Have you ever noticed that even the best views and the brightest impressions can look flat and faded in a photo or video? It’s a pain: the time is wasted and there’s nothing to enjoy! But there are some tips that can help you make your travel video the collection of memories you want it to be.
The whole point of the video from a trip is that it should be a concentration of vivid emotions, objectified memory that will remain with you for many years and which is worth sharing with everyone who just happens to be near you.
All the key tricks come down to these simple and brief ideas: take a lot of footage, have a responsible approach to filming, use quality editing, and definitely include your own perspective and style. This is how the best travel vlogs are made.
It’s pretty hard to decide what equipment to take with you on your trip, how to spend your time properly, and how to get the perfect photos. Included here are some of the best travel video and photography tips. So, pack your bags and head out on a new adventure!
Travel Video and Photography – Essential Supplies
Equipment Kit
You need to know in advance what you’re taking on the road so you can pick the right equipment. If you’re going by car, great, you can take more hardware; but if you’re hiking or doing a lot of walking, there’s hardly enough room and energy to lug everything with you.
Good Travel Lenses
Quality lenses are the key to success. By that term, I mean lenses that provide enough focal length to capture most casual moments.
The 24-85mm is the perfect choice for travel. The wide-angle edge of the range is great for landscapes and impressive architectural shots, while the longer, shorter edge is good for things that aren’t right in front of the camera and for street photography.
In general, wide-angle lenses are the best option, but you’ll have a lot to carry if you take them with you. For travel, lenses with a smaller maximum aperture (around f/4) are worth considering.
If you’re planning a vacation in a place with lots of wildlife, that lens won’t work; a good zoom is a good alternative in the most extreme case.
You can rent the right lens if you don’t have one. Long zoom lenses can be very expensive, so if you only need it for a vacation, it’s much more economical to rent one.
One or Two Filters
Filters improve the capabilities of a lens. I find a polarizer most useful because it darkens bright skies or water, reduces glare on buildings.
In addition to these benefits, filters also protect the lens glass. When traveling, you need to keep your camera ready at all times, so there’s no point in putting on a protective cover every time. This increases the chances of lens damage, and it’s much cheaper to change the filter!
Stocks
Spare memory cards and batteries are vital. You definitely don’t want to lose the opportunity to capture a unique location simply because you ran out of memory or your camera ran out of power. Even if you have a charger (I recommend taking one with you), it’s still best to take a spare battery on your outing.
Travel Video and Photography – Tips and Techniques
Create a Plan
You may have limited time in a new place, so make the most of it by planning ahead. Do a little research before you travel and write down the places you’d like to visit, how to get there, and the cost. This will save a lot of time and effort later on.
When searching for places of interest now, you can find out their occupancy of tourists at certain times. This will save long hours of waiting in lines, so you should also not forget about this possibility.
Go off the Beaten Path
Try to make plans on your own as you go, rather than joining groups of tourists or planned excursions. You may surprise yourself with the travel video opportunities you find.
If you go off the beaten path, you can make lots of cute discoveries. When you step off the tourist trails and head into the heart of the city, it can be one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip.
Take Your Time
Rushing rarely delivers good results. Take enough time to take pictures of your surroundings, things, and people. We will always want to capture more than we already have. It’s better to take fewer good pictures than many bad ones!
You may want to go somewhere twice to get the right lighting. If possible, set aside free time in your schedule for this. That way, when something takes longer than expected or you want to stay somewhere longer, you won’t have to sacrifice important points in your plan.
Tell the Story
Every place has a story, and you will have the opportunity to convey what you see with your own eyes through photography and video. Think about what makes a certain place unique or special. Talk to the locals, be open and polite in what you do.
If you don’t know the language, you may have trouble communicating, but knowing a simple “hello” may be enough to overcome misunderstandings and show respect at least by trying. Make eye contact, smile, and try to explain what you are doing.
Potential Problems
Don’t worry too much about getting perfect pictures and videos; enjoy your vacation. There’s nothing wrong with putting the camera down once in a while and familiarizing yourself with the things around you.
You definitely don’t want to come back from the trip of a lifetime and then find that you saw most of it through a lens. Photos should be a reminder of what a great time it was, not the only thing to remember!
Excessive editing upon returning home can also be a problem. Remember that an expensive professional editor alone won’t make your video better. It all depends on your inspiration and skills.
So that you don’t have to spend time learning all the details about making the best travel vlog, I recommend that you start by using an online video editor. After a while, you can decide for yourself which tool suits you best.
Too many corrections can make a photo look exaggerated, so it’s important to know when to stop. Working with non-destructive layers and saving progress in the PSD file you’re editing means that if a mistake happens or the printed photo looks bad, you can go back and edit it without starting from scratch.
Over time, your ability to create a great travel video will improve. The footage will get better, the clips will get brighter, and you’ll find your own solutions that are sure to be better than average.
