Travel Photography Tips | Think About Contrast

© 2012 Wazari Wazir | Langtang National Park | Nepal | Himalaya

To be honest with you, I’m not a fan of bright colourful clothing but when it comes to photography, it is another story, the man in the photograph above is my traveling companion Ahmad Shukri, back in Kuala Lumpur, one week before our Nepal Adventure, we shop around in Kuala Lumpur to get the right clothing for our trekking journey into the Himalaya, I get the red coloured one but that was the only stock they have, so I tell my friend why don’t take the black one, same material and design but with a different colour.

Black colour has it place but once we arrived in Kathmandu and spend some time wandering around at Thamel Street where there are hundreds of shops selling trekking stuff, including down jacket at a cheaper price, we are bewildered with the choice, so my friend decided to buy a new one, since it is not that expensive compared to what we have to pay back in Kuala Lumpur, he choose this one from North Face, maybe some will say that it is not “authentic” but from the material, I think it will do the job, we are going on an adventure trip in the Himalaya and not into a fashion show runway at a five star hotel, so it doesn’t matter so much, the most important is that, the material is good and the colour is right.

What I’m trying to say here is that, if you want to look great and stand out in a photograph from the background, the choice of colours for your clothing or apparel is most important, can you imagine if my friend wearing a black colour or just plain grey colour, it will blend with the background and lack contrast, but on the other hand if you choose to blend with the background like a chameleon then it is your personal choice.

Sometimes this small little things can make or break the photograph, personally I like grey and dark colours for my clothing but on this trip I choose a red colour down jacket and my friend above choose an orange colour down jacket.

The next time whenever you’re going out shopping for clothings, think about contrast, it will come in handy someday…