Our London Vacation is done – Now a coffee table book

Book Cover – Buy the book on Blurb.com

I spent much of my weekend creating and designing a coffee table book to remember our trip to London, England this past Thanksgiving.

You see no one wants to sit at my computer going through all the photos of our trip. No one is that interested in me just taking all the photos and just projecting them and talking forever about our trip.

What people are interested in seeing is when I have taken the time to create a storyline and thought about what I want to communicate about our trip.

The exercise of creating a book will help you have something to help you remember your trip and also make it more intriguing for an audience to enjoy.

One of the page spreads

As I worked on laying out all the pages and trying to create some sense of order I had to include some text. I needed to include information that would help us remember what we saw to be sure I didn't lose pertinent information.

When you put two or more photos together you get what we call the X-Factor. This is when the message of the combined photos communicates something totally different than the photos just by themselves.  They strengthen each other.

Adding text goes even further and helps fill in all the information that is left out in a photograph.

Funny thing about great photos is they ask questions.  Yes the best photos have your audience asking questions.  Who is that person?  The photo was strong enough to make you want to know.

Where is this place? This is what a successful travel photo will do because your audience will want to go there if it is successful.

I can picture myself in many years sitting drinking some coffee and sitting by a fireplace as I hold the book and flip through the pages to help jog my memory on such a wonderful time I had with my wife and daughter.

Call me sentimental, but I realized this might be the last time we have to do anything as a family for a while. My daughter will go off to college next year and who knows how our schedules will be going forward. I know we will do things in the future, but will we get this kind of time together?

Page spread on the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace

While you can find some bargains on books about England they are not our photos and our specific memories. The book I put together is our trip and includes all the places we went to and enjoyed as a family.

This may just be the most archival way for our family to preserve the photos and memories of our trip. CD/DVDs tend to fade over time and hard drives can fail, but the printed page tends to last much longer than all these other formats.

I encourage you to take the time to put all those photos that you took on your latest trip into a book. Marry the images with text and not only will this preserve the memories, but it allows you now to share this with family and friends.

We all have friends who want to know about our trip because they are planning their own trip. Now we have something that can help them see what we did and help them determine if they want to see what we saw or maybe add some new locations that we didn't go to for our trip.

I recommend using Blurb.com for your book project. These are beautiful books made by you. You can turn your ideas into professional-quality books, magazines, or ebooks for iPad and Kindle.

More photos from London with the Fuji X-E2

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/4, 1/400

We have been having lots of fun in England this week. Morning full English breakfast at The Orangery at Kensington Palace. My daughter enjoyed her tea.

I am just going to add photos here from the last couple of days that I was able to capture with my Fuji X-E2. I am using just he 18-55mm and the 55-200mm lenses.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/7.1, 1/120

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 800, ƒ/9, 1/100

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 200, ƒ/4, 1/100

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 250, ƒ/4, 1/100

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 1600, ƒ/11, 1/100

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 1000, ƒ/11, 1/100

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 400, ƒ/5, 1/350

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 200, ƒ/4.7, 1/180

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 400, ƒ/5, 1/600

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 200, ƒ/5.6, 1/120

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 400, ƒ/5.6, 1/240

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 5000, ƒ/2.8, 1/100

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/2.8, 1/350

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 200, ƒ/3.6, 1/680

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/3.8, 1/950

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 400, ƒ/4.8, 1/300

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 400, ƒ/4.7, 1/120

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/2.8, 1/1100

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/3.2, 1/640

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/3.6, 1/3800

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 200, ƒ/3.6, 1/750

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 200, ƒ/4.8, 1/120

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/2.8, 1/300

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/5.6, 1/45

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/5.6, 1/90

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 1600, ƒ/5.6, 1/100

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 2000, ƒ/5.6, 1/100

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 4000, ƒ/5.6, 1/100

Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour London with Fuji X-E2

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4.5, 1/100

Too look like my wife and daughter are going through Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Crossing train station a person holds the scarf and then lets go. I decided this would be a great time to use my motor drive setting on the Fuji X-E2. I put it on high so I would have more photos to choose from.

