granville Island has all the ingredients for an afternoon getaway:  markets, street performers, food, sun, and the water. Sadly, I did not appreciated Granville Island enough when I was living in Vancouver. Now I can only make up time with every possible visit.

And I do so happily.