This Is Cartagena
Cartagena Colombia has become a popular tourist destination in recent years for Americans. If you want to learn a bit more about travel to this Caribbean city, you’ve come to the right place. This is Cartagena.
The historical center is the main tourist attraction in Cartagena and it’s divided up into easy to navigate sections. Throughout the centre you’ll find inviting gardens with overgrown trees for you to escape the harsh humid and hot climate. Take a seat on any number of benches and simply watch the locals rush by in their every day lives.
You’ll also find various museums such as the eye opening Inquisition Museum, a modern art museum and even a museum for chocolate lovers. There is no shortage of places for you to learn a bit more about this brilliant city on the Caribbean Sea. Fancy a few colorful photos? Cartagena will delight you with vibrant colors that are sure to make your travel photos pop with beautiful energy.
As with any tourist destination you’ll find plenty of nice restaurants mixed with a bit of run of the mill eateries. Shops line the streets of this historic area which is also a Unesco World Heritage Site.
As the city hugs the coastline of the Caribbean Sea, you’re sure to find any number of beaches. Rent a chair or a cabana for the day and enjoy the sea and surf. There is plenty of sunshine in Cartagena for you to enjoy on any given day.
The short video shows what you can expect to find during your visit to Cartagena. Each image in the slideshow was captured solely with my iPhone. For iPhone travel photography tips, skip down below.
1. WORKING WITH COMPOSITION
The composition is also a crucial ingredient to great iPhone photography. Here are a couple examples where the rules worked very well.
There is a great tool on the iPhone and it is the grid feature. These lines exemplify the Rule of Thirds. They divide your composition into horizontal and vertical lines.
You can place a subject along any line. Or where the lines intersect (visual hotspots).
2. USING AVAILABLE LIGHT
Mastering all the settings of iPhone photography is certainly necessary to creating great photography. But you can’t forget the creative side as well.
Great lighting and composition are just as important in telling the story you wish to tell.
Outdoor natural light is defined by: Quality, Quantity, Direction, and Color.
The quality of light often includes how soft or hard the light is. Quantity relates to brightness. Lots of light is usually bright while darker conditions have less available light.
Direction defines the angle the light is coming from and Color is just that: the colour of the light.
3. HOW TO CREATE HDR ON YOUR IPHONE
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. On IOS devices, the camera takes three exposures: light, dark, and normal.
Then it blends them together to create an image with more detail throughout the highlights and shadows.
This is a very valuable feature. Use it when photographing high contrast scenes with dark shadows and bright highlights.
4. USE ‘VIEW ON MAP’
Have you ever captured a photo and later wondered where you took the photograph?
It has happened to me many times over the years, but the iPhone has a feature called View on Map. It is quite simple to use.
Open your camera roll and find the photo you are wondering about. Once the photo is open, slide up from the bottom and the map shows up with the location.
5. USING THE FLASH
Adding Flash to your subject can be very useful in some situations. The iPhone flash is not very powerful, so its usefulness is limited to a few feet. In bright sun, the flash does not do so well but in the shade, it can be a different story.
6. ADJUSTING THE EXPOSURE
The iPhone’s metering is for the most part automatic.
Average scenes with average lighting may expose correctly. But there may be times where the iPhone falls short.
Fortunately, adjusting exposure is quite easy.
This full tonal range image is easy to meter and expose.
Wherever you tap on the screen to set focus, you also are choosing that spot to meter exposure. Start by tapping on the screen where you will see the Sun symbol next to the yellow box.
The sun symbol is the slider to adjust exposure so slide the symbol up or down to lighten or darken.
7. CROP YOUR IMAGES
Sometimes you might capture an image and later discover something in your photo you want to crop out.
To use the Crop feature, choose the photo from the camera roll and open it, then select Edit. At the bottom next to Cancel, is the crop tool.
Click that and then you can drag the sides or corners anywhere you wish on the photo.
And if your horizon is tilted, use two fingers to rotate and straighten. Or drag on the dial right below the picture.
8. WORK WITH DIFFERENT SHOOTING MODES
Depending on the Apple iPhone model (whether it’s an iPhone 5S, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, etc.), there are several modes you can choose from. These include:
Time-Lapse and Slo-Mo for videos
Video Photo (4×3 Ratio) Square (2×2) Pano (for panoramas) The latest models also have a Portrait Mode.
While capturing still photos, the 4×3 Photo mode is a perfect ratio for many scenes.
Square mode is also very useful when you have a subject that fills the frame.
The Panorama feature can be a lot of fun and is very easy to use. Select the Pano mode, touch the shutter button, and then move the camera from left to right. It works best if you have a tripod to keep the camera level. If you don’t have one, try your best to keep the camera level while panning left to right.
9. HOW TO SET THE FOCUS
Most of the time, the focus will be sharp throughout an average scene due to the iPhone’s tiny sensor. This is for when you want something specific to be sharp such as a close-up. Using the set focus feature will ensure that your main subject is sharp.
Touch the screen and place the yellow square in the area you want to be in focus.
By placing the subject closer to the camera and making it in focus, the depth of field appears shallow. This throws the background more out of focus for a nice effect.
10. TRY THE SELF TIMER
Use the self-timer feature to capture a different style of selfies or any scene for that matter. The timer can be set for 3 or 10 seconds. Which time you choose depends on you.
3 seconds is not a lot of time but can be useful when you want to take a picture without touching the camera.
The 10-second feature is better if you want enough time to press the shutter and then get in front of the camera.
11. USE A SELFIE STICK TO BROADEN YOUR PERSPECTIVE
To some degree, the smartphone gets a lot of credit for the Selfie craze we see today. No longer do we need to ask a stranger to take our picture in front of an amazing background.
What’s great about a selfie stick is that you are no longer limited to the length of your arm.
These can be very handy not only for selfies. If the stick has legs, you can use it like a tripod.
This is especially helpful in low light conditions. That’s when camera movement might cause blur.
12. EASY ACCESS TO YOUR NATIVE IPHONE CAMERA
You never know when you might stumble on something that requires a rapid response to capture the shot.
But every time you have to unlock the phone before selecting the camera app.
Head over to your phone’s settings and make sure you can quickly swipe the screen and the camera opens up ready to go.