Travel Photography: What to Pack

The trip is planned. The details all worked out. Now it's time to pack up the camera. Here are a few tips and hints to make your vacation photography a breeze this year.

• Film
• Batteries
• Camera
• Flash
• Plastic zipper bags
• Small pocket sized notebook or journal
• Small white labels to mark film

Film:

Bring all the film that you think you will need with you. Purchasing film at a tourist shop will cost big bucks and the quality of the film is always questionable. It is much better to take along more film than not enough.

What kind of film should you take?

With the different types of film on the market today, its no wonder that many people stand and scratch their head trying to choose. Getting great prints starts with getting the right film. The right tool for the right job.

The first question is whether you want to have slides or prints. The majority of people prefer to have print film for obvious reasons. Print or negative film is much more forgiving meaning that you don't have to be as precise in the exposure to still get great prints. The second consideration is the climate and weather at your destination. If you are vacationing in a sunny location then ISO 100 speed film is perfect. Check the online weather forecasts in the cities you expect to visit. Bring along a couple of rolls of ISO 400 for cloudy, rainy, or overcast destinations.

The third consideration is the local attractions. For example, a trip to Las Vegas should include plenty of ISO 400, 800 or even 1000 speed films as the primary focal point is the nighttime street scenes. If you are headed to an amusement park with a lot of rides, you might want to bring along some fast speed film to stop the action. Same goes for a vacation that might include water skiing, auto racing, parasailing, etc.

The fourth thing to consider is what you want to do with the prints. Do you want to have them enlarged? Are you looking for eye-catching colors? If your goal is to have travel photos that look like the ones in the travel brochures, choose one of the enhanced color saturated films. Fuji films are great for high-contrast, high-color subjects. The slower the film speed the larger the prints. If you want a poster size print choose an ISO 50 film. These films perform beautifully in very sunny locations and can be enlarged without noticeable quality loss.