Jul09

Travel Photography Tips

This is a summary of what I’ve learnt so far about travel photography, plus some aims I wish to achieve in the future. Hope they help.

1. Less is more.

Take the minimum equipment you need, this will aid your creativity and also make taking photos enjoyable – I hate to lug loads of kit with me. Also make sure your camera bag is comfortable and small enough for carry on luggage, (if your travelling via plane) as to give you piece of mind that your kit is safe! Also investing in the bag that has a weatherproof cover is wise!

In an earlier post I wrote a kit guide to travel photography, click here to read if your not sure about your current kit. Please note that your kit isn’t the most important factor of your photography, a lot of it is about how you use it.

2. Photograph the travelling. Not just the landmarks.

Be it by plane, train or automobile you can still get a great photo. Also roads are a great aid to composition – drawing you into the photograph.

3. Try to get local people in your shots.

This is an area I want to develop a lot further myself.

4. Use the P setting when walking about.

This mode offers best chance of getting a “chance moment shot”. If you have more time to set up for a shot I would then move to AV to M mode.

5. Travel Tripod

If you can fit it in take a tripod on your trip. I use a Joby Gorillapod
with a [small tripod head], this suited me when I was backpacking. This compact option has given me the chance to get some city night shots.

6. Adjust your camera settings in the morning.

Make sure that before you leave your hotel room you adjust your settings to suit your day ahead. If you did night photography the day before your are likely to have high ISO and a long shutter speed and maybe have it on remote shooting mode. If you forget to change this you could miss your first shot of the day or have to wait 10 seconds – if you have left it on delayed mode!

7. Manage your memory.

When off on your travels make sure that you have more than one memory card packed. It would be better to have 2x4GB cards than one 8GB one, because if your card fails then you could potentially lose all your photos. Also don’t go for cheap memory – I’ve had a bad experience of this and just managed to recover my photos. Since then I’ve moved 100% to SanDisk and never had an issue – its worth the investment. If you have the cash to spare you could invest in a MultiMedia Storage Viewer to be extra safe to back up to.

Another tip is to change your memory cards daily or if your doing an expensive tour i.e. scenic flight try to do this half way through. If a fault does occurs and you can’t recover your images this method should give you some variety of photographs from your travels.

8. Keep your kit clean.

I try to clean my kit every 2-3 days when travelling. If I shoot on a beach or a dusty environment then I try to do it as soon as possible.

This can prevent-

Dust and dirt getting into camera and lens (especially zoom lenses).
Later work in removing dirt from images.
Slow down the impact of general wear and tear.

An example of the wear and tear that can occur is the deterioration of a lens hoods. The groove that the lens hood is mounted on can get grit and dirt in and over time this can wear away the plastic on the hood.

9. Take info photos.

Notice Board
Helps you identify a place you’ve visited.

10. Look at Flickr.

Research the places you are visiting on flickr.com before you travel – see what is out there. Then try to get better compositions of what you saw – its always a challenge.

11. Try to be creative even in bad weather!

I know it can be a pain to take photos when its raining. If its just a light drizzle try using an umbrella while shooting to protect your kit.

12. Keep in mind the humidity!

If your off to a tropical country its likely that humidity could effect your kit. When in Darwin, Australia going from air conditions buildings/vehicles to the outside humidity, my lens would steam up badly, I couldn’t see through the lens. It took 5-10 mins to demist.

13. Research the sunrise and sunset times to get the best light.

The following links may help you in getting the right times.

BBC Weather website normally gives a weeks worth of data. http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/
Uses Google Maps. http://www.earthtools.org/

14. Keep your eyes open.

Look out for interesting perspectives or subjects.

15. Protect your kit and get more creative.

Use Lens hoods and UV filters to protect your kit – they come in handy when resting against glass windows.
Polarizing filters can be a creative tool to use when taking photos that include of sky or water.