GIVING IT YOUR BEST SHOT : SNAPPY TIPS FROM EXPERTS ON CAPTURING TRAVELS ON FILM.

Byline: Arthur Goldsmith Universal Press Syndicate 

The images are stunning: the weathered hands of an American Indian woman selling turquoise jewelry in a New Mexico plaza; a row of impala mirrored in an African waterhole; an ``enchanted light'' coloring high mountain peaks and billowy clouds.

Most people don't end up with travel photos like these, which are the works of award-winning photographers specializing in travel photography. But with patience, a good eye for the unusual and some good equipment - and some tips from the experts - it's possible to preserve the richness of your travels on film.

We invited five photographers who teach courses on travel shooting and work regularly for national magazines - Lisl Dennis, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Frans Lanting, Allen Rokach and Galen Rowell - to share their expertise.

All were asked to select and discuss one of their own pictures that makes a strong teaching point and exemplifies an element they feel is particularly important in travel photography: color, lighting, eye contact, design and detail.

Lisl Dennis: Founder of the Travel Photography Workshop in Santa Fe, Dennis brings 35 years of experience as a travel writer, photographer and teacher to her New Mexico workshops and travel tours that include Morocco, Provence and India.

She encourages her students to ``look for those evocative details that capture the essence of place.''

``We live in an ever more crowded, cluttered environment, which for me at least increases the difficulty in making overall shots,'' she says. ``Parking lots, telephone wires and soft-drink signs surround historical landmarks. Dozens of kids suddenly emerge from a nearby village into a quiet landscape.

``So, I keep moving in closer and closer to the essential details. This helps me in two ways: Pictures often have stronger visual impact, and they become more personal.''

A good example is her photograph of the woman selling jewelry on the crowded plaza in Santa Fe.

``I was taken by her fantastic, candy-striped dress,'' Dennis says. ``I went over to her, chatted for a few minutes, complimented her on her dress, and asked if I could photograph it.

``I did not want a portrait of her or to include the crowded surroundings. I was interested in her weathered hands and the turquoise and silver jewelry.

``She had no objection, so I went to work with my Contax RTS, a 60mm macro lens and Fujichrome 100 film, making several bracketed exposures from a base of f/8 at 1/30 second.

``I've found that by looking closely, I become more aware of abstract color and composition, and that an exotic, surreal quality - a more personal style - emerges.''

Robert Glenn Ketchum: Ketchum is widely known not only for the excellence of his images, but the impact of his environmentalist efforts and contributions to photographic education.

``The human eye is our most sophisticated color sensor,'' Ketchum says, ``and for that reason, color is one of the most powerful visual influences that affect us. In photography, color is a way to engage the viewer, make the image more exciting and emphasize its content.''

Ketchum rarely takes pictures in strong sunlight and only a few with just a touch of sunlight. ``I find much richer colors working in more even light of a cloudy day rather than contrasty situations where I have to struggle with the busyness of highlights and shadows,'' he says. Consider his ``Upper Lake Cohasset, Harriman State Park, 1983.''

``I took this photograph on a rainy day with a completely overcast sky when there were virtually no highlights or shadows,'' Ketchum says. ``The composition is pure color.

``It had been raining for days, and when that happens, the dry leaves soak up water, turn limp and become more heavily saturated with color. Also, tree trunks become so wet they turn black.

``The rain was easing off enough for me to go out and work when I saw this particular tree trunk. I knew it would set off the strong vibrant colors surrounding it and chose an angle that would include it in the composition. The black trunk makes the red leaves seem redder; the red leaves make the trunk seem blacker.

``To make the picture I used a Pentax 6x7 camera with a 200mm Asahi lens and Ektachrome 64 film, exposed and processed normally. With the camera on a tripod, the exposure was f/22 at four seconds.''

Frans Lanting: Lanting has documented wildlife and man's relationship with nature around the world and won numerous awards for his widely published work. He recently returned from a tour of Antarctica and also led a photo safari to East Africa in 1995.

He advises wildlife photographers to look not only for a single subject - although that may make a strong picture - but also for the designs and patterns created by groups of animals, birds or fish. A vivid example is his photograph of a row of impala mirrored in a water hole in Botswana.

``To photograph wildlife, you need some knowledge of the animals you are photographing and some experience in watching their behavior patterns,'' he says. ``That allows you to anticipate where to be and when to be there.