I doubt I will make it back here in my lifetime to repeat this again, so better be sure I get it the first time. Again my gear would do the job, but I had to make some adjustments to get the most out of it.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4, 1/60

I wanted to capture these deatheater masks used in the making of Harry Potter that were in a glass case. I moved until I got the angle where there wasn't a glare and then just zoomed in with my 18-55mm to get a fairly close shot of the masks. They made over a thousand of these for the movie.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 5000, ƒ/3.2, 1/100

I love the pop up flash on the Fuji X-E2 when it comes to situations like this. Just look at the lady in the backgrounds eyes. You can see the shadows from the lighting. I just popped up the flash and shot with it to help open up the eyes of my wife and daughter in front of the Hogwarts Train used for the 10 years of making of the 8 Harry Potter films.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/3.2, 1/70

Even this far away the flash helped since I was shooting at ISO 6400. I have it set for slow sync on aperture priority so the flash is just helping with the exposure.  By the way this is the second 4 Privet Drive house used. It is a copy of the first one in movie one and used later in other sequels.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4, 1/45

I love that I am shooting RAW with the Fuji X-E2 and also JPEGs. This photo I later color corrected in Lightroom to get the skin tones closer to normal. However I am shooting under theatrical lighting where they are creating a night scene with blue lights.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4, 1/45

This is the original JPEG out of the camera.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/3.2, 1/60

For such a small camera I was getting incredible results for my family to remember our time at the Warner Brothers Studio Tour in London for Harry Potter. Our family is all Potter Heads. We have all read all the books many times and own the movies on DVD.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 5000, ƒ/5, 1/100

The last stop on the studio tour was a full size model of Hogwarts that they used for filming of the movies. They put a green screen around it and then just shot high resolution images and then often would used computer graphics to shrink down the actors to the scale of the model. They had touch screen monitors around the room for you to see how that all worked.

Let me tell you it was incredible to go onto all the sets they have preserved at the studio that were the actual sets used in the movies.

More sights of London with my Fuji X-E2

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 1250, ƒ/5.6, 1/100

I enjoyed seeing the sights in London. Some of the sights were just reflections in the sidewalk of the Coke sign in Piccadilly Square in London.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 400, ƒ/4.8, 1/100

There is so much to see in London and there is just not enough time for any tourist. So you pick your locations. Our family went to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards ceremony.

It is really impossible to find one location to get good photos of every part of the ceremony. We got right next to the railing of the front gate. I had to shoot through the iron gates to get this photo.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 800, ƒ/4.8, 1/100

I found the Fuji 55-200mm lens just great to use for this situation. I was too far away for the 18-55mm, but was able to get some fun moments like this one of the London Bobby with tourists taking a selfie.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 800, ƒ/4.8, 1/100

I just had to wait and watch to capture people in wonderful moments of expression. This was easier to do than capture the guard. They are very business like throughout the event in their role.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 640, ƒ/4.8, 1/100

In photography to capture people's attention you need "surprises". Most of the time I find that expressions on people's faces is the easiest to find. However every once in a while something is different enough to be a "visual surprise" like this guard wearing a turban rather than the bearskin tall hat that the rest of the guards wear. Also the only one with a beard.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 400, ƒ/3.5, 1/150

The most important thing for me the entire trip was that my wife and daughter were having fun. If they were enjoying everything, then I was OK with wherever we were in London.

We all love Harry Potter and my wife has been a Downton Abbey fan for a while. So London was a perfect place for a vacation.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/5.6, 1/70

For me this photo made me think of the "Night Bus" in Harry Potter. Maybe before Harry Potter it would just be a double decker bus in London, but the storyline of Harry Potter will forever be burned in mind and now these are the Night Bus in the series.

