Documenting the beauty of your travels is a great way to remember the experiences. In today’s age of social media, posting pictures and sharing memories with your friends and family is important. You don’t need to be a professional photographer to get excellent shots.

We wanted to share with you our tips on how to get the best travel photos. Following these tips will start improving your photography game to best capture special moments.

8 Tips For Getting The Best Travel Photos

1. Choose Photogenic Destinations

One of the most important things for getting amazing travel photos while traveling is picking photogenic destinations. While popular destinations like Thailand, Mexico, and Hawaii have ample places to get some insane shots, finding up-and-coming destinations also come with fewer crowds.

These intriguing locations are less photographed and less overdone. Namibia is hands down one of the best places to photograph in the world.

2. Get Good Gear

With the quality of cameras in the new iPhones and Android phones, you don’t need a DSLR camera to get great shots. However, having a DSLR camera has some incredible advantages. Having the ability to manipulate travel photos with different settings is imperative to any aspiring photographer.

Image sharpness, focus points, bokeh, long exposure, and so many other components come into play with DSLR cameras. It makes it easier to get a beautiful shot. Camera equipment is not cheap these days. We suggest starting out with second-hand equipment. We have done it for years and saved thousands of dollars on high-end gear.

Curious about my gear? I use a Canon 5D MIV camera and depending on the setting, switch between these lenses: Canon 16-35mm F/2.8, Canon 24-70mm F/2.8, and Canon 70-200mm F/2.8. For aerial photography, I use a Mavic Pro drone. However, keep in mind no matter how much your gear costs it doesn’t always mean better photos.

3. Experiment With New Techniques

There’s no harm in being experimental with your photography. In fact, most professional photographers use trial and error to get new and innovative shots. So, how do you do that? A great way to learn is to go to a location near your home and find ways to get creative in capturing ordinary objects and scenery.

For example, trees, flowers, rocks, windows, cars, or people can all be used as subjects. Instead of taking regular pictures try to think outside the box. Take pictures fully zoomed in, find ways to create geometric shapes, or consider taking long exposure shots. This will enable you to think differently when taking a photo.

Get creative and don’t stop experimenting.

4. Shoot in RAW Format

Shooting in RAW format allows for manipulation of the photo in extraordinary ways. The difference between taking photos in JPEG format and RAW, is in JPEG the camera will snap a picture in RAW, and then process and compress the image automatically for you.

While in RAW mode, the camera stores all the information about the picture, allowing you to take control during post-processing (i.e. Lightroom/Photoshop). This allows more ability to correct the picture, whether is for overexposed shots or to edit out hoards of people from the photo.

Even if you don’t currently use software to post-process photos today, one day you might want to, so it is still worth holding on to RAW formatted travel photos. Also, technology is always changing and it will be possible to re-edit old photos to create better images.

5. Capture Unique Moments

While traveling, it is great to take unique and interesting pictures. Immerse yourself in a place to get shots of local people and cultures. Be sure to talk to them and ask if you can take a photo, in many instances, people are more than willing to pose for a shot. You might even be pleasantly surprised with an invitation to drink local wine or eat a home-cooked meal.

In many places, we have visited the people who help tell a country’s story. Wildlife photography can also capture impressive raw moments. Whether it is bird watching, your best friend’s dog chasing a ball, underwater photography of marine life, or cheetah killing prey in the Etosha National Park, each moment cannot be replicated and can make your photography stand out.

6. Spend The Time

When we first started traveling, we would create excel spreadsheets with dozens of places to visit while on holiday. Ten days in Italy would be packed with stops at Rome, the Amalfi Coast, Florence, Venice, and Tuscany. Sure, it’s possible to pack it all in and visit as many places as possible, but I can guarantee you that your photos will suffer.

Photography takes time. Recently, we visited Tukad Cepung waterfall in Bali, Indonesia. This is one of our favorite waterfalls in Bali. It also is a tight space and with a group of only 10 people, it could feel crowded. Getting the right shot takes time. Most people show up, spend 15 minutes and leave for their next destination. We were there for nearly two hours. Waiting for people to not be in the shot, the right lighting, and playing with different angles takes time.

