Improve Your Photography, Change Your Life

© Zigy Kaluzny

Tried of coming home from an amazing vacation to photos that are less than stellar? Zigy Kaluzny, motorcyclist and long-time photographer for publications such as Time, Newsweek and People, has some suggestions for making them better.

© Zigy Kaluzny“One of the biggest mistakes people make,” says Kaluzny, “is they don't spend time playing with the camera and learning to use it.” So, before you go somewhere, get on that. And try the following.

Use Fill Flash

Even when shooting in bright daylight, using your flash can fill in darkly shadowed eye sockets. Also, says Kaluzny, “Most people don’t realize, flash doesn't just add light, it adds contrast. So a nice exercise is to try to shoot stuff with the fill flash on in the middle of the day, even though it's being hit by light, and notice how it adds a little snap to things.”

Focus!

Focus and exposure lock is another. Suppose you have a subject that is close to you but you want to include an expansive background as well.

© Zigy Kaluzny“Point the camera at your subject, press the shutter button halfway down (usually a little light will come on in your viewfinder telling you you're focused), and then, holding the shutter button down halfway, recompose and take the picture.”

They key is thinking about what part of the picture is the most important, and then making certain that that is the part that is in focus. Also, if you want your motorcycle in the picture consider including just a portion of it. And if there’s anything that can tell the viewer where you are, include that in the photo. For instance, a Canadian flag in the frame gives your viewers a pretty good suggestion you shot the picture in Canada.

Choose the Right Light

One of the most important things you can do is take your photos at the right time of day.

“Generally, in the middle of the day, the light's horrible. It's flat and it's boring. The best time to shoot, the magic hour, is in the first 20 minutes after the sun comes up and the last 20 minutes before the sun goes down. Look at light. Notice how light is different at different times of day, and how things lit from the side look different from things lit from the front.”

Choose Your Subject Wisely

© Zigy KaluznyKaluzny recognizes that most people on vacation are not likely to get up before dawn to shoot pictures, but, he says, “If you're going to take pictures, why not put a little time and effort into it? I try to look for images that give the place its unique personality. Usually I shoot people and places and signs. I find detail very interesting, so I like to make bizarre and a bit strange pictures. I like to make people laugh and wonder, 'Well this is curious. What's this about?' They're fun to shoot, they're fun to look at, and they're fun to send people from the road.”

You might assume that a big-time pro like Kaluzny would carry around serious photographic equipment but you would be wrong. He finds today’s small, high-resolution digital cameras totally adequate, plus they have the advantage that he can carry the camera around his neck as he rides. See a great image? Set the throttle lock and get the shot. If it rains he slips the camera in his jacket pocket.

Keep the Best, Scrap the Rest

Finally, Kaluzny says, it’s only silicone. Shoot a lot of pictures and then ruthlessly edit out the bad ones. He suggests copying all your photos down to your laptop at night into folders labeled to tell you when and where they were shot. Then delete the really bad ones and create a folder named “Best” and move your very best shots there. Then, as a safeguard, copy that folder onto a flash drive or email it to yourself.

Who knows, with luck and some effort, the next time you ask your friends if they’d like to see pictures from your trip they might actually say yes.

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