TOP 10 TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY HACKS...!!!

Travel Photography is the art of the wanderers; it’s about capturing the wanderlust of the journey- not always the destination albeit. It is the serene adventure from the daring road-trips and challenging pathways, to the enthralling corners of the world within the shadow of your solitude. 

A Travel trip is remarkable voyage, a break-way for your lifestyle, which refreshes and rejuvenates yourself, giving your routine life a tinge of refreshment and enlightenment too!

Following are some TRAVEL HACKS enlisted as the TOP 10 Hacks.

 

Travel photography induces enthusiasm, curiosity and passion into the one who has wanderlust! – But it’s easy to get carried away when you prepare what to take with you.

Ideally if you choose to take your own kit you’ll need to travel light: one body {unless you have the room for a spare}, a wad of memory cards, a lightweight mini tripod or even the super flexible Gorilla pod, portable storage unit, a pocket-size compact, a flash unit, a diary {to note down keywords and experiences after the session}, a kit of lenses and a durable camera bag that distributes the weight evenly over your shoulders and protects against heat, cold, sand and moisture.

Travel photographers tend to capture shots amidst swift activities going around them. For instance, if you’re going to Capture Mountains while you’re trekking, it’s a matter of fact you’ll end up in blurring your images as tires and exhausted you’ll be, in the long-run of the adventure. So, it’s better to take a break, breathe in some fresh air, and then take suitable stabilization equipments, {like tripod} to mount up our DSLR. IT will provide your shot much accuracy, sharpness and focus for the shot.

3. Split ‘em up:

 Many photographers apparently wish to capture all the details of the moment in one shot which generally seems impossible. So split them up! Take and classify your photos accordingly. This will also help you to make an excellent collage for your images. It also depicts variety and dynamicity in your photos.

 It’s a great advice to follow the rule that ‘Too many shots spoil the party’. This rule is mentioned considering what photos you’ll share to the audience, so don’t have a hesitant mind to restrict your instincts to fire numerous shots. The more the number of photos you have in your arsenal, the better options you’ll have to edit them later and have post-processing stuff on them. But, after you shortlist your photos, keep a hint in mind that photos should in minimum number. Why? Cause we don’t’ want to bombard the audience and cause boredom :-{

Keeping it short & simple does help to convey our photos to the target audience in a more impactful and convincing way!

Travel opens up a wide scope of genres to explore. So picking up the lenses to ultimately help or hinder you; it depends upon your lens selection. If you only have the room or budget to select one glass, opt for a fast zoom such as an 18-200mm or 28-300m etc.

Sometimes you’ll find the focal point far off in the distance, but other times it could be right under your nose. In such omnipresent incidences, a variable focal length lens & telephoto that starts with a healthy wide angle will come into handy.

Your pick: a portrait prime lens {e.g. 50mm or 85mm}, a wide angle lens {e.g. 10-24mm} and a telephoto {e.g. 70-200mm}.

6. Shoot in the Right mode:

Shooting in RAW and JPEG will offer you greater flexibility on your return, but this practice will certainly need to travel with a several high capacity memory cards. So, to avoid carrying more stuff in your backup, get in to the habit of downloading your images to a laptop or photo storage device every night. This will help you to free up your memory cards for the next day.

TIP: When you go off shooting, take twice the amount of cards/capacity with you than you would expect to need.

Read everything you can about the place you'll be visiting, especially local newspapers and social media. Local stories tend to reveal the information that the large international papers may not give- about what's really happening in the place.

Establish relationships before you even get on the bus/plane/car. Make a point of befriending other photographers and sources. Nothing is as valuable as another photographer who has been there. His tips and advices may seem superfluous at times, but trust me; they’re the ones which are pragmatic enough!

Investigate the place a little further to find out when the country/city/town celebrates spiritual or religious events, traditions, national holidays and carnival style celebrations- the stuff which is exuberating and magnificent. Visiting during these times can offer a great magnitude of photographic opportunity, especially for portraiture and documentary style shots. Grabbing this opportunity unleashes many shots to fire which captures the essence of the ambience around.

If you find gaining inspiration of what to shoot difficult, start by taking a walk to the local tourist information centre and ask the staff their where they recommend you visit. Take help from local guides or fellow photographers in the area who would be willing to show you some of the sights away from the tourist track.

Prepare a ‘shot list’ –It’ll help to focus your mind when you are on location, in real-time!

8. Establishing Interactions and Connections:

Make connections with the local people; be frank and clarify your motive behind your trip. This will ease any discomfort and will also help you in taking portraits of people with their consent. Even if people hesitate and say straightway-‘NO!’ to you; Stay calm and reply with smile and move on. You’ll definitely find people further who’ll agree to be the subject of your shots.

GIVE IT BACK: Your subjects are giving of themselves. Don’t abuse their gift of sharing their lives. Don’t treat them like models. Send back some prints, cherish the moment, and treat them well. Thank them promisingly. This is induce healthy and warm connection between tourists and local people- and what a wonderful cherishment of love for life and places. Heaven!

 

Avoid conventional trends of travel photography. It takes genuine and authentic creativity to cast out those unique posts. In choice of the tourist destinations, it can be tricky thinking ‘outside of the box’ when there are numerous beautiful & timeless views of the location.

Perhaps limit yourself to ten ‘safe’ shots – focusing on composition and technique and then unleash your creativity and focus on originality. This does happen when you practice your skills. Honing them requires experience. When you’ll look back to your photographs taken 5 months ago, and you think “Oh! I was such dreadful in capturing those; I could have done a lot better as of now!”- Then folks! It’s a good sign! It signifies your improvement.

Establish your own unique style of capturing places and build a different, fresh, and enterprising genre of your photography. {But be sure, your daring endeavours are safe and secure!!}

Shoot from the floor with a wide angle or fish eye lens, climb a tower and shoot from above, wait for dawn/dusk – mount your camera on a tripod and slow the shutter speed to capture the landmark in beautiful light whilst incorporate the ghostly movement of tourists strolling by, etc. there are but many hacks to tell how and what to do while being the awesome yourself!

 

Yes, getting the shot is important; but don’t forget to live in the moment! Soak yourself in the moment which is actually the motive behind capturing photos! Because the one who enjoys his photos captures the timeless emotions in the moment! And that’s what makes the photos so special in their own sense.

Enjoying the moment relaxes everyone involves in it and makes everything smoother and easier. Then the pictures are much more than their name-sake. Literally dive in and immerse yourself wherever you are. Find ways to connect with people and the serene Mother Nature around you! This is the ultimate motto of travelling and photographing- JOY!

If there is only one thing I’ll like to tell you all is the fact we are not mere photographers, but we are storytellers.

Our pictures shall convey the message; the feel; the emotions and the vibe to the audience in the most direct, simple and easy way! Well said it is: “Camera not just as an extension of your eye but also as an extension of your heart”

 

 About the author: Mr. Ajinkya D. Kale is an Engineering student based in Pune Maharashtra, India. His academic tenure has never adulterated his extensive list of interest and hobbies- which includes a plethora of activities such as sports, photography, artistic skills, literature works, etc.

Being an enthusiastic blogger who has sound experience as Content Writing for over 6 companies, Ajinkya has been honing his skills to perfection regarding his beloved interest to literature.

As an avid photographer he has his very own blog at http://ajinkyakale.tumblr.com