When it comes to travel photography, pictures of distant landscapes can capture people’s imagination for a moment. But captivating, outlandish vistas can only hold people’s attention for so long.
Human beings are wired in such a way that observing other humans is what interests us most. And foreign people also raise our natural curiosity and everything else.
There is a certain flavor to portrait photos taken in distant countries during travel that other genres of photography do not have. And there also are specific challenges.
There is no all-encompassing solution or single right way to approach people. But some tips can make taking great portraits of locals a more manageable part of your travel photography.
Travel Photography Tips
1. Prepare Your Gear
Let’s assume that you have everything arranged. Someone has allowed you to take their picture, feeling comfortable and waiting for you to fire the shutter.
And then, you begin to mess with your camera settings, which can easily ruin the mood and the shot.
The easiest way to avoid such embarrassment is to adjust your camera beforehand.
It is much better to engage someone in a photo session when neither of you has to worry about technicalities.
2. Study the Culture
To take good portrait pictures, you must interact with your subjects. To make this communication smoother, learn more about the culture and etiquette in advance.
Even your outfit should fit local “fashion,” especially in more traditional or conservative countries like Kenya.
You will have a much easier time if you appear to locals as a fellow person of culture. And, wherever you may go, being polite is a must.
3. Find Yourself a Guide
Having someone to show you the way around in a foreign land is a good idea and has some benefits for travel photography.
A guide can help you find a way in an unfamiliar place, navigate local culture and show the intricacies of local etiquette – a necessary knowledge if you want to communicate with the local people.
Furthermore, why not take some pictures of the guide(s) themselves?
4. Make it Personal…
It’s one thing to grab a lens with a great zoom and “snipe” people’s portraits from a distance without them knowing.
But you’ll have to establish closer contact to achieve something more engaging, even visceral.
Start with small talk and build up from there. You may appear…
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