How I create my photos

I have had a number of people both here on my blog and on Cruise Critic comment…

• Many of you have been curious about my photography process. You’ve asked, ‘How do I take my photos? What kind of camera do I use? What type of lens?’ Some of you even wondered if I’m using a camera at all or just my phone.
• One of the most common questions I get is about how I manage to process and share my photos while on a cruise. It’s definitely a unique challenge, but I’ve developed a system that works for me.
• Others also want to know any travel photo tips I might have.

My buddy Mike Preisman always has his equipment at the bottom of every page of his website. I don’t, so here are the answers, along with commentary (did you expect any less) about my photo process. This will get a little geeky for some of you, so please feel free to ignore this post.

My Gear

I have been a Nikon guy since I went digital. I chose Nikon because of one thing. My son-in-law had a Nikon, and I figured we could borrow each other’s lenses. This was back in 1999, and we have only done that once. Get the camera you like. Get a lens that works for you. I am part of a group on Reddit who are Nikon users. One of my biggest criticisms of those who are in the group is that they are too concerned with what gear to buy. More than half the posts are about what lens or camera body to buy.

I shoot a mirrorless Nikon Z7II. I have been using it since fall 2022. It’s the best camera I have ever owned (Don’t sweat if you don’t know what a mirrorless camera is.)

One of the things I get a lot of flack about from the Nikon groups is that I only carry one lens. I have seen people walking around ships or on the streets with a camera bag with 2, 3, 4 or more lenses. I just won’t do it. That’s too much to carry everywhere I go. I carry a zoom lens so that I can take large landscapes as well as close-ups and distant subjects. Up until just before this trip, I was using a 28-300mm zoom lens from Nikon. It was a great lens, but I needed a new one because it was from my old digital lens reflex camera, and I had to use an adapter to use it. That not only added weight to what I was carrying around but it was one more thing my images could be affected by when shooting. But Nikon did me one better and brought out a 28-400mm lens, and I love it! What an awesome camera and lens combo for a travel photographer. What am I getting with this lens? The ability to carry one lens.

The only other thing I feel important if you are a travel photographer is the right strap. I see people carrying these huge cameras either in their hands or around their necks. The only strap you get from a camera manufacturer is a neck strap. The only thing a neck strap does is give you a sore neck. When your camera and lens combo weigh almost five pounds, any chiropractor will tell you are nuts to hang that around your neck. So, I found a great strap years ago. It’s called a Blackrapid strap. It attaches to your camera on the bottom, where you screw the connector into the tripod mount. Then, it hangs off a cross-body strap (see the illustration.) and rides on your hip. The only problem I have with it is that mine is getting old, and they don’t have the exact same one I do because mine has a small pocket on the front that was built to put a flip phone in (that’s how old it is ?) and I keep my extra battery in there. I hate having it in my pocket, so I will probably have this one forever.

One last thing about camera gear: Don’t ever say this to a photographer: “WOW! I love your pictures. What kind of camera do you use?” Before you say that, consider this: Would you ask a chef of a great meal what kind of pan he cooks with? It’s the same thing as far as I am concerned. I believe I take great travel photos because I practice a lot, take classes and shoot great stuff. One of my favorite photographic gurus is Scott Kelby. When Scott was asked what gear someone should buy to be a better photographer, Scott told them not to buy anything but to spend the same amount of money to go someplace awesome. His mantra is, “If you want to take amazing photos, stand in front of amazing places.” I agree.

My Process

I have developed a pretty specific process for taking, rating, processing and improving my photos. First, I always shoot photos in RAW format. Ninety percent of photographers shoot in JPEG format. When I shoot in RAW, I get a digital negative. But that means that I can’t show you any photo I have taken until I process it. That takes time. I process all my photos through a process.

