The quantity and quality of your images are directly proportional to the amount of planning you do before embarking on your vacation. There’s nothing more disappointing than visiting a once-in-a-lifetime site and taking photos that aren’t up to par. Let’s take a quick glance at how to plan for a photography vacation. Join us as we prepare for our next expedition, and we’ll share some techniques with you that will greatly enhance your chances of getting great images on your own trips!
Get a sense of where you’re going:
We’ll be mainly shooting cityscapes, street photography, and other travel-related pictures during our forthcoming trip. We will travel to Germany to see Nuremberg, Regensburg, and Passau, Austria to see Krems and Vienna, and Hungary to see Budapest. We’ll be visiting Nuremberg, Regensburg, and Krems for the first time, having only visited the other cities last year. We won’t have to do anything for those cities because our information is still very current. The three we haven’t yet seen will undoubtedly receive the most attention.
When we are doing research on a city for the first time, we start with a basic online search. To gain a basic sense of the city’s history and prominent attractions, we frequently start with a Wikipedia entry. We’ll also perform a quick Google search to see what the normal temps and weather are for the time period we’ll be there, so we know what to bring. The basic knowledge about dawn and sunset is obtained, however, it will be examined in greater depth later.
We like to quickly scan images relevant to searches in our private cities. It keeps us focused and helps us prepare for what we want to film. We spoke to other experts who did not want to see photos of the destination. They think they don’t want to influence their artistic choices when they get there. There are no right or wrong answers, only those that fit a certain style of shooting.
Investigate in detail:
Once you get some general information about the city, start digging deeper. At this point, we know what we have in common. We don’t know if there are any restrictions on photos. Can we put a tripod in St. Lorenz’s Church in Nuremberg? Now it’s time to realize that we shouldn’t carry it all day just to find out we can’t use it! This also applies to construction. When we visited St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna last year, we found out that it was under renovation and that half of the building would be columns. Not only did this reduce frustration, but we also learned to film from certain angles to avoid looking at it. The purpose of this in-depth study is to find special places that are not on the tourist map. One of the best ways to do this is to contact a local photographer in the city you are visiting.
For example, we meet at a photography seminar and meet a photographer who was born and raised in Nuremberg. Check your contacts because you never know where they’ll go! Another way to find filming locations is to browse our list of festivals and events. These are open-air markets where locals come during the holidays to enjoy delicious food, beer, and wine and to enjoy each other’s company. Without further research, you would not know that Vienna has many Kinderfest markets and not the main market outside the town hall. Last year in Vienna we dug deeper and visited 5 markets.
Make a plan and stick to it:
At this point, we started filming “when and where” (at least) from “what” we wanted to film. We find it useful to mark the places where we want to take pictures on a map. This helps us to consider the time and the distance and the possibility to get everything. We have no control over the location of the hotel, as we will be on a river cruise on the next trip. Sometimes we are in the middle of things (like the panorama of the Budapest Chain Bridge taken from the top deck of a ship, for example), and sometimes we take public transportation away from the city center. Location mapping will help you decide where your hotel should be!
To keep all of these sites straight, we put them on Google Maps, then we create a personal map and download it to our phone. Accessing international mobile networks can be difficult and costly, depending on your carrier and data plan. Keeping a copy of our card on our phone eliminates these worries. When making maps of places you want to go, take time to see 3D street views as well. This will tell you where is the best angle to shoot. Combining vacation and work, like this trip, will help you spend less time wherever you are.
Going a step further with location planning, we consult with a temporary photographer for information about the dates and months of the cities you visit. This app gives you all the information about where each one goes up and down and where you appear in the sky in relation to your location. This is a very useful tool for filming special scenes perfect for sightseeing for a day or month.
Pack Only Essential Stuff:
The trip is just a few days away, so it’s time to pack up. The best place to start is to check the size and weight limits of the airline for your luggage. Check a bag and bring a bag with your camera bag. We won’t bore you with anything but the camera bag. Because we are sure it will be the most interesting for you!
We will bring two rooms for this trip. A reliable Canon 5D Mark II and a recently purchased Fujifilm XT-2. No matter how much emphasis is placed on it, it cannot be overemphasized. Always carry a back room, be it a room or a room phone! There is nothing worse than capturing a great adventure and not capturing a special moment. We plan to record cityscapes at dawn, dusk, and blue hour, so we take a Canon 16-35mm (f / 2.8l) lens and a Canon 24-105mm (f /). 4L) Lens. Ever since we were shooting in low light, We’ve had a tripod, a shutter, and a headlight in the bag.
We plan to use the XT-2 without a mirror (18-55 mm f / 2.8-4.0) as a driving camera during the day. This is about 1/3 the weight of the Canon DSLR and easily exceeds it in high ISO shooting. It’s great for indoor photos, which are a big part of my daytime photos. It is much smaller and completely quiet, making it easy to take pictures outdoors. Other items that can be included in the bag include additional SIM cards, batteries, and dual-camera chargers.
A laptop, a portable hard drive, a power supply, and two USB (backup) cables to transfer photos from the camera to the computer because we have to do some post-processing when we travel. Finally, there are always a variety of clothes for lenses, blowers, and rain bags in your bag. This time, it has not been added to your shopping cart. Tamron 70-300mm lens (f / 4.0-5.6): useful for architectural photography, but not enough to justify its weight. My filter Lee: Not used enough Blinks outside the room: not very useful.
Conclusion:
A successful journey begins before you leave. If you take the time to research, you will come home with a portfolio of high-quality photos. Knowing what you are filming for, and when and where you are filming will help you get the equipment you need. Having the lightest backpack will definitely make you feel better when you walk all day. Sharing your holiday with photos is minimal if you plan to enjoy and experience the places you visit. Here was the wrap-up on how to plan for a photography vacation.