How to Get Started in Travel Photography
Travel photography can be one of the most immersive and rewarding of all photographic endeavors.
At its best, it forges connections, both in the taking and sharing of images, and through opening people’s eyes to the sheer beauty, complexity, and diversity of this world around us.
Anyone can enjoy travel photography, although to do it well, it’s important to understand that it’s more than just traveling with a camera. Good travel photography captures the essence of a place, whether that’s through its landscapes, culture, nature, people, or stories.
A wide variety of genres, such as portraiture, landscape, street photography, wildlife, food, architecture, and adventure photography, can all come under the ‘travel photography’ umbrella when taken in locations away from home.
In this article, we look at some tips for getting started in travel photography and making the most of your travel photo opportunities!
Read more: 10 Travel Photography Tips for Better Photos
What is travel photography?
Interesting travel photography exists in going beyond the ‘postcard shot’ and looking for details, beautiful elements, or techniques that elevate images beyond holiday snaps of a location that have been taken millions of times before.
Although these details may be fleeting things – a chance moment, the way light falls on a scene, a unique merging of people or wildlife in a particular setting – intention matters. What makes travel photography fun is that it reflects and expresses how you see the world.
Yes, composition and an understanding of light and basic photography techniques are important. But so are patience, a willingness to engage and think outside the box, an eye for a good photograph, and the capacity to truly ‘feel’ a scene and use your camera to tell a story.
So many aspects of storytelling alone can be conveyed through framing: what you choose to leave in an image or choose to leave out; where (or on whom) your focus lies, and even through the use of negative space.
Many photographers find inspiration in just being in a place that’s different from the routines of their day-to-day lives. The skill lies in finding elements that make a scene affecting and unique, while sometimes also allowing your photographs to be an expression of the universal.
Read more: 7 Travel Photography Mistakes to Avoid
Start close to home
Everyone’s idea of ‘travel’ is different. You don’t have to fly a thousand miles to practice travel photography.
Walking to the other side of your city to photograph a market at dawn or hopping on a train to photograph a local landmark or landscape from a different perspective can all help to hone your style and technique.
Search for local events in your area or explore a corner of your town that you’ve never seen or photographed before. Alternatively, try visiting the places you frequent most often and have a go at photographing them in new and compelling ways.
Imagine you are a traveler, visiting your area for the first time. What places would you be most drawn to? What stories might be important to tell?
It can be helpful to ‘get your eye in’ by imposing some simple limitations on yourself to begin with. For example:
- Limit yourself to only one (possibly fixed) lens and create compositions within that framing.
- Try shooting in black and white if your camera allows you to do so – you may find that you pay more attention to compositions without the distractions of color.
- You may even want to try shooting on film – this may get you into the spirit of ‘capturing a moment,’ as you will be unable to check your images until you develop them!
If you practice these kinds of skills in areas close to home, you may find techniques or routines that work for you, and that will make your life easier when you find the opportunity to visit a new place with a camera in hand.
Do your research
Much has been written in travel photography of the ‘happy accident’ – a chance moment where the light suddenly changes, or an animal or person wanders into a scene – and in doing so elevates an image from the ordinary to something far more expressive.
One way of maximizing the chances of these ‘accidents’ is through prior research and pre-visualization.
If you find a travel location that has meaning for you, but the light is bad, find the sunrise and sunset times and try going back at dawn or dusk. If the scene needs a human or wildlife element to give it interest or scale, learn the comings and goings and be patient. Sit and wait.
Learn everything you can about your intended subjects and location before you actually get there.
You may indeed encounter some unplanned incredibly photography moments, but being prepared will certainly help you source more of them than if you go without any prior knowledge.
On this research journey, you may become aware of specific opportunities that you would not have found out about otherwise!
Capturing the essence of a place
Capturing the essence of a place is an attempt to encapsulate it in its entirety. This is, of course, impossible – you won’t be able to photograph every single moment you experience! But you will want to try to capture as wide a variety of images as possible.
A useful travel photography skill is writing a ‘shot-list’ prior to going somewhere; making sure you have a plan to have a series of, perhaps, five to eight images that tell a story of that place.
Try a mixture of close-ups and wide-angle views: one landscape, one wildlife, one portrait, one showing behavior, etc.
Being on holiday is a great place to practice your travel photography. I spent many happy hours wandering the early-morning streets of Bologna in Italy on a family trip, photographing locals walking in and out of shadows in the city’s porticoed streets.
After a while, you will start to notice details you haven’t seen before: patterns of daily life, and how the environment feels and works. Be observant and experiment.
Look for details or behavior that hold your interest. Speak to people – if you’re traveling and want to photograph a festival, local sporting event, or market, get there early, go behind the scenes, and stay late.
Similarly, in my work as a wildlife photography guide, I try not always to capture animal portraits but a scene that tells a story about the environment that this animal lives in.
If you can read a scene – meaning that you understand why certain elements and their inclusion or position have significance for you or others – then you are well on the way to becoming a fantastic travel photographer.
