Travel Photography: A Comprehensive Guide

Travel photography integrates elements of portrait, landscape, and nature photography, elevated by some of the world’s most unique, picturesque landscapes. Part of what makes travel photography so special as an art form is not just the final images captured, but the journey the photographer takes to the destination.

Contrary to what you might think, you don’t need a lot of money or equipment to get started in travel photography — “travel” in this case isn’t mutually exclusive with “global travel.” While global travel can be a fun and rewarding avenue, you can start experimenting with travel photography by taking day trips in your local region. Whether you’re just getting started with travel photography, or you’re looking to take your craft to the next level, this guide can help you nail down the basics and provide further ideas for future shoots.

Travel Photography Gear and Packing Checklist

As the name implies, travel photography necessitates travel. This means, even if you’re in your local region, you’ll want to have packed appropriately for your shoot, to ensure the most productive session possible. Even if you’re shooting on your phone, there are a few essential items any travel photographer will want to have with them. These include:

Extra batteries or charging cables and plug-ins;
Screen cleaning kit;
Camera and lenses;
Camera strap;
Tripod;
Light reflector;
Sunscreen;
Change of clothes;
Waterproof bag.

Having these essentials on you will ensure that you stay comfortable the entire length of your shoot, and you have all the equipment you need to get the best shots. If you’re traveling internationally, you’ll want to make sure that your passport is added to this list.

If you’re looking to travel light, then you might invest in a mobile photo editing solution or a photo bookstorage app. Traveling light can help reduce the costs of checked bags if you’re flying, or simply reduce the load you’re packing.

How To Travel Safely With Your Equipment

Traveling with fragile or expensive equipment is one of the few cons of travel photography. However, there are ways that you can keep your equipment safe, no matter what kind of location you’re shooting at:

Foam-lined bags: Investing in a foam-lined bag can help protect your fragile equipment, such as lenses and cameras, from being jostled around, either while driving or flying. You can buy these bags pre-lined, or make foam cut-outs yourself.
Water-proof casings: Water-proof casings for your phone, camera, and lenses can help protect your equipment from rainy weather. It should be noted that even with water-proof casings, you shouldn’t submerge a camera completely unless it is specifically designed to do so.
Zip-tie less delicate equipment together: Zip-tying less delicate equipment, such as tripods, camera straps, and reflectors can help keep them organized, and prevent them from banging around during travel.
Invest in travel insurance: Travel insurance can help you recoup the costs of any lost or damaged equipment while traveling. Some credit cards have travel insurance built into travel purchases, however, you can also purchase separately.
Don’t overpack: A simple, easy way to keep your equipment from scratching or damage during travel is not to overpack a single bag. The less hard surfaces things like your lenses and cameras come into contact with, the less likely they are to scratch, dent, or even shatter.

The best way to keep expensive equipment safe, as we’ve mentioned above, is to simply not travel with it at all. You can do this by utilizing tools you’re already going to have on you, such as your phone. There are apps and other free online resources that can help with editing, storage and digital organization, and even lighting. These tools can provide a great way to travel light, and reduce the risk of equipment damage.

Backing up and Organizing Your Photos

It’s particularly important for photographers who travel — and may not be using the same device every time they access their photos — to keep their portfolio backed up and organized. Cloud-based storage solutions are ideal for travel photographers, as you can access the cloud from any device, anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection.

An alternative to cloud-based storage is an external hard drive. You can plug a hard drive into a range of devices, which will give you access to your photos whether you have stable internet or not. However, since this is a physical item, it can be easier to lose or damage an external hard drive in ways that are virtually impossible to damage a cloud-based portfolio.

Destinations for Photography

When it comes to travel photography, virtually anyplace you can think of is fair game. For hobbyists, your next vacation destination can turn into your studio. No matter where you decide to go, here are some things to consider when deciding when and where to travel:

Seasonal weather: Seasonal weather can disrupt your shot plans. This is why it’s important to keep tabs on the expected weather in your destination, so you can bring the right equipment, or plan around weather events.
Tourist season: Tourist season in well-known places can make it difficult to get clear shots. Unless you’re wanting to integrate crowds into your photos, you’ll want to have an idea of when the on and off seasons are for your destination.
Events: Large-scale events, like the Boston Marathon or the Superbowl, can make traveling more of a hassle. They can also increase crowds during the “off” season. Try to be aware if you’re traveling to a city hosting an event like this, and know what that could mean for your travel plans.

