Travel photography: expert advice on how to make your pictures stand out

Photography

To celebrate World Photography Day, on August 19, veteran travel writer and photographer Tim Pile shares some tips on how to get postcard perfect pictures
Eye contact, light and perspective are all important, as are a little bit of luck and a lot of patience

Photography

Tim Pile

Published: 1:00am, 19 Aug 2020

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To coincide with World Photography Day, on August 19, here are some images that have accompanied my South China Morning Post travel submissions over the past two decades. There’s a story behind some of the shots and I’ve included a few tips picked up along the way.

KRAKOW, POLAND (2016) Taking photos of a large plaza from ground level is notoriously difficult. Aerial views offer a better perspective but I don’t own a drone. Instead, I asked the receptionist at a hotel overlooking Market Square for permission to take some pictures from a guest room.

BAGAN, MYANMAR (2004) This image ticks a number of portrait photography boxes: strong eye contact; genuine smiles; and endearing mannerisms such as fingers resting on forearms and heads tilted inward. So was I just lucky? Not really. I took 20 shots and deleted 19 before I’d even got back to my hotel.

VILNIUS, LITHUANIA (2018) After taking a few ordinary photos of Vilnius Cathedral, the heavens opened and I had to run for cover. When I returned, the sky had turned a dusky indigo and a huge puddle provided a new canvas to experiment with.

GRAND CANYON, THE UNITED STATES (2003) One of the best ways to enhance any landscape photo is to include a point of foreground interest. Here, the hiker leads the eye into the scene and gives a sense of scale or, in this case, insignificance.

MUMBAI, INDIA (2011) Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus is one of the world’s busiest railways stations but initially I struggled to convey the overwhelming crush of humanity at rush hour. The solution was to steady my camera against a pillar and set the shutter speed to four seconds, which created motion blur and a frenetic feel.

THE FRENCH ALPS (2012) Besides snapping close-ups of exhausted Tour de France riders urged onwards by rabid fans, it can also be rewarding to step back and capture a broader perspective. This image, captured near the summit of the Col de la Madeleine, shows spectators gathered on a sharp bend where the cyclists have to slow down.

LADAKH, INDIA (2011) The aim of this photo, taken on the “road” from Leh to Manali, was to encourage speculation. Will the van descend into the valley below or climb higher into the Himalayas? It was the latter – an hour later we summited Taglang La pass (5,328 metres) on the second highest motorable road in the world.

KIEV, UKRAINE (2013) When I arrived at St Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, the shafts of sunlight weren’t quite where I wanted them to be, so I went for a coffee. By the time I got back, the beams were shining in just the right spot and, on cue, the woman appeared and stood so that her face was illuminated.

ICELAND (2014) The band of yellow provides foreground interest, the path guides the eye towards the bright red cottage in the middle distance while the icing sugar-white mountains form the backdrop. The composition would be further improved if someone had walked up the path. I waited but no one came.

HONG KONG (2010) This is the only image here that didn’t accompany one of my Post articles, although it does have the feel of a travel photo. Is the farmer toiling in the rice terraces of the Philippines, or Vietnam perhaps? Neither, and it’s water spinach not rice. I know that because the man is my landlord, photographed from my bedroom window on Lantau Island. Sometimes an eye-catching image is right under our noses.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Worth ten thousand words

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