Most people who travel a lot do it because they love experiencing new places, cultures, and different people. It is not unusual to take lots of photos of all the places you have been to. For most people, their disappointment starts when they start going through their photos. They may realise that their photos do not look as good as they thought they would. To save from this disappointment, we will look at some tips that will ensure you get amazing results.
Let Your Gear Help You Out
Most people obsess over the gear they use to take travel photographs, thinking that if they just upgrade, they will get better results. That is true to a certain point, but in many cases, the gear you already have is adequate for great photos.
Learn how to use the gear you already have to take a variety of shots. You do not need a telephoto lens for an African safari (although it certainly would help), and many modern smartphones have very capable cameras if you know how to use them properly.
Learn how to set up your gear, how to use it properly and how to take different types of shots with it, and you should see your results improve drastically.
Shoot In Raw
Travel photography is so challenging because of the different environments you find yourself in. The lighting might not be the best and the subject might not be in the right position for a great take. Also, things move very fast, and you might not have time to adjust your camera settings before you lose a shot forever.
The RAW format captures a lot more detail than a JPEG, which means you get a lot more data to work with when editing your image. You can change everything from exposure to saturation and even framing after the fact.
Take Advantage of Filters and Effects
If you are like most photographers, you likely edit your travel photos in Adobe Lightroom. Adobe Lightroom gives you the freedom to use different effects to achieve the exact look you are going for.
There are free and paid Lightroom filters and effects available online, and they are usually very easy to use. If you are going to be using a lot of effects, your computer might not be adequate because you need a lot of power and RAM to hold and work with all this information.
To make things easier consider investing in a desktop for photo editing. These desktops often come with powerful CPUs and GPUs as well as enough RAM to edit huge photos – some programs support photos that are up to 2GB in size.
Straighten Things Out
If you are taking a lot of photos in succession, you might not realise that some of them are not straight. You can tell this by looking at the horizon and vertical objects. Ensure that the horizon and vertical objects are aligned correctly so your photo looks right.
There is a lot to know when it comes to editing travel photos but adhere to the basics discussed above before you get into that. Getting these basics right will make for a better and easier editing experience.
