Preparing for a Trip
Summer is almost here! So, I’m pretty sure that y’all wanna go out to some beach resort or somethin’ to give yer backsides a real good ‘n deserved tan, and I betcha that y’all wanna bring them cameras of yours to that you can take pictures of the white sandy beach there in them Boracay resorts, with all those lovely males and females frolickin’ ‘round with half their fannies exposed.
I’m pretty sure that you do some fancy preparation of sorts before you go out on vacation. You buy sun block, make sure that you have the most fashionable swimwear and all have your iPod charged and ready. However, since you want to take some pictures, are you prepared enough to do that and take are of your equipment at the same time? Bet you’re not.
Like anything else you need to prepare for before embarking on that lovely vacation, you need to prepare your camera gear. Whether you have a point-and shoot camera or an SLR camera, it would be good if you come in prepared for any eventuality that could take away a great photo opportunity. So, here are some tips from us at Kameraderie to help you prepare for your trip.
Read up!
If you want pictures that would have memories that can last you a lifetime, you need to do your homework before you leave. Say for example you’re going to Cambodia for a week or so, it would be best to get some information on when would be the best time to go there for some picture taking. You would also need to read-up on the best places to take some pictures, plus how much time and money that you would need to spend to do just that. One of the best sources of information would be the ever reliable travel guides that you can easily download from the Internet or get from a bookstore. Better yet, if you know somebody who has traveled to the place you’re visiting, why don’t you ask him or her for some information? Nothing beats first hand information.
Even if you’re just going to be in a major city for a couple of days, you’d be surprised by how many lovely places you can take pictures of by just doing your homework in advance. It would also be beneficial for you if you read-up on the some history of the place you’re going to for a photo shoot. Not only would it enrich your knowledge, but it would give you added appreciation to the place and can provide more…passion for your photo shoot so that you can turn out stunning pictures.
It would also be advisable of you would read your manual. I’ve known several people who bungled a potentially great picture or loose a great photo op just because they don’t know their camera. Go read up on how and when to use the different flash settings or film-speed settings. Do yourself a favor: sit down on that favorite chair of yours one afternoon, grab some hot cocoa, relax and read that manual.
Make an Itinerary
When on vacation, the last thing you want to do is waste your time, and waste your money because you wasted your time. One of the best ways to avoid this is to have an itinerary. If you did you homework before you went on a trip, I’m sure that you have a pretty good idea where you want to go for some great picture taking. So, to save time and money, why don’t you make a list of all the places you’d like to visit and take pictures of? However, don’t just go and list these places – think of things you want to do on these places, and plan on the route where you can cover all these places at where you can spend equal amounts of time at each place. It would also be best of you would make a photo shoot list so that you won’t forget key areas and landmarks.
Check your Equipment
The last thing you want to happen when a great photo opportunity comes along is to have your gear malfunction. Therefore you need to test all of the camera gear that you would want to bring days before the trip.
When I intend to bring my 35mm SLR camera with me on the trip (which I rarely do these days), I usually do a test shoot using 200-speed or 400-speed, 12-exposure roll of film. I shoot pictures at different lighting conditions: day, night, dusk, dawn, indoors and outdoors. I then have the film processed to check out the pictures. For my trusty point-and-shoot DSC, I take around 12 to 4 pictures at different lighting conditions. I then download these pics to my laptop and check them out. If I really want to make sure that my picture would print out fine, I make a couple of test prints using my colored printer.
You also need to give your flash, your batteries and tripod (if you intend to bring one) a once-over days ahead before you leave. It’d definitely tick you off if you flash malfunctions in the middle of your photo shoots or have you Ni-Mh batts conk out at the times when you don’t want it to happen.
Make sure that all of the batteries you are bringing are fully charged and that your charger is working fine. Don’t use batteries that are not guaranteed to work on with your equipment. If you’re camera specifies that you need to use Ni-Mh, then don’t use Ni-Cd. If you have some spare change lying around, you can get yourself a cheap battery tester. What this does is test your battery if it has charged or is charging (depending on the type of tester) at the correct level.
For DSC users, it would also be good to test if your memory card or memory stick is working fine. This is fairly easy to do: go shoot a dozen or so pictures and see of all these pictures have been correctly captured on your memory card. Now try and download these pictures on your computer and see if they would all download fine. It would also be good if you’re familiar with the read, write and erase cycles of your memory card or memory stick so that you would have an idea on how many times you ca use your memory card or memory stick before it conks out.
