[frogoutofwater]

I've never had trouble spending too much time on photography when on vacation with my husband because he enjoys photography almost as much as I do. We started learning together: we made a plan to give each other good cameras for Christmas one year, and then learn how to use them, in preparation for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Borneo.

You've got 9 months. If your fiancee isn't already a keen photographer, then suggest that you get her a camera as a gift (maybe her birthday or Christmas) and then take a weekend workshop together. When travelling, my husband and I have taken some fun educational tours together, led by local photographers. In a private session, there is an opportunity for the less experienced person to learn something about camera controls, while the more experienced person spends time photographing the scene, and yet you both are photographing together. Try it in your own city or take a weekend or day trip somewhere interesting where you can find an instructor.

[PDL]

Make a shot list. Here is one that is almost too simple: Must-Take Wedding Photo Checklist - Real Simple this one is better: Your Wedding-Day Shot List BridalGuide
Check with the venue for photographic "rules".
If you are a member of the Wedding party - don't be the photographer use that time to be a family member.
Don't yell (too loud) at the "Uncle Bob's" who bring their $8K cameras and stand in front of you.
Don't stand in front of Grandparents, Parents, Uncles or other "important" people.
Never give away your RAW images - shoot only RAW.
Have a contract - even if it is family - or especially with family.
Check your personal liability insurance.
Turn down your cell phone - or better yet, turn if off. (The text message ringtone for my son is the first few lines of JFK's "We choose to go to the moon" speech, not something that would go over very well when the minister/priest/justice of the peace asks if there is someone in the room who has an objection to these two getting hitched)
Audio and Ringtones | NASA

[aslyfox]

Make a shot list. Here is one that is almost too simple: Must-Take Wedding Photo Checklist - Real Simple this one is better: Your Wedding-Day Shot List BridalGuide
Check with the venue for photographic "rules".
If you are a member of the Wedding party - don't be the photographer use that time to be a family member.
Don't yell (too loud) at the "Uncle Bob's" who bring their $8K cameras and stand in front of you.
Don't stand in front of Grandparents, Parents, Uncles or other "important" people.
Never give away your RAW images - shoot only RAW.
Have a contract - even if it is family - or especially with family.
Check your personal liability insurance.
Turn down your cell phone - or better yet, turn if off. (The text message ringtone for my son is the first few lines of JFK's "We choose to go to the moon" speech, not something that would go over very well when the minister/priest/justice of the peace asks if there is someone in the room who has an objection to these two getting hitched)
Audio and Ringtones | NASA

hmm,

the OP is the groom

Hello!

I am going to Riviera Maya in Mexico next April with my fiancée / wife (we are getting married there!) I'm trying to learn how to make the most of my time there and get some really good photos. I've always taken lots of photos on holiday and I would even say that a few are very good, but the vast majority of them are quite standard "look at this nice beach/town square/animal" sort of photos.

We will be there for 3 weeks but due to the cost of everything I will be in the hotel for all but a few days. The hotel is Grand Palladium Colonial Resort and whilst in Mexico we will be going on trips to: Coba, Izamal and Merida. We are doing a couple more trips as well but I doubt I will use my camera much as they are pretty full on - ziplines, snorkelling and cliff diving!

I'm only mentioning the hotel and the trips we are doing in case anyone who reads this has actually been to those places themselves and has any location-specific pointers

The biggest concern for me is how I can go on day trips to places I have never been and still be able to take creative and unique photos. On these sorts of trips there's usually the unmentioned protocol of keeping up with the rest of the group and obviously whilst taking photos I also want to be able to listen to our tour guide and enjoy the surroundings.
. . .

and is seeking advice on what to photograph after the wedding while on his honey moon

[PDL]

Then hand my suggestions to the guy/gal who will be taking pictures at the wedding. Unless the Groom is going to step back and blast away.

Shoot what you want after the fact. In fact it could be used as a introduction for the spouse to the photographic addiction.

