Exploring new places, discovering foreign cultures, and tasting various dishes can make you rack your brain to come up with new ways to photograph a scene in front of you. With these tips for documenting your travels through photography, you can have vivid visuals to help you reminisce for years to come.
Traveling gives us a great opportunity to meet new people, immerse in different traditions, and even rediscover ourselves. From securing file backup to experimenting with shooting perspectives, these are some of the best tips to preserve your travel memories and be able to look back on wonderful moments.
Backup Your Images
Losing files is among the worst things that can happen while traveling. Human errors cause three-quarters of incidents where sensitive data is lost. Whether you accidentally delete photos or your hard drive decides to crash, you can’t risk having your precious images go down the drain.
You can avoid that if you have a NAS server which acts as private cloud storage by giving you remote access through the internet. In this way, you can save pictures even when you’re on the other side of the world without even needing a hard drive! As a pro tip, try to store your images in two separate locations – this way, if something happens, you still have a backup.
Include Movement in your Photography
Landscape photos are stunning, especially if you’re off on an outdoor adventure. However, you don’t have to end up with a ton of still photos. Look for ways to add movement into your photos for that added element of interest.
For example, photograph a busker performing amidst hastily walking pedestrians or an action shot of birds swooping down into a river to catch food.
Play with the shutter speed to create different effects. If you want to freeze the motion, aim to have your shutter speed at 1/500th of a second or higher. To create a long exposure and drag out the motion, try setting the shutter for 1-2 seconds. If you do longer shutters, be sure your camera is on a tripod or balanced on a flat surface so it doesn’t move during the exposure.
Keep Your Camera Ready
Serendipity is part of traveling. Maybe it’s a split-second encounter with an animal or a lingering moment of observing locals. Whatever it may be, keep your eyes open and keep your travel camera at your side.
While you don’t want to constantly experience new locations through your lens, having it readily available will allow you to take photos quickly and easily. For many of the places you go, that might be the only time you ever travel there and the only opportunity to document your experience.
Play With Shooting Compositions in your Photography
You may probably spend time researching your itinerary, and you’ll see lots of photos with similar angles, especially on iconic landmarks.
While it can be fun to capture the same photo you saw on Instagram, get creative! Traveling allows you to see things with a new perspective, and you can tell a story through the photos you take. Experiment with points of view until you find unique angles, including patterns, reflections, and leading lines.
Be Patient
As tourists, you may easily feel excited about visiting a new place. However, remember to slow down and make a conscious effort to become aware of the surroundings before hitting the shutter button.
Do you need to wait until there are fewer people in the scene? Do you think a building’s colors would look better with the lights on at night? Would the scene’s mood change dramatically if the subject laughs?
Good photography takes attention, time, and a keen eye for details. The more patience you have, the better your images will turn out.
Get Lost and Go Out There
Finally, be a traveler! The best memories you can capture are those that you want to see again. Do things like:
- Be involved and shoot in the middle of the dance parade.
- Wake up early or stay out late.
- Take pictures from train windows instead of a moving car.
- Get away from the crowd or go closer to the subjects.
- Wander along alleyways.
- Learn the arts, culture, and traditions of a new place.
What matters is that you document your travels in a way that resonates with your life as a traveler.
Conclusion
The beauty of photography is that it enables us to take pictures of people, scenes, and moments in ways we see fit. Whether you want to focus on the technical or creative aspects of photography, the most important thing is that you get to enjoy traveling and document the experience.
