This post was most recently updated on July 9th, 2019
Taking photos for a travel blog can be a very challenging task. I’ve put together these travel photography tips to help you create a blog that attracts visitors. Everyone knows it’s the photos that make or break a great travel article. Here are a few of the most important tips if you are a travel blogger or are planning to become one.
Know your gear
First and foremost, knowing your gear is essential if you really want to take outstanding photos. Be sure to take the time to master all of the important things such as shutter speed, ISO, aperture, metering modes and focus. Remember to take into account the fact that you are going to take photos in different weather conditions and that each of them requires different settings.
Knowing your gear will make it easier for you to take good photos in tricky situations. Often, a photo must be taken immediately, so fumbling with your settings will cause you to miss the moment. Knowing your gear will also make it easier for you to pack light and carry only the lenses needed for your purposes.
Connect with the locals
Connecting with the locals is important for a couple of different reasons.
- Avoid trouble – Imagine someone in your face taking photos of you. Not pleasant at all! In some places, you’ll get an angry look, but in extreme cases, you might find yourself in legal trouble. Especially when in a different country, be sure to know the laws and customs regarding photography.
- Be in the moment – You should not be there only to take photos; you should also make sure to connect with the local culture and learn as much as possible about how they live. This will allow you to completely immerse yourself and enjoy the moment; not many photographers know how to really make the most out of their travel experience. Come out from behind the lens and be a part of the story, too.
- Take better photos – Taking some time to communicate with a person before you take a photo will help you create much better photos. Some people will be happy to pose if asked. Other times, you’ll get more authentic photos if they are spontaneous. But you need to develop an element of trust first. If you are not showing any effort to get to know the people, they will not warm up to you.
- Tell a story – having a travel blog is not only about photos; it is also about the story you are telling to your audience. Communicating and getting to know the locals better will make it much easier for you to create a story that your visitors are going to connect with.
Stay communicative and be interested in the locals’ culture, and the quality of content on your blog is going to skyrocket.
Secure your equipment
Even though a majority of locations around the world are safe for tourists, there is always risk of theft. In order to avoid becoming a victim, make sure you keep your equipment by your side. While you’re traveling, keep your camera in your carry-on bag. Consider making your equipment look older, so it’s less attractive. You can even cover brand-names with black duct tape to make your camera appear less expensive. And that old satchel may be a better option than the new high-tech camera bag you’ve been eyeing.
Keep your shots secure
Keeping your equipment secure is important. However, gadgets can be replaced, especially if you get international insurance. But your photos cannot. This is why it is important to have several backups of your photos. Place the photos you take on your laptop’s HDD and immediately copy them into an external backup drive. Just to make sure, purchase a USB flash drive because it is much smaller, yet it has a lot of storage space.
If you have a good internet connection, you can use a cloud solution to backup your best photos,Â
Take notes
Taking notes after each day you spend traveling is essential. Yes, you are capable of remembering the important parts of your trip, but after a couple of days, it all becomes much blurrier. This is when notes come in pretty handy, as they are going to help you remember the highlights of the day, making it easier for you to form a great story for your blog.
These are some of the most useful tips that will help you create awesome content for your travel photography blog. Stay persistent and dedicated, as running a blog is like running a marathon; all the benefits come further down the road.
This post is guest-written by Isabella Foreman, who works as a freelance content writer, recently working for Smart Photo editors.
If you’re looking for some basic travel photography tips for framing, timing, and lighting, check out this post: Tips for Terrific Travel Photography
You might also get some inspiration for photos from My Favorite Instagram Travel Photographers
Great tips! I especially agree with communicating with locals. It’s definitely frowned upon not to ask before taking a photo of someone. We need to be better at taking notes for sure though!
Good tips. Backing up is essential. I always travel with at least one external hard drive, two on trips of two weeks or more.
Thanks for the tips. I need to work on doing better backups.
This are great pieces of advice, but I agree 100% that you should know about the laws of photography wherever you’re going so you don’t find yourself in legal trouble. I also think it’s polite to ask someone if you can take their photo instead of just trying to creep!
Awesome guide! I so need this. I really want to up my photography game.
Backup backup backup! It can’t be emphasized enough. A good cloud-based storage services (we use Flickr, 1TB free) is theft-proof.
Love these tips. Backup is so important. So is securing the equipment. Photography equipment is expensive. If it gets stolen or damaged, it can be heartbreaking.
This post is a good reminder of an ABC of travel photography.There are a lot of things that we take for granted. Sometimes, out of habit, we forget that some locations could be… err… less friendly to tourists than others. I like the idea of making your photo equipment look less expensive than it really is.Vanity is prevalent in modern society, but every once in a while covering a prestigious brand mark makes perfect sense.
Love these tips–they’re so much more intimate and personal than the typical advice about framing shots and good lighting. Your suggestions to get to know the subjects of your photos is a really good idea. When I was studying photojournalism, my mentor gave me one of my favorite pieces of photo advice to date. He said to always look behind you. Sometimes that’s where the best shot is!
I think the most important part is taking the photos off the camera memory card and storing them in a safe place. We’ve had a few close calls where I’ve dropped my iPhone in the ocean and nearly lost everything on it and once we thought we lost our drone when it lost connectivity and didn’t come back to its take off point for a very long time. Losing all of our work at the end of a trip would have been devastating.
Love these tips. You discuss the most important part of photography.
Content is always considered to be king.
Wow!It’s an amazing article .Its very helpful.I really appreciate it .Thank you so much for sharing it .
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