Freebies
Joshua Tain took some great pictures of Caryl and of the British Virgin Islands while he was on vacation but taking good travel shots can be tricky. Here are my top ten tips for taking the photos that will have your friends ooohing and aaaahing when you return from your vacation!
- First and most important – get to know your camera before you even start to pack. Become familiar with all the shooting options your camera allows. You won’t want to have to refer to your manual when that wonderful pelican swoops by your head or when the donkey race is well underway.
- Bring along enough of the supplies – films and/or batteries – that you will need. They may not be readily available at your destination.
- Make sure you have a card with enough memory for at least a couple hundred photos. That should do you for a one week trip – for anything longer you might want more memory. (A 256 MB will be adequate for most people.)
- When composing your shots, don’t always position your subject in the middle of the picture.
- Think about getting some unusual shots. For instance, don’t wait until the carnival parade has started and the revelers are on the move to start clicking away – go to the parade’s starting point and take some shots of the bands and the troupe members readying themselves for the spectacle to follow. Or, just as good, reserve some shots for the end of the parade when you’ll be able to capture the pride and the exhaustion of the carnival kings and queens and the revelers.
- Another way to get unusual shots is to vary your height. Take some pictures from on high – a balcony or a ledge – and some pictures from a crouch. You’ll be able to show just how imposing that statue of a general was if you get down low and shoot up.
- Daylight, particularly in the Caribbean, is harsh and unforgiving. Place your subjects in the shade so they’re not squinting or try to take most of your shots in the evening or the early morning. Landscape shots often look good at those times too.
- Use the rule of thirds by placing your subject off-center or one-third of the way from the edge of the frame. If you’ve got an auto-focus camera, press the shutter button halfway with your subject centered and then, with the button still half-pressed, move the camera so the person is now off-center and press the shutter all the way down.
- When we look at an object we can focus on it and ignore the garbage or the old cars around the object. A camera isn’t able to do this for itself. Either zoom in or move in closer so that ugly objects aren’t in the frame or you might be unpleasantly surprised when you print out your pictures.
- Last, but by no means least, ask permission before you snap a picture of that old man smoking a pipe under the coconut tree or of those two young women chatting in front of an old church – it’s the polite thing to do!
Sorrel
Recipe:
1/8 tea spoon ground allspice (pimento) or about 12 whole allspice (optional)
6 oz dried sorrel
2 rounded table spoon dry ginger
8 cups water
2.5 cups water for re-draft
1.5 cups white sugar
1. Spread the sorrel out on aluminum foil or a white cloth which will make it easy to spot and remove any debris or unfit sorrel pieces.
2. After you have cleaned the sorrel pour it into a large cooking pot with 8 cups of water. Add the two rounded tablespoons of ginger.
3. Boil the mixture for10 minutes after it begins to boil. Remove immediately and pour through a strainer into a suitable container.
4. Return the remains from the strainer and return to the cooking pot and add 2.5 cups of water. Bring to a rapid boil again and remove after 10 minutes.
5. Strain the mixture and discard the residue.
6. Sweeten with 1.5 cups of white sugar or to taste.
7. Cool then serve over ice. Refrigerate the remainder