Take Better Vacation Photos: A how-to with Asia street photographer Anthony Cheung

Artsy, jealousy-inducing photos are a vacation goal for many, but some of your friends’ holiday snaps on Facebook and Instagram are probably boring enough to make you unfollow even your inner circle.

As a fan of Anthony Cheung’s street photography for some time, I jumped at the chance to get a private lesson from the self-taught snapper on how to take better pictures.

Cheung doing what he does best. Photo: Laurel Tuohy

He’s gotten rave reviews for the photowalks he led through Thailand’s Wonderfruit festival over the last two years, teaching festival-goers how to shoot the same scenes as thousands of other attendees — but make them look much better.

We walked just a few blocks with the photographer in central Bangkok, through Chidlom to the Erawan shrine. Along the way, we both stopped to take pictures.

Take a look at the photos and read on for some of his tips, whether you are on vacation or just practicing on your own block.

 

Get low (or high)

When shooting something that’s been shot a million times before, say, a famous building or street scene, and your shots are looking a bland, Cheung suggests framing the shot differently by bringing your camera lower or higher to add interest.

He explained that most of us look at things from human eye level, it’s what we are used to seeing so it’s boring and expected. By moving your camera up or down by a few feet, you show the viewer something new.

 

 

Ready for a close-up

It’s difficult to know how to truly capture and evoke a city and how to translate what you’re seeing — and being charmed by — into something you can share with your audience.

“Often times, the answer is that people just don’t get close enough. A rule of thumb is to fill the frame. People try to fit too many things into one photo and lose the focus rather than just showing the most important part and letting people imagine what’s happening beyond. That’s actually what creates interest and makes it more dynamic.”

He suggests catering to modern-day short attention spans and being as clear as possible. “People look at photos for one second each, if you can’t communicate your point in that time, you’ll lose them.”

 

 

 

Where and when to shoot

“Take pictures in places where people are interacting and places that juxtapose the old with the new. Shoot things that evoke movement or action, such half-finished food, or a half-done painting, so there is a story in it.” Cheung encourages photos that force the viewer to create a narrative in their head.

One of the toughest rules for a photographer to learn might be the waiting game. “The unglamorous truth, and any photographer will say the same, is that I wait at least 20 minutes in a place and snap lots of pictures, until something works. Usually something great lasts only a second, so you have to wait for it. And the longer you wait, people stop noticing you, you become invisible. That’s when people let their guard down and allow you to capture something intimate.”

 

 

 

A word on filters

Though lots of photographers look down their noses at filters, calling them photographing cheating or worse,  but Cheung is okay with them. “I don’t use any ready-made ones but I will tune an image to reflect what I think I saw.” He explained that cameras don’t actually see as the human eye sees, instead they capture what they are programmed to capture, whether that’s a face in the foreground, or a tree in the background, rather than the action. “I’ll edit a photo after the fact so it looks like what I remember seeing — and the feeling it gave me.”

If you start learning early, you can have a lifetime of stunning vacation photos in your future.

Follow Cheung on Instagram @anfernee_chog



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