The best time to visit Udaipur is during the holiday season from September to February.

IN RAJASTHAN, the lovely city of Udaipur is home to majestic scenery, palaces, forts, museums, and tranquil lakes. Due to the abundance of lakes, it is referred to as the “City of Lakes.” In terms of sightseeing, architecture, and historical landmarks, it has a lot to offer. Use our advice as you travel to Udaipur for a wonderful vacation.

Have Cash Available

While visiting a new city, keep some cash on hand, but not so much that it attracts pickpockets and only enough to cover your travel and eating expenses.

Negotiate Like A Local

Even if you are not a native of the city, always act like one when you go shopping. Avoid accepting higher costs because you might not be aware of them.

Use Only Authorised Guides

While exploring unfamiliar cities, only use licenced tour guides, and make sure they are who they claim to be before employing them. Beware utilising taxi or autowallah drivers as your guides because they might lie to you.

Enjoy Historical Tours Of The Palaces

Beautiful gardens and distinctive Indo-Mughal architecture with a Rajasthani influence may be found in the Monsoon Palace, City Palace, and other royal palaces in Udaipur.

Staying Option

Luxury hotels and affordable hostels with shared dorm rooms are also available in Udaipur.

Route Of Travel

You can commute using a number of different methods while exploring the city. Hire cabs to take you to the main tourist attractions or rent a scooter or bike to explore the city at your own speed.

Ideal Season To Visit

The best time to visit Udaipur is during the holiday season from September to February when the weather is favourable and there is a greater view of the scenic areas. Avoid the summers because they are unpleasant.

Here are our top drone photography tips to help you get the most out of your airborne camera

Drone photography has exploded in popularity over the last few years. Not so long ago it was only possible to photograph aerial images from aircraft or hot air balloons but, with the emergence of affordable consumer drones, we now have the ability to take to the skies and capture our own birds-eye views.

Despite this new freedom to pick up and fly a drone – in line with drone regulations, of course – simply taking to the skies and snapping away will not necessarily yield amazing results. Like any genre of photography, there are several factors that you can use to your advantage when shooting with a drone. If you want to improve your drone photography game, our top drone photography tips will guide you to capture stunning, impactful images and help take your drone photography to the next level.

This is part of a series of guides on Space.com, that have been crafted for people new to the field. If you’re looking for more helpful advice, check out our piece on astrophotography for beginners (opens in new tab) and our guide to aurora photography (opens in new tab).

Shoot in raw format

If you’re serious about your drone photography then this tip is a no-brainer – raw files allow for much greater flexibility if you plan to process your images with one of the best photo editing apps (opens in new tab). Capturing aerial images in raw format gives you the maximum amount of information to work with when you are processing your images.

Shooting in raw allows you to capture much more data and dynamic range than JPEG images, so you can work with all of the data captured by your drone’s camera sensor. Unlike raw files, which are uncompressed lossless images, JPEG files are compressed which results in a loss of information from your images. Shooting your images in raw format will also allow you to make use of some of our other drone photography tips below.

Research and plan the location

Part of the fun with drone photography is capturing views that simply cannot be seen from ground level. However, that doesn’t mean to say we can’t “see” our subject until we take to the skies. Randomly flying your drone to find a suitable subject can certainly work on occasions, but in the process you will drain your batteries and your flying time will be limited as you seek that killer composition.

Rather than just turning up at a location and hoping to capture some interesting shots, plan ahead to identify potential photography subjects and compositions. Google Maps is an excellent resource, which you can use to identify and research potential shooting locations from above, in advance of your shoot. Similarly, Google Earth is also a super useful planning tool as you can get a good idea of the topography for your intended location.

Time of day

Lighting is as important in drone photography as it is with any other form of photography. Harsh sunlight during the day can present problems like distracting reflections from buildings/water and it should be avoided if you are shooting in the direction of the sun.

Shooting in the early morning or evenings, when the light is softer and more atmospheric, is the optimal time for drone photography. A low sun will cast epic shadows of buildings, trees and people, which can only be fully appreciated from an aerial perspective. Take advantage of the flexibility your drone gives you and get creative with the shadows! Try taking some top-down images to capture a unique take on familiar objects.

Use the Rule of Thirds

When flying your drone you have the opportunity to shoot your subject from almost any position, which sometimes presents its own problem – how to compose the shot. The Rule of Thirds is a tried and tested composition guide for terrestrial photography and it can be applied equally effectively to drone photography. Most drone models have a grid overlay function that can be enabled via the drone’s app settings.

