Instagram: Travel Photography Techniques for Beginners

To travel is to disconnect from our regular routine and to connect with the rest of the things life has to offer. Apart from discovering a whole lot of different customs, we collect memories that we can bring back home.

To manage amazing photos of your journey, you need not to be a professional photographer or own a fancy gadget, but you just need to know basic techniques that will take your shots up a notch. In turn, you can showcase your skills and better photo-sharing especially in a digital community like Instagram.

Try these beginners’ guide to photography and use them to your advantage:

1. Be still
Before launching photos, make sure that the camera is level. Most importantly, stay still in shooting images to prevent blurry ones. A tripod would solve this issue but if you don’t have one, hold your gadget with both hands or press your arm or leg against an object to gain balance. It’s also helpful to check your camera settings if it has action photography feature to avoid out of focus shots.

2. Rule of Thirds
Laurence Norah, a professional photographer teaches that rule of thirds tells you to break a picture into 3 equal parts horizontal, vertical or a combination of both. Find a setting on your device that allows you to use a grid and usually, two vertical and two horizontal lines will appear. When shooting outdoor scenery, it is suggested to use “one-third land and two thirds sky” technique and placing the subject close to line intersection to create a good composition.

3. Frame the subject
This is not about hanging your photo in a frame but it is about what is around to frame the subject of the image. It is like leading the viewer where the scene is.

When you figured the subject you want to focus on, check whatever surrounds it and see if there is creative way you can highlight it using framing compositional technique. A few examples of framing can be bridges, windows and doors.

This might sound a pretty easy technique but you have to be a little patient and observant as you will scout around or adjust to an angle where you can frame it.

4. Capture leading lines
Leading line is a compositional technique formed by objects, path or a line. This tool is used to draw the viewer’s eyes to a particular subject of the photo. Moreover, our attention is captured along lines as they tend to illustrate reality, as if we are standing right into the focal point. A road for example is an excellent leading line that portrays dimension to an image.

5. Experiment angles
It’s no secret that good angle can produce great photos! In shooting an interesting landscape or subject, be experimental in finding the best angle. You can step backwards, shoot subject from below or raise your camera to get overhead shot. It depends really on what you want to highlight.