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Travel Photography Tips

Have camera, will travel?

Here are some top travel photography tips to develop a stunning portfolio of travel images.

Travel Photography

Tropical Island

If you enjoy travel, it's an extra bonus to be be able to document and share your experiences with others. By following these travel photography tips, you'll start to develop methods for putting together a fantastic scenic photography portfolio that you can use either for personal or professional reasons.

Travel photography is a big market. Why not get paid to travel and get a huge return on your investment? And please don't forget to have fun in the process!

Photographic Equipment

Speaking of equipment, let's start with the different types of lenses that may come in handy. These include,

* Telephoto lenses (180 - 300mm) and super telephoto lenses (400 - 1200 mm) enlarge smaller areas in the far distance to fill the frame. They make it easy to photograph shy or elusive subjects. Super telel lenses are great for wildlife photography if you're planning something like an African safari, however, be aware that they are bulky, heavy and of course, expensive.

* Wide-angle lenses are perfect for capturing a sweeping view of your world. Think cityscapes or panoramic vistas. You want those in the 17mm-to-35mm range.

* The usual "normal" lenses with a 35mm-to-60mm range. These are used to take shots of things in such a way that they appear pretty much as they did when you looked at them with your normal human eyesight. They are fast, light, compact and a good first choice.

* Zoom lenses are standard on just about all of today's digital point-and-shoot cameras as well as the full-featured zoom cameras. Zoom lenses allow you to zoom-in or widen-out on your photographic composition without the need to change your shooting position. They are a travelling photographer's delight.

Another one of the important preparatory travel photography tips is to take a polarizing filter with you. A polarizing filter is used to darken blue skies in scenic photography, as these filters cut away a lot of normal atmospheric haze. Also, if you want to take any shots in water or underwater, this filter does away with the scattered and undesirable reflections.

Tips to Capture Scenery

No set of travel photography tips would be sufficient without some discussion about lighting. Lighting is perhaps the most important aspect of any scenic photography. What you want to consider here are color; quality; and direction.

* Color has a deep effect upon the emotional quality of a photograph. Practice looking through your lenses, seeing colors, and responding emotionally in yourself so that you can have a clear idea of how others will probably react to it. When you are traveling, try to shoot photographs at dawn and dusk if you want to capture some highly emotional light colors.

* When noticing light quality, notice how soft light (such as you can find early on a Spring or Summer evening on the shore of a pond or lake in a rustic area) brings out subtle gradations and hues and can have a mysterious or soothing effect. Hard light, such as you'll find on a cloudless day at high noon, is best for shooting pictures that will include hard planes and lines, such as you can find on man-made objects.

* Always be aware of your light source so that you can focus on the direction of light. See how this deeply affects the texture, form, depth, and overall color of the subject. It is exciting to try to shoot scenic photography that makes use of side lighting; side lighting scrapes shadows across images, creating what can be fascinating shadows.

... and a Few Extra Tricks for the Kitty Bag

* If you are shooting lit-up objects or areas at night, focus more on trying to create a visual composition by isolating patterns or abstract designs within the subject. Water subjects that are back-lit or side-lit, such as fountains in a city park, are excellent night time travel photography subjects to shoot.

* Close-ups are wonderful to shoot with today's digital cameras. Among travel photography tips to remember is remembering to find some close-up shots. Natural objects or creatures are perfect subject matter for doing this. With the right equipment you can have nearly unlimited magnification capabilities, which gives you the power to vividly capture very small subjects or even create "abstract" compositions by intensely magnifying just one not readily recognizable aspect of the subject.

* Always pay close attention to lines in scenic photography. Lines in a photograph might bring together, divide, or accentuate certain parts of the composition. Think of looking down railroad tracks that disappear into the horizon line. Think of a curve in a highway that disappears around a bend and into some trees. Think of looking at lighthouse from a few hundred yards away down the middle of a pier. Learn to notice the lines and you be set to create beautiful images.

* And, among the most important travel photography tips I can provide is to tell you to be mindful of the different compositional possibilities offered by man-made objects and natural objects. Notice what you can bring out by shooting city streets, cathedrals, architecturally interesting subjects, parks, and building interiors. Compare and contrast these to what you will be able to compose by shooting a woodland trail, tree lines, beaches, rock formations, and waterfalls. Then practise, practise, practise!

These are just a few of the most important travel photography tips. I hope you will be able to use them to create a strong portfolio of scenic photography.