Landscape Photo Tips

 

By: Mediaguy and Collette Vacations
How many of us plan our dream vacation around the stunning vistas we have always wanted to see? Whether it’s a beach vacation in Kauai, Mount Kilimanjaro as the backdrop to an African safari, or the lush rain forests of Costa Rica, we all want to capture the beauty of these natural wonders with our camera.

Where ever your go, here are a few simple tips to consider when vying for that perfect photo.

Think of yourself as an artist painting a painting a landscape. Scout your location in advance, thinking about composition and lighting, especially if you are going to be staying in the same area for a few days.

• Lighting: Consider the time of day, and the weather. I always enjoy taking photos on the beach at sunrise. On a calm day, just as the sun peaks over the horizon, your photos can portray the serenity of the waves lapping the beach and seagulls having their breakfast, before beach chairs and umbrellas overtake them.Whether your backdrop is the ocean or a mountain peak, arrive before sunrise or at least an hour before sunset, and plan to stay a while. Then you can use what photographers call the “Golden Hour of Light.” During these hours the sun sits closer to the horizon and is less intense, creating softer and warmer hues with longer shadows. Learn how the light affects the look and feel of an image; move around a bit and take LOTS of shots.
• Composition: Take photos from a variety of angles. Think about the foreground AND the background. Using a naturally occurring small object in the foreground, like a flower, a tree, or even a rock, can illustrate the beauty of the landscape behind it, and make your photo unique.
• Make the most of your Camera: Try using different shutter speeds to play with the lighting and depth of field. This can result in a wide variety of perspectives of the same image. Try using different lenses, which will often give you a wider field of view, and a broader shot of your subject.
• Experiment: Don’t be afraid to get dirty. Maybe you will find the perfect shot from climbing that tree, or from lying in the sand.
• Most of all HAVE FUN!

 

 

Explore the Whole Island of Ireland and get a $100 Discount, Too

By: CIE Tours
As “the wearing of the green on March 17” approaches, CIE Tours is offering the “Irish Classic” vacation, a 13-day/11-night comprehensive escorted tour of all of Ireland with more than 50 departures slated throughout 2011, operating on Wednesdays and Fridays from March 11th through November 18th. Land tour prices start at $1,758.

And in honor of St. Patrick, CIE is also extending a $100 per couple discount on any departure. To obtain the discount, book and pay a deposit before March 31. Use code 033111CLA50.

Starting and ending at Dublin Airport, this itinerary includes two nights in Dublin with sightseeing in Dublin’s Fair City and Co. Wicklow; then it’s into Northern Ireland with visits to Belfast, the Mountains of Mourne, Antrim Coast, and Belleek. The itinerary then heads to the West of Ireland including Achill Island, Westport, Galway, Cliffs of Moher, The Burren, Bunratty, Limerick, and the Shannon River. Ireland’s popular southern coast is also part of the plan: Killarney, Ring of Kerry, the Dingle Peninsula, Blarney, Cobh, Waterford, Kilkenny and Kildare. The last night is spent with a regal flourish at the Dunboyne Castle Hotel.

The price includes 11 full Irish breakfasts, 10 dinners including dinner/traditional Irish entertainment at Taylor’s Three Rock Pub, medieval banquet and entertainment at Bunratty Castle, farewell dinner with entertainment at Dunboyne Castle Hotel, welcome get-together drink, and Irish coffee/music session at the Marine Bar in Dungarvan. The price also covers tours of Dublin and Belfast with local guides; walking tours of Derry and Waterford with local guides; day tour to Achill Island; horse-drawn jaunting car ride in Killarney; plus visits and admissions to Glendalough Visitor Centre, Dublin Castle, Down Cathedral, St. Patrick Centre, Giant’s Causeway, Ulster American Folk Park, Belleek Pottery Factory, Poulnabrone Dolmen, Cliffs of Moher, Foynes Flying Boat Museum, Muckross House & Gardens, Blarney Woollen Mills, Cobh Heritage Centre, Waterford Crystal Visitor Centre and Irish National Stud & Japanese Gardens.

The price also provides a deluxe flight bag, ticket wallet, luggage tags & strap; all local taxes, hotel service charges & porterage for one suitcase per person.

Contact @@BrandingName and start planning your own “Irish Classic”.

Uncover the History of Galileo and The Leaning Tower of Pisa with Globus

Uncover the History of Galileo and The Leaning Tower of Pisa with Globus
By: Globus

It was the most perfect experiment in the history of science. Holding both a cannon ball and a small musket ball, the 30-something Pisa native Galileo Galilei scaled the steps of his city’s famous Leaning Tower, and held them dramatically over the edge. Eight stories below, the town’s most learned scholars and priests were gathered as observers. They watched as the two balls dropped to the ground at the same speed – disproving, with a single stroke, the ancient idea that objects fall at different rates depending on their weight and size. This archaic concept, which had been espoused by the ancient Greek author Aristotle, had been accepted without question for more than 2,000 years, Galileo’s great innovation was to put it to a practical test of observation. Unfortunately, this famous story is probably not true. Galileo never wrote about it himself – it was recounted in a late biography penned by his secretary, Vincenzo Viviani. Most historians now believe that it was Galileo’s imaginative disciples who invented the Leaning Tower tale in order to make the theory so clear that even a child could understand it. The Leaning Tower was an appropriate setting not just because of its unusual angle – surrounded by the most impressive collection of religious buildings in Italy, it makes Galileo’s experiment, in defiance of an ancient tradition supported by the Church, seem all the more radical. In the long run, the fabrication hardly matters. Galileo was indisputably the pioneer of scientific experimentation – relying on direct observation, rather than abstract reasoning based on research in the library – and he probably did test his theory in other places around Pisa. Albert Einstein praised Galileo as “the father of modern science” for his breakthrough. And in Italy, Galileo has become a historical celebrity almost on a par with the saints. In the mid-1700s, when his body was disinterred to move it to a more magnificent sepulcher, admirers removed his middle finger from his body and preserved it as a secular relic. The dried-out digit can be seen today, mounted in a lovely chalice-like container in the Museum of the History of Science in Florence – although nobody seems to know why that particular finger was so honored.

The world is a library. What story might you discover on a Globus vacation in Italy? Contact Cruise Innovations and find out!