Take Better Travel Photos: A Guide to Advanced Photography Techniques Brandon Scott October 31, 2013 Interests, Photography, Travel Tips This post was last undated on September 21, 2023. Let’s say you’re feeling quite confident about the basics of travel photography. Well, it only seems right to learn some more advanced techniques. While there are nearly endless subjects that we could touch upon regarding advanced photography, we’re here to narrow it down to the essentials. This includes mastering your settings for optimum quality, how particular lenses are better for certain shots and certain lighting situations, and how to overcome the many and varied issues that can arise, like Chromatic Aberration or Moiré. Without further ado, check out these tips for taking better travel photos. Take Advantage of the Gold and Blue Hours Different types of light can add a dramatic flair to your photography. That’s why many photographers prefer to shoot in the gold and blue hours of the day. While not always full hours per se, gold and blue hours allow photographer to utilize the sun’s position in relation to the horizon for dazzling, cinematic photography. Most experts define golden hours as the first hour after sunrise and the first two hours before sunset. Photographs that you take taken during golden hours are distinct for their warm, orange-red tones. They tend to look so dramatic on camera that moviemakers refer to this time of the day as the “magic hour.” Meanwhile, the blue hour is considered the 30 minutes before sunrise and after sunset. Since the sun is below the horizon, photographs taken during the blue hour have softer, blue hues, creating a more moody atmosphere. With the indirect sunlight reflecting off particles in the air, photographs that you take during the blue hour are more even toned with no shadows. Working with Multiple Exposures If you want to shoot in HDR (High Dynamic Range), then it all starts at the shooting times. Briefly, HDR is the process of blending the best pixels available from multiple exposures. So, if you were to take a photography of a dark building, but the sky is bright, which is quite typical, then you need to take the same exact photograph in 3 to 5 exposures, for instance from very dark to dark to medium to light to very light. You can do this with one single shot if you shoot in RAW format on your camera. Shooting each of these exposures live with a tripod will yield the best overall quality. Then, you can pull these multiple exposures into a photography software program like Photomatix to process them together. Get the Sharpest Details Nothing kills an image like soft details. And no company will want your photos, and no customer will buy a gallery print if the details are too soft. Shoot with a tripod, which you can hold down with bags of rice or sandbags. Steady your camera however you can and shoot with a high shutter speed, low ISO, and high aperture for ideal sharpness. Watch Out for Distortion Do you know that weird and funky, yet intriguing illusion that your camera creates sometimes? For example, when you take a photo of a person and their head is too big, because it’s the closest thing to the lens? Well, it might be fun to play around with, but there are definitely times when you want your photos to be more realistic. If you’re shooting photos of people, shoot your lens at 100mm or higher to balance out the distortion. However, this is one of those rules that can be broken if the situation calls for it. For example, if you’re shooting a brilliant landscape scene with fantastic clouds that are quite fast-moving, slow your shutter speed, and shoot your lens wide open. Sometimes the effect is spectacular because the clouds can appear as though they’re being pulled beyond your image. Master Your White Balance Sure, you can shoot every photo on auto-white balance. But when it comes to taking better travel photos, you need to understand how to use each feature on your camera, and that includes white balance. Practicing when to use a custom white balance will help you when you want to change the mood of a photograph. Sometimes warming up (boosting the red and orange tones) or cooling down (boosting the blues and cyan tones and desaturating the reds) an image can dramatically alter the feeling that you create. Play Around with Slowing Your Shutter Photographing with a slow shutter speed is an old trick, but it can be very useful. Mounting your camera on a tripod and slowing down the shutter creates a multitude of new possibilities. Slower shutter speeds capture motion blur, long exposures, and creative effects although this method requires stability to avoid blur and manage potential noise in low light. Slower speeds work great when you’re shooting at night, but it can also work really well for fast-moving clouds or flowing waters. Have some fun with it. But always shoot with a steady camera, or else you’ll have the most ungodly blurred images imaginable. Follow the Rule of Thirds One of the most important aspects of photography is choosing how to frame your shot. Many professional photographers recommend, to create a more balanced composition, dividing your visual field into nine equal horizontal and vertical sections in a method known as the Rule of Thirds. This allows you to expand beyond the traditional subject-at-the-center shots into something more interesting. Dividing your field into thirds allows you to place the subject to be on the left or right of the photograph, producing more interesting, dynamic images and artful composition. Most cameras today include a grid feature that allows you to follow the Rule of Thirds with ease. You may also enjoy: Oh Snap! Here Are Some Dos and Don’ts of Travel Photography Try Using Unusual Angles One of the best ways to understand your subject is to experiment with different types of perspectives. To catch interesting angles, expert photographers recommend first walking around what you want to photograph to see if certain viewpoints offer particularly impressive vantage points. Oftentimes, the best photographs come from angles that might require you to do some physical exertion, like lying on the ground or scaling a flight of stairs. While you might feel a little silly, you’ll end up with a truly one-of-a-kind photograph. For instance, shooting from a high angle allows you to emphasize the contrast between the subject and the surrounding environment, while low-angle shots give your subject the illusion of being bigger for a more dramatic, imposing picture. Ask for Permission from Locals And now a final note on courtesy. While landscapes and amazing architecture will always make for excellent photographs, taking pictures of members of the local community is a powerful way of remembering the places you’ve been on your trip. Although it may seem a little awkward, the best way to get the perfect snap of someone you’ve met on your vacation is to simply ask for their permission. Likewise, you can also ask for a photograph in a way that may help local businesses. For example, if the person you want to photograph is a clerk at a store you’re visiting, ask if you can take a picture of an item they’re selling and talk about its importance in their community. Just a little way to give a little something back. Do you have any travel photography tips that you’d like to share? Tell us about them in the comments below!
