Travel Photography Tips: Make Amazing Vacation Photos


Travel and photography go together like globetrotting and passport. It is through your pictures that you immortalize and share your experience with others. You want to capture the moment to always be as amazing as you lived it. You don’t need expensive gears or pro level skills for photos that stand out. If you want to take your art to another level, start by following these simple travel photography tips.

1. Make pictures, don’t just take them

Take it from professional reporters and travel photographers. Good photos should unique and refined. Don’t just go for the obvious when you visit the Eiffel Tower or the San Francisco Bay. Find that angle or composition that will stand out from that of millions who came before you

2. Subjects bring photos to life

Capture the memories of your travel with accuracy. The true subject of your photo should be the captivating things you see, not just the popular landmark or tourist trap. Try shooting living things might give your photos a vibrant focal point. You are then free to use the monument or landmark you are visiting as a background.

3. Try candid pictures

There is nothing worse than cheesy photo poses. That goes for the duck face, the “we arrived” pose, and these ones too! A good photography tip is to shoot your subject when they are unaware. If you are traveling with friends or family, or there are interesting locals around, step back and add them to your frame

4. Compose with creativity

This travel photography tip is all about creativity. Look for the little features or themes in your surrounding that give away where you are shooting and shoot around them. Add to this, basic photography rules such as the “Rule of Thirds” and Framing. You could also try simple effects like these. Anything to avoid dull photos.

5. Use the panorama feature

How many times do you shoot in ‘panorama’ mode with your camera? Are we so absorb by our pity selves and our selfies that we fail to see the bigger, prettier picture? When you travel, you will come across scenic viewpoints, so keep your imagination and your eyes open to spot and capture them. A travel photography tip for a great panoramic is to shoot several photos and stitch them together later. Here is how do it.

6. Pack only what you need

Some DSLR owners take great pride in carrying around their lens bag everywhere they go. A good practice as a traveler is to pack smart. Same goes when packing your lenses. Take only what you need. Wide-angle and tilt-shift lenses should be part of your arsenal of you intend to shoot landscapes. A mid-range zoom is great to have no matter what.

How useful did you find this article? What did we miss or not cover? Share your thoughts but also your best travel photography tips with us. Better yet, show us your work or Instagram, we love travel photos.