A Beginner’s Guide to Becoming a Travel Photographer

What can be more exciting than conquering mounting peaks and investigating archaeological monuments? These activities bring an unforgettable sense of freedom and broaden your cultural horizons. For most people, frequent trips are not always achievable due to their daily routines. Nonetheless, some are brave enough to turn their favorite hobby into a dream job.

You can also make your dreams come true and start a travel photography career. Although this job is full of challenges, it gives adventurers the possibility to visit beautiful destinations and make a living at the same time. Learn everything you need to know about mastering travel photography in this article. Keep reading!

How To Become A Travel Photographer?

Becoming a successful travel photographer takes years of practice. That’s why many people give up halfway without taking their endeavors to the very end. You should set achievable goals to understand your path clearly.

Image from Adobe Stock

Choose your travel photography direction

At first glance, photography is all about choosing the right angles and capturing the most precious moments. In practice, it is something much more exciting. Photography travelers often select their specializations. For example, you can become a wildlife photographer that depicts the beauty of natural habitats. Or, start your career as a photojournalist who captures historical scenes on global-scale events. Understanding your range of interests allows you to get started and enjoy the process as well. After all, the most impressive shots are made with soul.

Learn about photography techniques

Professional travel photographers usually work in unexpected situations, where conditions aren’t the most pleasant for taking good pictures. For this reason, it is crucial to understand basic photography principles. This means being ready to capture the perfect photograph as soon as you lay your eyes on the ideal scene. Before starting a travel photographer career, learn everything about camera settings, image quality standards, and photography styles.

Buy reliable equipment

Good-quality equipment is a secret weapon for travel photographers. They can endlessly choose its ergonomics, options, and features to be sure their gear does not fail at any given moment. Your camera should have a good battery life, be comfortable to hold, and be protected from environmental conditions like rain, snow, dust storms, and more. Lenses are another big component that affects how you capture different scenes. Professional photography equipment requires significant investment. However, we do encourage freshers to start small before investing in any expensive gear.

Plan your journeys

Learning about travel locations is one of the essential parts of travel photography. Check your destination country guidelines, explore the history of its sacred places, and get practical advice from other experienced travelers. This can inspire you to try new photography concepts. When capturing cultural monuments, you should represent the essence of every specific place. You can also find outstanding locations using Google Maps or Instagram geotags.

Promote yourself

Taking fantastic photos is only part of the job. No one can discover your talent if you don’t share your artwork on the internet. So, start mastering self-presentation before engaging in photo traveling. Create a professional profile on social media, post inspirational publications, and engage your followers in active communication. After building an extensive travel photographer portfolio, you can move on to creating your website.

Tips To Become A Successful Travel Photographer

Every travel photographer’s path is unique. You may make a lot of mistakes before evolving into a pro-skilled creator. However, several general recommendations help aspiring photographers come to this easier.

• Start by finding and capturing a location in your hometown. Beginner travel photographers usually dream about discovering new places as soon as possible. However, they can get confused in unordinary conditions, losing their perfect shots. Learn the art of seeing beauty in everyday things before starting your adventures. Visit your local landmarks, explore their history, and try to visualize their magnificence with photography.

• Embrace the golden hour. The blinding sun can ruin the most fascinating landscapes on your journey. Photographers capture their best shots at golden hour; a few hours before sunset and after sunrise.

• Invest in a hard drive. Travel photos can take up gigabytes of information you need to keep on your devices. The most common way of storing your data is by uploading it to a PC. However, it is unreliable, as no one is insured against breakdowns. You should buy several external hard drives to save your photos. This way, you can protect important files from any accidents.

• Prepare yourself to work in extreme conditions. Capturing perfect shots in different parts of the world is not just about exciting adventures and exploring diverse cultures. Working in this field, photographers face a variety of challenges, from severe weather conditions to a chronic lack of sleep.

Top 6 Items You Should Take On Your Photography Journey

Image from Adobe Stock

It is impossible to imagine a travel photographer going on a trip packed lightly. It’s important to gather your traveling items in advance. Here is a checklist of the necessary items for a travel photographer:

1. Camera. Choose waterproof equipment that works well with moving objects.

2. Lenses. Think about the scenes you are going to capture on your trip and select several suitable camera lenses.

3. Tripod. Bring a tripod to mount your camera and take high-quality images safely.

4. Battery chargers. Keep in mind that your camera might go out of battery at any inopportune moment. A charger is a must-have for travel photographers.  

5. Weather protection. Pack raincoats, camera umbrellas, dust cleaners, wipes, and other equipment. Create the maximum possible comfort when working in extreme conditions.

6. Laptop. Edit and share your photos right during your travels.

How Can You Benefit From Your Travel Photos?

Beginner, amateur, and proficient travel photographers can sell their shots on stock content marketplaces. This is a great way to get an extra passive income. In fact, you only have to add your artwork to a stock platform, pass an examination, and start receiving royalties from users purchasing your files.

Depositphotos is one of the most popular stock content marketplaces for selling visuals. Currently, the platform works with 100,000 contributors from 173 countries. The library includes photos, vectors, illustrations, icon sets, videos, music tracks, and sound effects. Furthermore, files are sorted into thematic categories allowing users to easily find visuals on a specific topic like traveling, science, nature, and business.

You can explore materials already published to the stock content marketplace at https://depositphotos.com/stock-photography.html. Learn about what files are in high demand, capture unique photos to stand out from competitors, and start earning from your photography. Depositphotos provides favorable terms, e.g., contributors get promoted in mail marketing, get featured in a Popular Authors list, and receive higher royalties when selling more files. You must be at least 18 years old and undergo a simple registration procedure.

Conclusion

A travel photographer career makes you fall in love with adventure. After all, what can be better than meeting new people, investigating uncharted locations, and feeling unforgettable emotions? You can turn your traveling dreams into reality and earn money at the same time. Learn photography, buy equipment, and start finding beauty in ordinary things to become a successful travel photographer. Lastly not forgetting to sell your photos on popular stock content marketplaces for a profit.