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Convoy, produced by the travel company eDreams, is one of the first virtual reality travel experiences.

One of the locations, the Zagreb in Croatia, is also the setting for Convoy 2, which will go into production early next year.

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Available to UK users only, but as is the case with savvy users who use tools such as VPNs so they don’t miss out on the next new online casino, there are probably similar ways around this geographically limited availability.

Travel the world virtually with Google Earth

You’re in Buenos Aires; you’re driving down the Avenida Libertador. Before you know it, your car has lost control and you’re spiraling toward the ocean below. Rather than letting yourself panic, you stop in your tracks and get a better look at the crash site. Sure, your car isn’t really on the freeway anymore; your body isn’t really there. But you are, and you’re still the one on the other side of that windshield. Google Earth has brought you back to this exact moment. You can move through the car, examining everything, all the time.

Bizarre, yes. But imagine you’re walking through a department store, or a mall, or a field, and you’re just walking, but you know where you are, and you know where the other people around you are. You could just glance at them and know where you are in relation to them. That’s the idea behind the “Specular” tool in Google Earth: it’s a combination of Google Earth, with the elegant user interface of Street View. We made a sketch of how it works:

To use the “Specular” tool, click on the “Glass” icon that comes up when you open the panorama view (a small rectangular icon with four little wings). There’s no narration: it’s as if you’re there.

Next, click on the plane, and the rest of the panorama will snap to the plane of the Earth. The bird’s-eye view is just a grainy vision; the bird’s eye view of a whole hemisphere is a more realistic image. To pan around, just move your mouse over to the side, just like you would in Google Maps. Click once on a region, and a photo of that region will snap to it. So, if you’re looking for the street, for example, you’d move your mouse and click on the street–this screengrab shows it from San Francisco’s busy Broadway, a neighborhood that has been excavated by more than three feet of soil over the years. From this perspective, Street View just looks like something out of The Jetsons; you can zoom all the way in and see the dirt piling up. And because Street View uses aerial photography, it’s pretty accurate (you can still see traffic in the photo, even if Google itself can’t see it.)

The “Specular” tool will have to do for now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see more details and access point details. To see more of the Specular tool in action, check out this Google Earth trailer online…

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The art of travel photography is quite different from taking pictures for personal use.The challenges faced by the wandering photographer differ from day to day and have to be overcomed by adopting certain tricks, a task which requires skill and dedication. Whatever the situation, these seven trusted photography hacks will help you save your day.

Pack right

You would not like to tote every piece of equipment you own when you are going on a vacation. Not only will it add to the weight, most of it would come back unused. Take a call from your last holiday and then decide if what you want to capture now is the same. If yes, then you can safely leave either your wide or long zoom lens at home.

See that the sun is behind you

If you want your pictures to be as vibrant as the travel brochures and magazines you read, then always work with the sun either behind you or to the side of the subject so as to allow maximum light to fall on it.. A sunny day will eliminate harsh shadows, the use of graduated filters and make up for the light difference in shadow and highlight areas.

Try the ant’s eye view

Photography is about being creative. If you want your image to stand out, leave the tripod at home, and try shooting from a very low angle. You don’t have to set the camera exactly on the ground but can place colorful carpets underneath it or a line of stones for the best effect. You can get crafty and make use of fence posts, tables or anything that is still.

Boost the pictures

Boosting the vibrancy and saturation during the post-production stage can really make your pictures look lovely.The secret is to boost just till the saturation point when the picture looks colorful and will look great on magazines and newspapers.

Research locations

Use Google Maps to look for hidden spots away from the tourist hordes. Just type in the address about any area you are interested in and you will discover pretty locations and places where you will find something photogenic to shoot.

Use aperture mode

If you are hoping to hone your photography skills, it is better to take pictures on aperture priority as most professional photographers do. While manual may have its plus points, using aperture after adjusting the ISO and Exposure settings is a great way to build confidence and capture a good image.

Take multiple shots

A good way of capturing great travel photos is by taking multiple exposures and then blending them at the post-production stage to create one nice image.The common method is to take exposure for highlights, for mid tones and another for shadows to get the correctly exposed image.

Like any art form which takes skill and dedication to perfect, travel photography too can be learnt. The more you travel, the more technique you will develop to capture the world in colorful detail.

                 

Britons are the most travelled people in the world, according to research. A study published today found that 84 per cent of people from the UK regularly venture abroad ? almost three- quarters more than in the US.

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Stay in a five-star hotel in Bali, with flights, all for less than ?900. That?s what Tropical Sky is offering at the Grand Nikko hotel on Bali?s south coast on certain deals from December to February. Although this is during Bali?s wet season, downpours tend to come in short bursts and temperatures reach about 27C each day. Overlooking the Indian Ocean and right by a sandy beach, the Grand Nikko has tennis courts, a spa and four pools. There are Japanese, Chinese and seafood restaurants.
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