Hello.
Today I am walking around downtown in St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands
and I am going to show you how to take some sick travel pictures.
I'm on this island, though,
how am I ever gonna find a model?
Wow! let's do this photo shoot.
I'm excited. Let's get some awesome photos here in St. Thomas.
Alright. Let's do this.
This is the Grand Galleria
and it is like a little Plaza that has a couple cafes,
it has a bank and some shops.
As you can see there is a lot of sunlight.
It's pretty harsh even though it's early in the morning right now.
It is best to take photos when it is slightly overcast
but, of course, when you're on an island like this, the Sun is kind of a character.
So, you're gonna have to embrace it.
The sun is everywhere.
Karla is gonna pose for the picture
which is not a good pose.
The instinct is to just look at the camera.
It's not exactly an interesting photo.
So, she's gonna walk up the stairs
like as if she's going to meet Prince Charming.
Yeah, get rid of that bag, we don't want that in there.
Or that.
We're gonna have you stop a little bit before
and then push your right foot
that way towards the wall in the same step.
Karla looks like she is going places.
The key is to always follow the light,
in this instance it is the Sun.
See how beautiful it looks right now, it looks like she is radiating.
Just a more interesting and dynamic photo.
Try to get an area that is normally busy
and make it look like you're the only person there.
So, this can be a shopping area, plazas.
For this example I'm going to show you this hallway
in a very busy shopping district here in downtown.
So, the key is to wait for that one second
where there's nobody coming.
-OK. Looks like the coast is clear. -Yes.
This picture can be really great for vertical
just because it is so long with a lot of greenery.
So, we won't be shooting this horizontally
because there's not much that's gonna be going on
on either side of the photo.
Although she looks lovely smiling, it's kind of a basic photo.
Sorry.
We are going to have her stand in the middle of the hallway
because she is on a journey,
she's going to places here.
I'm going to places. Let's go.
And just to kind of balance out the weight of a lot of stuff
that's happening on the right side,
she's gonna have the backpack here
and looking up angled towards the sky.
She's also having a great time, so she's gonna laugh a little bit.
There you go.
You can look like you're having a fun time and you're enjoying your vacation
but aren't just standing, rigid.
Yeah. We don't want pictures like that.
You're gonna have to just wait for the crowds to disperse a little bit.
So, if you do want that shot, just be ready to be patient,
you're gonna have to wait a while.
And trust me, it's gonna be so rewarding
when you can get that shot.
Everything about downtown here in St. Thomas
is that there are a lot of colorful buildings,
try to find accent walls, brick walls.
Find walls that are completely painted in one color,
this creates very vibrant images and will just make it super fun.
It's pretty noisy here, we're in a city.
So, this is not the ideal place for a video
but luckily we're talking about photography here,
so, hopefully you guys will be OK with that.
We are going to use the teal wall
because it's the color that Karla loves
and it's her brand or something, I don't know, something like that.
We are using this as the primary character.
Karla it's going to be the model, don't worry is still about you.
We are going to really emphasize on the fact
that she is in front of this blue teal, whatever-color-you-think-that-is wall.
And maybe coming a little bit lower so that we can emphasize
-on Karla's height, Karla is... -5'10.
5'10.
We want our model to look into the light always,
so, search for the light, wherever it is.
By the way, if you want to see some of my pictures
then go to Instagram and follow @redromina, that's me.
We're gonna get some ice cream.
Yes, I am getting the dulce de leche.
The shop that we are in is the Virgin Islands Ice Cream Company
and it is in the back of a jewelry store.
And as you can see it's very picturesque.
You can't eat that yet.
Why not?
We have to take pictures.
We have a colorful wall in the back.
We have this beautiful accent chandelier.
But because we are doing this horizontal here,
we lose this beautiful lamp over here.
So, we are going to be doing vertical. Oh, wait.
All this tips that I am giving you can be applied to selfie shots as well.
If you're traveling completely solo,
all you have to do is set up the camera...
to just have fun.
And don't be afraid to get silly.
And you can get really... No, this is mine
We're now on our way to the St. Thomas synagogue.
By the way, this is the second oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere.
And right down the street is the St. Thomas Reformed Church
which I'm also going to show you.
Let's have you look to the right.
And I'm gonna zoom in just a little bit to get some depth of field.
We just found this trail of plants right next to the church.
So, we're gonna take advantage of it and take some shots
once this car gets out of the way.
Find something to put into the foreground, and it just kind of frames a shot nicely,
I just like how it looks when something is either popping in from the corner
or from the bottom,
it just kind of creates like this natural frame.
There is a little porch that's right there.
So, you're gonna sit down.
Oh, perfect! The Sun went away. Karla this is great.
Karla is going to be looking at flowers,
she's going to be busy, she's going to be doing something.
That's a bunch of little chickens here.
We're now headed to the 99 steps
which fun fact, actually contains a 103 steps.
That's the 99 steps, alright.
You ready to take some pictures here?
Yes! Ready and go.
We're actually gonna have you sit down for the shot.
We can either go horizontal so that we can get what is on either side
which is a lot of greenery and looks very nice.
We can also do portrait mode
so that we can see the entire staircase going up this way.
They can create a very compelling shot.
Hey Karla wouldn't it be funny if we did all that
and that wasn't the 99 steps?
Are they not?
I'm kidding you.
We are going to finish our photo shoot day
with a little meal here at the Greenhouse Restaurant,
right in the heart of downtown.
I'm just gonna go lounge around in my pool at At Home In The Tropics,
that's the bed and breakfast I'm staying at here in St. Thomas.
If you enjoyed this video then please give me a thumbs up
and leave me a comment down below
letting me know what was the most helpful tip.
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that's right next to the subscribe button,
that way you see more videos just like this one.
For now, I'm gonna go because it's stinking hot.
So, I will see you when I see you, bye!
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