Sure, you might have to cut out places to visit on your holiday, but your picture game will get stronger!

7. Photograph in Manual Mode

If there is one thing you take home from this article it would be this. Learning how to shoot in manual gives full control over the camera. There are times when the lighting is perfect, and auto mode might get it right, but most of the time, that is not the case.

To properly adjust for lighting, especially in unideal situations, understanding how to shoot in manual can be the difference from getting no shot to getting THE shot. It is virtually impossible to get good shots of astrophotography without using manual settings. Also, some of my favorite shots have been while using long exposure settings to create a dreamy look.

8. Wake Up Early

This is no secret for photographers. The best travel photos usually are captured at sunrise or just after the first light. With perfect soft lighting, sometimes you will have famous places all to yourself. Traveling with tours can be difficult to get this done, but for independent travelers, this is one of the best ways to immediately boost your photography.

Visiting bucket list destinations, such as exotic islands in the Philippines are getting more and more popular with tourists. Showing up before all the crowds arrive allows you to capture intimate moments with the best lighting of the day.

It’s time to go out and practice. The more time you spend focusing on these details and learning how to take better travel photos, the better the outcome will be. If there are other suggestions you think worked for you, we would love to hear about them.

Lydia Mansel of Just Packed shares a packing trick that ensures your clothes stay smooth wherever you go.

Delayed planes, lost luggage, misplaced passports, long security lines, wrinkled clothing. These are the not-so-glamorous parts of travel that rarely end up on your Instagram feed. While it’s hard to circumvent most of these unfortunate instances, there is a secret to at least avoid one of these inconveniences: wrinkled outfits.

Let’s face it. No one wants to be stuck ironing on vacation. Sure, you could make a case for bringing a travel steamer along for the ride, but that just takes up precious suitcase space. Don’t worry. You don’t need either. It all comes down to the proper way to pack your bags. And we promise it’s one of the simplest hacks to follow.

You know the large plastic bags you come home with from the dry cleaner? Instead of stuffing them in your trash or recycling can, save them. When packing for your next adventure, put your more delicate items inside the dry cleaning bags, including your cotton and linen pieces. Don’t worry about fabrics like silk, wool, denim, and cashmere, as they are less likely to wrinkle.

You’ll fold each piece of clothing as usual and place it inside a separate bag before placing it in your suitcase or duffel bag. This tactic works because the bags will slide against each other, meaning your cotton t-shirts and breezy linen pants won’t get stuck and inevitably cause deep creases and messy wrinkles while in transit.

No dry cleaning bags? No sweat. Trash bags or liners work too — just make sure they aren’t scented. You want to avoid a suitcase that smells like fresh pine or lemon zest.

Unfortunately, this travel secret isn’t fool-proof (a few wrinkles may pop up), but it will reduce the number and severity of creases.

What if you don’t have any plastic to spare? Layering your clothes with tissue paper can be helpful, too. Loosely rolling your delicate clothes is also preferable to folding; just place them on the top or outer portions of your bag, where there will be less pressure.

One final anti-wrinkle packing tip for those travelers who tend to procrastinate: Unpack as soon as you arrive. Yes, it’s tempting to drop your suitcase off and head straight to the hotel pool, but you’ll spend more time getting rid of those wrinkles later on. Take five minutes, hang up your most delicate clothes, and then enjoy a wrinkle-free vacation.

There is no denying that picture perfect postcards on Facebook and Instagram make for much travel inspirations. For the ones bitten by wanderlust, a mere image of a serene beach in a faraway island is compelling enough to start flight searching. It is then about time that when you get there, you get that perfect swoon-worthy shot of you own so that you can spread the love on your account. How? By simply befriending the camera.

As with everything, you have to start and end with the basics. Just remember these 5 simple rules when taking a picture and your clicks will be immeasurably better.

Light Up

Light is the most important ingredient for great photography — and soft, warm, morning light creates amazing images.

Photographers swear by good lighting. The right exposure can make or break a picture, they say. And when you travel you best bet is natural light. For the best pictures, wake up early and make the most of the early sun’s rays. But don’t render sunsets useless just as yet. The hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset are nicknamed “golden hours” because of their soft, warm tones and eye-pleasing shadows.

