Photographing the Small Things – from Your Travels

We all tend to photograph the big things while we are traveling, such as landscapes, buildings, the people but we often forget about photographing the small things that make an …

area, city, culture, etc. different from the others we visit.    As a child I loved to pick up seashells and rocks.    I kept them in boxes and hauled them out every so often to look at them.  There is a better way to remember those small items you collect and you can display then on your walls.  You can take photos of groups of images when you see them as your are traveling.   Markets and bizarres are a great place for this as there are usually groupings of the same or similar items together.

If you have collected a handful of the local currency, group together and make an image.   Paper currency is very colorful and interesting.

If you really like to make images of these small things and you collect various small items, a Light Box is a great way to photograph them.    I use the Artograph 12 inch by 9 inch Light Pad Light Box which gives a bright white surface to shoot on.   You might need to add a little light to the top of the items since the camera will be seeing all that light but that is easily done with a flash light or a Promaster LED120 Camera/Camcorder Light

You should use a tripod to shoot these items as the Depth of Field is very shallow & your Shutter Speed will be need to be relatively slow.   Use a small f stop of f32 so as much as possible is in focus.   The shutter speed will be determined by the available & added light.

Post processing of the image also enhances the colors and contrast to give you a more arty look.  (More on that in a future post!)

Flowers & insects are great subjects for macro & close up photography but there are so many other small things out there that we can makes images of.   So always be on the lookout for items that would make an interesting photo for your wall by photographing the small things.

Please take a look at my Macro and Flower galleries for other similar images.

That is all for now.

Lynn