If you’re like me and don’t want to spend thousands on photography equipment or photo editing software, applications and programmes, then this post is FOR YOU!
Just like you, I’ve struggled with making Instagram-likes-worthy pictures in the beginning and got disheartened when i looked at other profiles. “They must have really good shooting gear” – I thought… and I couldn’t have been far from the truth.
But how can you take such amazing pictures, when all you have is your phone, you may ask. Well let me put those questions and doubts to rest with this list of travel photography tips that I followed in order to up my game.
Inspiration is key when art is involved. And photography for me is a branch of the arts. But you cannot expect to go out there and take a million dollar photo, without even previously looking at what others are doing. Maybe you’re a genius or it’s in your blood and you can, but for me it went the hard way. I had the desire and the eye for it, but I needed inspiration.
That’s why before every trip, I started a little tradition. I’d always do a photography-inspiration search on Instagram, based on the location of where I’m going or hashtags of that location. You can even search and look through official instagram profiles of the city or country where you’re going. I’d look at the angle of pictures taken, check some big accounts and their photos, look at the different style of editing, as well as, where exactly were those pictures taken. This not only gives me the opportunity to consume content and get inspired, but it also give me ideas for my trip itineraries of what to visit and what to see.
This is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT aspect of exceeding in anything in life. Research, research, research! You want to be better at something? You have to put the work and hours to do a proper research! Without researching photography tips, techniques, editing styles, etc. you cannot expect to snap your fingers and turn into a professional photographer.
When I started, I spent a good amount of time researching on the internet. I read countless of articles, and I still do. Anything from tips for beginners, light, angles, ideas for portrait mode, landscape, vertical photos. Pretty much anything you can think of – google it, read a few articles about it. And if you want to know more – don’t worry. I’ll be interviewing a professional photographer soon, in order to provide you with this information first-hand.
Expert opinion is something that helped me get my Instagram feed organised and up my game. I cannot stress enough how important it is to NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK! I would go through Instagram profiles of photographers, and I’d message them, asking them to help me out with their best tips and techniques. This is the best advice you can get, because these people know the tricks not only on theory, but also from practice! You can say that this might be a part of the Research stage, but it definitely pays off. And if more than 1 person tells you things that are the same as someone else – pay great attention to those – they are the key to success!
Practice makes perfect they say! And I can vouch for that from experience. Once you do your research and get all information needed – head out there and start shooting! Experiment with different scenery, and angles, experiment with portrait mode, macro shots and overall landscapes; try different editing styles. You can also start by trying to “copy” types of shots from your inspiration search. As long as you try out new things and keep on shooting, you are bound to get better at it!
One of the most repeated things I’ve heard from other successful Instagram profiles is “consistency, consistency and consistency”! You need to develop your own editing style and keep your feed compliant with it on a constant basis.
For example: If you’ve noticed my Instagram Feed has always predominantly blue colours in every picture, or a blue Hue to the minimum. Some profiles prefer creamy pastel colours. Others have darker high contrast feeds. No matter the style, you need to develop yours and stick to it!
To make your life a little easier in up-ing your game with your Instagram Photography skills, here are the applications that I use the most that help me keep my feed consistent and with high quality images:
As I do everything on my phone, and I rarely use my laptop for photo editing or anything else for that matter, I decided to download Lightroom CC. It took me a little bit of time to figure out how to properly use it, but after watching a few tutorials and editing a few pictures myself, it became like a child’s play. Now, I already have a specific way of editing pictures and the process goes quite quickly and easy. I’ve even made my own presets that make my life so much easier. If you’re a fan of cool-feel images, and you like my editing style, my 3 blue presets are available HERE for ONLY $1!
VSCO is the app that helps me create a consistent Instagram feed. From my research, I’ve discovered that all successful Instagram Profiles add THE SAME filter on all their pictures in order to create the coherent look of their feed. And even though VSCO has a paid version as well, you can find some really nice filters in their FREE version as well (the filter I use is from the FREE ones).
These are my top travel photography tips, if you want to up your Instagram game, but if you feel like I’ve missed something or if you have another “secret-weapon”, please SHARE it in the comments below! I’m eager to find out what your experience is! At the end of the day, I’m here to also learn from you, not just the other way around! 🙂
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9 Comments
Love this! I’ve never thought of reaching out to great photographers for tips. Thanks for the tips!
Glad you liked the article!
To be honest I didn’t think of it either at first, but then it just happened and it gave me the idea to get in contact with some more developed profiles than mine and start up a conversation on the topic. A year later, I get asked the same questions from people following my profile 🙂
Travel photography is one of the most interesting categories. It is quite different form the others. I love to travel and photography as well, so these tips are really helpful for me. Thanks for sharing ♥️ ♥️ Let me know if you are interested in doing collabs! xx
Hey Tiffany,
I’m really glad you liked the article and apologies for my late reply. I’m definitely interested in collabs, so feel free to drop me an e-mail on y.y.nikolova@outlook.com and we can discuss some more details there 🙂
xx
Y.Y.Nikolova
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