February 01, 2011

70 Inspiring Takes on Transportation Photography

 
 

Sent to you by Raj via Google Reader:

 
 

via Phototuts+ by Joel Bankhead on 1/25/11

To truly travel is a photographers dream. On setting out on an adventure our thoughts may lie entirely in the future, the places we're going, and amazing things we'll see once we've arrived. For many of us an exiting destination is the only thing that will persuade us to get on a plane at all…

But what about the travelling itself? Isn't our use of incredible machines to travel great distances not one of the most romantic and fascinating aspects of any journey? Below we'll look at some basic tips for capturing beguiling and creative shots of travelling and transportation before diving into a gallery of 70 inspirational examples!


Not Just Machines…

In order to move beyond taking lifeless photos of our transportation, it's worth consciously trying to capture something above and beyond the ordinary.

What are the most dramatic aspects of your particular mode of transport? How does it make you feel? Is its motion unerringly powerful or marked by effortless subtlety? What about the people around you?


Moving Objects

When looking more practically it's worth bearing in mind that some of the most dramatic shots of transportation will feature significant movement. There are two key ways to capture and express motion in photography: to blur the moving object while keeping the background in focus, or to blur the background while keeping the object in focus.

To blur the object itself is, by and large, the easiest of these two techniques and simply requires the use of a tripod and a good sense of timing – you may only get one shot! To blur the background while keeping a moving subject in focus is called 'panning' and can produce amazing results if you can get the hang of it!

The key is to pan your camera along with the moving subject to achieve a relatively sharp subject but a blurred background. It works best when the subject's trajectory is straight and predictable but takes a good deal of practice, or some welcome good fortune, to get it right!


Be Original!

While perhaps less practical than the previous tip, using your creativity and imagination when shooting transportation is at least as important!

Consider your elevation, the features of the landscape, and think carefully about the composition. A varied array of techniques such as good use of symmetry and expression of motion go a long way towards achieving a stunning shot!


Photo Inspiration

rAmmoRRison

transportation photography tips and examples

Kicki Holmén

transportation photography tips and examples

Joshua Davis

transportation photography tips and examples

Stefan Sonntag

transportation photography tips and examples

Kecko

transportation photography tips and examples

John Ward

transportation photography tips and examples

Evan Leeson

transportation photography tips and examples

The U.S. Army

transportation photography tips and examples

Potyike

transportation photography tips and examples

François Roche

transportation photography tips and examples

Jeff McCrory

transportation photography tips and examples

Kelvin Pulker

transportation photography tips and examples

James Loesch

transportation photography tips and examples

John Hietter

transportation photography tips and examples

Kim Seng

transportation photography tips and examples

Chaval Brasil

transportation photography tips and examples

eckenheimer

transportation photography tips and examples

Matt Hintsa

transportation photography tips and examples

Jim Maurer

transportation photography tips and examples

The U.S. Army

transportation photography tips and examples

L*aura

transportation photography tips and examples

Luis Argerich

transportation photography tips and examples

the longhairedgit

transportation photography tips and examples

Doug

transportation photography tips and examples

Paulo Margari

transportation photography tips and examples

Trey Ratcliff

transportation photography tips and examples

Aaron Hockley

transportation photography tips and examples

Kanegen

transportation photography tips and examples

Juan Ruand

transportation photography tips and examples

Bartek Kuzia

transportation photography tips and examples

Trey Ratcliff

transportation photography tips and examples

Chuck Patch

transportation photography tips and examples

Dene' Miles

transportation photography tips and examples

William Cho

transportation photography tips and examples

Ville Miettinen

transportation photography tips and examples

Claudio Alejandro Mufarrege

transportation photography tips and examples

Dene' Miles

transportation photography tips and examples

Kamshots

transportation photography tips and examples

Steve Jurvetson

transportation photography tips and examples

Ville Miettinen

transportation photography tips and examples

Simon Bray

transportation photography tips and examples

Jakob Hürner

transportation photography tips and examples

The U.S. Army

transportation photography tips and examples

belpo

transportation photography tips and examples

Joel Bankhead

transportation photography tips and examples

Nguyen Hung Vu

transportation photography tips and examples

Alberto P. Veiga

transportation photography tips and examples

Ville Miettinen

transportation photography tips and examples

Evan Leeson

transportation photography tips and examples

Asim Bharwani

transportation photography tips and examples

Michael J. Slezak

transportation photography tips and examples

Thomas Hawk

transportation photography tips and examples

Atilla Kefeli

transportation photography tips and examples

Jeff Laitila

transportation photography tips and examples

Jo Christian Oterhals

transportation photography tips and examples

cranky messiah

transportation photography tips and examples

Chris

transportation photography tips and examples

Lian Chang

transportation photography tips and examples

M

transportation photography tips and examples

Steve Calcott

transportation photography tips and examples

VisualAge

transportation photography tips and examples

Akshay Mahajan

transportation photography tips and examples

Paulo Margari

transportation photography tips and examples

Simon Whitaker

transportation photography tips and examples

Trey Ratcliff

transportation photography tips and examples

Jerrycharlotte Miller

transportation photography tips and examples

Garry

transportation photography tips and examples

Christopher & Amy Cate Esposito

transportation photography tips and examples

Fred

transportation photography tips and examples

Trey Ratcliff

transportation photography tips and examples

Further Reading

Here are a few links to really useful tutorials and articles that will teach you more about this type of photography:


Share Your Own Images!

Hopefully this has given you some new inspiration and got your creativity flowing so that next time you're on a journey you'll think again about leaving your camera in your bag. We'd love to see your favourite travelling photographs – just post a link in the comments below!


 
 

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