10 Tips for Travel Photography

Capture stunning shots on your next trip with these essential tips for travel photography; from camera settings to composition and lighting.

Once you visit some remote (or not so much) place, you never truly leave. Your travel destination lingers with you, giving you a sensation of fulfillment and awe. With time the sensation fades, but can be easily rekindled by looking at the pictures you took there. Don’t have that many good pictures to remember the good times by? Well, if your travel photo archive is mostly of flawed shots, it’s high time you learned how to make perfect travel photos. 

In this guide, we’ll be looking at 10 surefire tips that will help you end up with breathtaking landscapes, graceful cityscape shots, and lovely native portraits. So let’s not waste any more time and get to the tips stat.

Tips for Travel Photography

1. Research Your Destination

Our first tips for travel photography, is all about the place. Don’t be tempted just to go somewhere on a whim. Do your research first. Once you know your next destination, take your time getting to know it. Surf the Internet, read blogs and visit communities.

Don’t limit yourself only to the most popular landmark, but try to search for some new and little explored places. But if you do decide to stick with the popular places, learn what time of the day has the best light, the fewest people, and so on. Make sure to find out the easiest and safest route.

Once you know all the details, consider yourself ready.

Best Places for travel Photography

• Santorini, Greece – Famous for its whitewashed buildings and blue domes overlooking the Aegean Sea, planning a trip to Santorini is perfect for sunset photography and dramatic cliffside compositions.
• Kyoto, Japan – From cherry blossoms in spring to fiery red maple leaves in autumn, Kyoto offers temples, bamboo forests, and traditional streets ideal for cultural and seasonal photography, it is easily one of the most beautiful cities in Japan.
• Machu Picchu, Peru – This iconic mountaintop ruin provides epic landscape shots, especially at sunrise when mist rolls through the Andes; a must on every South America bucket list.
• Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia – The world’s largest salt flat creates surreal reflection photography during the rainy season, producing stunning mirror-like images.
• Banff National Park, Canada – Turquoise lakes, snow-capped peaks, and wildlife make Banff a dream for landscape photographers year-round, Banff is one of the best places to visit in Canada and for good reason.
• Petra, Jordan – The rose-red rock city offers incredible light contrasts, especially at dawn and during Petra by Night candlelit events.
• Iceland – Waterfalls, glaciers, volcanoes, and the Northern Lights make Iceland one of the most diverse photography destinations on Earth.
• New York City, USA – From skyline shots and street photography to iconic landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge and Times Square, NYC delivers dynamic urban imagery.
• Cappadocia, Turkey – The fairy chimneys and sunrise hot air balloons create magical, dreamlike photography opportunities.
• Dubai, UAE – Futuristic architecture, desert landscapes, and luxury cityscapes offer strong contrast between tradition and modernity, there are plenty of exciting things to do in Dubai and to photography!
• Serengeti National Park, Tanzania – Ideal for wildlife photography, especially during the Great Migration when thousands of animals cross the plains. This is one of the best places for safaris in the world.
• Venice, Italy – Canals, gondolas, and historic architecture make Venice perfect for romantic and atmospheric photography, particularly in early morning light; a must on your Italy bucket list.

2. Never Shoot Without Permission

Local people might be one of the most intriguing aspects of traveling, but this is one of the more important tips for travel photography. Their raw beauty and often unconventional lifestyles mesmerize photographers and make for some top-tier images.

However, never try to snap a picture without their permission – this is just plain rude. The key is to talk to the people first, provided that you know the language or have someone to translate back and forth. Only after you establish some semblance of connection, ask them for a picture.

Don’t get discouraged if they say no – they have the right. Keep on asking for a photo and you are sure to one day find a willing model.

3. Remember – Patience is a Great Virtue

This is actually no joke – tips for travel photography might be 90% waiting for stuff to happen. If you are not ready to spend at least 15 minutes in driving rain or blistering cold to make a worthy shot, reconsider your plans to be a travel photographer. Learn to wait and keep patient.

All the metaphorical stars must align in just the right way for you to snap the shot. Good travel photography takes a good deal of time. 

4. Never Underestimate a Good Composition

Your picture might seem to have it all – juicy colors, impeccable lighting, breathtaking sights – but still fall flat. The reason is simple. The picture has a poor composition.  Learn to find a balanced composition to take your shots to a next level.

One of the easiest ways in that regard is observing the Rule of Thirds. Pictures shot with this rule in mind always turn out professional and pleasant to the eye. Composition is an especially important tips for travel photography, for those creating a specific instagram page or blog showcasing your images.

5. Become an Early Bird

If your destination of interest is a popular location, it is bound to be swarming with people at almost any given time. This is why you have to beat them to it. Wake up in the wee hours of the morning and rush to the landmark. Not only are you likely to be one of the very few people there, but you are also very likely to have the advantage of shooting during the Golden hour.

6. Get Yourself a Tripod

You remember the importance of patience, right? Well, it’s hard to be that patient if you’ve been holding your camera perfectly straight for the last two hours. This is where a little thing (or sometimes not so little thing) called a tripod comes in handy.

With it, you can easily arrange your composition, adjust focus,  and wait for the perfect moment to press the button. If you frown at the idea of carrying additional weight with you, get yourself a lightweight tripod and quit complaining.

The stability and consistency that’s provided by shooting from a tripod will also come in handy if you are planning to print or create canvas work with your images.

7. Ditch the Auto Shooting Mode. Go Manual

Our next tips for travel photography is all about settings. While your camera’s auto mode can still produce relatively nice travel photos, its digital eye is no match for yours. Only you know what ISO, aperture, and shutter speed to set to truly capture the beauty of the scenery. So make it your priority to thoroughly study your camera and always shoot in manual mode.

8. Keep Your Images Safe

While your own safety should as well be your concern, make sure that your shots are properly stored and protected as well. Regularly upload them to cloud storage like Dropbox or Google Drive. This way you’ll not only free space on your camera’s memory but will also make sure that your images don’t get accidentally deleted or lost when, for instance, your camera falls into a ravine. 

9. Never Stop Learning

Many photographers usually fall into a trap of arrogance once they become successful. What is there left for me to know about the craft? I make money off it.

Well, the trick is to never stop striving for more knowledge. Buy courses, attend master classes, read articles and watch tutorials – there is no such thing as too much knowledge. Especially when it comes to post-processing.

Not only that, but there are plenty of tips and tricks online, from outdoor photography tips to camera guides.

10. Prioritize Photography Over the Rest

This one might be sort of obvious, but it’s still worth repeating. When you go somewhere to shoot nature or cityscapes, do that.

Don’t go bar hopping, don’t go sunbathing, don’t go anywhere or do anything that isn’t directly linked to photography. After all, you’ll get your leisure time someday, but when travel photography is your trade – focus on it.

Tips for Travel Photography FAQ