[clackers]

Hello!

I am going to Riviera Maya in Mexico next April with my fiancée / wife (we are getting married there!) and I'm trying to learn how to make the most of my time there and get some really good photos. I've always taken lots of photos on holiday and I would even say that a few are very good, but the vast majority of them are quite standard "look at this nice beach/town square/animal" sort of photos.

We will be there for 3 weeks but due to the cost of everything I will be in the hotel for all but a few days. The hotel is Grand Palladium Colonial Resort and whilst in Mexico we will be going on trips to: Coba, Izamal and Merida. We are doing a couple more trips as well but I doubt I will use my camera much as they are pretty full on - ziplines, snorkelling and cliff diving!

I'm only mentioning the hotel and the trips we are doing in case anyone who reads this has actually been to those places themselves and has any location-specific pointers

The biggest concern for me is how I can go on day trips to places I have never been and still be able to take creative and unique photos. On these sorts of trips there's usually the unmentioned protocol of keeping up with the rest of the group and obviously whilst taking photos I also want to be able to listen to our tour guide and enjoy the surroundings.

I will be taking my K-3II, AF201 FG, 16-85mm, 55-300mm, 100mm macro lens (all Pentax) and a circular polarising filter.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Sam

Yeah, Sam, I think everyone agrees you can't do a great job documenting *and* do the right thing by your bride and the tour group.

You can't be absent for breakfast and dinner because you're shooting in the Golden Hour.

But it sounds like you don't want to surrender entirely to taking predictable snapshots either.

So don't.

Set yourself a target of one picture per day that will be more than reacting, it's going to be thought out and setup, even for five minutes.

It might be telling your tour guide you're getting very close at 16mm on your DA zoom for a dramatic environmental portrait.

Leaning over the hotel balcony to get a shot of the bus and everyone assembling for departure.

Asking a local vendor to take a couple of steps sideways to get them backlit but with a dark background.

100mm macro shot of your wife's eyes and nose.

While everyone raises their phone to get a picture of a church you bother to walk in the other direction and frame it through a doorway.

You can do just one of these every 24 hours, right?

Done right, these shots should be overrepresented in your keepers.

[rogerstg]

ps. you can train your eye to capture meaningful photos for you even quickly; studying photography or art in general, reading, practicing.

+1, especially the practice. You should practice specific things like rule of thirds, perspective, odd angles, etc. Spend time making mundane things look interesting and you will develop your photographer's eye.

Google photos of destinations ahead of time so that you know what sights you might want to capture. You can do this in the hotel room or en-route. It can be a real time saver.

Carry your walk around gear in a nondescript bag or backpack to avoid being a target. IMO, your walk around kit should only include the camera and two lenses; 16-85 and 55-300. I'd probably leave the 100mm macro at home. In general, keep your long lens on the camera when outdoors. Distant subjects tend to be more fleeting than closer subjects.

Congratulations on the upcoming nuptials and have a great time!

[UncleVanya]

Yeah, Sam, I think everyone agrees you can't do a great job documenting *and* do the right thing by your bride and the tour group.

You can't be absent for breakfast and dinner because you're shooting in the Golden Hour.

But it sounds like you don't want to surrender entirely to taking predictable snapshots either.

So don't.

Set yourself a target of one picture per day that will be more than reacting, it's going to be thought out and setup, even for five minutes.

It might be telling your tour guide you're getting very close at 16mm on your DA zoom for a dramatic environmental portrait.

Leaning over the hotel balcony to get a shot of the bus and everyone assembling for departure.

Asking a local vendor to take a couple of steps sideways to get them backlit but with a dark background.

100mm macro shot of your wife's eyes and nose.

While everyone raises their phone to get a picture of a church you bother to walk in the other direction and frame it through a doorway.

You can do just one of these every 24 hours, right?

Done right, these shots should be overrepresented in your keepers.

This is really practical advice. Kudos!

