5 Best Travel Photography Tips

You love to travel, but you think your photos don't make justice to all the beautiful places you visit? If this is your case and you are looking to improve your travel photography, this is the place!

Most of us want to bring back home from holidays wonderful pictures along with memories, but not all of us know how to make them.

When I look at my old pictures, I wish I would have known much more years ago. But you can take advantage and go prepared, with these travel photography tips.

1. Get to Know Your Camera/Phone

Before even thinking to start taking your travel photos, really get to know your device. You have to control it intuitively in every situation, or the best moment can escape you.

Read the manual and learn all the features your device offers. Even though automatic mode can be sometimes handy, learning the manual mode on your camera can dramatically improve your photos.

It can feel scary at the beginning, but the results are worth the time invested in it. I take practically all my photos in manual mode.

2. Take Advantage of Golden Hour

Golden hour is that amazing time of the day when the sun is low and gives beautiful warm aspect to photos.

To be able to shoot during golden hour, you need to wake up soon and/or stay out late. As a reward you will bring home much better pictures.

Try to capture the sunrise/sunset itself, but point also in the other direction.

3. Blue Hour Is Also Great for Your Travel Photography

You know already the Golden one, but wonder what is Blue hour? Basically when the sun is below the horizon, it gives nice blue aspect to your travel photos. Just like in Riomaggiore on the photo above.

You will be surprised, that sometimes, the final shot is better during Blue hour than in its Golden variant. Try it in cities or nature landscape shots.

4. Be Patient

When travelling, take your time to capture your photos. Many people are in rush these days, but being patient improves your shots big way.

For example, if you wait for other tourists to get away from your frame, you can have more clean shot, with less disturbance. Wait for that right moment.

Be patient also with results. You will not be 100% satisfied with your captures right from the beginning. It takes a lot of time and practice.

It's said, that your first 10.000 photos are also your worst photos, so don't get discouraged. Looking back at my work, I feel it's true.

5. Practice the Rule of Thirds

In general, you shouldn't put the main object in the middle of the picture. Rule of thirds divides picture in 9 identical rectangles and puts main objects along the lines. Many cameras have built-in display option for it.

It's more pleasant for your eye and can convert a good photo to really great photo. Practice it on majority of your shots.

As all the rules, this one should also be broken. For example if you are taking reflection shot, it's okay to experiment and try centered pictures. The same applies to portrait photography.

Of course, there are many more tips to improve your travel photography, but I consider these 5 the most important ones. What do you think?