Last Updated: 9/25/20 | September 25th, 2020
Photographs are an important part of the travel experience. Since I’m not a photographer, I’ve invited professional photographer Laurence Norah of Finding the Universe to share his tips and advice. In this post, Laurence will help you make the most out of any new camera.
In my experience, people are often disappointed with their first efforts with a new camera. Somehow, the shots don’t look quite as good as they were hoping. That’s because while your new camera might be capable of taking better photos, it is going to require a bit of time and effort to learn how to make the most of it.
I’ve spent time teaching folks how to get the best out of their equipment, both online and offline, and know that it takes some trial and error to get where your photos look how you want them. Practice makes perfect (I promise)!
In today’s post, I want to share with you some of my tips for getting the most out of your new camera, based on my years of experience as a professional travel photographer, working with a variety of different camera manufacturers and shooting around the world. I’m going to teach you my top ten tips that you can start to apply today to take your photography to the level you want to get it to.
1. Read the Manual
Modern cameras are complex pieces of equipment with myriad functions and capabilities. The way you access and manage these functions varies between camera models. Don’t worry, I don’t want you to sit down with your camera manual and learn the whole thing by rote. But it is the best place to find out at least the basics of how your new camera works.
Despite my years of experience, when I’m confronted with a new camera, it still will take me time to get used to finding all the features I want to access — even simple things like changing the focus mode or ISO setting can be buried deep in a hidden menu. To this day I still struggle if someone hands me a camera from an unfamiliar manufacturer. I’m just not going to get the best out of it because I haven’t learned how to use it properly.
Grab ahold of the manual to at least get an idea as to what all those buttons do. That way you don’t miss a shot because you couldn’t remember how to flick between focus modes!
2. Learn the Basics of Composition
The key part of photography is you the photographer — not the camera.
Thankfully, taking better photos with your new camera isn’t rocket science and anyone can learn the basics (heck, even Matt did it). (Matt says: It’s true. My photos were terrible but even my unphotogenic mind picked up a few tricks!)
If you teach yourself some basic rules for how to compose photos, you can shortcut your way to taking awesome shots.
These rules aren’t hard to grasp. They just require you to apply some simple principles to all your shots. For example, a road leading into a shot will naturally lead the viewer’s eye along with it, while a splash of color can be used to accentuate a subject.
Over time, as you use these rules more, you’ll start to apply them naturally and you’ll develop your photographer’s “eye” (i.e. the ability to compose a shot without having to think about it too much.
Take a look here for an in-depth post covering some of those key rules: the rule of thirds, leading lines, use of color, and more.
3. Learn About the Exposure Triangle
The basic concepts of how a camera works to capture light are important to master but unfortunately can be confusing to wrap one’s head around. Many people just give up and leave their camera in auto mode, never fully realizing the potential of their device.
This isn’t helped by camera manufacturers adding ever more bells and whistles to their products in an effort to stand out in a crowded marketplace, meaning you might not be sure which controls are important and which are superfluous.
Here’s a tip: the most important controls are those that affect what we photographers call “the exposure triangle,” namely the shutter speed, ISO rating, and aperture — the three key elements of a camera that we have control over and allow us to vary the amount of light that we capture.
Understand those things and the photography world will be your oyster. Changing each one has a different impact on the way a shot looks, but overall they control the same thing: how dark or bright the image is. Start to experiment with your aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, and don’t be afraid to get it wrong — digital “film” is free!
4. Learn About Light
At its most basic, a camera is just a device for capturing the light. That hasn’t changed since they were first invented in the 1800s.
Light is, therefore, a key component of photography. Different times of day offer different qualities of light, with the light around sunset and sunrise offering a warmer, softer quality to our images, while midday light is less flattering, with harsh contrast and flatter colors. Ideally, you want to shoot closer to sunrise and sunset and less around midday if you can.
Where the light is coming from is also important. If you shoot directly into the sun, you’ll find your subject will likely be a black silhouette. Instead, you should position the sun behind you when shooting, to properly illuminate your subject and give you the best results.
5. Challenge Yourself
As a travel photographer, I’m lucky because I’m often out traveling the world and finding fun things to take pictures of. However, I’m happy to admit that I can struggle to find inspiration during the downtime between trips. And if you’re not traveling regularly, you too might struggle to find reasons to get out and take photos.