For those of you who have SLRs, it would be good to subject your lenses to a good checkup and cleaning. Dust can ruin your pictures. To check your lens, hold-them up against a strong light source, say the sun. Look through the lens and see of you can spot some dust particles. If you do, then you need to clean them up using either a lens pen or with a good blow of air from a can of compressed air. If you have a leans cleaner, moisten your lens with it. Wipe clean and dry using a lens cleaning tissue or microfibre cloth. Don’t use your shirt or any cloth that has an abrasive surface when wiping your lens.
Stock Up
Unless you’re a total scrooge, it would be good if you stocked-up on some of the things that you would need before embarking on a trip.
It would be good if you can bring spare batteries along just in case your main batts die down. If your camera can use Alkaline batteries, it would also be good to buy a couple of those at the nearest place where they sell these so that you would have spares that you can use in case your batts die down when you’re at a remote area.
If you have a film camera, it would be good to stock-up on film. You definitely don’t want to being only two rolls if 36-exposure film for a one month vacation. You need to at least allot 2 – 3 rolls of 36-exposure film per week. So, if you’re on a two-week holiday, that’s 4 – 6 rolls of film. Don’t worry about the unused rolls: you can very well use them in future travels. As for film type, you can go with either 200-speed or 400-speed but I’d recommend the 200-speed for newbie/amateur photographers since this film is quite versatile and not as expensive as the 400-speed film.
It would also be good if you can bring an extra memory card or memory stick, just in case the memory card or stick you’re using suddenly stops working or gets full.
Full protection
The elements can be the ruin of your expensive equipment. For example, minute grains of sand can find its way through your camera and lenses thorough the little holes and openings found in your camera or lenses. Therefore, you need to provide or have adequate protection for your camera equipment.
One basic piece of protection is the camera bag. If you don’t intend to use your camera, better put it inside its bag for protection. While sunning at Boracay with your family, why don’t you do yourself a favor and store that nifty DSC of yours inside its bag so that sand won’t find its way inside the cam. Exposing your camera and your lenses to the salty air of the beach won’t do your camera any good. The same goes for your batteries, memory card and film: store them in a nice, cool and safe place that is easy to reach.
If you use film, it’s best to bear in mind that the x-rays at airports and ship ports can ruin your unexposed film. This is most especially true for the x-ray machines used to scan cargo: they emit a strong electromagnetic current that can render your unexposed film useless. However, x-ray machines used to scan hand-carry luggage are generally weaker, this making it less susceptible in damaging your unexposed film. There are some airports that require hand-inspection of all carry-on luggage/bags. To provide protection addition to your film, lenses and camera body, you can place them inside clear plastic bags. By placing them inside clear plastic bag, this would eliminate the need for the airport security personnel to tear through all of your gear because they already see what you’re bringing in or out.
For your extra set of lenses, it would be best to store them using a separate bag from your camera body. Storing your lenses and your camera body separately provides more protection compared to having them all jumbled-up in one container or bag. If you don’t relish the idea of tugging-along several bags, you can get a bigger camera bag where you can put in all the small, individual bags so that they’d be easy enough to carry.
Make a Check-list
Call me paranoid but I always make a check-list so that I’m sure that I’d packed all the camera equipment I need. My usual checklist has three columns: gear, in and out. Gear is self-explanatory. “In” is the column where place checks on every gear that I’m packing for a trip. “Out” is the column I check whenever I unpack my bags when I arrive at my hotel or lodging. Yeah, yeah I know that this can be tedious, especially if your two-week vacation involves traveling to a new place every two days but hey, at least I’d have peace of mind knowing that I’m not missing anything.
Here’s what you can usually find on my checklist:
1. Camera bag
2. Clear plastic bags
3. Batteries
4. Flash (if I bring my 35mm camera)
5. Charger
6. Memory cards
7. Rolls of film (if I bring my 35mm camera)
8. Camera manual
9. Cleaning kit
10. Tripod
Okay, so there you go. I hope we were of some help to you in the kinds of preparations you can make before you take that trip to Boracay this summer. You can add to or modify the information we had just provided you to suit your needs.
If you have some more information or tips on how to prepare for a trip with your trust camera, why don’t you share it with us here? I’m pretty sure that our friends here at Kameraderie and our guest would appreciate any input that you can provide.
Happy shooting!
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Useful information here. Still looking for additional data on travel tips and would love any advice. Thanks!
I really appreciate the information. Please keep going on and continue to add excellent posts. Thank you so much for the wonderful content you have created! I admire you. Your artical is great!