Rick Steves' travel photographer Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli meets you in the dining car and passes along his do's and don'ts to guaranteed swanky vacation images.
ART KIT
If I was marooned on an atoll w/only the essentials, I'd take: 1 camera, a 28-105ish zoom lens, 200 ASA negative film, an 81A filter (slightly warm, but mostly to protect the lens) and a polarizing filter (to make the sky deep blue and cut out reflections on water and windows). That's it. Your basic art kit.
FILM IS CHEAP
Once you're at your location, and you've loaded your camera, and everything's ready, the LEAST expensive item of the whole schmear is the film. Your time, everyone else's time, and that magic light are MUCH more dear than a roll of film, for Pete's sake. So shoot with wild abandon. Overshoot. Try things. 'Cause you'll wish you had later. Digital's even better - it costs nothing! Just erase the ones you don't like afterwards.
400 ASA COLOR NEGATIVES
If I had to recommend one type of film for someone's vacation it'd be 400 ASA color print film. I find the grain of 400 to be negligible for regular sized prints, and it gives you 2 extra stops (compared to 100 speed) to shoot in dusk and lowlight. It just makes the most sense for most people. 200 or even 100 ASA film or slower is indeed more desirable if you have more light or are using a tripod, but the 400 ASA film nowadays is darn impressive. Negative (print) film is nice because the exposure for negatives is more forgiving than with slides. And you can make b/w prints or slides from color negs later if you need to.
OVEREXPOSE (but only with negatives!)
Of course this isn't wise at all if you're shooting slides, but if you're shooting negatives and you're ever concerned about exposure, overexpose a bit. It's better to have MORE data on the negative than LESS. If you overexpose, the lab can easily print it down. If you underexpose, there's not much anyone can do.
CLEAR CANISTERS
Oh will the airport x-ray people love you if you pack your film in clear canisters, in a ziploc bag. Most film labs recycle canisters - simply ask them for some clear ones if the film you buy happens to come in black canisters. And once the clear canisters are in a ziploc bag, it's a quick affair for the airport people to handcheck the whole bundle without opening it. You'll zoom through the x-ray area. (This tip is assuming you know not to pack your film in your checked baggage - always take your film carry-on, and have them handcheck it. Every x-ray will damage your film a little more.)
GET IN THEIR FACE!
FILL THE FRAME with what you're shooting! Don't backup 17 hectares for the nice shot of grandma's smile. FILL THE FRAME. Get too close! Cut the top of her head off! Figure out what you're shooting - her expression? The dog's eyeball? A gargoyle? And get close enough so your content is visible. And if it's strangers you're shooting, still get close! Granted, if you're looking for a candid shot of strangers, you may have to do achieve your "closeness" with a telephoto lens instead of actual physical proximity. But if inconspicuousness doesn't matter, go talk to them! Introduce yourself. Ask them if you can shoot their picture. Usually they'll be delighted and it'll show.
CROSS-PROCESSING
One neato MTV trick is to shoot negative film and have the lab process it as a slide, E-6. Or to shoot slide film and process it as a negative, C-41. The switching of the processing ends up funkifying the colors, and usually giving you a different color shift with different brands of film. Experiment and see what happens. Generally when shooting negatives and processing them as slides, you need to add contrast, so push 3 stops.
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CLICK HERE to see London to Lisbon, Europe Through the Back Door (2), the most recent Europe Through the Back Door portfolio Dominic has created using these same techniques.
or CLICK HERE to see Dominic's first Europe Through the Back Door (1) Portfolio.
Rick Steves' travel photographer Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli meets you in the dining car and passes along his do's and don'ts to guaranteed swanky vacation images.
