Not even professional travel photographers always encounter postcard-perfect conditions. What to do when there’s never enough time to see everything at its best? Here are Judge’s tips for making the most of the moment:

1. Anticipate. Know where your subject is going. The beach at Railay is often a busy place: People and boats are constantly on the move. “I noticed that one of the boatmen started walking between boats several boats away,” she says. ” I anticipated he might just walk all the way down, so I ran ahead, found the exact location and composition I was looking for and hoped he wouldn’t get to his boat berfore he got to me.” Judge set her focus on the boats and then grabbed the decisive moment.
2. Simplify. Leave unnecessary elements out of your frame. Although Railay is known for its distinctive rock formations, Judge framed the shot to emphasize the only means of getting to and from Railay Beach: the distinctive “longtail” boats and their drivers. She overexposed by 1 EV to even out detail in the highlights, and she stopped down to f/6.3 to control depth of field.
3. Balance with Space. Negative space gives a sense of place by adding visual tension between the subject and the environment. It leaves room for the viewer to experience the location. “It also works well for publication, since a lot of times art directors and creatives like to have ample room for copy,” adds Judge. (That worked for us!)
4. Tweak colors. Remember what the location is known for and what you felt there-and use color and contrast to evoke emotion. ” This image bumps the midtones up towards the highlights,” she says. “The water wasn’t blue, so bumping the midtones took most of the unwanted brown color out of the water and gave the suggestion of the emerald green water that Railay is known for in the shadows around the boats.”

Creating a memorable image during your travels means preparing for possibilities and working with the way things are right now. As Judge says, “Nothing is perfect, everything is perfect. Try to let go of your expectations and let your creative eye and vision see the world freely.”

Capture it all or create images with more impact. The NEW TOKINA AT-X 107 DX is Fish-eye zoom lens that gives the photographer a 180 degree field of view with dramatic curvature of field or “fish-eye” effect. That’s wider than the human eye can see!. The AT-X 107 DX creates an entirely new view on everything from street scenes to nature’s beautiful vistas. This lens will open a new dimension to your photography.

Looking for new excitement in your photography? Try shooting abstract images-pictures that play with elements of pure pattern, line, shape, color, texture, and tonal value. They offer perception-stretching ways of experiencing the world, and require no special equipment except for an open mind. Here are tips for finding your inner minimalist.

1. Stop Thinking! Drop your preconceptions-don’t see objects for what you know them to be. See a chair, and you’ll photograph a chair. If, instead, you view the chair only as a collection of visual ingredients, it can lead you to innovative compositions.
2. Pick Out just a few key details with a long focal length or moving in close.
3. Use close-up techniques to extract small details such bark, peeling paint, a bent nail.
4. Crop Out unwanted parts if your gear won’t let you fill the frame with your composition.
5. Try b&w. A black-and-white image is one step removed from the colored reality we see, so it’s already on the road to abstraction.