Let's be honest – for most of us, photographers and non-photographers alike, travelling is the perfect opportunity to capture some images that will stay with you for a lifetime. A lot of people find themselves gearing up and coming home a little bit disappointed with the results. But with a little bit of preparation, you can almost ensure you get at least a couple of memorable images that will take pride of place in your collection. Here are some travel photography tutorials to maximise the chances of that happening.
When I think back over my photography career, I realise that travel photography has actually been a massive part of it. I actually cut my teeth in Japan as the assistant to a professional Getty photographer, and some of the photos I was able to take stuck clearly in the travel genre. So too, my biggest regret about photography was when my old Canon AE-1 bit the dust while I was in Morocco. A sad story for another time. Most of the awards or published shots I've had also probably fall pretty clearly into travel photography. It's a wonderful pursuit for travellers and one that I strongly encourage you towards.
What You Need to Understand About Travel Photography
Is Travel Photography Still a Valid Genre? – As a general primer for what travel photography actually is this is a great start. It is encouraging us all towards storytelling rather than simple sightseeing when travelling and it is a good introductory article for getting to grips with travel photography as a whole.
The Definitive Guide to Capturing Original Travel Photographs – one thing you certainly don't want to do is to simply copy everybody else by taking images that are totally predictable and have been done 1000 times before. This article will help you find original observations and is a great bridge into the later articles about technique.
5 Ways to Spice Up Your Travel Photography – this article covers several creative ways to improve your travel images with some easy wins for every level of photographer. It's a broad introduction to the subject if you don't want to take cliché photographs.
How to Avoid Clichés in Travel Shots – speaking of cliché, this is the definitive guide on how to avoid them in travel photography. Why spend so much time and effort if you're simply going to take the photos that every other person has taken?
Planning Your Photography Before You Leave
Google Earth Pro As A Location Planning Tool – if you're leaving on a big trip, then it is a very good idea to do some research first, and one of the great tools for that is Google Earth. This article is an introduction on how to scout locations before travelling and helps predict viewpoints and compositions that you will probably encounter. Preparation is one of the keys to original travel photography.
How to Prepare For A Photography Road Trip & Not Miss Any Great Shots – this one is a broader look at preparing for your road trip and covers planning well on choosing simple destinations. This will help you maximise photographic opportunities and is useful for both long and short trips.
How to Pack Light for Travel Photography – experienced travel photographers will know that packing too much gear is simply not worth the hassle that it causes. Weight becomes a huge issue and one that you probably want to avoid so it is best to start packing efficiently. https://www.lightstalking.com/how-to-pack-light-for-travel-photography
9 Tips to Keep Your Camera Safe While Traveling – and an unfortunate part of travel photography is that your gear is an absolute magnet for potential thieves, not to mention damage. This article goes through a few practical steps she can take to protect it from both.
Photographing Places, People and Culture
How Photographing Locals Can Give a Sense of Place in Your Travel Photography – one of the biggest opportunities for travel photographs lies with respectfully interacting with the local people and this article goes into ways you could do it to encourage stronger storytelling. Respect is something that is necessary and will actually help you add authenticity to your travel images.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Transport As Travel Shots – another fantastic subject for travel photography lay in transport infrastructure because it varies so much by country and culture and is often overlooked so is a way to avoid travel photography cliches. It also helps complete the story of a journey and adds variety to your travel photography collection outside of simple landmarks.
The Amazing Floating Markets of Thailand: And How to Photograph Them – if you want an example of how to approach a specific subject matter when travelling, this is a fantastic introduction to how an experienced photographer tackled this incredible subject matter. It's a practical destination-based tutorial that covers people movement at colour with fantastic real-world examples.
Photographing Ancient Maya Sites – Tips for the Uninitiated – this is another location-based tutorial, but in this case it covers a more well-done destination and helps with a few tips about photographing historic locations. These include planning and practical considerations, and this is broadly applicable to heritage travel locations.
Destination Guides
Top Ten Most Photogenic Cities In The World – this is a fun wrap-up that is highly subjective but will certainly inspire some future travel plans for yourself. The point was to highlight the photographic potential of certain places and allow you to make your own decisions based on that.
A Photographer’s Guide To Istanbul – almost every photographer who is in travel photography will want to visit Istanbul at some point in their life. This article covers the architecture, the culture, and the light you can expect to go across in this gorgeous city as well as practical location advice. (Personally, I HIGHLY recommend going to the underground cistern)
A Photographer’s Guide To Vienna – another location guide that demonstrates a lot of the tips you will need to know about photographing historic cities; this one covers composition opportunities as well as various interesting subject matter that will inspire you to go here
A Photographer’s Guide To London – this is another historic yet modern city that offers a lot of photographic opportunities from the conventional through to juxtapositions. London is one of those places everyone wants to visit, but a little bit of logistics and planning goes a long way when photographing complex cities like this one.
Photo Location Guide: Lake Tekapo, New Zealand – in terms of travel photography destinations, New Zealand has to be close to number one on most people's lists as the travel opportunities as well as the landscape photography opportunities are 2nd to none. This specific part of New Zealand is a perfect example. And it's also a great example of needing to plan around certain specific conditions, which is something travel photographers often have to get to grips with.
A Photographer’s Guide to the Iconic Machu Picchu – another destination guide for one of the most photographed places in the world and an article that will help you be aware of the cliché as well as how to avoid them in your own photography. It also gets into discussing the timing of your travel and certain viewpoints, which is a huge important topic.
Working in Challenging Conditions
Tips For Photography In The Tropics – working in the tropics with camera gear and glass will throw up a lot of challenges that you may not be used to. This article covers practical field advice for dealing with humidity and weather, which is highly practical for many of the great travel photography destinations of the world.
Mountain Landscape Photography: 17 Tips for Epic Shots – this is an important one for people who like to capture landscapes in their travel destinations, as it often throws up a few unique challenges that many photographers are not necessarily ready for, especially when they're travelling light.
Keep Practising Between Trips
The Art of the Local Photo Safari – How to Find Interesting Photo Subjects When There Are None – not all of us are lucky enough to travel full-time, and a lot of us don't even want to, but that's no excuse not to keep your hand in in terms of practising the skills you will need for good travel photography. This article covers more practical steps about practising closer to home and reinforcing your observation skills.
Final thoughts
Travel photography is one of the best excuses to get into the craft and often the entire point for many people. Whether you just want some happy snaps that are a bit above the general stuff that people bring home or you really want to get into this as a genre, hopefully these travel photography tutorials have had you covered. If you have others that you think should be included, then feel free to post it in the comments.