Much of this skill will be achieved through composition. Symmetry, balance, using the rule of thirds, contrast, and framing are techniques to try, along with capturing fast movement or slowing it down using slow shutter speeds. All this said, emotion or immense atmosphere trumps everything else.
You don’t have to travel far to practice ways of ‘reading’ a scene. If you can’t find a good composition, step back and swap positions.
Backgrounds are often the key to capturing the essence of a place in good travel photographs. In urban areas, they can really enhance a subject. In natural areas, they can give rise to the kind of widescreen ‘environmental images’ that make the viewer want to see more.
Read more: How to Choose Your Best Images After a Shoot
Identify your ‘style’ in travel photography
After a while, you will find the type of images you most like to shoot, together with the compositional and editing techniques that speak more to you than others.
Although it can be constantly evolving – and influenced by art, other people’s work, cinematography, and your own lived experience – this is your ‘style’.
It doesn’t have to stay the same forever, but it helps to be consistent and cohesive with saturation, tone, and editing techniques.
I find that I’m drawn to black and white images with a lot of contrast or those with strong colors: almost Rembrandt-style. I don’t often go for a soft, pastel, or airy aesthetic. But choose your style for what you like.
Experiment as much as you can and make a mood board of travel images you really like. What is the dominant aesthetic, and what draws you to them? What do you find you are photographing again and again?
Collate a list of your favorite travel photographers, and work out what it is about their work that you like. How might you be able to replicate some of these qualities in your own images?
Read more: How to Develop a Photographic Style
Travel light
The one rule for travel photography is to not have so much camera gear that you can’t lug it around. By definition, travel photography involves movement, and it’s undoubtedly true that the heavier your bag, the fewer images you will ultimately take.
I’ve seen incredible travel photography achieved with just a smartphone or with a waterproof GoPro.
That said, the chances of high-quality images increase with a reasonable DSLR or Mirrorless camera, especially when combined with one or a combination of zoom lenses.
If you could only choose one lens – and your travel photography is geared towards street photography, architecture, portraiture, and landscapes – then a 24-70mm lens is probably your best bet.
As your photographic journey progresses, you may choose an even wider lens, to capture city and seascapes with a particular depth. Consider a small travel tripod for sunrise and sunset shoots.
If you know you’re going to be looking for more wildlife-based images, you may need to adjust your gear accordingly and have a zoom lens on hand for far-away subjects.
Read more: Travel Checklist for Taking Your Camera Abroad
Common issues for travel photographers – and how to resolve them
Here are a few common issues you may come across when starting in travel photography, and some suggestions on how to work around or resolve them.
Traveling with family and riends
Particularly when starting out in travel photography, the reality is that most of our trips (especially those overseas) will be holidays with friends and family.
Unless your friends or partner are also keen photographers, this is likely to create challenges, especially as they may not want to wait until the light is good or for some wildlife to appear.
Try to carve out a few hours – if possible – when you can shoot by yourself. This may mean getting up at dawn when your traveling companions are asleep. And if you can’t get away, work with your companions! You may even be able to use them in your images.
Dealing with crowds and avoiding the obvious shots
So many tourist and landmark sites are teeming with crowds that can wreck a beautifully composed photograph.
To avoid them may mean arriving at less popular times of day; often sunrise is less busy than sunset. Or take your tripod and capture scenes at night.
Alternatively, plenty of beautiful travel photographs are taken in areas that are off the beaten track. Really push yourself creatively and aim for images that haven’t been seen before.
If a landmark or landscape has been photographed countless times before, think about ways to capture it differently. Look at angles and try shooting from different perspectives. If you have a drone or can climb steps or a hill, go high. If you can’t, try shooting low.
Read more: How to Use Perspective in Nature and Wildlife Photography
Remember cultural respect and get permission to photograph
Photography is forbidden in some countries’ religious sites, museums, cultural events, and railway stations. It is always forbidden around military sites. Similarly, drone laws differ from place to place.
If you are unsure of the laws, first try researching photography laws for a particular country online. If you can’t find an answer, ask a relevant person at the site.
Similarly, street photography can present a challenge if not conducted ethically. Always be respectful and don’t be afraid to ask someone’s permission to take their photograph.
If you capture someone unawares, and they become upset, always delete the image. Travel photography should be fun and deepen connections, not cause distress.
Remember to be culturally sensitive. Documenting poverty, for example can be offensive and should be done with sensitivity and awareness.
All that said, do not be afraid or too shy to get out and photograph on the streets. Photography can be a great way to connect, and most of the time, local people are delighted to pose for an image!
In conclusion
Travel photography can be a hugely fulfilling creative pursuit, helping you to see a place – its humans, wildlife, and geography – with new eyes and increased intimacy.
It can also really enhance your traveling experience, making memories for years to come, while offering a chance to connect with others as you share your images.
Travel photography is also one of the easiest genres of photography to get started with. So next time you go anywhere, even if it is just to a nearby town, festival, or national park, grab your camera and give it a try.
