Award winning photographers Jim Richardson and Dan Westergren of National Geographic Traveler, share their tips of how to shoot photographs that look as good as postcards...

Feel at ease with your camera but also with yourself. If you doubt your abilities in the first place, then you better not shoot at all. Certainly, the more acquainted you are with the particular model of your photographic camera, the more comfortable and ready you will feel about what adjustments to make for any given circumstance.  

Get to know your surroundings: It would be unfair to try to create something different from what really lies in front of you. If you correctly conceive your surroundings, then you will easily become a part of the whole scenery. Ideally, you may even discuss with the locals in order to obtain a more spherical conception of the wider region and the culture involved.

Dress suitably: We always dress according to the place or the circumstance we are going to be shooting, in order to feel better with ourselves. For example, we wear tracksuit bottoms and wellies if we are going to be photographing the nature, or we dress properly if we are going to be shooting an event in a church, etc.  

Exploit the bad weather conditions:  This is actually a cliché among photographers. Exploit to maximum the advantages of rain, snow and fog that can actually work wonders for your lens. Don’t forget to always have a plastic sachet with you to protect your camera from getting wet.  

Get closer to the scene and make new friends:  You should not feel as a spy. It might be a good idea sometimes to put your camera aside, approach the people you want to photograph and talk with them first. It is not incidental that the most famous portrait photographs were not shot from across the street.

Try the local food: Allow the locals to treat you with whatever they are eating. This is a rule for all photographers working for National Geographic Traveler. In case you are not hungry, have at least a bite in order to be polite.

Comprehend precisely who you are photographing:  If you want your shot of a person to be successful, then do not hesitate to talk with them even for a mere second and let them know what you have in mind.  

Challenge yourself to go farther: In order to obtain the much wanted photograph, we might have to go between furniture and anything that might obstruct us, we might even have to climb on trees or go up the hill to get the best angle possible of whatever it is that we are shooting. Choose what you want to shoot and keep walking around it taking pictures from many different angles.  

Grade yourself and your work: If you are shooting for professional purposes or even if you put yourself in the position of shooting for a test or for something you will be judged for, then chances are that you will take it far more seriously and you will become better at your work. At the same time, the locals will do whatever they can in order to help you achieve your goals.  

Try harder and harder and harder: So what if you shot the perfect picture? Why stop at that single shot and not think of one more possible way of capturing the same thematic? And then another one! Try at least 3 times when you have shot something worthy the first time round!

From: Eva Kanellopoulos

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