How to Take the BEST Photos on Your Adventure Vacation

Greg LimeberryI’m all about the adventure travel and experiencing the most beautiful, incredible places for yourself, but there is something to be said for having amazing photos to show to others who weren’t there, or perhaps couldn’t manage such an adventurous trip.  So for me, it’s important to have documentation. Even better, having creative documentation.  I decided to write this blog post about the best ways to capture incredible photos on your adventure vacations that almost do the real sights justice-but not quite!

Photographs are probably the best documents. And being creative with them isn’t too difficult. The equipment you’re using doesn’t matter much. Even if you just have an iPhone, there are a few techniques you can use to make your photos tell a story. Here are four good ones.:

1.Use the foreground subject to capture your viewers’ attention. Use the background setting to tell a story. This is a simple technique to make any photo look great.

2.Use light to focus attention on the subject. You can use photoshop to do this; but if you want things to look natural easily, use natural light. The human eye is generally drawn to the brightest part of the frame.

3.Look for unique perspectives of common images. You can do this by looking from fresh angles, at different times of days, with different weather conditions or around different people. People’s brains generally block out things that are commonplace; so being unique is an important way to stand out.

4.Try to capture what your photo says about the people and the environment. People like stories more than they do facts.

Look at this photograph by Tim Kemple. It’s of Blake Hendrix bouldering in Thorsmork, Iceland

Notice how the first thing you see is the climber. He along with the huge rock to the right is in the foreground. The sun lights the top of his head and the top of the rock, emphasizing his focus on the climb. Meanwhile, the background tells you about the place: there are boulders, and mountains with snows, and hills without. From the angle it’s shot, the boulder looks like it comes out of nowhere. This is an example of a good shot.

Just focusing on these four tips alone can make your friends and family want to view your photo albums. It will allow you to share your experience with the people you know best. And when the people you know feel the experience you had, it becomes significantly more real.