If you don’t know where to start with a location, consider these iconic destinations in the U.S.:

Niagara Falls, NY;
The Grand Canyon, AZ;
Yosemite National Park, CA;
The Brooklyn Bridge, NY;
Zion National Park, UT.

Not only are these some of the most iconic landscapes in the country, but going somewhere well known allows you to more easily play with things like composition and lighting, as your subject is more familiar.

Travel Photography Tips and Advice

When traveling, it’s as important to keep yourself safe as your equipment. Some top personal-safety tips for photographers include:

Check the weather conditions: Poor weather conditions can make certain areas more dangerous, due to increased risk of landslide, avalanche, or limited visibility.
Get to your spot before dark: Navigating new landscapes in the dark can increase the risk of injury. If you’re not shooting at a well-lit area, then try to get to your spot before the sun sets.
Tell someone where you’re going: Telling someone your location, especially if you’re going somewhere you haven’t been before, is a smart safety practice to ensure that if you get lost, injured, or incapacitated, someone can find you.
Bring layers: Weather can be unpredictable and change throughout the day. Wearing or bringing layers ensures that you can stay warm enough or cool enough. This will help you prevent heatstroke, sunburn, frostbite, and other weather-induced ailments.

If you’re going out into the wilderness, such as a national forest, then you’ll want to add a map and a basic survival kit to your pack. This will help reduce the likelihood that you’ll get lost or stuck, and can help address accidental injuries.

Additionally, places like wildlife reserves may be under protection, such as the Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972, discouraging the disturbance of local wildlife or plant growth. Photographers may need to seek out special permissions before shooting in these places.

Common Travel Photography Mistakes

Photography, in all forms, is art. So, it takes practice to hone and perfect your craft. While experience is the best teacher, here are some common mistakes you can avoid when starting with travel photography:

Rushing your shot: Patience is the name of the game when it comes to travel photography. As you’re waiting for people to clear from your shot, waiting for ideal lighting, or simply waiting for something interesting to happen, not giving yourself enough time for a shoot can leave new photographers feeling uninspired.
Using dirty lenses: Dirty lenses can compromise your shot, and make unsightly specks appear on your final images. This is why a cleaning kit or cloth is an essential part of the travel photographer’s checklist.
Shooting in JPEG: JPEG, while more size-friendly, compresses photos in a way that can degrade their quality, particularly with landscape photos. Shooting in RAW is the preferred method for most natural photographers.
Over-editing: Over-editing landscapes can strip some of their natural or inherent beauty. This can make travel photos look fake, or off. Instead, try messing with lighting, compression, or scale to see if you can’t achieve naturally what you might achieve with photoshop.
Not customizing your camera settings: Many default camera settings aren’t optimized for travel photography, where lighting, scope, and framing can all vary. Before you start your shoot, be sure to get into your camera settings, and make sure everything is to your liking.

Sharing Your Travel Photos

With the booming popularity of photo-oriented social media, sharing your travel photos has never been easier. Whether you’re looking to create fun mementos like postcards for your friends and family, or are looking to monetize and sell your prints, there are several ways that you can get your photos from your camera and into the world.

Online

This has become one of the most common ways to share art, particularly photos, in the last couple of years, due to the saturation of things like social media. One of the pros to sharing photos online is that it’s easier to attract a larger audience, and get your name and work out there. Here are some of the online outlets you can use to share your photography:

Social media: Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are ideal for sharing photos. One thing you’ll want to be aware of, even as a hobbyist photographer, is how these platforms compress images. This can change the quality of your image, so it’s best to experiment with this before sharing your best pieces.

