My son and I took a road trip from Naples, Florida to Los Angeles, California. The first day we drove over nine hours and were still in Florida. Florida is a really long state. Our first fun stop along the way was New Orleans, Louisiana. I’ve never been to New Orleans so I was excited to see it.

I am a big fan of tours to learn about the highlights of a new place. Unfortunately, we arrived in New Orleans in the early afternoon and couldn’t find a tour. It seems that most walking tours, including the cemetery tours, are in the morning, 1 pm. or 5 pm. So we looked up a self-guided walking tour via the internet and walked around the French Quarter.

In travel photography, you’ll want to capture the essence of the city. The old buildings and history were quite interesting. Of course, New Orleans is known for drinking and partying.


Beads are thrown from parades during Mardi Gras.


I like this portrait of a shopkeeper sitting outside his shop waiting for a customer.



The French Quarter caters to tourists so even on a Tuesday, there were several street performers. Just give them a tip and they’ll be happy to pose for you. Remember to try different angles for different lighting or perspective. Sometimes your original vision for a picture isn’t the best one.





Remember the different creative techniques in photography as you are walking around. We were waiting for the trolley when I saw the sun peeking in between the buildings. I love the starburst effect so I quickly put my aperture on F22 (as small as it will go with the lens I was using). I was still on ISO400. I slowed down the shutter speed to 1/60 so the building wouldn’t be too dark. It’s hard to meter correctly when you are shooting a high contrast subject. The buildings were pretty dark and the sun obviously is very bright. Sometimes you have to try a few different shutter speeds to get this shot to come out.



Here are some more pictures from our afternoon in New Orleans. Stay tuned for two more blog articles about New Orleans coming soon!









~Peggy Farren has been a full-time professional photographer for over 18 years. She is the founder of Understand Photography training center.