Tips for travel photography

These days, we're in the mood to talk vacation! Here, our colleague Alexandre Guay took a little trip to New York, and he wanted to share his favorite equipment and techniques with you, so he could come back with plenty of beautiful images to match his experience... We'll let him do the talking, and let you be inspired by his beautiful photos! :)

Tips for travel photography

I've just returned from a wonderful trip to New York. My main objective was to observe some bird species that don't nest here. But of course, how can you go to New York without doing a bit of sightseeing?

Here are the materials I used and a technique I recommend!

First, my camera.

I'm currently working with a Nikon Z6 II. I love its low-light performance and dynamic range. It's really impressive. At ISO 50, I can almost get an HDR file.

Here are a few examples above and below.

Secondly, the lenses.

Obviously, when you travel, you want to travel light and still have all the lenses you can get, to get the best possible quality and brightness. So it's a tough choice to make.

For my part, I set off with my 400mm, my 20mm and my 35-150mm.

For the Nikon Z 400mm f/4.5 S, I don't have a thousand choices. I need a lens that's light, small and very sharp. So this seems the obvious choice. Obviously, not everyone takes bird photos when they travel, but when I go on a trip, there are always birds around. Anyway! For size, weight and sharpness, with the 400mm, you can't go wrong!

Staying with Nikon, the Z 20mm f/1.8 S. Another of my favorite lenses. It goes everywhere with me! Both for portraits and shows. It's really a lens I love. Obviously, when you travel, you need a lens with a wide angle. I often use it to distort things a bit and make them look bigger. The f/1.8 is also handy; I use it all the time. In fact, on all my lenses, I work at their maximum aperture. This sometimes allows me to keep the ISO low when necessary. Despite what you might think, the zone of sharpness is very wide, mainly because the lens is wide-angle and the focus is far away, which creates a kind of hyperfocal. So yes, I'm still at f/1.8. Also, note that the 20mm doesn't distort much. Maybe not enough yet, ahah! One day, I'd love to get my hands on a zoom like that. But for my budget and weight, it's really the ideal lens.

Last but not least, the superb Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8. At first, I was impressed by its weight and size. But since I've got it and started really working with it, I've got used to it. It's even become my faithful companion. It follows me everywhere. This lens is so versatile. I do everything with it; it could even stay on my camera permanently. So, when you travel, how useful is it? With just one lens, I can cover a wide angle and get a close-up of the same subject without having to hide and change lenses.

Finally, a favorite technique: long exposures!

It's amazing how stable the camera bodies are with stabilized sensors. We often go to places crowded with people. Obviously, we don't want to spend the day in one place and not visit anything else. So why not use people to create a more attractive image? So here's a series of photos taken in the American Museum of Natural History at 1/4s without a tripod!

Before we finish, we can't say it often enough, but don't forget several memory cards, batteries and a charger!

Here are my travel techniques... I hope I've inspired you for your next photo expedition!