Think outside the camera box

Travel makes you want to take great photos. Consider stepping up your game and trying something new.

On a lazy day in Cuenca, as it rained outside, we used our inside time for another lesson in how to better use our camera, a Sony RX100 II. Mind you, our camera is not new, but we know photographers can get stuck in a rut, taking photos in old, familiar ways. So, we thought, let’s see what we might do differently!

After about 45 minutes of learning a few new things, we saw a button on the camera that we never have used before: “FN”. What’s that? It wasn’t in the short manual we downloaded, and, after a bit of searching, we discovered that this button gave us a neat new tool. We can select a picture effect for our photos: pop art, watercolor, painting, emphasizing one color, soft focus, retro, etc.   For joy!

Anxious to try out the picture effects, we headed for the path along the Tomebamba River when the rain clouds had cleared.

As rivers go, it’s not wide or deep, but it is very rocky, and the current is fast. Using the watercolor effect gives the river a classic look with colors in the same tones.

The illustration effect is interesting and would be great to use in story telling.

Now when we look at the photo we took without any picture effect, it looks flat and boring.

Longs ribbons of green grass line the river on both sides. A variety of trees add to the lush look. A woman was washing her clothes in the river and spreading them out to dry on the grass. We set the camera to the pop color effect – and that it did!

The soft color effect gives the impression of a dream, and this would be so useful for landscapes, flowers, and how about portraits?

Photography is an art, and travel photos are meant to convey a sense of place and people and culture. When using picture effects serves that purpose, we think that will only improve our photo travelogue.

 

 

May 2016