Best of Travel Photography with complete guidelines
You’re on vacation, and you’ve got your camera with you on a well-known tourist place where you are taking the same photo over and over. The aim of this photography is to convince people to travel to a certain destination. As a tourism photographer, you’ll tour lots of places and clicked them through your camera. The places can be tourist spots, natural landscape, hotel, resorts, cultural theatre and outdoor venues. Most of the professional travel photography is in some way linked with the tourist industry, generating photos for magazines, brochures, advertising, merchandise and social media. Travel photography is an inspiration and an art of taking a picture with the intention of trying to inspire people to visit or to travel simply. These days most of the travel photographers are nature and outdoor photographers because these are the trends right now.
Travel photography is basically all types of photography like Macro photography, Landscape photography, Wildlife photography, street photography, and portraiture photography. As a genre, it is one of the most demanded subjects to cover. Commercial travel photography agency provides photos for the $1 trillion global tourism industry. Many travel photo journalists focus on a particular aspect of photography such as travel portraits, landscape or documentary photography as well as capturing all aspects of travel. Photographers from famous agencies and channels do a lot of research to understand the customs and traditions of that particular tourist spot which clarifies them what niches is to cover on that spot. The best way to enjoy the rhythm of life in a place and to figure out what to shoot, is to feel it.
Travel photographers
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Travel photography, in general, has become a very tough career field over the last twenty years. Digital cameras have put great photography who were fortunate to produce photos in the past. Image editing software was expensive to customers, so it was only used by professional photographers. But over the past twenty years, prices have plunged and now anyone with more than two hundred dollars can afford a DSLR and professional editing set. That means millions of people taking professional-quality photos while travelling and trying to find a way to market them, while professional photographers find there’s an ever-reducing market for their product. Thus, nowadays starting from a simple family man to a different professional person who is most of the time knowledgeable about certain places can also be called his or herself a travel photographer.
Photography is a great desire for hobby, but it has never been an ideal career path for someone with a family. People usually mistake in thinking that travel photography is about traveling and making photos. But as a profession you have to move into different places where you have no idea what might come in your way. You may have to live in an island with no hotel or resort instead you live somewhere with simple shelter like camp or sleep in a bug infested bed. So, people only with brave heart and adventurous mind should pursue travel photography.
Importance of Travel Photography
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Everybody has his or her specific reasons to travel. Some travel for work, some travel for fun while for others it is a meaningful way of life. They travel to enjoy and move at the same time. Photography can be an effective way for narrating stories, creating awareness and understanding cultures, societies, and countries. Travelling and photography affect the way people view the past. It is not only about discovering lovely destinations, but it can also be an opportunity for meeting new people. But it feels awkward, shooting between people’s personal time causing distractions. Sometimes, photographers have to face many issues like harassment from policemen and threat from locals. Whatever the reason and issues, here are eight reasons through which traveling would definitely change your mind:
- Making beautiful places memorable
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When you visit a new place, it always strikes in your mind if you can stay here and enjoy the changes of habitat from your place here. That moment you realize you have no one to care, you can start a new life from the beginning. But life is always a mess, you have responsibilities, so you keep taking photos of these special places and you are never going to come back there again.
- Photos help you remember past
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The real feeling of a photo is to help you remember the moment, doesn’t come the day after you take it; it comes years later. When you look back on the images you captured very early in your travels and mentally landed you to the moments which you hadn’t remembered in years. As time passes, you need things to push your memory and nothing works better than photos that you took yourself.
- Experience new cultures
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Capturing photos during your traveling discover your surroundings in a wide manner. All places come with its diverse cultural traditions. For example, your interest of taking photos can lead you to explore roofs, roads, and the environment. In fact, you get fanatical with photography as you travel. The more you get to see the world’s prettiness in a deeper way, the more you experience it better. Once you begin looking for images, you see much more of the world than if you are walking through it.
