Travel Photography Tips

TOP 10 TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

Would you like to become good at travel photography? This genre is rather difficult since you have to deal with a variety of lighting conditions and scenes. In this article, I am sharing 10 basic travel photography tips that are based on my own experience and will definitely help you avoid many mistakes typical for beginners and get many likes on Instagram.

1. Pack Light

If you are traveling with the aim to shoot, don’t take plenty of stuff. Heavyweight luggage and backpacks will cause only discomfort, so pack the most necessary things. Keep in mind that there is a possibility to rent gear at the location.

In case you decide to bring your own travel photography equipment, you will need a camera, a portable small tripod, several SD cards, a flash unit, a number of lenses and a reliable weather-resistant camera bag with the even distribution of weight across the shoulders.

2. Always Do Color Correction

Proper image color grading can make wonders to your shots, turn them into appealing and eye-catching masterpieces. For better travel photos, it is important to do cropping, leveling and color correction.

If you aren’t ready to spend a lot of time in Photoshop or Lightroom, I suggest approaching professional picture editing services like FixThePhoto. This way, you will get wonderful results in 2 days and for about $0,20 per photo.

3. Research Locations

Prior to doing traveling photography at some location, look it up on the net. You don’t need all the details, just general info about the sights you are interested in around this area.

Search on Google, Instagram or Pinterest, ask if your friends or relatives know something. Instagram and Pinterest are full of amazing photos that may inspire you or give you an idea about picturesque places there.

When you figure out what sights you are going to shoot, open Google Maps and identify their location and tag it.

4. Shoot During Golden Hours

One of the main travel photography tips for beginners is to choose an appropriate time for shooting. The best time is during the golden hours – one hour before sunset and after sunrise when the sun produces gentle shadows and gorgeous warm tones.

Never take travel pictures at noon or at bright sunlight! In case you are planning to shoot a popular landmark, go there at sunset when it isn’t so crowded.

Photographing during the golden hours results in fascinating sun flares in a shot. Examine this handy guide on sun photography to learn more. 

5. Get Travel Insurance

It is a common thing to become a victim of a thief when you are on the move. Most often, they are after your travel photography gear. As soon as you have bought tickets and planned a trip, get you and your equipment insured.

Travel insurance is a guarantee that you will be protected from any kind of unpredictable situations, like thefts, injuries, illnesses, etc. In many cases, I have relied on my insurance and can’t do without it on the trip. Also, I suggest getting sturdy luggage locks and theft-resistant bags.

6. Make a Camera Settings List

There are different types of landscapes, such as cliffs, mountains, coasts, forests, various water bodies and more. All of them have their own peculiar features, same as separate locations which form a part of every landscape type.

Taking travel blog photography, consider not only the way the place looks but also its atmosphere and what kind of sensations it causes. Come up with the ways how you can convey these feelings and the mood of the location in the shot. Check out these essential nature photo tips about what camera settings to set for all landscape compositions. 

7. Play Around With Composition

Traveling photography is particularly tricky since you have to reflect the magnificence of the scene in one shot. Remember that experiments may bring truly interesting and unusual photos.

Begin with a simple horizontal picture while you stand straight. Then sit or lay on the ground for a low-angle shot. Try moving to a higher ground level and shoot from there.

Aside from playing around with angles, don’t forget about various distances. Firstly, take a wide picture, after that, a mid-range one. Last but not least, proceed to taking close-up and personal shots.

Don’t stop if the initial picture you get looks decent! Take advantage of well-known composition tricks, such as symmetry, leading lines, the rule of thirds. Incorporate captivating background, mid-ground and foreground details.

8. Ask Strangers for Photos

It isn’t an easy task to shoot locals in an unknown country. Only after a few years, I finally felt more or less at ease photographing local inhabitants, but I’m still not completely comfortable with that.

One of the most important travel photography tips is to get an agreement with a person before taking a picture. In case the person refuses, thank and give him/her a smile, then go on.

Take your time and learn how to say “Can I take a photo?” in the foreign language. A person would see that you were trying. Communicate with people prior to asking permission to photograph.

Be polite and friendly – greet them, give them a small present, make a compliment. Remember to say thank you after you are done shooting. If you can’t speak their language, just smile and use non-verbal means of communication, like gestures.

9. Shoot in Manual Mode

Many beginners believe that they can get fantastic shots simply by enabling Auto mode on the camera. Sometimes it may work, but for truly terrific travel pictures, you should figure out how to adjust the camera’s parameters on your own.

Therefore, one of the most significant travel photography tips is to select the Manual Mode on camera. So, you will be the one who controls the way your shot looks in various conditions. With manual aperture adjustments, you can control the picture’s depth of field.

With manual shutter speed adjustments, you can shoot the movement more creatively. With manual ISO adjustments, you can lower the noise in the shot and get round poor lighting conditions.

10. Be Patient

Taking travel blog photography isn’t as easy as it seems. To get truly successful images of all these picturesque locations, a traveling photographer should be very patient.

It can drive you crazy when you are surrounded by a number of loud tourists photographing with their smartphones, not leaving you any free space to set up a camera and take a shot. In such cases, try waiting for a few minutes.

Soon they will disappear and you will be able to shoot without anyone disturbing you. Don’t be in a hurry to find a proper angle and take a perfect picture, it will be worth it!