Video: 10 tips to capture great travel photos
posted Monday, July 18, 2022 at 11:30 AM EST
When you're able to travel to new and beautiful places, capturing great travel photos is an awesome way to enhance the overall experience. An important step toward making great travel photos is understanding what makes them "great" in the first place. Professional photographer and educator Scott Kelby recently presented at B&H Optic 2022 and delivered 10 tips for taking amazing travel photos.
Kelby outlines two primary types of travel photographers. One is a person who travels somewhere to take photos and takes as much time as they need to get the shot. The other is the photographer who goes on vacation with family or friends and wants to capture amazing photos of the experience and sights. Kelby falls into the latter category. "I want to have a great time where I'm going, but I still want to come home with some good photos," Kelby says.
The presentation below is broken down into 10 primary segments. Each segment talks about a specific quality of a great travel photo. If someone asked Kelby what the most important aspects of a great travel photo are, these are his answers. They include timelessness, great light, interesting light, storytelling, eye-catching color, simplicity, an interesting composition, effective photo editing, interesting places, and finally, putting it all together. If you want to jump to specific sections, head to YouTube, and there are timestamps in the description.
After discussing each of the 10 segments in detail, there's a bonus section at the end that is an "assignment shot list." You should focus on these things, no matter where you travel. They include photographing the food and the locals and finding a high vantage point to photograph the city (assuming you're visiting a city). To learn about the rest of the "assignment shot list," watch the full presentation above.
To see more from Scott Kelby, visit his website, his education site KelbyOne, and follow him on Instagram. You can see more from B&H Optic 2022 by clicking here.
If you're interested in learning more about travel photography, you should check out this video we shared last month: The art of travel photography with Nikon Ambassador Deborah Sandidge.
(Via B&H)