Technical Tip

Before I could just concentrate on capturing moments and moods of England I had to understand my camera and make it do what I wanted and not just whatever it would create on it's own.

For all these photos I used the ExpoDisc to create a Custom White Balance. Using presets or Auto White balance just doesn't give me as good a results most of the time. Here is how I do that in an older blog post.

For the most part I think you can shoot much of travel photography with lenses between 28mm to 200mm. The FUJINON XF 18-55mm and FUJINON XF 55-200mm give me between 27mm to 300mm coverage. This was important to get those photos at Buckingham Palace.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 1600, ƒ/5.6, 1/100

You don't have to get a camera with changeable lenses, you can buy cameras that have built in zooms that cover this range for you.

My last tip for your vacation travel and well all photos is to write captions and keywords for the photos. This way you can find them later on when you need to. I use the software PhotoMechanic to do all my captions and keywording. Here is an earlier blog post to help you understand how this works. For those who prefer a video here is a video I created showing this workflow.

Most likely after this trip I will create a coffee table book with Blurb so I can enjoy this trip for years to come.

The Fuji X-E2 is the perfect travel photography camera

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/8, 1/75

Traveling to London, England on a vacation I decided to go very light with my gear. To get photos like this of my family as we travel I wanted something more than the camera on my phone.

I wanted to zoom and keep high quality. This is one of those trips of a lifetime that we will cherish for a very long time.

Instead of just carrying 2 extra batteries I am carrying 4. This way I can just shoot away or if the cold in the air drains my batteries then I will be ready and not miss photos due to a dead battery.

The kit is what you see in the photo. Fuji X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm and the Fujinon XF 55-200mm.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/3.2, 1/100

You can see the bag I used to get all my gear here to London. I put my MacBook Pro 15" laptop, external hard drive, beat headphones, some of my medicine, cables for everything including my phone. I also have a ExpoDisc for custom white balancing. Once we got to our flat I took most everything out and just had camera gear and put some gloves in the backpack. The backpack is the Think Tank Urban Approach which is designed for mirrorless camera systems.

Keeping it simple I never once changed lenses today. Tomorrow I will use the 55-200mm when we go to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/5.6, 1/40

I love the Fuji for the high ISO of 6400. Great for most situations like this night scene of the restaurant we visited.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/10, 1/70

I am just adjusting the aperture for increasing the depth of field or decreasing as needed for each photo. Since it is mirrorless, I am looking at the LCD and seeing the results right away without having to use a depth of field preview button.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/10, 1/75

So for both the photos here I wanted to show foreground to background as sharp. I chose to shoot at ƒ/10 because the sharpness looked good in the viewfinder.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 800, ƒ/4, 1/100

Now for shooting the pastries in the window I just used a shallow depth of field.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 2000, ƒ/4, 1/100

Now our tour guide for the Harry Potter Muggles tour looked so much like my daughter today I needed a shot of them together. The background wasn't quite important here so shooting at ƒ/4 worked just great.

The two of them were surprised at how much they had in common. They both are actresses and have been Olivia in Twelfth Night. Taste in movies from Harry Potter, Dr. Who, and Sherlock were just a few of the things other than dressing with similar attire.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 500, ƒ/2.8, 1/100

Now since I can see what I am getting before I push the shutter release I was able to see that ƒ/2.8 was fine for capturing my wife and daughter in front of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theater. While the background is slightly out of focus it is still enough to know where they are standing in London.

Lesson is simple, you can do a great deal with a small system. However, if you note I am thinking about what I want to capture and controlling the camera. The camera without my input would not give this good of a result.

To help you think about this, when Apple and Samsung introduce their new smartphones they hired professional photographers to show what these cameras can do. Why is that? Because it is the person holding the camera that determines if you have photos that are really impactful,

So if you are running a business and you need photos, please don't just use your smartphone or your own camera. Be sure and hire a pro. If Apple and Samsung wouldn't trust anyone to use their gear to sell it then why should you?