With a 3×3 grid overlay on your controller or camera display, use one of the four corners of the central rectangle as a positioning guide to anchor your subject in the frame. Off-centre compositions are pleasing to the eye and allow you to balance the image with other elements, colors or even negative space. If your image includes a horizon, place this on the grid so that the sky fills the top third of the frame, with the landscape filling the bottom two-thirds.

General Composition

Leading lines: Including a leading line will draw the viewer’s eye into the image and helps to create a visually interesting image with depth, such as a river or rows of trees.

Experiment with height: You don’t need to fly straight up to 400ft for a good drone image. Try shooting your subject from different heights to see how it affects the image – some of the best drone images are taken from lower heights.

Look for patterns and symmetry: Repetitive patterns and symmetry in the landscape can make very interesting images. Including these elements into top-down images often produces a dramatic effect.

Keep the ISO low

Drone cameras have relatively small sensors in comparison to their DSLR and mirrorless (opens in new tab) cousins. This means that shooting at anything above ISO 100, even on modern consumer drone sensors, will introduce unwanted noise and grain to your images. Set your ISO manually to ISO 100. You may need to alter your shutter speed (and aperture if your drone supports this feature) to expose correctly, but the resulting images will be cleaner and sharper.

Stack Images for Noise Reduction

Stacking is a technique often employed by astrophotographers to reduce the random noise pattern in an image and increase detail. Shooting at ISO 100 is a great start to increase overall quality but, by taking multiple images of a scene and stacking them in editing software such as Photoshop, your image quality will go to the next level. Set your drone to shoot in “Burst Mode” – on DJI drones for example, you can select 3, 5 or 7 frames. Shooting at 5 or 7 frames in burst mode is ideal. The resulting stacked image will be noticeably cleaner and, if you like to print your images, will allow you to print bigger.

Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) mode

One of the most useful features of modern drones is the ability to auto-bracket your shots to increase the dynamic range of your image. If you’re shooting a high-contrast scene, such as a sunset, you may find that a single exposure simply cannot capture the whole range of light from the shadows through to the highlights. When the AEB mode is enabled, the drone will usually take between 3 and 5 shots at different exposures. In a process similar to stacking multiple images, these separate exposures can then be merged in programs like Lightroom or Photoshop to produce a final image with a high dynamic range (HDR). Alternatively, you can just use the AEB mode to take different exposures of your subject and then choose the best-exposed image for processing.

Use Filters

The only essential accessory for drone photography. Invest in a set of good quality Neutral Density (ND) and Polarizing filters, such as those from PolarPro (opens in new tab) or Tiffen (opens in new tab), to control the light reaching your sensor. Neutral Density filters give you control over your exposures and, in the right conditions, allow for long exposure photography to stunning effect.

A Circular Polarizer is perhaps the most useful filter of all. Using one of these will reduce the glare from reflective surfaces like glass and water, saturate colors and increase the contrast of a scene to make your image pop with vibrance.

Use some or all of these photography tips the next time you fly your drone and see how your images benefit. Fly safely, have fun and don’t forget to pack those spare batteries (extra tip)!

Travelling is one of the most important aspects of life that adds a new dimension to it. It adds colors and newness to otherwise mechanical routine life. Travelling makes them happier, relieving anxiety and stress by exposing them to new challenging scenarios. Challenging scenarios allow people to step out of their comfort zones. Such trips can be fun and exciting or hassle and frustrating based on your trip planning level.

Thus planning is an utmost essential before the trip begins. For a smooth travel experience, the first step is to book the mode of travel to your destination. Beforehand or booking well in advance helps fetch good value for money discounts in good airlines. It helps get deals and enjoy luxury travel. For example, while booking fly emirates, planning well in advance will help you save extra bucks. Such small savings add up and let you enjoy comfortable luxury travel within your budget constraints.

To help you successfully tick-mark your first step to travel and enjoy wholesome holidays, we have tips for your sound airline travel experience.

Airline travel Tips for sound and hassle-free travel:

1) Travel light -i.e., Pack Smart

The first and foremost tip for hassle-free travel is to pack smartly and reach out for multipurpose things. It is a common sight to get overboard while packing -we tend to get emotional. Thus, to travel hassle-freely, irrespective of the number of days you will be traveling, there is a facility of laundry everywhere. Rather than carrying unnecessary stuff, with all your attention on handling luggage, travel light and enjoy yourself.