[aslyfox]

Yeah, Sam, I think everyone agrees you can't do a great job documenting *and* do the right thing by your bride and the tour group.

You can't be absent for breakfast and dinner because you're shooting in the Golden Hour.

But it sounds like you don't want to surrender entirely to taking predictable snapshots either.

So don't.

Set yourself a target of one picture per day that will be more than reacting, it's going to be thought out and setup, even for five minutes.

It might be telling your tour guide you're getting very close at 16mm on your DA zoom for a dramatic environmental portrait.

Leaning over the hotel balcony to get a shot of the bus and everyone assembling for departure.

Asking a local vendor to take a couple of steps sideways to get them backlit but with a dark background.

100mm macro shot of your wife's eyes and nose.

While everyone raises their phone to get a picture of a church you bother to walk in the other direction and frame it through a doorway.

You can do just one of these every 24 hours, right?

Done right, these shots should be overrepresented in your keepers.

think quality not quantity of photographs

the 100mm is not only for macro it is a very good lens overall and a short telephoto in reality

it isn't very big either

[Wheatfield]

Don't get too hung up on taking pictures. Be in the place and enjoy it without keeping a camera mashed into your face. You will have a better time, your SO will have a better time, and you will probably come back with fewer but better pictures.
I've found that I enjoy vacations with my family a lot more now that I am not desperately seeking out photographs, and as an added bonus, I come back with better photos, and fewer to cull out.
If all you come back with is a bunch of photos and memories of a lump of plastic pressed to your nose, you might as well have stayed home and gone to google images of the place you visited.

[Mikesul]

Forget the monuments. There are already plenty of photos of those. Get shots of your bride portraying her not not her in front of a monument. Include yourself in some.

[UncleVanya]

Forget the monuments. There are already plenty of photos of those. Get shots of your bride portraying her not not her in front of a monument. Include yourself in some.

Here I differ a bit. Showing your family in context of some of these objects is really cool. I look back on those photos with great fondness as they tell a time and place that is clearer in my mind than just an abstract photo of my loved one.

[Mikesul]

Here I differ a bit. Showing your family in context of some of these objects is really cool. I look back on those photos with great fondness as they tell a time and place that is clearer in my mind than just an abstract photo of my loved one.

I am not suggesting abstract photos you could take anywhere. For example, my wife and I were living in Europe so a Paris honeymoon in April was relatively easy on our budget (1971). My favorite photos are of her leaning on a Parisian lamppost, looking out of an old fashioned Paris shuttered hotel window, sitting in the subway. They are intense memories of those days in Paris but they are special because they are what we experienced alone, in that brief moment of magical time. I also took many monument photos but I rarely look at them.

[UncleVanya]

I am not suggesting abstract photos you could take anywhere. For example, my wife and I were living in Europe so a Paris honeymoon in April was relatively easy on our budget (1971). My favorite photos are of her leaning on a Parisian lamppost, looking out of an old fashioned Paris shuttered hotel window, sitting in the subway. They are intense memories of those days in Paris but they are special because they are what we experienced alone, in that brief moment of magical time. I also took many monument photos but I rarely look at them.

AH! OK - I'm with you now. Yes I can see that now that you explain it more. I agree. My shot of Niagra Falls with the wife and kids near it - isn't the same as my shot of the whole falls. I concur.

[Mikesul]

AH! OK - I'm with you now. Yes I can see that now that you explain it more. I agree. My shot of Niagra Falls with the wife and kids near it - isn't the same as my shot of the whole falls. I concur.

Yeh. I was too brief the first time. I was thinking of myself as a young man with a camera. I thought the monuments were the thing but with time I saw that the experience of place and companion was what made it worthwhile.

[UncleVanya]

Yeh. I was too brief the first time. I was thinking of myself as a young man with a camera. I thought the monuments were the thing but with time I saw that the experience of place and companion was what made it worthwhile.

Asynchronous communications are fraught with misunderstandings.