Travel photography

2. Scout Photo Locations

Figuring out where you want to shoot before you leave home will not only save you time on the road, but it will also be essential in getting you some great shots. To stay organized with this, I always quickly jot down the address of each location, the distance from my hotel, and a quick note about what to expect at each location.

3. Pack Light

Packing light for travel photography means knowing the equipment you’re going to use and making the most of each piece. While it may seem enticing to bring many lens choices and all the gadgets with you, in reality, you’ll probably only use a few key pieces of gear. Not to mention, lugging around extra heavy equipment is never fun.

4. Choose The Right Lenses

Before you leave on your trip, think about the kind of situations in which you’ll be shooting for your. Will you be taking a lot of landscape shots? Will you need to take detailed shots from afar? Or are you more interested in street photography?

Knowing the style of photos you want to take will be essential in choosing the right lenses for your trip, and will save you from lugging around tons of lenses you’ll never use.

5. Shoot In The Right Mode

While using the icon modes on your camera can seem easy, in reality, shooting on modes such as sports, portraits, landscape, etc. will be limiting to your creativity.

Instead, shoot in modes such as Program (P), Aperture Priority (A), Shutter Priority (S), and Manual (M). Aperture priority mode is probably the most common of the modes among professional travel photographers, with the camera automatically setting the shutter speed, allowing you to just focus on the ISO and f-stop. From there, play around with the modes and see which one is most intuitive to you

6. Shoot with the sun at your back.

If I could have one thing I suggest to everyone it is this. DO NOT shoot with the sun behind you subjects unless you do not want to see the details of their faces. You want them lit well.

7. Bring A Tripod And Intervalometer

Traveling with a compact tripod is a  key components of taking photos with movement, night photography, and getting yourself in the shots. With this tool, you’ll be able to take many shots are taken without touching or moving your camera.

8. Plan Your Dinners Around Sunset

While generally a more busy time for photography than sunrise, I recommend planning your dinners around sunset — this will give you some beautiful shots with excellent lighting.

Look up when the golden hour will be in your location, and have your photography spot picked out and ready ahead of time. If you’re worried about crowds being in your photos, then research some off-the-radar locations.

9. Think Outside The Box

Just because you’ve done your research about the best photo locations in your destination doesn’t mean you have to stick to the photo styles you see online. Be creative with your photos, shoot from unique vantage points, and experiment with depth of field and lighting.

10. Experiment With Different Angles

One of the easiest things you can do to create interesting images is to experiment with angles. Most photos are taken from eye level, but either getting high up or low down are quick ways to make your photos more interesting. To do this, find unique vantage points from which to take photos — get down on the ground and shoot from there, use a drone to shoot from above, and find and use guiding lines to draw the viewer’s eye.

11. Learn How To Edit

If you want to take your photos to the next level and make them look professional, then learning how to properly edit will be a game-changer.

There are many programs out there to edit photos with, but no matter which one you use you will, at the very least, want to make sure your horizon lines are straight, your colors and exposure are balanced, and that you assess your composition.

12. Learn How To Edit

If you want to take your photos to the next level and make them look professional, then learning how to properly edit will be a game-changer.

There are many programs out there to edit photos with, but no matter which one you use you will, at the very least, want to make sure your horizon lines are straight, your colors and exposure are balanced, and that you assess your composition.

13. Be Patient

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat and waited for the weather to clear, crowds to disperse, and for conditions to get just right. Remember that sometimes the best shots take time and that it’s always worth wait.