Read this if you're just a normal person, looking at all those beautiful Instagram pictures of people on holiday and wishing you had something halfway decent as well from your travels. Here I'm going to give you some simple tips on how to get better travel pictures for Social Media and to up your Instagram game.
1. Do your research
This is something I do immediately after I book any trip so that I can see the kind of pictures that are already out there. Researching helps me figure out what are the most picturesque spots and what kind of pictures I could expect to click at that location.
I normally use Instagram for such research, but Pinterest is a great search tool too, or so I've been told. On Instagram, I start my search with the location or with a relevant hashtag for example, my next trip is through Tuscany with main stops in Montepulciano and Val d'Orcia so I would search for those two locations on Instagram, maybe even look for #valdorcia#valdorcia or #montepulciano#montepulciano and maybe even #tuscany#tuscany so I could see the if there is anything more interesting around the region that I could add to the itinerary if possible.
The search shows both, the top posts for the location or hashtag and the most recent ones uploaded. This helps me get an idea of what are the best spots to click pictures at in the town, what looks good and what doesn't. This also helps me decide what kind of outfit I would like to wear for the picture. For example, if I'm going to shoot at a colorful spot, a white or a black outfit would make me stand out and if the background is a single color tone, I would choose a bright colour that would make me stand out in comparison. For my upcoming trip, I will be in Val d'Orcia in Autumn and the normally plush green fields would be turning shades of yellow, so I would choose Orange to blend in or Red to stand out against those autumn shades.
2. Think of the pose and frame you would like
This is an absolutely helpful tip, since if you already know what kind of pose and frame you want to recreate, there are lesser factors left up to fate and lesser things that could go wrong.
What I usually do is when I do my first round of research, I create a new folder on Instagram to save all those pictures that are clicked from unique angles that I think look good, or the pose used in the picture is something I would like to try out, or if I like the composition of the picture or how it is edited. That way, once I'm at the spot, I can easily go through my top favourite shots from that location and decide what pose and frame I would like to use for my pictures of that place.
3. Make an effort
Nothing in life comes easy, and perfect travel pictures surely don't. So even if I haven't had time to do my research, the other thing I do is to put a little thought before clicking any pictures.
Once I find a spot I would like to shoot at, I take a few minutes to actually think of what kind of a picture I would like to shoot there. I think of where I would like to place myself and my camera and what pose I would like to do in the frame. Next, I take out my camera and set the frame that I want. I walk around and see how I can get the frame that I like best, try looking at it from different angles and decide from where I would like to click the picture. Once I'm done with that, I finally go ahead and click away and see if the picture turns out to be as great as I had imagined.
4. Experiment with different camera angles
While I mostly tend to click a picture from the most common angles, experimenting with the perspective is something I am really working on as it can help click unique and cool pictures. Just simply tilting the camera, exploring the higher or lower angles and maybe trying to use something to frame the shot can sometimes help me get pictures that I never expected.
Found these tips useful? make sure you try them out on your next holiday and let me know how that goes in the comments below. And if you feel you are ready to grow your following on Instagram and attempt to be an Instagram influencer, make sure you check out this amazing guide on how to get your first 10k followers on Instagram on fromzerotobloghero.com.