How To Take The Most Distinctive & Creative Travel Photos
For most of us, taking a holiday or vacation is one of the most memorable and pleasurable events that we are likely to experience in a typical year.
When the first compact cameras were invented in the early years of the 20th century, they quickly became popular as a means of capturing our favorite holiday moments. Whilst collecting keepsakes or souvenirs is a great way of preserving treasured holiday memories, taking photographs is undoubtedly even better.
Modern technology allows us to take far more photographs than we could when using classic film cameras, and our computers enable us to enhance the quality of our results after the images have been captured, too. This is fantastic, as great pictures can preserve a snapshot of our most treasured moments. For the average person, however, the quality of our self-taken photographs can be underwhelming – perhaps even disappointing.
It can take years to perfect the skills required to capture photos of the quality seen in stock photo libraries, but taking the time to learn the basics can make a huge difference to your results. In this article we will explore a few of the best techniques for creating unique and creative holiday photos, ensuring that you can enjoy looking back at them for years to come.
Finding the Perfect Shot
When you are having a great time on vacation, it’s only natural to pull out your camera spontaneously to capture the moment. At the same time, a little planning can go a long way when it comes to capturing the perfect shot!
Scout Locations
Rather than just taking pictures of the places that you visit, why not make an effort to visit places because you want to photograph them? No matter where you are in the world, you are sure to find plenty of blogs, articles, and reports from fellow photographers who have visited before you.
It shouldn’t be difficult to find plenty of convenient potential photo locations that you can visit, as well as the best times and vantage points that have worked out well for previous visitors. There’s nothing wrong with just going on an adventure to find places to photograph, but the most amazing travel photography is often the result of prior planning.
Use the Entire Day
Pick one or two days of your holiday to get up early, specifically to take some additional photographs. The soft morning light adds a beautiful warm quality to captured images, and there will be far fewer tourists around to get in the way of your pictures as well. This is especially important if you want to capture a stunning shot of a famous landmark such as Big Ben or the Eiffel Tower!
The evening is another perfect time to take photographs; after all, who doesn’t love a stunning sunset? Many photographers nickname the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before dusk as the “golden hours”, and you will quickly begin to understand why if you focus on capturing pictures during those times.
Technical Tips
We could write an entire book on the best technical tips to enhance your photos, but we only have space for a few of the most important in this article! There will always be more that you can learn when it comes to the technical side of photography, so take the time to learn some new tricks before each of your vacation trips.
The Rule of Thirds
Photographs look their best when they feature a balanced composition, and the rule of thirds is one of the easiest methods you can use to simplify that task. When looking at the viewfinder, imagine splitting the image into equal thirds both horizontally and vertically; you may even find that your camera has an option that will overlay such a grid on top of the image.
Now you want to position your subject in a specific section of the grid, for example, placing a person around the left grid line rather than dead center, or positioning the horizon level to the bottom third rather than directly in the middle. Considering which of the nine grid segments will make the most appropriate place for the point of interest of your shot will undoubtedly improve the quality of your results.
Essential Accessories
If you are hoping to capture scenic shots, then a lightweight travel tripod should be considered a must. A tripod gives you the ability to fix your camera’s position, allowing you to spend your time adjusting settings or finding the perfect composition. If you prefer to capture people or other moving subjects then a gimbal could be the most useful tool for improving the quality of your shots, especially if you enjoy taking videos as well.
And Don’t Forget…
Keep a Backup Copy!
You might think that a digital photo album is more robust than its physical counterpart, but this is only true if you take some precautions to preserve your treasured memories! Hard drives do not last forever, USB sticks can fail, and with many modern computers incorporating their storage onto the motherboard, losing your photographs is now a bigger risk than ever before.
One of the best ways to guard your pictures is to upload them to a cloud storage site such as Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or Dropbox, but always ensure that you have at least three different copies on separate media for the highest level of protection.
