Travel Photography 101: How To Take Great Travel Photos?

Capturing your most memorable adventures while traveling is an important part of the journey.

Learning how to capture each unique destination and help convey the distinct energy of a place can seem daunting at first. After all, a photograph is worth a thousand words, and travel photos bring context to the masses.

Travel photography can be easy and fun, and these tips on how to take great travel photos will have you ready to get out and shoot amazing photos. Even taking passport photos could be fun. 

Lighting Is Everything

The easiest way to ensure great travel photos is to shoot in good lighting. This means getting up early for the golden hour, the time just before sunrise.

And staying out late for blue hour, the time right after sunset. These softer lights photograph really well, as opposed to the harsh midday sun, which makes it harder to photograph locations.

Rule Of Thirds

The rule of thirds is one of the most basic and easy travel photography tips. This helps immensely with the composition of your travel photos.

Essentially, you will split each image into three equal parts either horizontally, vertically, or both.

Most cameras and phones offer a grid setting that will help you do just that and place subjects in your photos. You’ll want to place your subject at the intersecting points, making for a more interesting focal point.

Get In Your Travel Photos

While great landscape photos are beautiful, never underestimate the value of the human element in your travel photography. Typically we live vicariously through the people we see in photos.

There are several ways to capture photos of yourself while traveling, you can be anonymous by not showing your face and using yourself for scale in landscapes.

Or you can capture the candid moments from your trip to instantly transport yourself back to that moment and to help people feel like they are traveling along with you.

Patience

Patience is a virtue and it’s not always an easy task when it comes to travel photography.

It can be difficult to take your time, slow down, and take in the small details. But that is an important part of telling your story through travel photos.

Whether that means waiting for other visitors to move from your perfectly framed shot or waiting for the Northern Lights to show themselves long after everyone else has gone.

Have Your Camera At All Times

This may seem like a given, but it’s easy to forget your camera while traveling. They say the best camera is the one that you have in your hand, and the camera on your phone absolutely counts. The truth is, you just never know what travel photography opportunities will present themselves while you are on the road.

It’s best to have your camera with you at all times, and it’s a great idea to have some extra batteries as well.

These tips on how to take great travel photos will have you telling stories through your travel photos in no time.

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