- Get out of your comfort zone
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It may look like a weird point to you but the feeling of being a tourist in an alien town can actually be very useful for travel photographers. Experience the climate, way of life or food to the more bold ones like trying a new sport, drives your limits to the fundamental. You might end up contributing in a street festival in Turkey like the locals or trying the local elegances in India.
- New inspiration with new excitement
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When you tour in a new place for your travel photography, you see new things! It’s a great way to expand your horizons as new sites are a great ways of inspiration. Having your eyes open to a new world is an exciting way to get yourself out of a monotony, experiment new sites, and change your travel photography style too.
- Appreciate the true beauty of nature
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The mission to explore more when one is wandering always leads to a sense of bewilderment about nature. But most of us keep a track of high-tech innovations. Nature has its own habits of overtaking all these. The cliffs of Moher in Ireland or The Arctic circle in Greenland are the best examples of this.
- Capture the moment of your taste buds
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Travelling without tasting the local street food is incomplete. It is not only a feasting experience but a cultural one as well. People will always look into those delicious cuisines’ photos for their cravings.
- People’s interest in your vacation
People are usually bored by watching vacation photos that are nothing more than never-ending shots of people in front of milestones. Most people are not interested to see you on vacation; they are more interested in the location itself. If you concentrate on taking better photos, people will actually interested in seeing your images.
Travel photography isn’t about owning a big handy camera. You can do it with your smartphone too. Travelling is all about experiences which happens culture, people, places but most with one’s own self and this was all about the different ways in which traveling can change you.
Cameras and accessories for better travel photography
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If it’s a day trip or prolonged traveling to abroad, you’re certain that you will find opportunities for taking unbelievable pictures. But, without the perfect gear, you are not going to come home with the right photos you were expecting. Most of the time new travel photographers often asked what equipment they should buy in their first travel project. , a camera is of no good without a photographer, so it is always true. Every photographer has a toolset of camera accessories which used for photography. While some photographers have a huge range of accessories for every type of situation and need, others only buy what they feel is a necessity for their photography work. There’s a large list of accessories out there for photographers, and we’re going to run through some of the most essential items so that you can make the best out of your camera. We assume you already have a camera.
First of all you need to decide what your goals are with your travel photography. The more expensive camera doesn’t make your photos better. A camera is a tool and your basic need. But the main factors are things like composition, Exposures, lighting, saturation, and technical aspects for focus. So many wide range of varieties available for every budget, thus the only way to know which is right for you is to do your research. You can head over a list of some really useful photography gears.
Optical Dual Lens Smart Phone Camera
Smartphone these days have been revolutionized with splendid captures. It has become a portable professional camera for travel photographers. Nowadays, smartphones have dual or triple rear optical camera lenses to make the picture more vivid and detailed because each camera lens has a separate image sensor for each lens called monochrome and RGB. This makes the camera to adapt human binocular vision and so gives it the capacity to capture 3D images, a process known as stereo photography. Here both cameras can change the depth of field to give those shots more of the professional look usually like the DSLR cameras. Some famous dual or triple lens smartphone models are iPhone XS Plus, X and 8 plus for Apple IOS series and Huawei P9, Huawei P10, Huawei P20 on Android series.
Heavy duty Action camera
Professional photojournalist especially the travel blogger begins the utilization of action camera for extreme situations, these have become one of the top recommended travel cameras on the market thanks to their durability, compact size, and high quality. The best action cameras available in the 4K video, which are completely waterproof and even come with Wi-Fi remotes, so you can take great photos from any angle. Anyone can use a tripod or attach to his or her helmet or any side using a belt to shoot exclusive slow-motion videos and shots in full HD mode and great fps. Some famous brand models like GoPro Hero and Xiaomi Yi are available on the market.