But photography is a skill and the best way to improve a skill is to practice it. You can read articles like this all day, but the truth is, you need to get out into the world, apply that knowledge, and start training your brain to become a photographer.
One way to do this is to start setting yourself challenges, giving yourself a focus and reason to get out there. Maybe it’s something simple, like a photo of a new subject every day. Maybe you set a weekly theme and stick to it. Whatever it is (and there are plenty of places online to find photo challenges too!), just make sure that you give yourself as many opportunities as possible to learn.
That way, when you go on a trip or adventure that you really want to capture, you’ll be ready!
6. Get Used to Taking It With You
This is related to the previous tip, in that practice makes perfect. The best camera is always the one we have on us. So if you’ve just gotten a new camera, get into the habit of taking it with you wherever you’re headed and get some practice using it. If it is always with you, you’ll never have an excuse not to take it out and use it (remember practice makes perfect).
Leave your camera by your keys, near your jacket, or next to your shoes. Make sure it’s always with whatever it is you leave your house with so you remember to take it with you. Just having it with you will increase the frequency in which you use it! Even going from zero to one photo a day is better than nothing!
7. Get a Cheap Prime Lens
If you have a camera that lets you change lenses, like most mirrorless or DSLR cameras, then I highly recommend spending a little bit of money on a prime lens. A prime lens is one with a fixed focal length, which means you can’t zoom in or out.
This will force you to move around and really think more carefully about your composition before you take a photo. Prime lenses also have very wide apertures, which has two advantages: they let a lot of light in, so you can use them when it’s darker; and they let you achieve a shallow depth of field, allowing you blur the background and really let your subject shine.
The best thing about a prime lens is that the basic models can be picked up very cheaply — often for less than $100 USD in fact. For Canon, my recommendation is the 50mm f/1.8, also referred to as “the nifty fifty,” a lens that every Canon photographer should own. Other manufacturers offer similarly priced equivalent lenses.
8. Start Shooting in RAW Format
When I teach photography workshops, one of my goals is to try and get my students to switch to shooting in RAW rather than JPG.
If these letters don’t mean anything to you, don’t panic. All they are is formats for the way your camera saves the image data it captures.
The difference is that a RAW file contains everything your camera has captured, while a JPG is more of a finished product, which has been edited by the camera and reduced in size for your convenience.
While a JPG is indeed more convenient (you can directly share it to social media), it also allows you less control in the editing process.
You can think of a RAW file as a roll of film and a JPG as the finished print. With the RAW file, you have full control over the development process, and as a result, you have full control over the final look of your image. It is a bit more work at your end, but it’s ultimately worth it.
9. Start Editing and Curating Your Photos
Something I learned early on in my photography career was the importance of editing my photos. Even minor corrections, like straightening a horizon or adjusting sharpness and contrast, can make the difference between an OK photo and a great one.
Don’t be put off by the thought of having to spend a lot of time editing your photos. Even an application as fully featured as Adobe Lightroom can be picked up relatively easily and you can use an even-simpler editor like Snapseed on your mobile phone to make your shots pop.
I love the creative possibilities that photo editing opens up for me. I also want to share another photography tip that I’ve learned, which is the art of curation. You need to become one of your biggest critics. I’m often asked why I don’t take bad pictures. The reality is that of course I take bad pictures! I just do my best not to share them anywhere.
Curating our own photos is really important: always try to only share your very best work, so the world will think that you too only take great photos!
10. Keep Going
The reason that people succeed at tasks is not because they are necessarily better at it than other people. It’s because they keep persevering, despite the setbacks, frustrations, and mental barriers to success that they find along the way.
Photography is the same. The best photographers in the world all started out with no idea at all what they were doing. What got them to where they are today was a drive to succeed and a willingness to put the effort in.
I was 13 when I got my first camera and I’ve been shooting ever since. So don’t give up! Make photography your passion and it will reward you!
Remember that photography is a long-term game, and just having a new camera won’t automatically mean your photos are going to improve. You need to invest a bit of time and effort into it — but the rewards will be worth it.
Laurence started his journey in 2009 after quitting the corporate life and looking for a change of scenery. His blog, Finding the Universe, catalogs his experiences and is a wonderful resource for photography advice! You can also find him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. He also teaches an online photography course.
Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks
Book Your Flight
Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.
Book Your Accommodation
You can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels.
Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:
- World Nomads (for everyone below 70)
- Insure My Trip (for those over 70)
- Medjet (for additional repatriation coverage)
Need to book your trip?
Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use when I travel. The are the best in class and you can’t go wrong using them on your trip.
Dino
Great guide for someone that is new to photography. Thanks!
Michael Lawrence
Just remember when shooting raw you need software (lightroom, photoshop, ect) to to convert the photos.
Robin Lings
I haven’t come across a camera manufacturer yet who doesn’t supply the necessary software with the camera for processing raw images from that make of camera – assuming it can take raw images. I started with Canon’s own DPP4 (Digital Photo Professional vs 4) – went to Lightroom and now invariably use DPP nearly all of the time. It’s free and the upgrades are free. I became familiar with it and found it did everything I needed most of the time. If I do need features not found in DPP, then I go to a fairly old version of Photoshop, (which I again picked up free from a friend who upgraded to a later version.) The main features Photoshop offers are in editing and you have to discover how far you want to take your editing in order to determine what level of software you require. Anyone on a tight budget can still shoot and process their raw images practically for free. DPP is basically raw processing software – all the programs offering both raw processing and editing are great but generally expensive to buy. Adobe have now introduced a package consisting of both Lightroom and Photoshop for a nominal monthly rental fee if you feel you need a higher level of processing/editing.
Veronika
Photography is one of the areas I think I’ll keep figuring out my whole life 😀 But yeah, I’m finally shooting in RAW and it’s made a big difference in what can be done in post editing. As for my camera’s manual, I tried hard to read it back when I got the cam, but it just wasn’t possible. The strongly technical language together with my brain limits made it very incomprehensible 🙂 But I enjoy referring back to the manual once I know what I want to do and are just looking for a specific way.
Thanks for this post, it’s a great reminder!
Lauren
Yes! I cannot stress the importance of #7 enough to people!
Emily
These are such great tips! I actually just got a new camera for my travels/blog this year, and I am so stoked! I already bought a fixed lens, which I am excited about. Cannot wait to get shooting. 🙂
-Emily
Justin
Great post! Shared with my wife/blog partner. Really like the most obvious point that is most often overlooked. Read the manual! People get in a hurry and just straight to step 4 – then get lost. Very common.
Katie Dundas
Like anything, it definitely takes practice to improve. As someone who used to paint, I try to frame shots as if it were a composition for a painting- the right composition can make a difference between an average and spectacular photo
Rick & Marley
Great tips! At the beginning it’s hard to figure out where to set your shutter speed, ISO rating or aperture without getting a horrible picture but a tip that I have found useful to begin learning about the “exposure triangle” is to first take your photos in Auto Mode and study the different settings for each picture. The camera itself will set the shutter speed, ISO rating, and aperture to get a “good picture”. Study these, switch to Manual Mode and change each one gradually to see how it changes the photo and when you find what suits your image, snap that “perfect picture”.
Ronaldo Stewart
Awesome points Laurence! It’s pretty much everything I would suggests to beginners picking up their first camera. Another little point that I would add, although not really necessary addition to the article, is to pick up a CPL filter when they go pick up a new piece of glass. I feel that can give that extra punch to the photo especially if it’s being used for landscape and travel photography.
– Ronaldo Stewart
Shailendra
Awesome tips on photography I like to travel but I am not a good photographer surely this will help a lot.
Christie
Stunning photos & great tips! Especially the first one… I feel like most people toss the manual aside while opening up a new camera. I upgraded my camera a couple years ago but have so much to learn to make full use of its features.
Brian Whitaker
I so agree, with so many ‘plug and play’ items, no one reads instructions anymore.
Brian Whitaker
Amazing how many do not know the basics like read the manual. We did a whole ebook on taking better tour photos and many commented how much they did not know.
Great article and tips!
Winny
This is such a helpful post. Especially all the stuff about composition. I’m hoping to get a new camera soon, so these tips will definitely come in handy.
Melissa
What a fantastic top 10! Thanks so much for the tips!
Aysha Frost
Great advice. I brought my first ‘proper’ camera at the end of last year and I’m yet to take it off auto.
