Expectation vs Reality: Unmasking Secrets of Travel Photography
To see is to believe. This could probably be the main reason for inquiring “No travel photos? Did you even travel at all?“. This may sound silly but when people say “Pictures or it didn’t happen!”, they are actually excited to see a visual proof of your trip (e.g., photos of the places you’ve visited). Whether for social media sharing, business purposes or for personal keepsake, a travel photo taken during your trip is one of the best mementos worthy to be kept for life.
While travel photos need not be perfect all the time, there are just captured moments best utilized when visually enhanced. Well, for some, curating stunning gallery of quality content is non-negotiable insofar as showcasing an interesting travel feed is concerned. It means there are instances when ordinary and raw images need to undergo editing and graphical transformation to make them look extraordinary and upgrade the viewer’s experience.
While non-essential travel is still prohibited in most countries during the pandemic, I thought this is the best time to unmask (no pun intended) some secrets of travel photography. Just a fun way of sharing tricks and helpful tips for your future trip’s reference, here’s a personal round-up of “expectation vs reality” photos of my past international travels that are too amusing not to share.
1. Timing is everything.
This is probably the most challenging part of taking a solo shot in a crowded tourist destination. Challenging, because a flock of visitors will go sightseeing in the area every minute, especially when such popular attraction is a long pathway adorned by soaring stalks of bamboo called Bamboo Grove in Arashiyama, Kyoto, Japan.
If ever you’ll visit this area during peak season, expect a lot of photobombers. There is no dedicated photograph opportunity area wherein you can freely take a photo without moving objects, so you better find the perfect timing to strike a pose and be quick in clicking that button to capture that coveted “crowdless” photo.
2. When the night falls, master the art of focus.
The beauty of Singapore transcends culture, nature and time. A trip to Singapore is never complete without a view of its famed skyline, especially when it lights up the city at night. Whether it’s Gardens by the Bay or Merlion Park, head over to some of the best places to be when “The Lion City” gets dark for that perfect photo.
One of the biggest challenge for travelers is the difficulty of achieving accurate focus in very dark scenes or low-light setting. Without being too technical, set auto-focus on a distant object during the day, then turn off auto-focus and lock the focus ring until the night shoot of light spectacles around Singapore. You don’t need a good lens, mastering camera focus just with your mobile phone is crucial to getting that good night shot. A mini tripod is also a helpful tool in keeping the subject in focus to achieve that low-light photography with clarity and sharpness.
3. Crop out the untidy details in the background.
When in Taiwan, visiting rock formations, waterfalls and flower farms are some of the must-try activities outside its capital city, Taipei. One of the premier destinations in northern Taiwan, Yehliu Geopark is home to a number of unique geological formations including the iconic “Queen’s Head”.
If you are joining a group tour, chances are you only have a limited time to explore this natural beauty. As it is quite popular, the only way to get a decent photo of the Queen’s Head is to line-up. Meaning, it involves a long stretch of tourists in queue. As time is running out, devise a plan where there’s no need to line-up. Just explore another spot where you can take a photo of the Queen’s Head from afar and just crop out the unnecessary details for an instagram-worthy shot.
4. Try the “Falling Flowers” effect
Planning for our Shanghai trip two weeks prior, chasing cherry blossoms is really of one of the top priorities. Lucky for us, our Shanghai trip was scheduled on a Spring season where Shanghai’s cold air is bringing local flowers into full bloom, attracting large crowds to see these exquisite displays of nature. Our main goal: a group photo with raining flowers.
This one’s so simple, there’s no photo manipulation needed. We just set the camera into continuous mode while we were busy picking some fallen flowers on the ground as our props. When we had enough, we tossed them in the air and then striked a pose to capture that group photo with cool falling flowers effect. LOL!
5. Let is snow, editing app is the way to go.
It was winter season in South Korea when I visited it for the first time. Of course, as someone who never experience three of the four seasons, seeing a snow is one of the anticipated activities during winter. Well, we didn’t catch the date when it’s actually snowing in Seoul. Although we visited Nami Island where a pile of white melting snow blanketed the area, it could have been divine to actually roam around while a gentle drift of snow is falling from the sky.
If ever you also missed the snowfall, fret not! If you can’t have one, why not create one ~ digitally? Yes, you can! There are a lot of photo editing apps available online wherein you can add “snow” in your photo to make it look like it is really snowing. After all, it’s all about the power of editing.