Professional DSLR camera
Professional travel photographers use high-end DSLR Nikon or Canon cameras which are pretty expensive and heavy for travel photographers. It comes with a stunning bit of kit, with incredible ISO performance, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi, and exceptional image quality. Some models like Canon 6D or 5D series, or the Nikon D750 or D810 which are legendary cameras in the industry, and with the enormous range of lenses available for each one. But these days professional travel photographers prefer a mirrorless DSLR for better travel photography. Full frame DSLRs are big and heavy, whereas their equivalent in mirrorless is a fraction of the size. It has incredible image quality in a compact form, as well as a variety of features, from an innovative 4K Photo mode, through to WiFi, sensor-based image stabilization, an LCD touchscreen and a number of manual controls. Some famous models like Sony A7R, A7S, A7iii, and the Panasonic Lumix GX8.
Clear Optical Lenses
Cameras are available as a setup with a lens or the body. Which means you will have to buy the lens. Although, many digital cameras these days come with handy kit lenses. As a beginner, you will need a work horse lens. Mainly this is the one that has the most of your images will be captured with and will offer a good focal length range. A line between 24 -70mm lens is a good range to start. This will make you to click everything from landscapes to portraiture. Even you could actually get away with just this one lens the majority of the time. Other than that Wide angle lenses use for capturing landscapes and architectures. Prime lens for street photography telephoto lens for perfect zooming. Some of the basic lenses for travel shooting are:
- Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 II USM zoom lens
- Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens
- Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens
- Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Heavy Tripod
A good, heavy tripod is a must requirement for low-light, night and landscape photography. Don’t purchase cheap plastic tripods that can simply break. You never want to put your high end DSLR equipment on a useless tripod. Always use a tripod which can handle at least twice more weight than your DSLR and lens. Quite easily without a tripod, you will not be able to capture photos which require slow shutters as you are not going to hold the camera steady enough by hand. Carbon fiber tripods are usually what travel photographers prefer as they are steady and light. Choose the best tripod that you can pay for, because it will last you a long time and will be worthy for a long term.
Expanded Camera Bag
A strong and easy camera bag is something valuable for investing. If you find yourself going on trips on a regular basis. For different environment as a travel photographer, you will need an all-rounder camera bag. Which must be water proof, dust proof, and light material. Huge options are available on the market that are ready to fit a distinct range of different digital cameras. But selecting the right camera bag is not always easy, various bags out there that gets annoyingly difficult to buy the right bag. Many times, people usually end up buying a small camera bag, only to replace it in a couple of months with a different one, realizing that they need more space for their camera and lenses. Lowepro is one of the renowned brands and they have fairly much every type of camera bag you can buy. Make sure to consider is what you will be using the bag for and what is the most comfortable style for you to carry.
High powered Spare Batteries
If you buy a camera it will come with a rechargeable battery but it will be sensible to buy at least one more. Running out of battery power at a critical moment during traveling is not acceptable. A spare will always come as a convenient. Always look for heavy-duty batteries for a long backup. Just make sure you get the right battery for your camera model.
Other essential accessories
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Once you have bought your camera, lens, tripod, bag, and batteries. The only other things you need are memory cards, lens cleaning kit, and filters. Over the time you can always add more specific equipment. Hope these lists of specific camera essentials will be your guide during your travel photography.
Travel photography spots
As a travel photographer, you will travel a lot of exotic places and remote locations around the world. But not every place is suitable for photography. Your niches for the traveling photo decides where you want to visit for shooting. Photography is not only about the camera or the beautiful images we create. It is about telling powerful stories as I said before, where places in the world are full of wilderness, culture, color, and history bind together on a grand scale. So here are some of the best destinations to travel for photography.
The Emirati kingdom called Dubai
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Dubai is one of the ultimate Arab destinations for travel photographers to capture nearly unique architecture and vertigo-inducing views. The world’s tallest tower is situated here called Burj Khalifa, the view from there is splendid. You can take the whole view from the top of the world. Another best place is the Palm Jumeirah, an artificial island which is a great place to shoot nice photo of the cityscape. From one side you get a beautiful view of Dubai Marina, on the other side you discover Burj Al Arab. Just bring a longer lens with you, as it’s a little further away.
