“Taking pictures is savouring life intensely, every hundredth of a second”, says the French photographer Marc Riboud.
When one loves travelling, visiting new places, and going on adventures, the most obvious thing is to want to take cool photos of those moments and places to look back at them later. So travel photography is very important for capturing the adventures and locations you visit during your journeys.
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How to Click Cool Photos while Travelling?
Travel photography involves many different genres. For example, you can concentrate on people, take portraits, highlight landscapes, or even try aerial photography. So, to be a good travel photographer, start gathering basic knowledge of photography, landscapes, architecture, and environmental photography. It also involves storytelling and focuses on aesthetically capturing special moments and atmospheres. Develop your individual style and practice the art to evolve with it!
Follow the work of expert travel photographers to get inspired with ideas you can follow next time you travel.
Bring your Camera and use it ‘Sensibly’.
Start with thinking about what made you choose this particular destination to make an effort to travel there. It may be the beach, the mountain, the journey, the galleries, the food or even an activity you can do there. Then, when you reach there, it could have many other exciting aspects of the place you may not be aware of. Take notice of the particular characteristics and ambience of the new location. Then, when you reach there, it could have many other exciting aspects of the place you may not be aware of. So take some time to research as professional travel photographers do. It is also vital to understand the customs and traditions of a place as you want to be sure you do not act in a way that is rude or offensive while you are there. It can also help you understand what people are doing that may seem incomprehensible to you if you didn’t know better.
Imagination will take you Everywhere.
Get imaginative with how you can catch the lushness of the lawn you lay on as you watch the deep blue sky above or the dew on fresh blooming flowers on a winter morning, the thrill of watching the roaring waterfall cascade down with thunder, or the pleasure reflected on your child’s face as the feet touch the cool ocean waves. Absorb the new place with all your senses and how it makes you feel. Where do your eyes go first? What do you notice about it right away? A smell? Is it hot or cold? Bright sunlight? Mysterious fog? A particular building or vista? The way people are and how they move? The way they dress? Whatever it is, remember it. These first impressions spark the creative rendition for taking cool photos. Your travel photos should reflect all of these qualities and express as much about a place as you are experiencing at the moment. These captured photographs need to bring these memories and other sensations gushing back and to communicate to others how we experienced it all. To do this, you must think and feel as much as you look when taking photographs.
The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
Get up early, stay out late. If you are on a scheduled tour to leave the hotel at 9:00, get up well before dawn. Go out for a walk before meeting up with your companions. Now that you’re there let all your senses partake in everything around you. Use your spare time to get out and look for photography opportunities. Wander down alleys and sit in cafés to watch life pass by and be more observant. Don’t eat at touristy places but go where you see locals. Time spent discovering any place will enrich your overall travel experience and give you maximum cool photo opportunities.
Oh, Snap!!
Always have your camera with you, and keep your eyes open. You will need it at the most unexpected places as serendipity plays a vital role in travel photography. You never know what you will run into, and you must be ready. Often you will see that you are at the right place at just the right moment for a good picture with the perfect light. If you forget your camera, are out of battery, your digital card is full, or if you fumble around getting the right lens on, the moment may be gone. So check your camera before you leave your room to hunt for pictures.
Photograph the Gorgeous Landscapes
Mountains, forests, plains, deserts, swamps, lakes, rivers, sea shores and many other natural wonders are waiting to be captured by your camera. No two places are the same to the discerning eye. Is it a rocky, wave-washed coast or a bright & sandy one? You want to show waves crashing against the rocks if it’s the former. Blue sky with sunlight is more appropriate for the latter unless you want to show the desolation of a resort beach in winter. So go with the place’s light and mood to capture the essence of the beautiful landscape in front of you.
Conquer Cities and Towns
Each city and town has a different personality and its own look and feel.
A city is defined by a distinctive skyline and architecture, famous local sites, people and a particular style of living. When covering a town, city, or even a tiny village, you need to capture a sense of the place, preferably with a wide shot that encompasses the setting, skyline, or landmarks that the place is famous for and the life of its inhabitants.
Monuments are best Preserved in Memories with your Camera.
When photographing buildings, statues, or other monuments, think of what they symbolise before you shoot. For example, a large Jatayu sculpture is situated in Kollam, Kerala. You could make a perfectly lovely image of this wounded bird on any sunny day, but such a picture would not tell the story of Jatayu and his bravery. A photograph taken on a stormy evening, with perhaps lightning in the background, would do it much more justice. Cannons on a historic battlefield might look better in fog than in bright sunlight, creating a historical mood. Understand the subject, then think of the weather, light, angle, etc., that best communicates it.
Photographing Family Members and Friends
We usually travel with people we know, like taking a family vacation or bicycling tour with a group of friends. We then quite naturally want to come home with pictures of them as a remembrance of the trip. To take cool photos of your friends, balance a picture of them and a picture of the place as the backdrop. Imagine if you took a picture of your friend in China, but there was nothing behind him that would indicate that he was indeed in China. What a wasted opportunity it would be to create incredibly cool photos. Capture someone’s expression at a particular moment, and try to document your shared experience.
Photographing Strangers
If you find a stranger during travel fascinating enough to take their picture, it would be to ask for their permission first. Preferably learn to say “hello” and “May I make a photograph” in the local language. If strangers are approached in an open and friendly manner, most people will be agreeable or even flattered that someone has shown an interest in them and what they do. Generally, people do not mind being photographed in a public gathering like a street play or market. It’s only when they’re singled out that they may get uncomfortable. Use people to give your pictures life and scale. If the facade of a particular building appeals to you, the picture turns out much better if you show people walking by. An outdoor café may be interesting if empty but more interesting if crowded.
So, practice your photography skills as you travel to discover new places and your innate photography talent to capture perfect travel moments and take home some cool photos for your Instagram feed.
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