Are you traveling around Asia with a nice camera you don`t know how to use to its full potential? Our Photography instructor Jason gives us some fantastic tips on creating truly amazing photographs.
Sitting through a slide-show or looking through an album of someone’s vacation photos has long been a test of true friendship, as anyone politely enduring hundreds of pictures of the Eiffel Tower or Angkor Wat can attest to. This has never been more true than the last half-decade, since digital photography has freed the shutter-happy traveler from the limitations of film and its concomitant expenses. With a little forethought, a selective eye, and some simple editing, however, you can spare your friends the tedium of feigning interest in every temple you saw in Laos, and turn the obligatory smiles on your family’s faces into ones of genuine interest. In this post we’ll look at a few ways to do just that.
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Getting the Best Out of You and Your Camera
As part our our new Bangkok Photography course we want to help you take the best photographs you can.
The take-home message of today’s post is thinking in themes. People naturally look for similarities and differences between images they are viewing. As a photographer, you can exploit this natural human tendency by shooting, choosing and grouping images with this in mind. Below are a few examples of how you can do this:
Color Themes
Choose a color (or a few colors) and shoot images which feature that color as its major visual theme. When preparing your slideshow or album, group these images together for a striking visual effect.
Content Themes
Pick a few subjects which you’re likely to encounter over and over again on your travels and shoot them any chance you get, creating mini-collections of common subjects. A few of my favorites include phone booths, graffiti, and old cars. Other ideas include street vendors, signage, people on bicycles, or just about anything else you can think of…
Shape Themes
Think not just at what you’re taking a picture of, but take note of its shape and form as well. Try to capture a variety of images linked by their subject’s shape, and then group them together in a set for an interesting effect: continuity of shape with juxtaposition of content. (also note how with some creative thinking, the same image can make its way into a number of sets) 
Time Lapse Triptych
Shoot a series images in quick succession of a subject in motion, then choose the three most compelling among the results and group them together into a time-lapse triptych to really capture a sense of action. This technique works best if you keep the camera in the same position for the duration of the shooting. 
Bangkok Digital Photography Course
Our new photography course covers all the skills covered in this article. Courses run during the afternoon starting at our Asoke Training centre and then moves out into the photogentic world of Bangkok.
The course is aimed at complete beginners wanting to make the most out of their digital camera. We believe in good in, great out, so we teach you to take good pictures ready for importing into Adobe Lightroom to make them truely fantastic.
Click here for full information on the WCB Digital Photography Course.
