How To Take The Best Travel Photos
When traveling anywhere, it’s natural we’ll want to document our experience through photos. While it is very fun just snapping away on your phone as you walk along the streets of a new place or lounging on a beach, if you want to improve the quality of your travel photos, there are a few basic things to keep in mind. Photography may seem somewhat of a daunting skill only a few possess, good pictures can be achieved by anyone with the right tools and knowledge. As a start, we’ve gathered a few tips and pieces of advice for you to begin to take wonderful travel photos anywhere you go.
Think Outside The Box
When you want to take a photo and capture the place you’re in, it’s always best to try and think of a creative way to do so. Instead of just taking another generic photo of a busy street, you can think of how to increase the interest in the image. Focus on one specific thing or person. This way when you look back at it, it won’t have too much information for the eye to process and it will, in turn, be more aesthetically pleasing. Also get in the photo! Don’t just capture a landscape, capture yourself admiring it from afar. This will also create more interest in the image as well as show the actual scale of the place you’re in.
Equipment
While phones have excellent cameras these days, nothing can truly beat a good old fashioned camera. You don’t need to go all out at first and buy the best one there is as that would cost a serious amount of money. Start out with a model that would be right for your needs. Just do a little research online to compare models and brands to narrow down the options and figure out what is best for you. In any case, if you’re a beginner, it’s best to start out with a simpler model that will be easier to navigate until you get the hang of it.
Composition
Just like any other kind of art, photography has a few basic rules to follow. Of course, they aren’t set in stone and you can explore your own personal style however you want. These rules are a way to guide you gently to achieve a wonderful result without too much complication. The first rule is creating a good composition. A good composition can make or break a photo. A tip for this is using the grid feature on whatever camera or phone you end up using. With this, you can see exactly where everything will be placed in the image and keep things in order. Another tip is sticking to the third rule: whatever is the major element in your photo, whether it’s the ocean, a mountain view, or a city scene, keep it in the top or bottom third of the image.
Lighting
Lighting is one of those things that can make a world of difference in photography. The best lighting outside is called ‘the golden hour’. It occurs an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset. It’s when the light outside begins to get hazy and evenly distributed, with no harsh shadows being cast. These times of day are the best for shooting photos. Of course, feel free to shoot whenever you want, just keep in mind that the sun can cast a glare on an image or bring it to life. It just depends on how you use the light to your advantage.
Edit
This is important. No matter what, edit. Using photos that are unedited can get to look a bit on the dreary side and become a bit of a mess when on one consecutive feed like Instagram. Even if you don’t want to overdo it, you can always edit a bit just to remove the little imperfections or adjust the brightness slightly to create a more appealing photo. It definitely doesn’t have to be all out, since too much editing can ruin a photo by making it look too unrealistic.
