Creative Ideas to Improve your Travel Photography

So you got a brand new camera for your next trip around the world and now you want to know what you can do with it. In this article we will give you 10 easy ideas of how you can create beautiful and creative pictures while on your next holidays. We'll take a look at some basic methods and some more advanced techniques to create beautiful images.

 

Basic Creative Photography Ideas: You can create these pictures with almost any camera.

    1. Get close 

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Sounds as easy as it is. Every camera, especially if you use different lenses, has different distances where you can still get sharp pictures. Just try it out. Begin by standing farther away from your subject and try going closer until you can't get the camera to focus anymore. If you have a zoom lens, try zooming in as much as possible and then try the same technique. 2. Unfocused/Blurry

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Another easy method and very beautiful at night when you have colorful lights around you. On a DSLR you just have to set your lens to manual and unfocus. On your point and shoot camera you can focus on a subject near you and then, while still holding your finger on the release button, move to the scene you want and take the picture.

3. Different Angles

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Move around your subject and try out different positions. Look up or down, get on your knees, lie down, sit down, climb up and so on.

4. Black and White

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One of the easiest ways to be creative. You can do black & white photography either by setting your camera to black and white or you can take your normal images and edit them later on your computer. You don't even need to download a software for that, you can generally edit pictures directly online and for free.

5. Selfie

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Some love them, some hate them, but you have to admit that you have tried it at least once. An inexpensive way to improve your selfie skills would be to get a Selfie Stick. It is optional but could improve how much you can fit in your photographs.

6. Photo Editing

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You took a beautiful picture but it’s still missing that last spark that would make it amazing. You can do this by using effects. There are many ways to do this, either on your phone with apps like Snapseed or online on a website specialised in editing pictures. Here are 6 online image editors for your editing pleasure. Just upload your images and play around with the effects :

http://www.picmonkey.com/

https://pixlr.com/

http://pho.to/

http://www.fotor.com/

https://www.canva.com

  www.befunky.com  7. Lens Flare

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Use the sun to your advantage. Try to bring your subject in front of your camera and try to get the perfect shot. This method might be a little tricky, especially with smaller cameras or smartphones.

Advanced Creative Photography Ideas: A DSLR is recommended for these methods, because you need to change camera settings that normally aren't accessible on smaller cameras or smartphones.

8. Long Exposure

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Set your DSLR to manual mode (M) and set your shutter speed to about 10 to 15 seconds. Set the aperture between f/8 and f/16. You don't need to change ISO settings, just leave that on ISO 100. Make sure you put your camera down on a firm surface (floor, table, etc) or use a tripod. It will take a while to get the perfect picture, just keep changing the camera settings until you get the hang of it.

9. Short Exposure

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This is a good method for photographing moving subjects while getting them to stay sharp. You will need a good amount of light, so it would be best to use this method at day time when the sun is shining. Set your DSLR to manual mode (M) and set your shutter speed to about 1/250 to 1/320 seconds or even higher depending on how fast your subject is moving. If you want your background to be blurry, set your aperture to the lowest setting your lens can go; but if you want your picture to be sharper (not only the subject), then set your aperture to a higher setting. It will take some time and practice to get the best results. Sometimes you will need to set your ISO to a higher setting, but try to avoid ISO over 1000, because then your pictures will get grainy.

10. Zoom effect

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This might be one of the trickiest methods. In order to take a picture with this effect you will need to change your shutter speed to a longer exposure. You should put your camera on a tripod and then, just as you hit the release button, zoom in or out with your DSLR. Steady hands are a must as you will notice.


Post your own pictures !

Now go out into the world and take some pictures! Post your creative pictures on Instagram with the #sprachcaffemoment hashtag and we just might feature your photograph on our own Sprachcaffe Instagram account