Any trip is a good reason to take a camera with you. Moreover, if this is a family vacation, photos and videos are an essential part of it.
A journey is one of the most significant and interesting experiences in many people’s life. New lands, new people, and new sights are worth not only visiting but being memorized for the whole life as well. To make your memories the most vivid and bright — always take your camera with you!
Travel photography is a combination of several directions: the photography of animals, landscapes, people, architectural photography, photo reportage. The basics of travel photography start with choosing a location and end with photo editing in multimedia software.
9 tips for taking great travel photos
- In amateur photography, the most interesting shots are taken spontaneously. In order not to miss the chance to shot something interesting, always keep your camera on.
- When going on a trip, you should know your camera. Don’t waste your precious travel time exploring the features, do it in advance.
- Photography is an art, and if you want to show your friends good shots, then you need to choose an interesting angle. Later, move on to the photo editing process, add effects. Don’t be afraid to take lots of photos!
- It’s not just a battery that you need in reserve when traveling. If you decide to take a lot of pictures, then make sure that you always have a spare memory card or a device to which you can quickly transfer pictures so as not to waste valuable time deleting unnecessary photos.
- Explore the area in advance. You can find a ton of useful information online about the best viewpoints, camera angles, and shooting locations. In order not to forget something you may use this tool.
- Do you want to take beautiful pictures? Choose your time. Wake up earlier and go to bed after sunset. Sunrise and sunset are the best times to take pictures.
- Choose shoes and clothes that make it comfortable for you to walk and take pictures. Travels exist to see as many new spots as possible.
- Always edit photos. Certainly, all nature photos are beautiful and amazing, but it’s worth adding some effects to make the picture look more magnificent. Photo editing is a fun and exciting process. Feel free to experiment and add a couple of stickers. If the photos turn out to be very cool, then you can post them not only on your blog, but share them on Unsplash.
- It often happens that you went on a trip with someone, but take photos separately. This is not good. If you have a desire to take a photo right here, you can ask a passerby to help you. Perhaps you will even make a new and interesting acquaintance.
9 photo travel ideas
- Photos in the same style. To draw followers’ attention to your creativity, take pictures against the background of beautiful places or landmarks in the same position (in a jump, sitting, putting your hands up, etc.).
- Try to shot emotions: yours, your friends and loved ones or just passing people. Emotions are what we remember best. It’s called reportage shooting when people don’t pose. The face and body look relaxed and natural.
- Book hotels in the most scenic locations. Why should you waste time on the road when you can take pictures right from your room window?
- When traveling, new acquaintances always appear and we often miss the moment to take pictures with other travelers. Perhaps you won’t see them again and, in this case, the photo will be the best memory of the time spending together. The photo quality isn’t important here, the main thing is the fact itself.
- Most tourists in any country tend to look at palaces, squares and restaurants, while abandoned sites are no less photogenic. Such objects are wrapped up in mystical stories and will perfectly dilute your photo album! Use Google maps to find them.
- When traveling, you visit various countries with different cultures, ways of life, architecture. It would be great to take photos in a resident outfit or with a unique attraction of the country or city.
- Combine day and night in one photo. By fixing the camera on a tripod, you can take several pictures at different times of the day and then, in the process of photo editing, unite them using Photoshop. Thus, you can combine the sunset and the stars in the same sky, while getting a very unusual and beautiful photo.
- When shooting travel footage, try taking some first-person shots. For instance, include your hand with a cup of coffee in the shot, your hand behind the wheel of a bike or motorbike. Then the viewer begins to see the picture with your eyes.
- If you want something unusual, then pose on a car roof in a landscape. Any car is suitable for this, the main thing is to be careful.
There are a lot of travel photo ideas, it all depends on the destination. We have given you more generalized options. To search for ideas, you can revise the work of professionals, choose several new shooting options for yourself. You can also get ideas from online resources such as Pinterest.
How to make a travel video
Travel video is a good way to film your observations and impressions on the way. Before you start shooting a video while traveling, think about the idea.
There are several popular travel video formats:
- travel vlog — a journey from the inside, useful tips for travelers;
- video guides are created to inspire and help other travelers. These videos are well optimized for search engines and get a lot of views;
- themed videos focus on one aspect or topic of travel (food, shopping, or excursions).
The most important component of any video is the story. The video can be technically perfect, but if it doesn’t have a story, it’s boring to watch. You can speak while standing in front of the camera or add a voiceover during video editing using multimedia software. You can learn more about it here.
After you have filmed all the material and returned home, you can start editing. It’s not the most fun part of video production, but some people manage to enjoy it.
During the video editing process, you can add effects, but don’t overdo it! Editing can be harder or easier depending on the software you use. The most popular video editors and multimedia software can be found here.
Additionally, use music and background sounds. Background noise, sounds of nature and the city, voices of local people — all these help to convey the atmosphere of the place to your viewers.
And in the end, if you come to a tourist spot and there are crowds of people on the streets, don’t despair. Just wake up at dawn and get ready for a photo or video walk. Your early rise will be rewarded with likes and comments in full!