Photographing in busy places

When you are visiting a city or a location during the tourist season it can sometimes be difficult to get a clear shot of that famous landmark you just wanted to capture.

Luckily there are techniques we can use to help us get the right image and to shoot pictures which are not just “point and shoot”.

It often requires a lot of patience to wait for the right moment where there are no people in front of your camera or where there are people otherwise interacting in your scene in an unwanted manner. But patience is our best friend in photography. Take your time and wait. Other people are usually busy and will be moving along shortly.

When we photograph the cityscapes and landmarks in a city we are always looking for a different angle and perspective than what everyone else is doing. This is your chance to also steer clear of the masses, finding an angle and maybe even incorporate people into your scene. Use people moving in opposite directions, coming out of a doorway, entering a courtyard and so on. Sometimes a scene is actually more appealing with something to break the monotony.

Lastly, simply ask people to wait for a second. Most people will understand that you are in the middle of taking a picture and will respect this.

A couple of other techniques you can use are of a bit more technical nature and would require for you to use a tripod.

- Use long exposures to “wash” out people in the scene. If the exposure is long enough this can completely remove any moving objects in the image. In daylight this would in most cases also require the use of a Neutral Density filter.

If you are savvy in image editing, doing multiple exposures with people in different positions between the captures, you can do a series of images and combine these images together and thereby eliminating any people in the scene.

Your photography guide will help you understand these methods even better on your tour.