``I try to put myself into situations where I can find design elements that make a simple composition with strong graphic appeal. This was the case at this waterhole, which attracted groups of various animals and reflected their images in the still water.

``A basic mistake many wildlife photographers make in Africa or anywhere else is trying to do too much. It is better to limit yourself to a few locations with which you become thoroughly familiar.

I returned to this particular location time and time again. This enabled me to get a much better sense of that spot, of the animal life there, and the possibilities for capturing the abstract patterns and designs I was looking for.

``It was important to get there early in the morning, just before the sun came above the horizon, to get the warm, beautiful light of dawn.

``I placed my Nikon on a tripod and used a 500mm lens and Fujichrome 100 film at an estimated exposure of 1/125 second at f/8, composing carefully to capture the rhythmic shapes of the impala as they crowded together to drink and to combine that with their reflected images.''

Allen Rokach: The former director of photography and staff photographer for the New York Botanical Garden and co-founder of the Center for Nature Photography, Rokach holds photo workshops in the New York area.

For Rokach, people are an essential element in travel photography, adding the warmth and humanity that make a travel photo come alive.

``I personally like to get as close as possible to my subject and establish eye contact,'' he says. ``Rather than working with a 200mm or 300mm lens, I prefer to use a 35mm, 50mm or 100mm lens. I like people to know they're being photographed. I don't want them to feel I'm stalking them.''

Rokach encourages his students to overcome their shyness about photographing strangers in strange places. ``Talk to people if you can,'' he advises. ``At least smile and communicate by body language. People usually are nice to you if you treat them in a friendly, courteous way.

``However, you have to be in charge in terms of photography. I'm a real believer in the importance of thinking ahead about the picture you want and planning how best to get it.''

An example is his photograph of a young Ghanian woman.

``I saw her walking down a village street. She was very tall, very beautiful, and elegantly dressed. It was a super-bright day, making it difficult to photograph people in direct sunlight. But I noticed she was walking toward an area where a building cast a shadow and she would pass directly in front of a dark, open doorway.

``Catching her attention, I indicated I was interested in photographing her. She seemed to have no objection, but kept on walking. Following her closely, I quickly preset my camera for an exposure of f/4 at 1/250 second. I was shooting with an Olympus OM2 with 100mm lens and Kodachrome 64 film.

``Just as she reached the doorway I called out to her and as I hoped, she momentarily stopped and turned to look at me. At the moment of eye contact, I clicked the shutter, catching her quizzical, utterly natural expression with her face softly modeled in the diffused light.''

Galen Rowell: Rowell's much-published work has earned him a reputation as a master of landscape photography. He conducts Mountain Light Photography workshops in California and has led photography treks to Peru.

``You need to learn to see light as film sees it and to interact with it,'' Rowell tells his students. ``Previsualize the effect you want and take steps to make a better picture than what you find in front of you.''

Galen uses his majestic image of a cloud at sunset over California's Owens River to make these points.

``This is not a found photograph, but a created one,'' he explains. ``I first put the pieces together in my mind and then worked out ways to achieve what I wanted. I saw these clouds forming in the afternoon and . . . knew (they) were likely to keep forming until sunset, giving me time to optimize the photographic opportunity.

``Instead of recording this cloud just as I first encountered it, I drove along the river until I found a viewpoint where the river's curve repeated the cloud's shape and reflected its light.

``I knew the foreground would go much too dark if I made a straight shot exposing for the brightly illuminated sky, so I used a three-stop graduated filter that gave me more natural-looking shadow detail without washing out the sky and clouds.

``With my Nikon F4 on a tripod with a 20mm f/4 lens, I waited for the `magic hour' of sunset lighting - from about half-hour before sunset to half-hour after. I was lucky and the light kept getting better and better. Using Fuji Velvia film exposed for f/8 at 1/30 second, I made several exposures as the light changed. That gave just the effect I hoped for: a type of alpenglow, the enchanted light lingering on high mountain peaks or cloud formations like this.''

CAPTION(S):

5 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) A woman in Ghana makes eye contact wit h photographer Allen Rokach.

(2--Color) Lisl Dennis photo shows evocative details of fabric, jewelry in Sante Fe, N.M.

(3--Color) Robert Glenn Ketchum photo shows the power of color at Upper Lake Cohasset, N.Y.

(4--Color) Frans Lanting shows impalas lined up at a Botswana water hole.

(5--Color) Galen Rowell photo shows enchanted light over California's Owens River.