In this episode
I'll share my approach to shooting Machu Picchu. Adorama TV presents
Exploring Photography with Mark Wallace.
Hi everybody welcome to another episode of Exploring Photography right here on
Adorama TV brought to you by
Adorama. It’s the camera store that has everything for photographers,
videographers
and audio engineers so check them out at adorama.com.
Well I’m hanging out here in Cusco Peru. I just returned from an amazing trip
to Machu Picchu. One of the most amazing places in the world.
Now I’m wanna talk to you about how I made this image in this episode.
Well I have to say Machu Picchu was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
I went with my good friend Lex and we had a phenomenal day exploring this site.
Now one of the challenges in making this video was
Machu Picchu is a World Heritage Site and so we weren't allowed to shoot video
there because you're from special permits and all kinds of things that we
didn't have and so what we’ll be doing in this video
is I'll be sharing with you the principles of how I made my images
using some of the stills that Lex took of me shooting
and some other stills that I took to demonstrate what we were doing
at Machu Picchu. Well let's start by talking about gear
that I used. I use my Canon 5D Mark III
camera and my Canon 16-35mm f2.8
L lens. I also shot some stuff with my 24-70mm f/2.8
L lens but I think I only took maybe one or two pictures with the 24-70mm.
If I had it to do all over again I think I would only bring my 16-35mm
lens. I used it all day long and it was terrific.
The other thing I brought was my trusty Benro Travel Angel II Carbon Fiber Tripod.
There are a lot of places that you can't use
a tripod in Machu Picchu and so you have to carry it around and so this tripod is so
light it wasn't a big burden to do that and I could just take it out
and use it in the places that I could use a tripod so it worked really really
well.
I was able to bring all my gear up there in this, this is my Tenba,
my shootout bag. It’s a 24 litre bag I was able to take my tripods,
my video gear that we were able to use, all the lens,
the camera, everything right here in this bag. It is awesome.
I have to mention that it rained while we were there and one of the great things about the
Tenba bag, it's got a rain cover so that made sure everything was protected.
It worked out just great. Well let's dive in and talk about how I created this
image, I got some pointers that you can use if you're going to Machu Picchu
or some other site
that's very awesome. One of the most important things for capturing an image like this
is to make sure that you shoot at the right time of day and the right time a day is
sunrise at the golden hour.
We were up at four in the morning to catch a bus to get
up to the mountain and hike. I looked at my images in Lightroom and I discovered
that the amount of time I had to get that image from when we got there too
when the light just went away, was about 15
minutes. That was it. So get there early and get the shot as soon as you can
because that light might not last very long. You can see in these images, here's
the image that I shot right at Golden Hour
and here's another image that I shot about 15 minutes later and you can see
that the light is just
flat and no good. So the right time of day makes a huge difference.
One other things about a site like Machu Picchu or yellowstone or Niagara Falls or
anyplace that thousands upon thousands of tourists visit
every day, is that crowds are inevitable and so you really have to come with an
extra dose of patience
if you want to get that shot with no people in it. In fact you can look at
this shot you can see if you look closely
there's a person smack dab in the middle of the shot. So I waited it out
and sure enough she moved out of the way and I was able to get the shot and then 10
seconds later boom a lot of people were there.
So that is one of the reasons you just have to be patient there's another
reason that you want to get to a site like this
really early because the crowds are a lot thinner.
Another one of thing that you can do with a site like this is you know get that
shot that everybody loves
and then get some other things that people don't normally see. For example
Machu Picchu I didn't know it's surrounded by some amazing
mountains and so we spent some time shooting those mountain ranges.
As we hiked up to the Sun Gate we found this amazing little park
that had some little mounds of rocks people left there.
So I was able to shoot some of those. We made our own little kern and
left it as a monument to our visit. It was
awesome.
Then I also shot the interior of Machu Picchu and saw some things
that I hadn't seen before
so make sure that you shoot things that aren't obvious.
So after you get that first amazing shot then shoot the small things and the
details and you might be surprised
at the amazing pictures that you get. Don't be afraid to shoot an unusual
point of view.
Now we hiked all the way up to this place called the Sun Gate.
It was quite a hike getting up there but from that vantage point I was able
to shoot Machu Picchu
in context. You can sort of see the big mountains, you can see how it's situated
inside this mountain range. Now I don't like this photo as much as the closer
image but it really helps to establish context for people that haven't been
there
and so explore unusual points of view. Once you shoot your images don't be
afraid to edit those images
in post. I like to shoot raw, in fact I always shoot raw and that allow you to sweeten
up those photos.
I took my image I crop it to a sixteen by nine
aspect ratio, I warmed up using my color temperature slider.
Here is the difference the before straight out of the camera shot
and the shot that I edited. I love the edited version it looks a lot more
like what I saw with my eyes. The last tip I have for photographing a place
like this
is don't forget to enjoy the place that you're visiting. Don't get so caught up
in the photography that you forget to really fully experience
where you are. It might be a once in a lifetime opportunity and
you don't wanna miss it because you're filling with your camera all day long.
We’ll I also remind you Adorama has some amazing
photo contests. So maybe you've shot an image similar to this one,
you can enter it into a contest and you could win some great prizes so
click the link and enter today.
Thanks so much for joining me for this episode of Exploring Photography. I
learned a lot by shooting Machu Picchu and
I hope some of my learning will help you when you get this experience
as well. Well don't forget you can subscribe to Adorama TV
absolutely free so click the link and you won't miss a single
episode. Thanks again for joining me and I'll see you again next time.
Do you want great-looking prints at low-cost? Be sure to visit our
easy to use online printing service. Adorama
pics has professionals who treat your images with the utmost care that you can
count on.
For a quick turnaround on photos, cards or albums
use adoramapix.com