Frommer's Digital Travel Photography Digital Field Guide

By John Virata

Digital Travel Photography Digital Field Guide will help you to become a better prepared traveling photographer. Whether you are a professional, a photo enthusiast, or you are just in charge of shooting the family vacation, this guide offers a lot of tips. Just seven chapters and 236 pages in length, this full color, color coded guide fits perfectly in your backpack or knapsack. It is very handy to bring along with you as you shoot. We'll cover some topics in each of the chapters in this review.

Chapter 1: Exploring the Digital Camera
This chapter covers the different categories of digital cameras available, as well as their features, such as resolution, lens attributes, Focus, exposure, viewing system, performance, flash range, external flash, LCD hood, lens hood, etc. It details which type of camera has what features, as well as some considerations to make if you are in the market for a new camera. The author poses some questions, and based on your answers, makes a suggestion as to what type of camera to purchase. these questions include questions such as how many pictures you take, is your camera a long term investment, do you want to share accessories, do you plan to edit your images.

Chapter 2: Prepping your Digital Camera for a Smooth Trip
This chapter is about being prepared, the famous motto for scouting. The author opens the chapter with a pretrip checkout. Here you check your camera and equipment to make sure everything is in order and in working condition. Also discussed is the cleaning of your equipment, especially the camera's lens(es), exterior, and in the case of digital SLRs, the interior and the sensor. He provides instructions for removing dirt and dust from a DSLR sensor; cleaning via air, brushing, and liquid cleaning. Other adjustments include mitigating hot or dead pixels, exposure and contrast tweaking. I always have issues with packing my gear, so much so that each trip is totally different, sometimes better, sometimes worse, than the last trip. The author provides some tips as well as some example provisions to pack your gear with and in. He includes a checklist of what he calls the emergency fix it kit with such items as zip lock bags, rubber bands, lens cleaning kit, stuff you should bring on every trip. Also discusses is how to get through security, customs, and get on the plane.

Chapter 3 Photography Basics is where some interesting points are made. Here the author discusses exposure and focus adjustments with simple digital cameras as well as advanced digital cameras. This chapter offers a basic discussion on such aspects of the camera as exposure, lens adjustment, depth of field, focal length, diffraction sharpness, rendition, focus distance, adjusting the aperture, all your basic photography 101 topics.

Click here to purchase

Chapter 4: Working with Light
An important chapter, Working with Light focuses on the differences of light and how light affects your images. Topics include working with continuous or available light, coping with intensity, shooting in low light situations, shooting in extra bright environments, white balance issues, using a flash, choosing a flash mode, using the built in flash, and using an external flash. Because light is so important and what essentially enables the camera to shoot a picture, the author discusses virtually all types of lighting situations and how to approach your shots.

Chapter 5: Accessories for Digital Travel Photography
This chapter offers discussions on the types of accessories that you should consider bringing on your trip. In addition to essentials such as batteries, memory cards, and cleaning kits, there is an extensive section on the different camera bag options available to you (shoulder bags, backpacks, sling bags, modular belt systems, etc.), and the author discusses them in detail, including the pros and cons of each style of bag, as well as the use of a stealth, or camouflage bag that deters thievery. Also discussed is the tripod or monopod, and how to choose one. The author recommends a ball head tripod as it is the most user friendly to photographer, as opposed to the pan and tilt head tripod. This is something I didn't know, as I always used my camcorder tripod, which is a pan and tilt, to shoot photographs. The second section involves selecting a flash and in the case of DSLRs, selecting an additional lens, or in the case of a fixed lens digital camera, lens add-ons such as wide angle or telephoto adapters.

Chapter 6 Techniques for Great Travel Photos
This section covers a lot of basic photography skills combined with that of travel. Topics covered in the chapter include a range of photographic scenarios, including shooting in a museum, landscape and nature, night and evening, panoramic photography, sunset and sunrise photography, water and reflection, weather photography, event and festivals, architecture and monument, candid photography, cultural photography, and more. In addition to the types of subjects, the author discusses some ways to approach the shot, such as when to shoot vertical as opposed to horizontal, what is the center of interest, what is the right shooting distance and angle, etc. In addition, each of the specific types of photography discussed, i.e.: action adventure, is complemented in the chapter with a recommendation on the type of lighting, lens, camera settings, exposure, and accessories would better enhance the shot. There is also an extensive section on infrared travel photography that is very interesting for those who wish to experiment with this type of photographic technique.

Chapter 7 Backing up and Sharing your Images
Not everyone wants to bring a computer when traveling to offload their images as their memory cards fill up. Although some do and prefer to, others do not. Chapter 7 offers some solutions to the traveling photographer for backing up all those cover shots taken on the road. Products the author discusses for backing up photographs include personal storage devices such as portable CD/DVD burners, portable music players such as the iPod, portable hard drives, and the laptop computer. If you are in the market for a new laptop, consider that some have built-in memory card readers. Other solutions include CD/DVD burning services at the local quik-e-mart, and for those who have an online service that can store gigs of data, public libraries and Internet cafe's could offer the gateway to upload your images. 

Frommer's travel guides have long been one of the standards for those who travel. The publisher has noted the huge popularity of digital cameras and digital photography and have enlisted David D. Busch, author of the Nikon D70 Digital Field guide, among 80 others, to write a book dedicated to shooting photographs while traveling, one of the most popular photographic pursuits of all time. Written as a field guide rather than focusing on a particular application, Digital Travel Photography Digital Field Guide not only helps you to prepare your equipment for the rigors of travel, but also gives valuable tips as you shoot a variety of subjects.