How to Make Your Travel Photos Pop

Mark Willard captured Philly and NYC, as well as a charity run, with his Tamron SP 70-200mm VC and SP 24-70mm VC lenses.

Article by Jenn Gidman

Images by Mark Willard

A historic Pennsylvania Revolutionary War encampment and the iconic cityscapes of Philadelphia and New York City have been just a few of the subjects Mark Willard has captured during his travels. The Tamron SP 70-200mm VC and SP 24-700mm VC lenses have been his trusted travel companions during his last few trips. "The best thing about both lenses is the overall quality and sharpness you get," he says. "And the Vibration Compensation was useful in situations where I wasn't able to use a tripod, like taking a picture of a city skyline at sunset or inside St. Pat's Cathedral. The VC allowed me to achieve shutter speeds as low as 1/10th of a second without any noticeable shake in the resulting images."

What draws Mark into a photographic subject when he's on the road comes down to how he feels when he looks at it. "Although I do have a general idea of what I'd like to photograph when I visit a particular destination, it's usually very in the moment for me," he explains. "I see what emotion I feel when I'm there and then try to communicate that emotion through the image's composition."

Figuring out a different way to photograph a famous city landmark is key if you can't get the picture you thought you were going to get. "When I visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, I didn't realize it would be under construction at the time," Mark says. "I wasn't able to get a grand, sweeping shot of the cathedral because 80 percent of it was under scaffolding. Then I saw the candles, which were arranged in what I thought made a really nice pattern. I wanted to line it up so you could see the lines slowly going out of focus. Using an F/2.8 aperture and a 1/30th of a second exposure allowed me to get as much light as possible in what was a very low-light situation."

Finding interesting angles can also turn an image of an often-photographed landmark into something unique. "When I'm trying to capture a sweeping vista or an architectural landmark, I'll often get close to the ground for a lower perspective," Mark explains. "The Atlas statue in New York City's Rockefeller Center, for example-getting down low like that enabled me to emphasize its size and communicate a more imposing feel to the viewer."

The same held for Mark's photo of the Ben Franklin Bridge set against the Philadelphia skyline. "I was in Camden, New Jersey, just across the Delaware River from Philly," he says. "This image was all about getting down low to emphasize the size of the bridge with Philadelphia off in the distance, incorporating all the colors of the night sky and the lights of the city and the bridge into the picture as well. This picture was taken at ISO 64 at F/11, with a 13-second exposure."

Tapping into traditional artistic rules can help you effectively frame and compose your images. "Although I think it's sometimes OK to break compositional rules if you're intentional about it and know why you're breaking them, it's important to understand those rules and the way they work," Mark says. "The two major rules I always fall back on are the rule of thirds and leading lines."

As an example he cites a picture he took while photographing the Hope Express charity run in Pennsylvania. Mark was riding in a trailing vehicle behind one of the runners and was able to use the natural curve of the road ahead to set the image's path. "The runners didn't even know I was there," he says. "This photo really shows the autofocus capabilities of the 70-200. The runner was going at full speed, and I was still able to get a really sharply focused picture at F/2.8 at 175mm."

Mark's images of the National Memorial Arch (the Revolutionary War monument in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, which he captured at sunset) and the Manhattan skyline at night allowed him to showcase his own perspective of two famous scenes. "With the Valley Forge monument, I was able to complement the memorial itself with the dramatic skies and the American flag through the arch," he says. "With the New York City skyline, it was important to anchor the scene with the Bank of America Tower, the Empire State Building, and the Freedom Tower. Whenever you're photographing a city skyline like that, it's important to have at least two or three buildings stand out so viewers have something to focus on."

Besides its magnificent skyline, New York City is also known for being the City That Never Sleeps-and that's exactly the look Mark went for in his photo of Times Square. "I wanted to capture the motion there because Times Square is such a kinetic place," he says. "I want viewers to feel that when they look at the photo." Using a focal length of 24mm, Mark set the aperture to F/11 and the exposure to 0.8 seconds and created motion blur on one of the taxis. "I wanted to incorporate the emotion of NYC by adding the cabs in because they're such an iconic part of the city," he adds.

To see more of Mark Willard's work, go to www.markwillardphotography.com.