Point and Shoot: Five photography tips for your child’s Zion National Park Travel
One of the most unique and exciting places in the United States to take pictures is Zion National Park near Springdale Utah. Millions of visitors each year come to camp, stay at Zion Park hotels or enjoy the varied activities offered by Zion Park lodging. Zion Park is also a fabulous place to take your children on their first “point and shoot” photography trip. Here are five great photography tips to help you and your children take a piece of their Zion National Park travel home.
1. Simple digital cameras are best for children. Children from three on up can easily take pictures on your Zion Park camping trip. They don’t have to be professional photographers to bring home a pictorial history of your trip to a special Zion Park lodging establishment or even snapping pictures while driving in the car. Find a digital camera that fits your child’s appropriate age group by checking out stores and on line sales outlets. You don’t want to spend too much on the camera in case your child drops it overboard on your river rafting trip or it gets stepped on when you’re horseback riding or lost on a hike. For those under six, you can find good “children’s” heavy duty digital cameras with memory cards for under $50. For those over six, you might want to spend just a little more and get one that has a zoom lens for taking pictures of the Zion Park sandstone cliffs or one that works well with a child’s “point and shoot” methods. Your child’s cell phone might also have a simple digital camera, but make sure you can get the pictures off the camera and onto your computer and that the phone will have enough battery. Three things to remember when choosing a camera for your Zion National Park travel are your camera needs some kind of storage, so you can download pictures to a computer to view them in a larger format and perhaps edit them; you need some way to provide for data transfer, either a memory card reader or a USB cable; and you need to be sure to have a rechargeable battery or bring extra AA batteries along on your hikes and activities. Always be sure you can change the battery anywhere at any time or your child will be waiting for the battery to recharge and miss that once in a lifetime picture.
2. Save, save, save. After a day or even half day of taking pictures of Zions Park’s beautiful wildflowers, birds, animals, or geology, you should save your pictures to your computer or to the memory stick. There is nothing worse than your child taking a picture of a unique bird sitting by the trail and then losing the camera, dropping it or even taking a picture over it at a later time. Zion Park has a diverse mix of plants and animals; 289 kinds of birds, 79 mammals, 28 reptiles, 7 fish, and unique plants like sagebrush, prickly pear cactus, Rabbitbrush, Sacred Datura and Indian paintbrush. It’s a good reminder to save your pictures each time you take a hiking rest stop or travel in the car. Be sure and bring plenty of batteries, memory cards and a car charger for the computer.
3. Lighting is important. Teaching your children how light can be an advantage and a disadvantage to their picture taking is vital. Remind children that the flash only lights an area within a close range, it won’t light up a Zions Park cliff or mesa. Be sure and get a camera that sets the light and shutter speed automatically for your child as this is an item that even the most well versed photographers sometimes forget to set. It’s also important to remind your child to have the sun at her back when taking pictures. Pointing the camera directly into the sun light, especially with the bright Zions desert sun, will ruin any picture. Let your children know its ok to take a picture in the shade, just make sure the shadows don’t cover the animal’s face or hide the plant.
4. Use two hands. Whether you’re young, old, or in-between, taking pictures in Zions Park requires two hands. If you’re hiking on a trail, stop, hold the camera still and steady the camera with both hands before taking the picture. Unfortunately many people, just eyeball something, lift the camera up with one hand and snap. Invariably the picture is blurry. You can edit many things on your computer when you get home, but you can’t edit a blurry picture, you’ll just have to delete it. Remind your children to hold the camera steady with both hands, find the picture in the view finder and then snap that picture of the hawk, falcon, or eagle.
5. Take lots of pictures. One of the greatest things about the invention of the digital camera is the ability to take hundreds of pictures and then delete the ones that aren’t any good or that you don’t want. You don’t have to pay to have them all developed and feel bad when so many turn out poorly. Zions Park holds the keys to many exciting adventures both inside the park and outside the park. Zion Park lodging establishments provide horseback riding, mountain climbing, river rafting, ATV and Jeep rentals and tours where your children can snap those pictures to their heart’s content. Encourage your children to take a variety of pictures and to not worry that they are taking too many. You’ll be surprised at the end of your trip what a wonderful family history your children have created.
Camping, hiking and picture taking are keys to a wonderful Zion National Park experience. Be sure and plan your vacation early with reservations and buy a simple, inexpensive Zion Park trip digital camera to take with you to Zions Park.
About the Author
As the owner of Brent & Susan Holmes Materials LLC I have been writing, editing, training, designing and working for various business firms and news agencies for the last 32 years. I have written thousands of articles, developed corporate newspapers and newsletters, designed media kits, public relations focus to achieve success. In addition to writing for various companies, I served in local government as a City Councilmember and presently serve as the Board Chair of a $2.9 million Sewer District. I can be reached at http://susantannerholmes.com/
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