When we travel around the world we want a good pair of underwear.  In preparation for our year long backpacking trip in Central and South America, I picked up a few different brands and pairs of underwear to test.  One of those underwears was Exofficio boxers.

I had never needed my underwear to be so durable and quick drying before, but I also still wanted boxers.  All the boxers I had worn in the past were cotton, and cotton wasn’t going to be the best material for what we had planned. We seek adventure, long hikes and budget accommodations. That meant sometimes we had to go several days without showers.

Men’s Give-N-Go® Boxer

The real test came during our 9-day trek in Patagonia. We camped outside for 5-days before we arrived at our first opportunity for a shower. I would jump in the shower with my ExOfficio Boxers and wash my body and my boxers at the same time. They cleaned easily and dried quickly. They kept their form during that string of hiking days and never became uncomfortable or unbearably stinky.

I often tout my appreciation of ExOfficio travel clothes on Twitter, so it was no surprise when they contacted me and asked if I would be interested in doing a video product review. A simple review seemed a little boring for me, so I put together this more entertaining video review of the ExOfficio Men’ s Give-N-Go® Boxer. Enjoy!

If you want to learn more about ExOfficio travel clothes, we are offering free shipping on all orders over $75USD.  You would be getting a great product that we personally stand by and helping out 2Backpackers.com with commissions. Be sure to begin your purchase through our link.

2 Backpackers Review of ExOfficio Underwear

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We place a considerable amount of focus on travel photos during our travels, but have never taken a photography class, read a photography book or spent significant time with a professional photographer. So, how did we learn to take good pictures? We were handed a copy of Bethany Salvon’s latest photo ebook – Getting Out Of Auto.

I am being honest now. The good travel photos we have captured up to this point have been through luck and lots of trial and error. There are several reasons we have avoided taking classes or reading books. Neither of us is serious enough to spend a lot of our time in a class or spending the money to read a thick book of everything you ever wanted to know on becoming a professional photographer. We don’t want to become professional photographers, but we do want the amazing things we see during our travels shared with you in a way that captivates the scene. Nothing is better than seeing a place or thing in person, so we need to do the best we can when capturing that moment by camera.

A How To Book

I read through Bethany’s how to take good pictures book with skepticism. How much information can a professional photographer share with us for a mere $10? Apparently, a lot, in a way that your everyday camera user can understand. That means you and I. I hate reading, but I finished this tutorial in a single day. I could go on and on about how easy it was to follow her tips, but instead I will show you some pictures I took while applying her photography tips.  If you are a photographer trying to take better pictures and understand how you camera can help you do that, don’t hesitate to buy this book now!

How To Take Good Pictures

A Focus on Composition

The rule of thirds

The rule of thirds divides up the image by thirds horizontally and vertically.  The crosshairs identify the key points of interest for placing an object.

Illinois State House - ISO 80 f/4.8 1/296

When applying the rule of thirds in this photo, we create a better picture by sitting the statue off to the right.  This draws the eye to not only the statue of Senator Stephen Douglas, but also the Illinois State House.  If the statue were to be placed front and center, you would subconsciously pay little attention to the building.  The eye wouldn’t sense the need to scan the image with the target front and center.  The image is now more complex allowing me to share various aspects of what we saw.

Lincoln's Tomb - ISO 80 f/4.8 1/600

Again we apply the basic rule of thirds creating various points of interest in the photo.

Depth of Field

Using a shallow depth of field

Depth of field is the range of sharpness in your image.  At what point is the image in focus and at what point does it blur?  The aperture, or f/stop, you choose controls your depth of field. The larger your aperture (smaller f/stop reading) the less range of focus your photo will have.  This section in her book is laid out in very good detail.  The methods Beth choose to help you understand f/stop are brilliant.  The images below from me show you what different depth of field ranges look like.

Outdoor Chandelier Key West - ISO 200 f/3.5 1/160

The focus of this image is on the Chandelier, however it’s important that the floral surrounding the chandelier be a part of the image to enhance color and character. With a low f/stop, the range of focus doesn’t stretch far beyond where our camera is focused, the chandelier.  If we had increased our  f/stop, the range of focus increases, creating sharper surroundings.

Restaurant on Culebra Island - ISO 1600 f/5 1/25

Again, we use a limited depth range in order to draw attention to the lights illuminating the bamboo wall.

Using a larger depth of field

Miami - ISO 125 f/10 1/160

In a Miami marina, we desire a large depth of field, enabling all objects in the foreground and background to remain in focus.  We do this with a higher f/stop.

Color

Adding impact and drawing attention

Color can create sudden impact and draw great attention to an object in a photo.

Illinois State Fairgrounds - smart phone, boosted color in editing

Taken with a smart phone, we decide to center the main object of focus.  That object also has tremendous color – bright blue.  Without having to look at the rest of the image, you focus on the robust color and read, “Scrambler.”  The blue base sits well below the sign, but it does lead you up to it rather easily, since the sign stands out against a white sky.

A Complete Guide to Better Photography

Now I am going to pitch you this book.  Buy it it for $9.99.  As a fellow travel blogger and photographer I was lucky enough to be offered this ebook review.  If I wasn’t offered the book, I probably would have never bought it.  Why?  Because I hate reading books.  I laughed as I told Aracely, “I finished this thing in a few hours.”  She was shocked something held my attention for that long.  I have learned more about how to take good photography today than I have in the last 2 years.  Getting Out Of Auto is your perfect ebook for wanting to understand what makes a good photo. Click here to view more details

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I had a chance to experiment with the new website and provide a review on 2 Backpackers of an online travel journal.

What is it?

Travel Journal / TravelJournal.com is the latest, most advanced online authoring and publishing platform for travel writing.

What is it for?

Travelers looking to document, share, and search for travel experiences online.

What does it cost?

It’s entirely free and you might even be able to earn some money.   Travel Journal offers the opportunity to participate in Google AdSense revenue sharing under their Professional Travel Writers program.

First Impressions

The domain name is obvious (traveljournal.com), the website design is clean and the interface is easy to use and understand.  In a matter of a few minutes, using Facebook to sign up, I had a 2Backpackers profile.  During my testing I wasn’t sure if I would have to make my journal entries up, considering I am sitting in a rented home in Miami right now.  To my pleasure, you could create a journal entry for any trip from any time.

It doesn’t have to be one continuous never ending journal.  You have the ability to create separate journals for different trips.  I find this extremely important, since Aracely and I do take breaks and most likely won’t be keeping a journal between trips.

I entered in some journal entries from late 2009 as part of our “Backpacking Central & South America” journal.  Step 1 was to enter the content for the entry.  Step 2 was determining the location.  I must mention, it scanned my text and gave me a choice of locations.  Step 3 was adding a date and time.  Step 4 was to review the submission and decide on saving it for later or publishing now.

Your journal can be kept personal by selecting private or made public and contribute to the travel knowledge base on TravelJournal.com.  Everyone’s public journal becomes a searchable travel database providing information and tips for locations around the world.  So, don’t just document your journey, prepare and do research for it too!

Pros

Create public or private journals

Add photo entries which display in a nice gallery

Assign a photo cover to each journal

Share your journal on Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to a journal’s feed

Search a database of travel journals for travel research

Establish friends and contribute to a travel community

Library of 7 million locations to assign a journal entry to

Improvements We Look For

Faster loading of journal cover images – sometimes the images didn’t load.

Allow positioning of journal cover image – we wanted to move and crop our image.

Personalized urls for profiles

Improved Facebook integration

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