Travel Photography: Beginner’s Guide

Do you love taking photos of exotic locations, capturing different cultures, or immortalizing epic memories of far-flung places on film? 📸✈️

Then, you need to master the art of travel photography!

While your smartphone may do a lot of the work for you, using a real camera and gear can elevate your photos and ensure that you capture every scene and sight in the way you experience it.

From fabulous festivals to incredible views, amazing traditional and cultural displays, and exotic foods, there’s so much to experience and shoot. But with a little learning, a bit of practice, and some trial and error, you’ll soon be capturing your adventures as you see them! 🏜️🏞️

Read on as we share our best tips for mastering the art of travel photography as a beginner.

Pack the Right Gear 🧳

Investing in a quality camera and camera gear can certainly go a long way in helping you take great photos. But truthfully, you don’t need the latest and most expensive gear to capture captivating shots. In fact, any versatile and robust DSLR camera or mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses will allow you to capture striking images of people, places, and nature.

As a beginner, we recommend starting with a standard camera zoom lens, a tripod to stabilize your shots, and a durable camera bag to help keep your gear safe and protected while you travel.

It’s best to keep your gear light and easy to move to ensure it doesn’t become a burden. This is extra important if you plan on traveling solo or walking or hiking long distances with your camera and gear in tow.

Learn the Basics of Good Photography 🖼️

The basics of photography come down to three key metrics:

ISO, aperture, and shutter speed.

ISO adjusts the sensitivity of your photos to light; shutter speed controls motion blur, and aperture is responsible for the depth of field in your images.

A wider aperture with a low f-number creates a more shallow depth of field that highlights key subjects, while a more narrow aperture and a high f-number is better suited to landscape shots.

Faster shutter speeds freeze and isolate action, while slower speeds create eye-catching motion blurs. Low ISO settings minimize visual noise, but in low-light conditions, increasing ISO will help you capture more crisp and clear scenes.

When you adjust your camera’s ISO, shutter speed, and aperture settings according to these guidelines, you can achieve more visually rich and engaging shots with a variety of effects.

Experiment with these settings until you find the combinations that yield the unique visual effects you are looking for.

Master Photographic Composition 🌄

Composition in photography refers to the way certain elements in a shot are arranged. Using composition techniques can result in more attractive and balanced images with a more professional look and feel.

One of the most iconic and widely used composition rules is the rule of thirds. This rule divides each image into an imaginary ‘grid’ of nine parts using four vertical and horizontal lines. It’s exactly what you see when you upload a photo to Instagram, so you just need to imagine this when taking a pic.

Use this invisible grid to position important elements in your photos along the guidelines or where they meet to guide your viewers’ eyes toward your primary subject.

Symmetry is another important aspect of great photography. Seek out patterns, layouts, and reflections with good symmetry to create striking images, and use natural framing elements like trees, arches, buildings, or windows to create visual frames for your key subjects. Leading lines that flow towards a central point in your scenes can also be helpful for highlighting your subjects in shots.

Tell a Story 📖

The best travel photographers have learned to capture scenes with their lenses and showcase them in a way that tells captivating stories.

If you want your travel photography to be truly memorable, focus on capturing the unique and distinctive colors, textures, atmospheres, and character of each destination you visit.

There are many ways to do this. You can interact with locals of different cultures in the area and capture them as they go about their daily lives—provided it’s appropriate to do so. You can also try taking shots of local customs, traditions, and establishments, including ceremonies, festivals, performances, and markets. Or you can visit local bars and capture the energy and interactions of those who frequent them.

Landscapes and the natural world can tell engaging stories of their own, especially when highlighted in unique atmospheric conditions, at sunrise or sunset, or during transient weather events like snowfall or springtime blooms. Capturing fleeting occurrences, like a hot-air balloon floating past or a flock of birds flying overhead, can help add an element of dynamic action and magic to your images.

So, keep a careful eye out for good opportunities, and be prepared to wait a while with your camera at the ready before you take advantage of them!

Gravitate Towards Gold and Blue 🟨🟦

If you want to know the secret of taking effortlessly beautiful travel photos as a beginner, think gold and blue.

When we say gold and blue, we mean the golden and blue hours. During these times, the sun provides beautiful natural lighting to illuminate your subjects and produce striking results.

The golden hour is at dawn and dusk, just as the sun peaks during the morning and just as it sinks toward the horizon in the evening. Both of these times create a captivating, warm ambient glow that gives subjects a vibrant golden look.

The blue hour occurs when the sun has already set, giving the surrounding environment a rich blue tint and a dusky, moody feel.

If you’re motivated to take the best possible travel shots, try waking up early or setting up your gear at sunset to capture your desired subjects at these two distinctly different times of the day.

Edit Like a Professional 🧑‍💻

Even if you are still working on learning how to take travel photographs like a professional, editing can help you take your images to the next level.

Use programs like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom to enhance your images, adjust color, contrast, and exposure, crop out unnecessary elements, and sharpen your final results.

Adobe’s post-processing tools are some of the best available but can be complex for beginners. If you’re looking for somewhere more simple to start, try free processing tools and programs like GIMP, iPhoto, or Snapseed. Once again, YouTube comes to the rescue as it’s full of handy tutorials on how to use the features of these programs. You should be editing your snaps like a professional in no time.

The trick to post-processing success is not overdoing your editing and leaving your images overly processed. If you’re new to image editing, try pre-set color filters to create a consistent and pleasing look before experimenting with more in-depth processing settings.

Find Inspiration Online 🛜

Online forums and social media platforms like Instagram and Reddit are filled with high-quality travel photography profiles sharing their own unique style of imagery. YouTube is also an excellent resource for tutorials and learning how to develop your photography skills in an approachable way.

If you have mastered the basics and want to develop your distinctive photographic style, browse through your favorite photography accounts online for inspiration. Take note of the aspects of their images that you like and those you don’t like, and use them as guidelines for what you want to create.

Many Instagrammers and forum users will share their tips, tricks, and the equipment they use to achieve their results, helping to set you on the right path with tried and tested technical tips and gadgets.

Remember to add your own creative flair to your style as well. The aim is not to copy the styles of other creators but rather to learn more about how they take their travel photos and use this knowledge to develop a technique that’s all your own.

When you’re confident in your ability and want to share your photos with the world, you may inspire others to follow your lead. Whether you take photos of people, places, or landscapes, you can create a portfolio that showcases your work, and you can even sell your photos, too.

Additional Travel Photography Tips for the Avid Adventurer🌍

Use these extra tips to improve your chances of capturing exceptional shots while you’re on the move:
● Keep a notebook on hand to write down inspiration and new photography ideas while traveling. For convenience, you can use a note app on your phone.

● Research each destination thoroughly before you set off, including promising potential places and opportunities for photographs. You can also search online forums and reviews of destinations to see where other photographers have enjoyed the most success.

● Remember to be respectful of local traditions, cultures, and customs. If suitable, ask people’s permission before photographing them, their children, or their homes, and only take shots once you have their approval.

Take Pictures Like A Pro 🌟

Travel photography is an exciting and stimulating pursuit that allows you to immortalize the places, faces, and landscapes you see along your journeys.

The best way to master travel photography is to practice the tips above as often as possible, experimenting with a variety of compositions, perspectives, and camera settings to develop your unique visual style. Happy snapping! 📷😃