Tip: Adding a simple little flash speedlight can make a world of difference in taking amazing pictures in difficult lighting conditions such as when travelling to places with dark winters or for specific spots like the Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam, the Catacombs in Paris etc.

Compose the shot

Take a minute or more to frame your shot. Before you click, decide what you want to see and from where. Start with a wide shot, then a mid-range version, and finally, get up-close and personal to get a variety of perspectives.

A different angle is all it takes for your photograph to stand out. Every picture can look different depending on where and how it is shot. Don’t shy away from standing up straight, lying on the ground for a low angle or even to climb up something nearby and shoot from a higher angle. Along with different angles, try shooting from different distances too. Include powerful foreground, mid-ground, and background elements too to give your image more depth.

Tip: For moments when you want to capture everything you see in front of you such as vast landscapes, consider carrying a Wide Angle lens with you. Your stock DSLR lens probably starts at 18 mm (the 18-55mm zoom lens being the most popular). The wide angle lens start at 10mm or even lower, enabling you to capture a much wider image. Wide angle lenses are a must for capturing those amazing starry nights.

Pack a travel tripod

A lightweight travel tripod gives you the ability to leisurely compose your shots. They also let you shoot much slower shutter speeds (waterfalls, low-light, stars, etc) without worrying about hand-held camera shake. So many of the amazing images you see on Instagram by professionals would have been impossible without a tripod of some sort. Professionals recommend it especially for sharp landscapes, those starry nights, self-portraits, flowing water shots, and sunsets/sunrises.

If you find tripods a bit too bulky and daunting, fret not – you can consider monopods/ gorilla pods that are super compact and extremely versatile. You’ll have greater creative control and comfort over your camera’s manual settings when you use these accessories.

Make a connection

Actions speak louder than words and capturing human subjects gives any picture that understated edge. Say hello, introduce yourself break the ice with locals before you ask for a portrait.

Portraits or close shots of human life in any place score more points than even the most stunning landscape. Travel after all is about exchanging thoughts and cultures and a camera is your safest gate pass. You might just earn you a local friend and get access to better viewing spots and secret locations, in the bargain.

Tip: The best portraits are achieved by using a prime lens such as the 50mm f1.4. The depth of field that this lens can provide will literally make your subject jump out of the frame.

Tell a tale

Add depth to your picture by telling your story through it. How you got there, what you loved about it or simply how you felt. That is what will strike a chord with the person viewing it.

Your audience does not have the advantage of experiencing the scenery in all its beauty as you did and thus as a photographer it is more so important you communicate not just the view but also the journey and your experience to them. It is your job to bring the two-dimensional image to life. Use emotion, find and freeze moments, and incorporate the human element so your shots resonate with viewers.

Just as we were coming out of a long period of lockdowns and entry restrictions, world oil prices went through the roof.

This affected flights using jet fuel and the cost to fill up a car’s tank for a road trip.

Now, interest rates are on the rise around the world to combat inflation, including hotel prices that are up 10% or more in many popular destinations.

These effects aren’t felt equally, however, and currency changes can amplify or diminish them.

If you’re earning US dollars, the whole world is on sale right now. If you’re earning Japanese yen or British pounds, however, you will spend more than you would have a year ago in most spots outside your own country.

No matter what is going on in the macro finance world, however, savvy travelers can find a way to travel well for less by adjusting their strategies.

By following these tips, you can still keep your travel budget in check for that much-needed vacation:

Find a great flight deal, then pick the destination

Many vacationers pick a destination they want to visit, without doing much research, then try to squeeze the prices they discover into their existing budget. A much better strategy is to figure out where the cheap flight deals are and then make one of those options the vacation destination.

There are plenty of companies that specialize in finding deals.. These require that you pounce on temporary opportunities. The on-demand way to do this is to put your home airport into Google Flights, pick a date, and leave the destination blank.

A map of the world will come up with the starting flight price to anywhere on the planet. You can play around with the dates or pick a flexible option to find the optimal time to fly.

