5 Tips for Great Travel Photography
I love taking pictures, and traveling around the world has allowed me to capture some amazing shots. I have a collection of pictures I’ve taken from all seven continents. Each picture has a story, but no one asks about that experience until the picture captures their attention. I’ve learned that no one really cares what my hotel room looked like or that the Coke cans looked different or the shot of that blurry field that I took while traveling 60 mph down the highway out of a bus window. If you want to transition your pictures from, “What exactly is that?” to “That’s awesome!” keep these five tips in mind.
Get down to their level: Whether it’s animals, kids, or just shorter people, hold your camera at your subject’s eye level.
Background Check: If the background is too busy, try moving to a different angle to capture your shot. A cluttered background will be distracting, while a more neutral background will help to emphasize your subject. You’re not trying to create a Where’s Waldo book and have people guess what you’re shooting.
Move in close: That garden of flowers may be beautiful, but try filling in your viewfinder with just one of the flowers. This allows you to eliminate background distractions and show off the details in your subject. You can also try out your camera’s macro setting. On people, stick to the face, zooming in anywhere else may lead to trouble!
Offset the subject: For a more dramatic picture, try placing your subject off-center. Imagine your viewfinder as a tic-tac-toe grid, focus on the subject and while the focus is locked, place your subject at one of the intersecting lines. This “Rule of Thirds” makes pictures stand out more.
Know your camera: Don’t know what ISO means? Shooting in fine instead of superfine? Read the manual and bring it with you when you travel. Once you know your camera, you can take it out of automatic mode and switch to manual mode and really start getting some amazing shots. If you’re going to spend hundreds of dollars on a camera and not use its features, you might as well have a disposable camera.
For more information on travel photography, check out our photo etiquette tips.
Jason was one of the three brave souls to join us on our first pilgrimages to Ireland in 2000, making him the longest standing staff member of Wonder Voyage. Though Jason spearheads the huge responsibility of our web site, his greatest love is the adventure of traveling around the world and serving those who are in need. Jason’s specialty is easing groups into the travel experience.