Photo-specific websites: Photo-specific websites, like Shuttershock, can be another good way to share your photos. Because these are photo-specific websites, they’re less likely to alter the quality of your photos. These websites can also be a great place to get paid for your photos, however, not all of these websites offer compensation to uploaders.
Blogs: There are several benefits to creating your blog for your photos. Firstly, you have complete control over how the webpage will compress your photos, which isn’t always the case with other sites. Secondly, having a blog for your photos\ helps you build a professional-looking portfolio, which can be helpful for entering contests, or even starting to do photography professionally.

Apps: Specific photo-sharing apps that aren’t subject to the same engagement algorithms as mainstream social media can be a good place to share photos. Because they are specifically tailored to photo-sharing, they may also have fewer compression settings. Some of these apps may cost money to purchase and use, but if you’re looking to curate an online portfolio, it may be worth it.

One thing to note when it comes to sharing your photos online is that licensure, or who owns and can use your photos, can get tricky across different platforms. If this is important to you, then it’s important to do your research before sharing on any online platform.

Physical Photos

You can also share your photos physically. Travel photos particularly make great gifts for friends and family. Or use them as merchandise you can sell. Here are some ways you can transform your physical prints:

Travel books: Travel photo books are a great memento of a vacation or trip. They can also be a great addition to your coffee table or shelf as a display piece. Travel photo books can be wonderful gifts for your travel companions, or enthusiasts of certain destinations.
Home decor: There are several ways you can turn your travel photos into home decor. First, and most obviously, prints can make great wall decorations. However, you can also print photos onto things like mugs, hand towels, throw pillows, even vases. This can be a great way to vary the medium of your photos, and add color to your home.
Gifts: It’s often said that the best gifts come from the heart. Giving gifts made from your photos can be not only sentimental, but beautiful. Things like calendars, framed prints, custom cards, or decor pieces enable you to give a little piece of your travel adventures to your loved ones.

You can print physical photos in-person at a store, or order prints online. You could also invest in an at-home photo printer, which lets you print high-quality photos right from your phone.

Selling Your Travel Photos

As we’ve mentioned, there are many ways that you could monetize your travel photos, both online and through physical copies. Selling your photos can be incredibly scalable to your needs and wants, whether you’re interested in this for supplemental income, or as your full-time occupation. Some of the ways you can profit from your photos include:

Opening an Etsy shop;
Selling prints to magazines and publications;
Partnering with local galleries;
Selling through your social media;
Booths at craft fairs and farmers markets.

Pricing photography prints depends on several factors, including but not limited to production costs, whether or not you’re using this as your full-time or supplemental income, size of the print, shipping costs, and so on. Don’t fall into the bad habit of undervaluing your prints, even if this is your first time selling.

Careers in Travel Photography

If you’re interested in a career in travel photography, independent selling certainly isn’t your only option. Travel photography can be used to serve several different industries, and offers you a career that allows you to travel and take photos, while you earn a living. These careers include:

Conservation: Conservation photography is the act of communicating the state of climate change and the natural environment through photography. By working in conservation photography, you’d get to travel to wildlife reserves and other natural wonders of the world.
Photojournalism: Photojournalism is the use of photography to communicate current events. By pursuing a career in photojournalism, you’ll be directly connected to current events, often on the front lines of breaking news stories.
Hospitality: The hospitality industry employs photographers to take pictures of their resorts and amenities, often for marketing purposes. By pursuing a career in hospitality photography, you may get to travel to popular tourist destinations, and may even have the benefit of free or discounted hotel stays.
Freelance: Freelance travel photography is a great way to pick the kind of gigs that you want without being confined to one industry. You can hire out your services to any business, event, or publication of your choosing. Being a freelancer can be incredibly rewarding if you value being your own boss. It should be noted that you may not get all of your travel expenses covered as a freelancer, the way an employee for a company might. This may influence the price of your services.

Contests and Grants for Travel Photographers

Entering photo contests and applying for photography grants can help increase your exposure, and further your photography career. Regardless of whether you’re a professional photographer, contests and grant projects are an enriching experience that can also help supplement your income. Below, you’ll find some national contest and grant resources specifically tailored to travel photography:

Travel photography can open the door to discovering new things about our world and the way we see it. If you’re interested in photography, then consider taking a camera with you on your adventure, and see what your vacation spot has to tell you.