In order to take great pictures when traveling, you’ll need to be skilled, organized, and have the right equipment. To get the most out of your vacation and your camera, use these travel photography suggestions.
The travel photographer is both a collector and a curator of life’s moments and adventures. Travel photography that is done well will capture the feelings and sensations of a location, instilling a sense of aspirational wanderlust in the viewer. Taking pictures of happy people on the beach is only part of what travel photography is all about, of course. It is about careful observation, in-depth investigation, and careful composition. However, while being a professional travel photographer involves attention to the art, the reward of regular travel to new and fascinating countries in breathtaking settings is well worth the work and time invested.
Travel Like a Photographer
The most significant component of trip photography is the research phase. Before traveling to a new location, do your homework. Read a variety of guidebooks from a variety of publishers, bookmark travel blogs, study the website of the local tourist board, and ask friends and friends of friends if they have any suggestions or recommendations. Instagram is also a fantastic resource for travel photographers; search for places by tags or city names, and build a list of all the exciting sites you don’t want to miss out on while you’re traveling. Instagram is also a terrific place to find out where to eat and drink like a local and how to get there. Vimeo, which is a collection of user-generated videos, is a fantastic resource for finding new content.
Take the time to learn about the culture and customs of the country or region you are visiting. What is the proper way for people to greet one another? What are the most prevalent faiths and traditions in the world? What is the usual manner of life in this country? Make an effort to learn some of the fundamentals of the language before you arrive so that you can say hello and goodbye with ease, seek permission to take photographs, and most importantly, express gratitude.
A trip photographer should always have a notepad with them to jot down their observations. Imagine that you are stepping out into your new world at the moment you step off the plane into a remote, hot desert airport and your glasses fog up as sand swirls around you and the punch of humidity and heat as well as the smell of spices and diesel fumes overwhelms you as you step out into your new world. Everything should be written down because identifying these feelings and experiences via writing will aid you in better communicating them visually in the future.
Arrive with an open mind and allow yourself to be immersed in your surroundings. Try new foods, go to new destinations, be spontaneous, and meet new people. Be receptive to other people’s cultures and traditions, even if they are different from your own. Wander into unfamiliar territory or take a road that has fewer visitors on it. It is not always necessary to see every tourist attraction, and in fact, it may be in your best interests to avoid some of them in order to immerse yourself in the local culture rather than seeing them all (while snapping some photographs, of course). As a travel photographer, keep your eyes alert, your mind focused, and your camera at the ready at all times.
Best Travel Photography Tips and Tools
In terms of equipment, there is no better camera than the one you already own. Travel photography is about capturing the essence of a place, whether for one’s own enjoyment or for the enjoyment of others. Overall, travel photography is about your talent as a photographer, your ability to recognize and capture the ideal moment, your intrinsic creativity and creative aptitude, and your ability to travel. There are, however, a few pointers that might help you enhance your vacation photography abilities in general.
A tiny, lightweight tripod is the first piece of equipment you’ll need for vacation photography. You should look for a tripod that is small enough to fit in your pocket or in your carry-on luggage. Large tripods are heavy and uncomfortable to use, so if you feel the need to upgrade to a larger tripod, choose an expandable tripod constructed of aluminum that can be expanded from a modest size. In order to compose a stunning photograph, tripods are a terrific tool to use since they take the camera out of your hands and enable you to concentrate on changing the shutter speed, aperture, and other manual camera settings. Also useful for capturing images in low light settings when the shutter must be kept open for an extended period of time, as well as for generating a lens-blur effect in which individuals appear to be whips of light flying past a building or down the street.
The most important piece of equipment to bring along on a vacation photography adventure is anything you need to create your images. In the event that you are only using an iPhone, make sure to carry a charger (of course) and that your phone has enough capacity to save all of the images you intend to take.
If your photography job has progressed to a more professional level, there are a few things you might bring with you to help lessen your workload when you return home and to ensure that you have enough room to continue capturing images when you get back. Always remember to bring spare SD cards with you (those Secure Digital cards that you pop into cameras to add storage). These little cards are normally inexpensive in the United States, but they can be prohibitively expensive in other countries. Stock up on them before you travel, and keep them organized while you are on the road.
You might also bring your computer with you so that you can edit photographs while you are out shooting. You will undoubtedly be glad to yourself for doing this task while traveling, but be cautious not to spend too much time in the editing bay and not enough time taking in the sights and snapping photographs in your destination. Additionally, you should exercise caution while traveling with a laptop, as they are popular targets for thieves.
Invest in a few external hard drives to protect yourself from the financial consequences of theft. You may use it to save all of your photographs, both raw and altered, for future reference. You could even send hard drives home as you fill them up, making them less likely to be stolen in the process. In addition, you might consider using a cloud storage service to save your photographs on a regular basis. This necessitates the use of a robust WiFi connection, but it is handier than lugging about a slew of different pieces of gear.
