Photos are an important part of traveling! But sometimes the results can be disappointing if the photos don’t look the way we imagined. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with 7 travel photography tips that will help you improve your results. These simple options will help you take better photos and make your memories even more vivid.
7 simple travel photography tips to improve your vacation photos
Nowadays you don’t have to be a professional to take good travel photos. What you absolutely don’t need is a super expensive digital camera with many different lenses that you carry with you. The most important rule is: a good camera does not automatically take good photos; a good photographer can also take a beautiful photo with a simple smartphone.
But let’s discover together how you can easily improve your travel photos.
1. Learn to use your camera
The best camera is useless if you can’t do that handle it well. Learn the basic functions and get acquainted with photography. Terms such as aperture, shutter speed or ISO value may not be foreign to you.
2. Horizons and the golden ratio
Two simple travel photography tips you can implement. First: Develop an eye for photography according to the golden ratio. Don’t just place objects in the middle, as this looks boring. Make it interesting and exciting! It may take a while before you get the hang of it, but with a lot of practice it almost comes naturally with every photo.
A straight horizon is also important for a professional travel photo. If the horizon is not 100% straight, that is not a problem. Just grab a photo editing program and it can be solved in a few clicks. You don’t even need professional software like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom. Free tools like GIMP will do the job.
Many cameras (but also smartphones) offer options to turn on lines in the display to help with straight horizons. You can also use a grid to better orient yourself to the golden ratio.
3. Objects in the foreground
Place an object in the foreground; this can work wonders and really enhance your travel photo. For example, if you’re photographing a tropical beach, see if you can get a palm tree or other trees/plants in the shot. Flowers that appear out of focus in the foreground while the main subject is in focus are also very popular. Get to know you aperture settings Good.
A natural frame can also sometimes be used as a stylistic device, such as with trees, rocks, etc.
4. Good light is important
Light is one of the most important factors in the field of travel photography. This tip is especially important. Simply photographing with the midday sun (even though this often produces the most beautiful watercolor colors for beach scenes) is boring! Try early morning light or even backlight. Shooting against the sun or using light from certain directions can greatly improve a photo.
As always, practice makes perfect. Just look at some professional travel photos and notice how the photographers handle light. On the covers of travel magazines you often find photos in which light has been played with.
5. Include people in your photos
People often make a travel photo really interesting – whether they are children, elderly people or locals in their traditional clothing. But before you start clicking away, ask politely first. In Southeast Asia we have often experienced someone being photographed like an animal in a zoo. You probably don’t want to be photographed without permission, do you?
6. Use the “Blue Hour”
The so-called Blue Hour is a great opportunity to take interesting travel photos. This applies to both the big city and natural motifs. The term Blue Hour refers to the period within the evening (but also morning) twilight, during which darkness has not yet completely fallen.
Depending on your camera/lens, you don’t even need a tripod to take a nice photo during the Blue Hour. The following photo was taken handheld with my smartphone.
7. Post-processing and development
Our final travel photography tip concerns post-processing. As mentioned under point 2, there are programs that allow you to properly post-process your photos. We work with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom ourselves. There is even a great app for the latter if you take photos with your smartphone.
And once you’ve finally edited your photos to your satisfaction, you can show them off to friends and family! What could be better than displaying them in a photo book or even hanging a photo calendar in your apartment? A great gift idea – especially in times when everything is becoming increasingly digital.
We hope our travel photography tips have been useful to you. There are so many ways to improve your photos and maybe now you have some ideas on how to make your travel memories even more vivid and impressive. Don’t forget that photography is also a matter of perspective. So experiment and discover which angles and techniques suit you and your style best.
We wish you a lot of fun photographing and hope that you achieve great results!
Did our travel photography tips help you? What other tips do you have for better photos? Leave a comment below – we’re curious!
Photos: Photo 3 (market vendor in Vietnam): vhpicstock/shutterstock.com
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