10 Hacks to Level Up Your Travel Photos

The holiday season is on the horizon, and soon social media will be flooded with pictures tagged #vacation. Photos in front of landmarks, beach shots in swimsuits, smoothies held at arm’s length… How can you stand out in the feed and bring back truly cool photos? Here are 10 hacks that will help you get closer to trendy travel bloggers.

Go out early or at dusk

The hour before and the hour after sunrise or sunset — the so-called “golden hour” or “blue hour” — is the best time for shooting. The sun is low, and we have an excellent chance to see familiar objects in soft light of a completely different color: bluish-pink in the morning and golden-red in the evening. As a bonus, there are no people around, offering the opportunity to capture empty city squares and streets.

Go higher

Everyone loves to look at expansive landscapes. Place a person further away from you and capture the contrast of a small figure against a vast space.

Photograph details

Consider what will most characteristically tell the story of the country and city you are visiting. Painted pottery in the markets of Morocco, fresh fish in the port of Palermo, bright gingerbread at Oktoberfest — all of this can become a highlight of your trip, especially if the weather doesn’t allow for colorful landscape shots.

Experiment with composition

Leave a lot of sky, or conversely, remove it from the frame entirely, tilt the camera, look for repeating lines. It has long been trendy to break all rules of composition instead of boringly following the rule of thirds.

Focus on color

Try to focus on a specific color for one day, analyze the shots, and choose what you like best. A colorful frame should be justified by the presence of a vibrant hue. Such photos easily combine with each other and will quickly make your social media feed stylish.

Don’t be afraid to shoot in B&W

We are all used to travel photography being colorful, but some cities and countries only benefit from a black and white palette. The main thing is to pay attention to contrast and composition; then, black and white shots will be much more expressive than some color ones.

Editing is half the battle

If you’re shooting on a smartphone, use filters when editing photos, and don’t be afraid to experiment. It’s not necessary to apply only one type of processing at 100%. Play with other settings, try using Snapseed, other programs, and built-in editor functions in social networks. For the most part, a beautiful feed from travel bloggers is created through consistency. Find your style in color grading, and your subscriber count will go up.

Don’t let bad weather stop you

Go ahead and shoot on a rainy and gloomy day; just decide beforehand what and how you will photograph. If you’re in nature, go deeper into the forest and capture the aerial perspective of wet tree trunks. At sea, switch your camera to B&W mode and photograph boats barely visible in the fog. In the city, get under a building’s roof and capture people running with umbrellas, jumping over puddles.

Find motivation

Every year, a huge number of photo contests with great prizes are held worldwide, which you can participate in absolutely free. Look at their list in advance and find what suits you and will inspire you throughout your trip.

Create an album

Tell stories, imagine you’re already holding a photo album from your trip. By the way, you can actually print it. Looking at printed photos yourself and showing them to friends is exactly what will add significance to the work done.

Bonus: Travel with like-minded people

The art of photography does not tolerate haste. It’s good if you have friends with you on your trip who, like you, are interested in beautiful shots and won’t sigh if you want to stop for the perfect frame yet again. If you don’t have suitable company, look for specialized photo tours or local photography clubs. Traveling and honing your photography skills in real-world conditions with others will definitely help you reach a new level!