Picking a random week a month from now, I found round-trip deals such as Denver to Miami for $314, London to Marrakesh for $81 and Mumbai to Bangkok for $263.

Go somewhere that has historically attractive prices

Certain destinations around the globe are cheaper than they have ever been thanks to currency devaluations or other financial issues. You could visit Istanbul and Cappadocia in Turkey, explore Patagonia and Buenos Aires in Argentina, or sail the Nile past ancient ruins in Egypt.

The savings will be more drastic for Americans in a wider list of countries, but Europeans who have watched their own currency decline will still find lower rates for travelers than a year ago in those above plus Hungary, Laos, and South Korea

Keep your fees to a minimum while traveling

Avoid the “death by 1,000 cuts” the financial institutions of the world can inflict when you use a credit or debit card away from home.

Be sure to have at least one credit card that doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee and ideally use a debit card that doesn’t charge an ATM withdrawal fee.

Some debit cards, such as ones from Schwab, Fidelity and Capital One, will even reimburse the local charges. Others, such as certain ones from Scotiabank, HSBC and Citi, are part of international networks where account holders can use affiliated ATMs abroad without double fees.

In most cases, you’ll get the best rate by using a credit or debit card in the local currency (decline any offers to convert charges to your home currency).

Note though that the rules are different in Argentina, where there’s a street “blue rate” for crisp dollars or euros that is much more advantageous than the official rate.

Play the hotel and rental apartment game properly

Sometimes hotels offer the best deals; sometimes vacation rentals do. So shop around.

The advantage can vary quite a bit by location and by whether you really need a kitchen.

Some cities tack on lots of fees for rentals, and in some countries (such as Thailand and Vietnam), it can be cheaper to eat out every meal than to cook yourself.

Whichever route you go, pay very close attention to what past guests have to say, especially with services like Airbnb and Booking.com, where only customers who have stayed there can leave a review.

Shop around on transportation

The proliferation of budget airlines around the world has made it much cheaper to fly within a region, such as Southeast Asia and Europe, or within a country with lots of domestic air competition, such as the United States and Mexico.

So it can make sense to find a reasonable long-haul flight to one place and then take a budget airline (or in Europe, a train) to the next country over where you really wanted to go.

Dig around instead of accepting the most obvious route as the one you’re stuck with.

Get out of the tourist zones at mealtimes

If you want to eat what the locals eat and pay what they’re paying, get out of the area where all the tourists are and start exploring.

Just walking for 15 minutes in any direction or taking a metro a few stops can make a huge difference in any city full of foreign visitors, from Prague to Venice to Puerto Vallarta.

You’ll likely spend less and enjoy more authentic meals and experiences.

Load an app such as Google Translate onto your phone and you can decipher menus in another language too.

Try to travel outside of high season

Avoiding high season is easier said than done if you’re a family dealing with school schedules, but it’s never high season everywhere at once.

Vacation time in the Southern Hemisphere is at a different time of year than the northern one, first of all, plus some tropical destinations are slower in the summer because there’s more rain.

Popular destinations such as Mexico, Belize, and South Africa are less busy between June and September than in the first quarter of the year.

The ideal time in a lot of popular spots is “shoulder season.” That’s when the weather is still pleasant but the hordes are not in town, such as May in the Caribbean or October in Europe.

Play the travel hacking game for free flights and rooms

What are you getting back when you charge items to your credit card?

Most airlines and hotel chains have a branded loyalty card through Mastercard, Visa or Amex that earns you enough just from the bonus sign-up to get a free flight or multiple hotel nights.

Then the points keep adding up as you use the card. These perks can drastically reduce the cost of a vacation even if you just spend what you were always spending by running regular bills and expenses through the card (and paying them off).

Americans have the most choices for this “travel hacking,” but Canadians can tap into multiple airline and hotel programs through Amex, CIBC or Scotiabank.

Europeans have bank card options with several airlines such as Iberia, Aer Lingus, Lufthansa and Air France.

Australians have access to cards that earn points on Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and others.

While inflation, fuel prices and currency exchange rates will always be in flux, these travel savings strategies will help you get away when you’ve got the chance, without busting your budget in the process.