Hi and welcome to Episode 80 of the Photography Explained podcast.
Before I go on if you have a question you would like me to answer just go to photographyexplainedpodcast.com/start.
I’m your host Rick, and in each episode I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google.
Here is the answery bit – this is what I do to try to take great travel photos
- Research the area
- Look at other people’s photos of a location
- When you get there find things to photograph that no one else is publishing
- Check the weather
- Check the timings of things
- Get the headline photos
- Explore, explore, explore
- Then look a bit deeper
- Get different things from the headlines
- Look for details
- Try unusual viewpoints and angles
- Remember you don’t have to travel to take travel photos
- Be prepared
- Gear choices
- Memory card management
- Put yourself in the frame!
- Try some new stuff
- Enjoy yourself
- Share what you have created
Again not the usual list but the things that I have learned to help me take good travel photos – let’s look at these quickly.
You can listen to the episode here
Or keep on reading. Or do both. Entirely up to you!
1 Research the area
Find out what there is where you are going, or where you are. Let’s not forget you can do travel photography at home – where you are is a travel location to someone else!
2 Look at other people’s photos of a location
See what photos other people have taken, what are the popular photos, the classic views, the iconic stuff.
3 When you get there find things to photograph that no one else is publishing
You need to know what everyone else is doing to find something that everyone else is not doing. This is what I do. I research a place so I know what will make my travel photos different.
4 Check the weather
Sounds obvious but if you are going to a new location knowing how the weather behaves will help you massively. And this also includes the time and location of sunrise and sunset. And where the sun is in the hours in between.
5 Check the timings of things
I am talking here about things that might affect a photo. Let me give you an example. Do not try to photograph the Church Analipsi in Gaios, Paxos, between 10 and 11 in the morning. You will be in the middle of a load of people arriving by boats who swarm the place making it impossible to take photos. Before then it is really quiet though.
6 Get the headline photos
Get the headlines, the iconic shots, the shots that everyone wants. And why not? Why should you or I be deprived of these things?
7 Explore, explore, explore
But once you have got the iconic shots explore the areas around the iconic location to find something else. One of my favourite photos of Pisa, Italy is not the world-famous, iconic leaning tower but another building around the corner that most people just walked past.
8 Then look a bit deeper
Keep going, there will be other things that you will find – you just have to look.
9 Get different things from the headlines
I know, I keep banging on about this. And nothing wrong with the headline photos but if you want to stand out, if you want to be different like I do, then you need to get different photos.
10 Look for details
There are details in everything and anything. Buildings, walls, masonry, windows, forests, trees, branches, leaves.
Hopefully, you get the idea – rather than getting the iconic photo and moving on to the next historical landmark stop and take a much, much closer look.
One of the things that I do to find new photos is to just walk around looking.
11 Try unusual viewpoints and angles
High, low, left right, in, out, shake it all about (yes I did actually script this!). Anything can look different from different viewpoints, angles, and perspectives.
12 Remember you don’t have to travel to take travel photos
Wander off from where you live and you will find something. And that something could well be a travel photo to someone who is somewhere else!
13 Be prepared
Be ready to take photos. I use a wrist strap for my travel camera of choice, the Olympus EM5 Mk2. I walk around with it in my hand, always ready to go.
And all my gear is prepared before I go out for a wander, cards formatted, batteries charged, everything cleaned.
14 Gear choices
Take the right gear. I use the Olympus camera with the 12-40mm lens, and also the 40-150mm lens. This covers a massive focal length range. And I have a small tripod and a few other essentials, and that is it.
All packed into a small backpack that I also use for my hand luggage.
15 Memory card management
I have two cases, one for blank, formatted cards, one for photos that I have taken. They are different colours and they reside in different places. Very important to be on top of this.
16 Put yourself in the frame!
Well, why not. It could become your thing. I have had to include myself in commercial shots of things like leisure centres when there weren’t enough people in them.
Include yourself, wear a brightly coloured hat, and make this your thing. Once you have a thing you start to create a look of your own.
17 Try some new stuff
Overexpose a shot and see what you get. Shoot into the sun (but mind your eyes). Put your camera on the ground, hold it high, and hold it out of a window (make sure it is attached though!). Just try stuff.
19 Enjoy yourself
I love travel photography, I genuinely enjoy it and I want you to enjoy it as well.
20 Share what you have created
Well, we have to don’t we in this social media era. I think that it is a wonderful thing to be able to instantly share photos on the web with people all over the world. For all these people who have negative thoughts about this just think of a world where we could not do this, which was not that long ago.
What do I do?
I wander, I explore, and I find places where there aren’t any other people. I go to places at times when there aren’t any other people there.
It’s not that I do not like people, I just want to be on my own and get different stuff.
The talky bit
Exploring is the thing that gives me my best travel photos.
I am talking about parking up somewhere, finding a path and following it. I do this all the time and I find places most people will never see. Hidden gems.
Travel photography is where I try new things, and experiment with my camera, different modes, and different settings.
Sure I take iconic photos, but this is not really what I am looking for. I have never published a photo of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. But I have published photos of the Battistero di San Giovanni which is the magnificent circular domed roof building that most people walk past on their way to the leaning tower.
As I say, I don’t have a problem with everyone taking iconic photos, it gives more opportunities for me to find other good stuff.
One line summary
You take great travel photos by looking, exploring, finding new stuff, by being different.
Next episode
Photography Explained Podcast Episode 81 – Travel Photography Gear For Beginners – 5 Things I Recommend. Even more travel photography stuff– well why not.
Shout out
This episode shout-out is to me and my travel website, paxostravelguide.com. Well, it is relevant to this episode, and I am surely allowed a bit of self-promotion.
I’m done
Thanks for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast. To find out more about my podcast and do stuff to help me check out Photographyexplainedpodcast.com/start.
Brought to you by
This episode was brought to you by water. Just water. Cheers.
I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to me and for giving me 10 (ish) minutes of your valuable time, and I will see you on the next episode.
Cheers from me Rick
OK – that was the podcast episode.
Want to know more?
Head over to the Start page on the Photography Explained Podcast website to find out more.
And here is the list of episodes published to date – you can listen to any episode straight from this page which is nice.
Let me know if there is a photography thing that you want me to explain and I will add it to my list. Just head over to the This is my list of things to explain page of this website to see what is on there already.
Let me send you stuff
I send out a weekly email to my subscribers. It is my take on one photography thing, plus what I have been writing and talking about. Just fill in the box and you can get my weekly photographic musings straight to your inbox. Which is nice.
And finally a little bit about me
Finally, yes this paragraph is all about me – check out my Rick McEvoy Photography website to find out more about me and my architectural, construction, real estate and travel photography work. I also write about general photography stuff, all in plain English without the irrelevant detail.
Thank you
Thanks for listening to my podcast (if you did) and reading this blog post (which I assume you have done as you are reading this).
Cheers from me Rick
