Every trip needs to be immortalized, and the best way to do that is to take amazing photos, and for that, you don’t need to be a professional photographer. With a few tricks and tips, you will be able to record beautiful moments of your walks and adventures.
First, you need to seek inspiration!
Have you already chosen your destiny? So run on Pinterest and Instagram and do a search on photos of the country you are going to visit, you will surely find beautiful inspiring photos for your vacation.
In addition, seek visual information about the attractions and places you will visit. Don’t settle for classic photos, look for other records with different angles to get an idea of what the spaces are like, with this information you can even start planning some photos.
1. Test before you travel
If your goal is really to have spectacular photos and publish them on the internet, you can start training angles, framing, lights, filters and techniques before embarking on your trip. You can take the tests on your own street or somewhere in your city.
2. Equipment
Not everyone is willing to take a professional camera, so having a cell phone with a good camera can make a difference when taking pictures. Explore the options for your cell phone camera, including the manual option that allows you to adjust the lens aperture.
If you are traveling alone, take a selfie stick, it can be very useful, other beneficial equipment is the gimbal (for those who want to make videos) and a tripod (3 Way Mount by GoPro is excellent, as it is malleable and can be adjusted it anywhere, plus it’s easy to carry).
If on your trip you’re planning to go to the beach, it’s worth investing in a GoPro – have you ever thought about taking photos underwater? With the GoPro this is possible!
For the more enthusiastic, using a drone can result in fantastic aerial images (but before traveling with a drone, find out if the country you are going to visit allows the use of the equipment).
Nowadays, there are cell phone camera lenses like fisheye and macro, which are useful for certain types of photography. Another very important item is the 64gb memory card , invest in it!
3. Choose the best light for your photography
Taking a photo doesn’t just depend on the equipment, but also on good light. Seasoned travelers always mention that the best times to take good photos are before 10am and after 3pm, and 30 minutes before and after sunset and sunrise (the latter is known as the “ golden hour ”).
4. Rule of thirds
The rule of thirds is a classic composition technique used by all photographers. If you pay attention, in the camera configuration of your cell phone there is an option called “grid”, this option places an imaginary grid dividing the image into 9 equal parts.
Through the intersections of these lines, you have points of strength, that is, the elements you want to highlight must be between them.
5. Timelapse
Never settle for a photo! Don’t be satisfied with just one click, timelapse is your chance to take the perfect shot. Taking multiple photos is a great way, especially if you’re going to ask a stranger to take your picture, use a tripod or a selfie stick. By taking a single photo you run the risk of having a bad image, and you will not always have the opportunity to return to the place to repeat the click.
Timelapse is also used to record sunrise, sunset, plants growing, clouds moving, and street movement… among others. The interval time between images will depend on what you are photographing, for example:
– Moving clouds: 1 second (fast), 2-3 seconds (slow)
– Sunset: 1 to 3 seconds
– Tourist areas: 2 seconds
– Stars: 15 to 60 seconds
– Plants: 90 to 120 seconds
6. Guidelines
The environment can give you chances for excellent photos. Guidelines are guidelines to lead the viewer’s eye to a particular location or object. Look at the photo below, which way do you look?
7. Symmetry
Symmetry in a photo is nothing more than balancing the elements of the image, as you can see in the image below, the lines of the buildings are symmetrical, in addition, there are two other techniques used here: the guideline and the depth.
8. Positioning
Changing the positioning of the camera can result in a very interesting image. Experiment with changing your camera’s position and try different angles.
9. Outlook
This is a technique also widely used by professional photographers. Perspective is a compositional element that makes it possible to give depth and volume to objects in the scene.
10. Filters and Editing
To edit photos, I recommend the Lightroom app, super practical and easy to use, and it brings amazing results to your photos. The app is free but it has functions that are paid (but even using the free tools, the result is incredible). Some photographers sell Lightroom presets, it’s worth the investment if you use the images for professional purposes.
