Travel Photography: Focused Women Travel

Despite the headline, this article provides tips useful for both women and men. The tips are offered by Mirjam Evers, a Dutch photographer who specializes in environmental portraits, travel, documentary, and adventure photography, and Najat Naba, a co-founder with Evers of Photo Quest Adventures, "a travel company with the mission of making a difference in the world through photography."

Evers and Naba share these tips (summarized below) "for anyone trying to improve her (or his) photography while on the road":

See how other photographers captured the location you’re going to. ... It’s important to understand local customs and traditions. Otherwise, you run the risk of being rude or offensive to the locals.

Dress like a local. ... Don’t wear clothes that make you stand out and stay away from bold colors, logos and definitely anything sexy. 

Avoid looking like a rich Westerner. ... You don’t want to be a walking billboard for thieves. ...

Ask permission if you want to photograph someone. Engage and try to make a connection with someone before taking pictures. Learn how to say “hello” and “May I take a photograph” in the local language. ... Once you do take a photograph, show it to them on the back of the camera. 

Catch Light in the eyes. ...

Think outside the box. Shoot from the floor with a wide-angle or fish-eye lens. ...

Check local sunrise/sunset times. ...

Pack camera-equipment light. Take one camera body (unless you have the room for a spare), lots of memory cards, a lightweight tripod, portable storage device, a flash and a selection of lenses in a durable camera bag. 

Keep your equipment safe. ...

Shoot in RAW. Shooting all your pictures in RAW will give you greater flexibility for post processing, ...

Back up devices. ... Take twice the amount of cards/capacity than you would expect to need. 

Choose lenses carefully. ... [O]pt for a fast zoom such as an 18-200 mm or 28-300m. If you have extra room or would prefer a wider choice, consider a portrait prime lens (e.g.85 mm), a wide angle lens (e.g. 10-24mm) and a telephoto (e.g. 70-200mm). ...

Pack a power strip. This way, you can charge your computer, camera battery, phone and anything else at the same time. ...

When shooting, use a wide aperture. ... The lower the”F” stop, the wider the aperture on your camera, and the less depth-of-field you get. Letting in as much light as possible with a low F-number will blur the background and cause a subject to pop more in the photo. 

Get off the beaten track. ... Find somewhere where the locals aren’t used to seeing tourists. ...