The Basics of Travel Photography Workshop

We’d like to introduce Travel Massive Prague community member and workshop leader Jaroslav Hora. Jaroslav hosted Prague’s first Basics of Travel Photography course and is now sharing his helpful wrap-up tips from the Travel Massive Workshop. 

During Jaroslav’s photographic workshops focused on travel photography, he assists new and less experienced photographers in understanding photographic techniques in general, and some generally accepted rules, such as composition.

Photo Credit: Horus EYE s.r.o.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background in the field.

I’ve been into photography since my childhood years. Since 2005, I’ve been in the business professionally, and since 2006 it’s been my major job. I make most of my living on commercial photography for businesses, but my passion is landscape photography and people in natural conditions. Since I enjoy sharing my photographic experiences, I decided in 2014 to start running courses, workshops and photo trips.

What inspired you to lead a Travel Massive Workshop?

Traveling is, in my opinion, tightly linked to photography. You want to save those beautiful moments and traveling experiences not only in your memories but also in pictures. And who wouldn’t want these pictures to be beautiful?

Photo Credit: Horus EYE s.r.o.

Can you give us a detailed description about the topics you discussed during the workshop?

1: What equipment is the best in travel photography?

• compact camera vs DSLR
• wide-angle  vs zoom lenses
• lens speed
• use of tripod in night photography

2: camera settings

• Use of the aperture priority to get the desired depth of field
• Use of continuous AF, for example, when taking pictures of birds or people in motion
• Use of a single AF point vs full auto-focus
• White balance setup in indoor photography, outdoor photography in daylight, and night photography

3: composition

• Rule of thirds and the golden ratio
• How to avoid central composition (or use it just sparsely)
• Use of big depth of field with a foreground interest using the rule of thirds, to add depth

4: mistakes

• Common mistakes and how to avoid them
• E.g. trimmed legs, heads, church spears etc.
• Overexposed images with blown highlights in the sky
• Uneven horizon (sea photography)
• Tilting verticals (e.g. buildings)

And much more! 

Photo Credit: Horus EYE s.r.o.

Are there any additional tips you’d like to share with our Travel Massive readers?

The most important part of any workshop is the field experience, so I never miss it out in my courses. During field work we do specific tasks, and always discuss the results.

For the same reason, I also offer photographic walks or trips, entirely spent on the field.

Anything else you would like to us to add?

With a colleague of mine, we’re currently preparing and launching the project of photo walks in Prague, by day and night, for Czech people and foreign tourists alike. We may meet on such a walk one day.

Workshop wrap-ups are featured on the Travel Massive news feed to provide community members with quality tips within the travel industry. If you would like to learn more about how you can host a Travel Massive Workshop in your city, click here.