Travel Advice and Tips:

7 Great Tips to Improve Your Travel Photography

Travel photography is a photography genre with probably the widest range of subjects and possibilities. In many ways, travel photography is about capturing and sharing the world: its landscapes, cityscapes, nature, colors, textures, people and cultures, landmarks and so much more. But this amazing ability to capture the world’s magic doesn’t have to rest only with professional photographers; thanks to the amazing cameras we now have on our smartphones, the world can be your muse too! 

We scoured the internet to find the best advice professional photographers have and here are the unanimous tips for you to keep discovering while being able to capture those fleeting moments. And we’re talking about photography with a smartphone, so no fancy-schmancy equipment is required.  

So let’s start capturing those fleeting moments in a memorable way! 

Rule #1: Location, Research & Lighting.

For those “sharing-worthy” images, being prepared is best and by this we mean it’s important to know where those photogenic areas and hidden gems are. Of course, this entails a little research. So, before arriving to destination, scout out what are the places, landmarks, events and so forth. Also, a rule of thumb most professional photographers swear by is “arrive first, leave last”; lighting composition is a key aspect in photography and there is no better light than dusk or dawn to capture the best shots, you know the ones that will make you smile when you go through them later! 

Rule #2: Explore Angles & Viewpoints. 

The beauty of having a smartphone is that its size and weight allow it to go anywhere and consequently allows you to easily explore different ways to take a photo: Climb up a tree, lie on the ground, take a top view and simply let your creative juices guide you. Surprise yourself and your audience with unexpected ways to showcase the expected! Take the same subject, landmark, landscape, etc. from different angles and see what you like best; maybe the light will give off a better result when the subject is taken from a different angle, maybe the subject itself will look more flattering from a certain angle…

Rule #3: Rule of Thirds. Learn it. Try it. Apply it. 

First, go ahead enable those gridlines. The rule of thirds is one of the fundamental rules of photography; in a nutshell, it stipulates that the subject (or key elements) of the photo should be off-center so that the image is more balanced and interesting. That’s it. 

Rule #4: Zoom-in. NOT! 

You know how you have this tendency to want to zoom in to get a closer look when taking a photo, especially one of people, well don’t! You will offset the pixel balance and end up with a poor quality photo. If you insist on having a closer look, try moving closer yourself, that’s a surer way of capturing what you want without compromising the quality of your photo. 

Rule #5: Shoot in Portrait & Landscape, Avoid Square Mode. 

The idea here is to give you the widest range of possibilities to end up with the best photo. Take the same photo using portrait and landscape and see what captures your subject best. Avoid using square mode because it limits your editing options; instead edit your portrait and landscape photos into a square format if that’s what you want. The idea is here is to give you more perspectives so that you can have that perfect shot. 

Rule #6: Be Mindful of the Background.

We get it, we’re not professional photographers either, but nothing ruins a perfectly good photo more than something ugly or intrusive in the background. So, when testing light, perspective, mode or anything else, keep an eye out for the background of your photo as well. Check for wires, garbage bins, hanging objects, incoming traffic, etc. to simply make sure that you’re not bummed out later that you didn’t pay more attention to that detail that will render your photo “meh”. 

Rule #7: Practice. And Remember the First 6 Rules. 

The objective is probably not to become a professional travel photographer, but let’s admit it, we all take pride when a photo surprises and comes out better than expected. In light of this, why wait for the surprise? Instead, practice, keep in mind these rules and most importantly, keep discovering the beauty of the world. 

“Photography is a form of time travel.” – Neil Degrasse Tyson