Before you jet off on your next adventure, here’s some quick tips to getting the best piccies on your next holiday.
Tip 1 – Pack Lightly.
Nothing is worse than hiking up a trail or along the beach with a heavy bag camera bag full of equipment you don’t necessarily need. Same goes with flying, you don’t want to have to check your fragile, expensive camera bag in with the rest of the luggage, which means you’ll probs have to take it as carry on. Just pack your favourite lens or the lens you shoot with most as well as another lens to create a different look, eg – a wide angle lens.
You will be more inclined to take your camera with you if it is easy to carry and your bag isn’t weighed down with all of your lenses.
Tip 2 – Sunsets, don’t forget to look the other way.
The cliché sunset shot that you see everywhere is directly of the sunset either over the ocean, mountains or through tropical palms. Don’t get me wrong, those photos definitely have a place but sometimes to get THE shot all you need to do it turn around and see what the sunset does to the surrounding landscape. Shoot a couple photos of the actual sunset and then turn around and experiment. Like this:
The top image was taken in Waikiki, Hawaii and the bottom image is from my trip to Antarctica, you’ll need to go to Ushuaia, Argentina to get there by boat.
Tip 3 – Horizons
My number 1 pet hate with any landscape photos is when the horizon is crooked. Take your time to line up the shot with the horizon straight in the frame. You’ll be sad if you rush to take an awesome sunset photo, only to realise later that night that you didn’t straighten your camera before you took it. Yes, you can edit the photo in post-production but doing everything right beforehand will make your job so much easier later on.
This amazing sunset was taken when I went to Waikiki, Hawaii – everyone was loving the sunset this day!
Tip 4 – Shoot in all kinds of weather.
Just because it’s an overcast day doesn’t mean that you can’t get out and take some amazing shots. Some of my favourite photos are from days where the sun didn’t shine. Overcast, cloudy conditions provide you with soft, even light that can give a photo exactly what it needs. These conditions also make STUNNING black and white photos.
The top image is again from my from to Antarctica and the bottom image is between Ushuaia, Argentina and Antarctica – how cool are they!
Tip 5 – Get in some photos!
After I get home from a trip, I’m always sad that I’m not in a lot of photos (if any) and there’s no one to blame but myself. My last tip is to get over your fear, self-consciousness or whatever is holding you back from getting in photos and just DO IT! There’s always a rock, ledge, bag or another traveller nearby to take your photo if you don’t have a tripod handy. If you don’t trust someone else holding your camera – get a selfie stick for your phone…I know what you’re thinking but you can get some really good shots of yourself in amazing places with a selfie stick! When you’re older and looking back at photos or when you’re showing off your amazing trip, you really want to show people that you were actually there and didn’t just steal the photos from someone else 😉
This funky shot was taken in the forests of Whistler, Canada, woo! P.s how cool are my leggings?!
Remember: Taking photos is awesome, but sometimes you need to take a step back, put the camera away and enjoy the scenery.
Do you have any travel photography tips to share? Share them in the comments below.
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