Second, when shooting, I go back and forth on my camera between my Program mode and Manual mode. When I am in full sunlight and have lots of light, I shoot in Program mode, on my camera that’s pretty much as close to automatic as you get. When I shoot early in the morning or late at night or in low light/bad weather, I want complete control of the camera, so it’s manual for that. And once in a blue moon, I will switch to one of the other two modes. If I am going to shoot action (maybe my granddaughter’s softball game), I switch to Shutter priority to ensure I freeze the action. When I want to isolate a subject, I might switch to Aperture mode to do that.

So I shoot photos and then put them in my MacBook Pro. Yes, that means I carry around a full-size laptop with me. I mentioned that my camera weighs almost five pounds, but my camera/computer bag weighs nearly 35 pounds. I try never to carry it but to always move it on top of either my or Kathleen’s carry-on roller bag.

As soon as I have time, I copy the images to a folder for that day, and then I open Adobe Bridge. Most photographers use Lightroom to process photos, but I started doing photography when I was a graphic designer, and we like Bridge. You can use any software; you just need one that lets you see the entire photo on a full screen. I go through my photos pretty quickly the first time. When I shot the 600+ photos on the day we were in Gearanger I needed to have a quick way to get through them. I call what I do “photo triage.” I go through my pics in pretty much a hurry. And when I see what one I like and want to come back and look at again, I hit the five key on my Mac. If I see a photo that I might like if I worked on it, I hit the four key. If I see one that goes into a specific category (like photos with family in them) I hit the three key. This adds a rating to the photo.

Then, I go through each of the ones tagged with a five and process them in the Adobe app Camera Raw. First, I set the white balance and exposure, and then, if the photo warrants it, I might add some clarity or vibrance. I also might up the sharpening. And if the sky is dead (that happens a lot), I might dehaze it a little.

Once I have done all the 5s, I look at the 4s again. If any are one-of-a-kind shots that I have to have, I will do my best to fix them. After that, I might work on the family pics, but I often transfer them to another folder to work on when I get home because I hardly ever use them on my blog.

Now I have all the Camera RAW files the way I want them; I have to turn them into JPEGs so they can be uploaded to the web. Luckily for me, there is a wonderful extension for Bridge and Photoshop (and I believe you can use it in Lightroom as well) called Image Processor. All I have to do is select all my five photos and tell Bridge to run them through Image Processor. The extension created a folder called JPEG within my existing folder and turned them all into high-end JPEGs. But I am still not done at this point. This whole process takes about 10 minutes of automated work on 50 photos.

I then open up an amazing piece of software called Topaz Photo AI. This is the most fantastic software ever because it goes through all the photos in the JPEG folder and looks at them to see what might be improved, and then it uses AI to fix them. It is amazing with noise and sharpening. Just amazing. But this takes a little time—about 20 minutes for 50 photos.

Lastly, I have to shrink the photos. I could upload the original Topazed photos, but they are HUGE! The average size of the JPEG file after being run through Topaz is more than 15 megabytes. If I had to upload those size files, I would never have gotten a single picture online to add to the blog. And to see them in all their glory on a digital screen, you don’t need the high resolution. This means that they must be shrunk. To do that, I created a script in Photoshop to do that. It opens the larger file, shrinks it to a smaller size (usually about 2 megabytes) and saves the file. It is quick, and I don’t have to do anything while it runs. Fifty photos take about two minutes. Amazing.

Now I can start writing my post and adding the photos. But when do I do all this on a cruise? First thing in the morning. I am not a big sleeper. I get to sleep right away, but my need for sleep is less than most. I usually get by on six hours. So that means I am generally awake between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. I grab my laptop and head up to the upstairs of the Explorer’s Lounge, sit on one of two couches, take my shoes off, put my feet up and sometimes I process photos and then write and design the post. Hopefully, I get done with it before Kathleen wakes up around 6:30 and texts me that she is up and out of the shower. I also squeeze in some time in the afternoons.

If you liked the photos I posted for this trip, I invite you to take a look at my portfolio. Just click the link in the menu bar above to see my best stuff.

Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.  —Aaron Suskin