Natural Scenery of Kyoto, Japan
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Kyoto has been a place of vivid natural beauty since ancient times with minor changes over the time. Arashiyama is a region on the western boundaries of Kyoto known for its beautiful scenario and ancient temples. Sagano Bamboo Grove in Arashiyama is known for the world’s most beautiful forests. The photographers capture its natural beauty and enjoy the distinct rustling sound from the bamboo swaying in the wind.
Romantic city of Venice, Italy
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Venice, Italy is a romantic, magical, mysterious, and a photographer’s paradise. It is probably one of the most photogenic cities in the world. You will literally find something interesting to point the camera towards wherever you walk using black gondolas, which are the symbol of Venice. The amazing photographs that you will take along this ride are worthy enough. During sunset and morning you’re going to shoot the waterways, bridges, and smaller canals, with the best time for your gondola ride.
Share travel photographs
As a travel photographer, you probably would love to share your photos and stories with friends, family and your viewers. Fortunately, many places where people will find your shots artistic and even buy for their projects. Normally, a travel photographer may hired by many agencies for their traveling project. But the freelancer’s sale their effort on photo archive sites.
Sell photos on your own website
- Just set your own prices
- You can have 100% control to display your photos
- You can fix your own terms and conditions
- Make sure you display the photos to attract visitors and convince them to buy
It is an archive of tourism images from different photographers and travelers. Most of the travel agencies and tour companies use it to upload to their websites and social media pages to purchase pic from here.
It is an online marketplace to make portfolios of your photos and earn money. It is one of the best places to sell your images online. They offer several contests to help you earn more prizes in exchange of your photos.
It helps you to keep your copyrights protected and sell your photos with a good price. They also give credit to the image’s owners, which is a major plus to protect your ownership and market your brand.
Travel photographs editing and retouching
As a travel photographer, not every snap looks natural so photo editing is a must requirement. Photo Editing is the process of removing flaws in an image from your shots and arranging them into a perfect blend with the best color composition. It is an essential part of the skill of photography. It also helps in reducing the file size too. Although here are different kinds and levels of editing, from simple tweaks during processing to full image manipulation, and everything in between. Most of the professional photographers go for processing. It’s actually a requirement to overcome the limitations of your camera, adjust the lighting, to make your photo look more natural. Here are some of the photo editing tools professional photographer used for natural look.
Adobe Photoshop
This is an advanced photo editing and graphics design software only used by the professional. Most of the photo retouching, clipping path, image masking, photo restoration and image manipulation can done by Photoshop.
Adobe Lightroom
It is a professional photo editing software and features a lot of editing options for your photos in detail. Anyone can use it to edit photos of any format with Lightroom. For easy and more friendly image editing, try Adobe Lightroom for a smooth and professional blend. Nowadays, pro photographers prefer Lightroom more than Photoshop for quick editing.
GIMP
A multi featured professional photo editing software. GIMP helps to retouch the photos, compositing the images and enhance the pictures into new blend. Normally, it is not possible to edit many photos for this reason we hire the professional. Especially for traveling projects each image plays an individual role so we need specific image editing services. You can use GIMP instead of Photoshop, because there are lot of dissimilarities between Photoshop and GIMP.
Professional photo editing experts
There are many professional photo editing companies who are providing image editing services. Travel photographers usually look for a good price to minimize their cost in photo editing, therefore they can sell their images with good profits. Some of the global renowned names in image editing service are Color Experts International, Inc., Clipping Path India, Lazy Mask and some outsourcing site like Upwork and freelancer.com. But if you want a quality service you can try Clipping Path India who provides the best image editing services for more than three decades. They have 250+ skilled photo editing experts who are very hardworking to deliver 5000 images/day by editing photos. You can get 24/7 customer support for the best backup. CPI follows a three step QC process with zero tolerance for not compromising their service quality. You can judge them by a Free Trial. Their best image editing services are clipping path, High end Photo retouching, image masking, photo restoration, photo culling, raster to vector image, and many more.
