Travel Photography Tips
By TJ Tierney
Summer time is the perfect time for snap happy people, and for anyone heading to an exotic destination for a well deserved break. Tourists all over the world capture priceless memories forever and their top-quality images are then stored away never to be seen by anyone.
Travel photography is a great hobby for any holiday goer, and with a few helpful tips you can bring home some great images that you can enjoy forever. If your images are better then normal you may be able to make some cash from them.
The key to travel photography is to make your images appealing to a wider audience than normal. You want to capture the mood and culture of a new place. You need to be able to sell a holiday through a photo.
Tips on what to photograph:
Taking landscape images in a far-off land can be tricky. The light conditions may be very different from what you are used to. Exposure may also be very tricky to calculate. If you are in doubt, bracket your shots to ensure that you will get the perfect image.
Travel photographers should start their day as the sun is rising. This is the best time to capture mood in a landscape image.
Night time urban landscape pictures will always make an interesting shot when exposed correctly. Use a tripod to ensure that your image is sharp.
Food shots can be very memorable, try to include the waiter or anything that you normally don’t see at home. The interior and the exterior of restaurants can also be photographed.
Take pictures of local signs, buildings and famous landmarks. Be very careful with the position of the sun. Try taking images when the sun is to your side. This will cast long shadows along the front of the building. Use a polarising filter to cut out any glare from the glass in buildings.
Photograph the people. Travel companies are always seeking interesting people images. Photograph people eating food - people working - children playing - local police, fire fighters and any other service people in the area. Make sure that they are doing something interesting.
Visit local markets. This can make very interesting photography. Take plenty of images of the local stalls and the sellers. Take pictures of the different foods and anything else that you think may be unusual.
Travel photography may also be an immense financial trip for the professional photographer. Photo publishers are always seeking new material and are always on the look out for new talent.
When you return home with your images make a copy of each. Label each image with a brief caption. Its best to do this straight away when the holiday is fresh in your head.
Any holiday goer with the ability to use their lens correctly has the potential to sell their images. All you need to know is what makes a good travel image. You don’t need to be a top class photographer to profit from taking pictures of far-off places.
TJ Tierney is an award winning Irish Landscape photographer and a freelance writer.