We see travel photography all over Instagram. It’s definitely something everyone is into. Most don’t take their own photos, but follow accounts of lucky couples who just love traveling and showing it off in their feed. If you want to show off your travel photography, and maybe even live off it, entering a photography contest is very helpful. As you already take pictures and are learning how to edit them well, you just need to focus this work on a contest. Photography contests arranged by magazines and travel guides are great. If you make it to the finals, or even win, you’ll get an instant boost of followers. One could say that this aspect is shallow, but if your goal is to share your work with others, it’s a step to get where you want to go.
We’ve all seen the picture of the Eiffel tower with a really dramatic sky behind it. How do people do it? You guessed it: editing. Lightroom presets let you edit photos from the same shoot as fast as editing just one at a time. There are some really good photographers out there and they give us a new and interesting photo of something that we have seen a million times before.
So what is travel photography? By definition, it could basically be any photos from anywhere you travel. This includes food, nature, landscape scenery, portraits, street photography and architectural photography. A lot of subjects! The photo of a plate of exotic fruits doesn’t have to be specific to the place you are at, but it should be related somehow. Of course, there are all the beaches and cute boutique hotels that travel photographers are made famous for. A good picture needs the following:
- strong colors
- beautiful light
- dramatic scenery
- interesting motive
If a picture is constructed using the points above, it should be a good material to work on. Like mentioned earlier, editing is necessary for the last touch of drama. Note that a common error is over-editing. Judges in Photo Contests will not be happy if they receive a photo that looks like it’s covered in three different basic filters. It’s easy to just choose and add one, and you hardly need creativity to do it. If you do it well, it’s a different story. No one will know there is a filter. Filters are useful because they give great colors and just the right amount of contrast. But isn’t it better learning to do this by yourself? Everyone can learn the basic editing skills.
After you’ve learned to take a good travel photo and have edited it well, another challenge is upon you. How can you make it original to stand out and win the contest? It seems almost unbelievable that a photo of the Eiffel Tower can be original, but you can learn to make it stand out through the choice of angle. What makes a photo of a mountain or bridge spectacular, apart from the view itself, is the angle. It can make the perspective funny, scary, beautiful and overwhelming.
- Trolltunga in Noway is a mountain formation that many people like to pose on. A photographer can get good shots there. When it’s not too crowded, you can choose different angles without interruption.
- Taj Mahal in India is a wonder of the world. It’s impossible to take a bad photo here. It’s always sunny and the colors of the saris passing in front of the building add a beautiful decoration to the motive.
- The Statue of Our Saviour in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is not so much the statue itself, but the contrast between the statue, the city, and ocean behind it.
- The Grand Canyon in Arizona has some fascinating deep red and orange colors. If you look well, you’ll see beautiful compositions in the lines and pattern in the rocks.
- The Giza Pyramid: focus on the angle. A photo is original when the angle is well thought out. At the Giza Pyramid, you get amazing sandy colors in the ground, background, and the subject itself. You can play around with the angle to get great perspectives in your picture.
Always look for some small detail in your subject to make your photo stand out from all the other typical ones. For example, instead of snapping a big overview of the canyon, maybe try to find a nice composition in a smaller frame. Good luck and bon voyage!