2) Save time – Dress Appropriately for swiftly passing through the airport security checks.

Dressing appropriately also makes a lot of difference in saving time and enjoying the process. It is better to avoid heavy and chunky accessory pieces, a jacket that you can wear and remove -off easily, and easy-to-slide-in shoes, as these things need to be removed during security checks. It helps save time and avoid unnecessary hassle while boarding your plane.

Also, while passing through the airport, it is common to present your ticket several times before boarding the plane. Hence, wear something appropriate to carry related documents, travel tickets, and passport handy.

3)Download the airline app

Download from the play store the airline app you are to travel to within the coming days. For example, if you want to fly Emirates, download the Emirates app from Play Store for faster check-in and get the boarding pass. Also, downloading airline apps helps get the necessary information about flight updates. It keeps the traveler updated with the necessary details.

4) Reach the Airport well due on time.

To avoid the last-minute rush to the airport. It is wise to plan your journey in advance to the airport. It results in hassle-free proceedings while enjoying the whole travel experience while immersing in the travel experience. Keeping the considerations like distance to the airport, time of the year – peak or non-peak season and planning the travel according to saves from the hassle.

5) Pack strategically, keeping the essentials handy.

Traveling during the Covid times needs extra precautions and essentials handy. Keep the essential kit above the luggage containing your masks, sanitizers, wipes, phone chargers, and cords essentially aid travel hassle freely. Also, consider the items that need to be removed during security checks, like laptops and similar with their chargers, liquids, food items, etc., placing them strategically above the other luggage items. Packing in this fashion helps access the necessary stuff easily and quickly, avoiding unnecessary struggle.

6) Access Airport Lounges

Gather the necessary pieces of information, requirement, and details beforehand about the airport lounge access. It helps them enjoy themselves and seek additional amenities like a shower room, snacks, meals, etc. Instead of waiting for long intervals during layover near the airport gate, it’s better to spend quality time at the airport lounges.

7) Eyeing the airport monitors to check the flight status.

While it’s good to download the airline apps to check the flight status, it is also essential to keep an eye on the airport monitor to check the latest flight status. While the airport is buzzing with traffic, it is visible to double-check check gate number before heading to the facility. Double-checking the app updated information with the airport monitors helps get reliable flight information.

Instead of rushing through things while traveling – it is essential to enjoy the process possible by planning the journey well due on time.

Holiday plans have begun and travel influencers can use this as a great opportunity to interact with their audience and create viral content that will be shared widely

With the onset of winter, comes a buzz of travel enthusiasts seeking guidance for the best itineraries. It’s time for travel influencers to produce travel-specific content and implementing brand collaborations in order to inform their audience about all the exciting things they can plan for.

“December and January are peak travel months. The Christmas and New Year celebrations just change the whole vibe altogether. It’s a beautiful time to travel and we believe every travel influencer must capitalise on essential travel guides and create electrifying content that helps increase their audience and brand deals,” shares Pushppal Singh Bhatia and Ravneet Kaur from the popular influencer duo – That Couple Though.

Sharing their top 5 trends for travel influencers this holiday season, the duo lists -

Travel Insights

People are planning their holidays and travel influencers can use this as a great opportunity to interact with their audience. Highlighting location recommendations, cultural guides, and stay options to followers will help create viral content that is shared widely. Moreover, collaborations with hotels, airlines and events further helps increase reach.

Cover authentic food cultures

One of the most exciting things is the curiosity over food diversity during the festive season. The climate calls for some delicious delicacies across cultures and travel influencers can promote these by encouraging the audience to try out specific must-visit places that introduce them to winter specials.

Workation HotSpots

There are many people who work in environments that require them to be active and they may not be able to completely log off during this season. For such people, recommending top workation places and staycations that are running special offers will help increase shareability and reach.

Snow destinations

Travel influencers can share the ultimate guide to visiting snowy places on a budget so that more people can use that while planning. Giving them a ready itinerary of undiscovered or locally rich places will enable the influencer to gain more followers.

Ultimate Party Places

“What’s your plan for New Year’s” is something that every single person will be saying from now onwards and when so many people are looking to amp up their energies why not give them that? Whether it is international music festivals or shopping destinations to places for the best decor and vibe, New Year Party places are a must to cover for all travel influencers.

Kaur further adds, “There are many segments that each influencer can cover based on their niche audience. Carefully curating them and ensuring the content delivery is on point will improve the viral marketing aspect that all travel influencers ultimately want to create.”