In the previous article we discussed various composition rules and ideas to help you gain more confidence in photography. Knowing how to use the many technical features of a camera is one thing, developing your photographer's eye to actually recognize a good composition is another, and dare I say, is more important. Since there are more ways of composing a stronger image than fits in one article, here are some more ideas for a good starting point in your photographic explorations.

Paris is widely known as a multicultural city. Traditions and celebrations of various ethnic communities that have long become a part of Parisian life make locals and visitors feel like they are traveling without even leaving the city. Of course, such festivals and celebrations are a great way to practice street and travel photography, and capture some vibrant images! One of the most popular annual events is Chinese New Year, celebrated in February, and this year I decided to experience it through my camera lens. Dragons, Chinese Lanterns, dancing lions, firecrackers, illuminated lanterns... let the celebrations begin!

While the Seine river separates the left bank from the right bank of Paris, multiple bridges link the two parts of the city and provide a great subject for photographic exploration. There are 37 bridges within the city of Paris, 4 of which are pedestrian, and some others are rail bridges. Remember that often the best spot to capture a beautiful bridge is from a bridge next to it, so get your maps ready!

Situated in the very heart of the city of Paris (3rd and 4th arrondissements), nowadays Le Marais is one of the most vibrant and attractive areas to explore through your camera lens. One of the few districts that were left untouched by renovation of the city by Baron Haussmann, Le Marais is still full of historic buildings dating back to the 17th century. The maze of narrow streets, hidden gardens and courtyards give the district a unique atmosphere. Also known as home to the largest Jewish community in Paris, a center of LGBT culture and a hub for fashionable boutiques and concept stores, Le Marais provides endless opportunities for street photography against an aristocratic historical background.

The Centre George Pompidou, also known by the locals as Beaubourg, is a complex and colourful building between Le Marais area and Les Halles. Besides housing the largest modern art museum in Europe, a vast public library, a center for music and acoustic research IRCAM, this 7 level high-tech structure also offers great views over the central part of the city of Paris.

Have you ever asked yourself what makes a travel photo stunning? Everyone has their own reaction and sense of aesthetics, however several key ingredients need to come together to create a great image: interesting subject, emotional impact, correctly selected camera settings and strong composition. Speaking of the latter, there is no single way to compose an image. Depending on your subject and the story you want to tell, different composition rules may be applied. Of course, rules are also meant to be broken. Here, we offer a variety of ideas for composing well-balanced images with more impact, and in a future post we will talk about breaking all the rules.

Just like we do, digital cameras see the world in colours. While we can easily produce photographs with the exact same colours as we see them, in some images colours do not “work” together and are more of a distraction than an advantage. The solution is then to “think black-and-white”: to strip the image of its colours and to leave only the moment, the emotion, and the idea. Nowadays most colour to black-and-white conversion is done digitally. In this tutorial, you will find some tips on how to convert your colour images into powerful black-and-white ones using Lightroom.

Many photographers have heard about the concept of Depth of Field (or DOF). Some only have a vague idea of what it means while others have a good grasp for it but still struggle to put it in practice. Understanding depth of field is fundamental for any photographer, travel photographers included, because it provides control over the resulting look of the image. So if you are ready to enhance your travel images and make the most use of the opportunities that come your way, it’s time to master the depth of field in your photography...

For our friendly critique #3 we have selected a photograph taken by Rupert Mitch, in which we see a combination of vintage signs and various objects found in a flea market. Taken during the winter season, the scene benefits from nice and soft light. The colourful vintage signs are a definite highlight here and immediately attract the viewer’s attention. The rest of the image is full of details, and offers a lot for the eye to explore...

A dusty DSLR camera sensor is one of the worst photographer’s enemies. If you have ever spent time cloning out those endless ‘dust bunnies’ from a sunset sky on ten photos in a row, then you know what I mean. Dust gets inside the camera every time you switch lenses, or simply use your zoom as particles get sucked in the lens and finally end up on the camera sensor. All photographers face this issue, let alone travel photographers who spend most of the time outdoors. Knowing how to clean your camera’s sensor is something important that deserves special attention...

Highly contrasted scenes are not easy to photograph: even though the technology is advancing rapidly, our eyes still see more than we happen to capture on our camera’s sensor. When traveling, you may find yourself in different situations: taking a photo of interesting architecture against a very bright sky, capturing narrow medieval streets with strong shadows or a tropical sunset under the palm trees. While you can always opt for underexposing your image and only leave the silhouettes, for some photos you may prefer to keep the details in both highlights and shadows. In this Lightroom tutorial you will learn how to recover maximum information from a highly contrasted scene with minimal loss of quality.

While traveling, we don’t always have the luxury to pick the best time of day for photography or to come back to the location when the light is what we are looking for. We take the photos when we can, the best we can. Then we go home and this is when post-processing comes into play: it may either save an image or enhance it for more impact. In this short tutorial, we'll start with an image that has some blown-out highlight issues and look at ways to correct them in Lightroom 5 with minimal loss of image quality.