9 Pro Tips to Documenting Your Travels
Every trip, big or small, bucket list worthy or a simple weekend getaway, is sure to provide memories and stories to tell for years to come. Undoubtedly, these trips will include many photos and videos. Preparing for your travels in advance, taking a few small steps along the way, and then compiling your favorites upon returning home will ensure that your photos and videos can be enjoyed for years to come rather than quickly forgotten and discarded on an overflowing memory card or cloud account.
Keep reading for a detailed plan which will guide you before, during, and after your travels to creating keepsakes of your most treasured travel memories.
Preparing for your travels
1. Decide what you’ll use to take photos and video during your travels
Do you have a smart phone, a camera, or a GoPro? Are they up to date and do you have the lenses and accessories you want? If you’ve been wanting to upgrade your phone or to purchase a new camera, now is the time!
As most travelers will take 1-2 big trips per year, it’s not uncommon to upgrade your photo and video gear prior to a big trip. Looking back, it’s not a coincidence that my iPhone upgrades always come right before big trips. The quality of the photo and video that smart phones are capturing is worth the upgrade, in my opinion.
Some of my favorite photo & video accessories:
- Moment lenses (I personally have the Wide lens and the Tele lens - both perfect for travel!)
- Mini travel tripod
- Go Pro - (for scuba diving, don’t forget protective housing and for stabilization, consider the Karma Grip, etc
2. Practice practice practice
One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made is buying new camera equipment and then not learning how to use it before departing on my trip. This led to wasted time, wasted photo and video opportunities, and mediocre results.
I recommend purchasing the equipment and accessories you’d like to have for your travels 1-2 months in advance and then learn about them and use them as often as possible prior to your departure.
Recommended Resources:
What to avoid to take better photos (YouTube) - Peter McKinnon
Camera Basics (YouTube) - Peter McKinnon
Camera Basics 2 (YouTube) - Peter McKinnon
Camera Basics 3 (YouTube) - Peter McKinnon
3. Stock up on extra memory (cards) and batteries
While traveling, you’ll want to shoot away without having to worry about your battery dying or your memory card filling up in the middle of the fabulous day you’ve been looking forward to for months. External batteries and space on your phone / extra memory cards should be at the ready at all times.
Bonus tips to saving space and battery juice:
- My favorite external battery
- If using your phone to take photos / videos, put your phone on airplane mode during the day. This will help tremendously in saving battery juice. (You can turn off airplane mode when you’re in need of making a call, checking Google Maps, etc).
- Prior to departing, check the amount of storage you have on your phone. Clean up your photo storage by deleting photos you no longer need and/or purchase more cloud space. If you plan to use a camera, buy an extra memory card. No matter how you plan to capture photos and video, plan on taking 100 - 200 photos per day. If your current storage won’t allow for this, it’s time to buy more.
Read more: 5 hidden perks of working with a travel advisor
Packing for your travels
4. Keep your camera equipment (all of it!) easily accessible.
When packing your bags, prepare your camera equipment in the bag that you’ll have with you on the plane and throughout your entire trip. Capturing the journey along the way is just as important as capturing the big moments standing in front of a major monument.
Also, it’s best to keep your fragile gear close to you so you can protect it and to avoid traveling without a camera if your bags are delayed or lost en route to your destination.
During your travels
5. Take photos. Lots and lots of photos.
It’s easy to keep your favorites and delete the rest later. Take photos of your travel crew, the transportation you’re taking to get from one place to another, the delicious meals you’re enjoying, the bucket list monuments and locations you’re visiting, and everything in between.
When taking photos, don’t forget to capture the moment from different angles and perspectives, most especially when visiting monuments and famous sites.
Recommended Resources:
10 Mobile Photography Hacks for Beginners (YouTube) - Moment
9 Landscape Photography Tips (Article) - Artifact Uprising
5 Tips for Taking Pictures of Your Kids on an iPhone (Article) - Framebridge
Shooting & Thinking Differently (YouTube) - Peter McKinnon (I love his take on capturing the detailed shots (and not just the “big shots” to tell a story!)
Tourist vs Pro Photographer (YouTube) - Peter McKinnon
6. Pick your favorites and delete the rest
Do this, during your travels, on a daily basis. I promise, you’ll thank me later.
I used to snap, snap, snap from start to finish during my travels and not look at a single photo until I returned home. Then, staring at hundreds and hundreds of photos, I was overwhelmed, realized it was going to take me hours to go through those, and I often gave up.
While enjoying your trip and being present in the moment is absolutely of utmost priority, we all know that most trips include early morning taxis to the airport, a long road trip or train ride from one city to the next, long lines at security, waiting for your partner to get ready for dinner, etc etc etc…use those small moments to scroll through the day’s photos, select your favorites, and delete the rest.
Not only will this free up more storage space for the following days, but when you get home, you’ll already have your favorite photos narrowed down and the next project won’t feel so overwhelming.
You’re welcome.
Read more: 5 ways a travel advisor can uplevel your next trip
7. Organize and edit on the go
This is a lot to ask, I know. But if you’re able to get in the habit of #6, then #7 is probably achievable as well :)
If you’re capturing photo and video on your phone, go back and edit your favorite photos once you’ve deleted all the extras. Doing this little by little, a few photos at a time, helps to avoid the boredom and monotony that can creep in when editing photos. Anyone else feel this? Just me?
If you’re capturing photo and video on a camera or on a GoPro, offload your memory card each day and organize those files to stay organized. If you have some extra time during your travels, start editing those shots little by little to ease the burden of doing it all upon returning home.
Recommended Resources:
- 4 Must Have Photo Editing Apps (YouTube) - Moment
Upon returning home
8. Continue deleting the extras and editing the rest of your photos
While you hopefully started these tasks during your travels, it’s likely that you have some catch up to do on the final days of the trip.
First things first, select your favorites of the final days of your trip, delete all the repeat photos, and edit your favorites.
9. Keep the memories alive
There are many options to turn these photos and videos into lifelong memories. Would you like to create a photobook that can be perused and enjoyed at a moments notice? (We keep a stack of our travel photos books on the coffee table at all times!). Are there a few shots that you’d like to frame and hang in your home? Did you capture a photo that will be perfect for holiday cards or family updates?
Below are my favorite resources for creating photobooks, framing your favorite photos, and ordering holiday cards:
Framebridge (Use THIS link for 15% off your order!)
Minted (Use THIS link for $25 OFF your first order of $100 or more)
Motif (used in conjunction with iPhoto)
Recommended Resources:
BONUS: Hire a professional photographer during your trip
I highly recommend Flytographer to capture stunning photos of everyone in your travel crew at least once during your trip. They have local photographers around the world ready to meet you for 30, 60, or 90 minutes to capture some fun, professional photos.
We began hiring Flytographer on every trip for the last 2-3 years and these photos have turned into our favorites. Not only do they know their cities best, they know all the best angles and the best shots. You’ll get to pick out your preferred location in their city, put on a cute outfit, and let the professional take over. This ensures that your photos are not only beautiful, but most importantly, that no one is missing from your photos, and that both posed and candid shots can be captured.
BONUS: Take your skills to the next level
If you’re interested to step up your skills and to learn how to document your photos with video, I highly recommend all things Iz Harris. She is a wildly talented videographer and I don’t miss a single video she creates. Most of her YouTube channel centers around her travels, and even when it’s not travel focused, the content is always interesting.
Check out her YouTube channel HERE.
She has also created courses if you’d like to dive deeper into your camera skills!