Laura Harris
Ahh this is genuinely all useful advice! Got my first prime lens at the end of last year and it’s quickly become my favourite. I’m going to try shooting in RAW format too for the first time when I head off to Tenerife next week. Hoping it will make for some good photos of the sunrise at the top of Mount Teide!
Yeen
COOL!! I found it challenging especially No. 8, been scratching head in dealing with RAW files, any best recommend way to process the RAW while not require me to travel with heavy laptop?
Laurence Norah
Hi Yeen – to be honest, I mostly just process my images after a trip unless there’s something I really want to edit. For on the go work, my camera’s all have WiFI, and they let me export RAW files as JPG files onto my smartphone over the wifi without needing a laptop, which is good enough for social media sharing 🙂
Chrissy
Hey Yeen, I haven’t done it myself (I edit after a trip, too), but I believe you can process RAW files in Lightroom mobile now so you’d only need something like a smartphone and WiFi as Laurence noted.
George
Expensive cameras come with lot of features. But most of these features are seldom used even by professional photographers. In this digital era, these cameras come with internal processing that makes the photos really outstanding even before they are edited in a professional image editing software.
Robin Lings
Hi George – Camera features are there for when you want them, it isn’t a question of seldom using them. When you discover a camera won’t do what you want it to do, then it’s time to upgrade to one that will. Too many people buy cameras with features they will never use, and really could save themselves some expense buying what they need rather than what they want. However, that only applies to people on tight incomes, those who can afford it can indulge in what they want. The point of what you’re saying though is that although cameras can produce really good JPEG’s – like the days of film, shop processed negs and prints usually satisfied the majority of customers, so do camera produced JPEG’s satisfy most people. When your artistic side desires something from your images that they cannot give you however, it’s time to start processing your own raw images. Photography is a funny old thing in that it serves several different purposes. It can record events and places for future reference, portraits of families and pets, capture the excitement of sport etc, etc. but when art becomes a factor then it becomes necessary to get involved in creating your own interpretation of images you capture with a camera. Every camera manufacturer that makes a camera capable of capturing raw images includes free software for processing them, so why not learn to use it to express yourself better in your images, if you are so inclined?
Chrissy
This is a nice, concise list that seems to cover just about everything (and many points I’ve learned the hard way as a beginner photographer!) I’d add that one thing holding me back was just good old embarrassment about whipping out a camera or trying to get into a funny position or weird angle for a photo. It really hindered my experimentation and learning until I was able to break away from that self-conscious feeling. Don’t be afraid!
Ali
I am planning to buy a new camera for my travel and food journey. This article has helped a lot.
Thanks for sharing
Regards,
Ali
selene
Hi Laurence,
Photography is one of my favorite thing, I had an expensive camera but no because you have the best it means that you can get the best pictures, but sometimes I compare the camera of my phone and my camera and I think that I get better ones with my phone, I thing that is because is lighter that the camera and I can move it because I have to be careful with the another one.
Thanks for this post.
Leah
This is so great! I’ve had a Nikon D3300 for over a year now and sadly I’ve only been basically using auto. This definitely convinces me to try to learn more about shooting manual and photography in general!
OTC
Very useful guide .. Still trying up get out of auto even after two years of buying a DSLR …LOL
dodo
Those are some pretty useful points. I can already see the results in my photography too.
Colette
Great work, thanks! I have a Rebel, that I have to start using. Procrastinator!
Dash
Great tips and helpful advice to improve your travel photography. I’ll add to one of the tips based on a recent trip: take your camera manaul as a PDF on your phone and read while it on long flights to your next travel destination. I just took my camera manual (downloaded from the Cannon website) on a 24-hour flight to Israel. Worth the time and effort for better photos. I’m a new photographer but it helped!
Dash
Correction: that’s supposed to say “14-hour” flight. (Fat, fast fingers.)
Mark
Great guide. I love using lightroom to edit my pictures and store them in google drive.
Melissa
Thanks! This comes at a perfect time since we are trying to take our travel photos up a notch.
Mike Lee
Read the manual. That actually made me laugh because let’s face it, has anyone ever really read the manual, even if that is the right thing to do. Learning the basics of composition is so important, and many people just go about shooting in the auto mode whereas a little knowledge can lead to some great photos. This is a brilliant list and love your photos, and the one thing that I wholeheartedly agree with is that one must always challenge themselves when taking photos