Top 3 Tips to Snap Good Travel Photos

Have you ever wished that you were able to capture the type of breathtaking travel photos that you see on magazine spreads, or even some travel blogs?

The travel photos that you’ve snapped in the past probably don’t hold a candle to them – but that can change. In fact the best place to start is with the three top tips to snap good travel photos.

Take Full Advantage of the Golden Hour

The golden hour is the first hour of light right after the sun rises, or the last hour of light right before it sets.

During that time the lighting is soft and diffused, allowing you to easily capture photos that don’t have any harsh shadows. On top of that the light is warm, and the sky will typically look spectacular as well.

In short the conditions during the golden hour are as close to perfect as it gets – and you should make it a point to take full advantage of that to capture amazing travel photos.

There are lots of photography techniques for the golden hour that you can try, but regardless of the approach you use you should end up with far better photos.

Focus on the Story

As much as scenery and architecture can make for some interesting travel photos, if you want to up your game you should try to focus on the story.

Think about the narrative of the travel photos that are going to capture and ask yourself:

• Who is it about?
• What is happening?
• Where is it happening?
• When is it happening?
• What is the reaction?

Questions like the ones listed above should help you to give your travel photos a narrative and turn them into a form of visual storytelling. That can make them much more compelling and really help them to stand out.

Experiment with Different Angles

If you feel that your travel photos look a bit mundane, you may want to try to experiment with different angles.

The majority of travel photos are snapped from a frontal view and from eye-level. That is what feels the most normal for beginners, but it also leads to a lot of photos that look very similar to one another.

By trying out different angles, you could completely change how your travel photos turn out. It is important to keep in mind that there is no ‘best’ option, which is why you should experiment with different angles every time you line up a shot.

Keep in mind that you can adjust your angles by moving sideways, closer, or further away, as well as adjusting the height of the camera so that it is above or below eye-level. If you want you could even go to an extreme and capture photos from close to ground-level or from overhead to create unique perspective effects.

Conclusion

As important as the three tips listed above are, there is one more that is just as important: Manage your expectations.

Few travel photos are ‘picture perfect’ when they are first snapped, and most require some editing. If you need a photo editing software, this one will let you enhance the quality of your photos, remove unwanted objects, apply effects, and fix any issues that may be present.

Assuming you do use the top tips as described all you should need are a few touch ups to bring out the best in your travel photos. In fact the more that you practice, the better you’ll get at capturing truly unique and stunning photos.