6. Use light painting to capture foamy waterfall shot.
Staying away from the golden route of Japan, our wayfaring feet lead us to a beautiful spot oozing with autumn colors ~ Minoo Park. Located at the outskirts of Osaka’s forested valley, it offers the best view of autumn foliage in a natural setting coupled with the cascading beauty of Minoo Falls. While Minoo Falls could have been perfectly captured during day time, we didn’t expect we could reach the spot at 5:00 PM and it was already surprisingly dark. This was a challenging photo session (and walking activity) for us but good thing, I got Huawei Mate 30 Pro as my travel buddy.
With Huawei Mate 30 Pro, crafting light photography on flowing waterfalls is a breeze. Capture the silky texture of the gushing cascade in the jungle with just your smartphone. The results are pretty close to the effect that you get with long exposure on professional cameras, but here you don’t need a tripod, just your bare hands! Thanks to the light painting mode of Huawei Mate 30 Pro, you’ll be able to perfect this river of light/foamy water shot.
7. Tilting the camera up will do the trick.
The Ruins of St. Paul’s is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site and probably the most iconic landmark of Macau to date. The Ruins of St. Paul’s is at the end of a pedestrian-only historic precinct so the only way to get there is thru walking from Senado Square. It also means that this tourist spot is jam-packed with a lot of tourists from all walks of life in any given day.
If you want to take a photo with no crowd on the background, then you must go there as early as six in the morning. Sounds easy, right? However, if waking up early is not your thing, then just use this camera trick ~ wide angle. Position yourself in front of the Ruins’ façade. Ask your companion (the photographer) to kneel down and tilt the angle of the camera to focus the upper half of your body with a blurred background (bokeh effect). This way, people around you (the subject) will not be captured on the frame.
8. Bring life to a boring shot.
This tourist spot is interesting. When we first saw it from afar during the Indonesia leg of my tri-country trip this year, it looked like a passenger ship that’s docking for a while. However, when I googled it, it’s something far more functional. As per research, MV Doulos (first set sail in 1914) once held the title “World’s Oldest Active Ocean Going Passenger Ship” in the Guinness World Records.
Sometimes, a filter can be your best friend when it comes to giving additional layer to your photo. It can lighten your image, add contrast, or change the warmth of your photo, just the way you like it. In addition, you can also utilize some photo manipulation techniques by using double exposure to add another layer such as a flying bird or a subject to give life to a emotion-less photo.
9. Ready, set, go! Capture real-time action via burst mode.
I personally think that the best camera to use for an adventure trip is an action cam like Go Pro. Aside from it’s handy and quite affordable compared to DSLRs, it features a built-in camera mode to capture fast sequences of photos made especially for quick action ~ Burst Mode. While burst mode is famous in adventure cameras, it is also available in other types of cameras, even in some mobile phones.
Burst mode offers a very useful way to maximize your chances of capturing the shot you want when things are moving fast, just like a jump shot with flocking doves around you in Batu Caves, Malaysia. This technique has proven itself effective in my only international travel this year amidst the height of Covid-19 pandemic last February 2020.
10. When all else fails, expect some queuing.
There are tourist destinations that you can’t just crop out, zoom or find the right timing to have a perfect snap of it. The only way to have a decent photo is to wait for your turn. Expect some queuing when you’re in Quarry Bay Monster Building, Hong Kong, for example.
Before this highly popular Instagram destination became known as Monster Building, it is just a regular yet incredibly dense and stacked flats called Yik Cheong Building and Montane Mansion. If you’ve seen some Hollywood blockbusters like Ghost in the Shell, Transformers: Age of Extinction and even Pinoy’s pride, “Hello, Love, Goodbye“, then you’ve probably seen all the action in this photogenic architecture as a perfect reflection of the city’s famed urban density. Head to Quarry Bay because it is really worth the visit, I must say. And oh, bring your patience with you. =)
“Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs.” – Susan Sontag
With the availability of photography hacks and tricks online, there’s truly no limit to what you can create! You don’t need to be a pro to capture and edit some instagram-worthy photo. For me, passion is key to achieving that dream “travel photo” of yours. If you are not convinced yet, here are some of the alternative ways to benchmark your photography skills with the techniques of other travel photographers:
- follow & join entertainment photography hubs in IG (Fotografia United, Forum Session, etc.)
- join photowalk sessions or instameet activities in your respective areas (after the pandemic, of course)
- watch “beginners guide” photography tutorials online via select video channels (YouTube, TikTok, etc.)
- read tips and tricks from digital photography blogs and articles on the web
In conclusion, posting these photos made me miss traveling even more. I hope this article will somewhere inspire you to hold on to your travel dreams and pursue them one by one in the near future. I know better days are coming and when the time is right, we can all travel for leisure again.