Improving Your Travel Photography
In general, the ideal times to shoot are early in the morning and late in the evening or at night, as is true of most types of photography. Not only is this the ideal time of day to photograph, but it is also the time of day when people and locations are at their most active. You may photograph a city as it moves from empty streets to open stores and lively sidewalks, all the way through the end of the day, when inhabitants return home and prepare to go out and have a good time with their friends and family. Alternatively, if the locations you are photography are mostly natural landscapes, the soft, romantic tones of the early morning light and the golden hour sunset light will produce the greatest results, as would the late afternoon light. It is essential to research your shooting spots before you arrive in order to get the most out of your trip. If you have the means to physically scout a spot, make your way to your target location and have a look at the surrounding area. Take notes, and even a few practice shots if you like. Instead of being present in person before the shoot, you may do a virtual search online or through social media, such as Instagram, and develop a shot list prior to arriving at the place.
Consider the following factors when conducting your site research: What do the shadows look like first thing in the morning? Do you want to go in the afternoon? Do you want to go out in the evening? What is the direction of the sun’s rising and setting? Is it necessary for visitors to dress in a specific manner? Make sure you investigate and understand the background of the location you are photographing if it has historical or spiritual value so that you can transmit that information via your photos. It is not only important to research and comprehend a destination as a whole, but also to research and understand individual locations such as villages, monuments, town squares, and cities that you may be visiting.
It is also vital to consider the composition of your photos.
The Rule of Thirds is a valuable guideline that, when correctly followed, may result in an aesthetically beautiful and well-composed shot that is both creative and functional. Grid mode on your viewfinder may be used to divide a picture into thirds horizontally and thirds vertically by dividing it in half. Fill in the gaps between your subjects’ locations on the intersections of these points. It is possible to place the horizon line at the bottom third of the image, while the focal point can be placed in either the left or right third of the image, respectively.
Photography individuals in the context of a landscape or location is an intriguing method to give more dimension to a photograph. Locals should be observed and photographed in their daily activities (with their permission, of course), or if you are traveling with a group, feel free to guide a few volunteers in your photographs. By displaying individuals in action, you may avoid the traditional family portrait-type images. Set up individuals in fascinating places, such as the brink of a cliff overlooking the sea or going through a towering redwood forest to capture their attention. The back of a person, as though they are completely unaware of the camera, going towards or perhaps within the beautiful scenery you are capturing, is one of the most effective ways to lure a viewer into your shot. The spectator is nearly fooled into believing that they are the subject of the photograph because of this.
How to Become a Professional Travel Photographer
Being a travel photographer appears to be a glamorous and rewarding career choice on the surface. The art of travel photography is more than a profession; it is a way of life for many people. On the road, working on assignments for a magazine or a company, there is no such thing as a nine-to-five job schedule.
A travel photographer must be someone who is naturally fascinated by the world around them—someone who is always on the go and eager to discover new things. A person with an innate empathy for others who can utilize this to effortlessly demonstrate the essence of humanity is someone who possesses natural empathy for others. Travel photographers are patient individuals who enjoy being in the company of others and who consider the discovery of life and mankind to be an exciting experience.
Instagram is the finest platform for aspiring travel photographers to make their start. Find other photographers whose work you enjoy on Instagram, follow them, and express your appreciation for their work. Make sure to maintain uploading photographs and telling tales, like other people’s images and comments, and generally staying active on social media until you have amassed a large enough following to be recognized by editorial outlets or potential customers. It is beneficial to include your website address in your bio so that people may visit it to learn more about you as a photographer. There are a few things to keep in mind when using Instagram: When used carefully, hashtags may significantly enhance the number of likes on a given photo, but their conversion rate to followers is minimal. Maintaining your profile as a “personal” profile rather than a “commercial” one will also increase the likelihood of your followers seeing your updates.
You may begin pursuing clients once you have established a substantial following on Instagram (15k or more followers) and a website with a portfolio you are happy with (assuming they haven’t already been seeking you out! ). When traveling to a new place, make contact with the local tourist board ahead of time to see if they would cover a portion of the cost of your trip in exchange for the rights to some of your photographs in exchange for a fee. Something along these lines may even lead to a longer-term employment agreement.
Having a huge portfolio of pictures in your armory may also allow you to apply to license your images through a large licensing agency, such as Getty or Corbis if you have one. Many editorial outlets, websites, advertising agencies, and book publishers rely on these agencies to provide imagery for magazines, newspapers, and ad campaigns because it is significantly less expensive than hiring a photographer to create custom content for each publication, website, or advertising campaign. Also advantageous to photographers is the fact that someone else handles the discussions, allowing them to focus on what they do best: photographing. It’s important to understand that you may earn less money per image since the agency can take a significant cut and that they may retain ownership of your image in perpetuity.
In spite of the impression created by the fact that many people have made incredible careers out of trip photography, the reality is that ten times as many people have attempted and failed in their professional travel photography pursuits. Because the typical wage for a travel photographer is modest (about $32,000 per year), you may need to learn to supplement your income as a travel photographer with other types of employment, whether it’s another photography job or something completely different. If you can elevate yourself to the level of a photographer who may work for a journal such as National Geographic, you may be able to command a greater rate for your services. However, achieving that level would need not only competence but also dedication and a great understanding of marketing.
While working as a travel photographer, take advantage of the opportunity to learn about different cultures and shooting styles. The most crucial aspect of this work is to have a good time, since that is exactly what this profession is about—having a good time!