Picture-perfect photographs

‌

Sandy Adams

Sandy Adams gives photography advice

Summer will be here before you know it, and that means vacation time. With vacation comes photos—and who doesn’t love taking photos to show friends and family back home? You don’t have to be a professional photographer to capture strong images. Here are some travel/outdoor photography tips to get you started.

1. Keep things simple—too much information can clutter an image.
2. Take advantage of complementary colors. The jogger’s red coat mixed with cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C., provide an extra punch.
3. Look for lines, shapes or patterns to add interest. The variation between light and dark in the photo of fog in Prince William Sound, Alaska, helps to create visual texture.
4. Change your point of view—stand up, sit down, move left, move right. I kneeled to capture that eye-level stare in the photo of Gentoo penguins at Half Moon Island in Antarctica.
5. Include photos of local residents to show the flavor of the location.
6. Set the mood of your photos with weather and exposure. The serene photo of the bergy bit iceberg at Prince William Sound was created by the fog and the subdued lighting that muted the colors.

Sandy Adams ’92 (photo illustration) is the owner/photographer of Outdoorvizions Photography in Washington, D.C. She specializes in anything outdoors, nature or man-made. Adams published her first book, Icebergs and Glaciers: Vanishing Beauties, which is available through Blurb. You can see more of her work at Sandy Adams Outdoorvizions Photography website.