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Photo by Tony Hisgett
A road trip can be a great way to get a break from daily life and capture some memorable photos along the way. In this article we’ll take a look at some tips that can help you to get the most out of your own road trip photos.
1. Plan Ahead
Photo by Cyril Fluck
If the purpose of your road trip is to come home with great photos you will want to plan ahead so you can be at the right places at the right time. You can plan to be at scenic locations early in the morning or later in the evening when the sunlight will be more pleasing than it would be mid-day. Other places you may want to photograph at night. And at some places you may want to avoid the most popular times and the crowds.
It’s also helpful to plan ahead so you can find some great destinations and sights that you might not be aware of. If you’re making a road trip on a popular route like Route 66 you can find books and ebooks that will serve as guides. Websites like Roadside America, Road Trip America, Road Trip USA, Roadtrippers, Things To Do, and Frommers can be really helpful for finding new and interesting places along your path.
2. Make a Checklist of Necessary Gear
You don’t want to be on the road and realize that you left something important at home. Before you go think about the types of photos that you want to take, the places you will be going, and the gear that you will need. Then make a checklist for your packing.
Some things that you’ll probably want to bring will include your camera, lenses, spare batteries, battery charger, extra memory cards, cleaning clothes or wipes, a lightweight tripod, a bean bag for use on your car window, and a laptop or tablet.
You don’t need to bring more gear than you will use, so be selective and only take what you are likely to need.
3. Bring a Friend
Photo by Jérémie Crémer
Road trips are more fun when they are shared with family and friends. And having someone with you can also be helpful when you want to include a person in your shots.
4. Don’t Rush
Part of the fun of a road trip is taking time to enjoy the places that you are passing through. When you plan your trip be sure that you are not planning things so tight that you will need to rush from place to place. Don’t get so caught up in photography that you forget to enjoy the moment.
5. Pay Attention to the Weather Forecast
When you are on the road you can use any number of smartphone apps or websites for tracking the weather forecast. Weather will obviously impact your photos, and it can also impact the amount of time your travels will take.
6. Enable GPS on Your Camera, if Available
If your camera has a GPS feature enable it before your road trip. The GPS will record the location of your photos and store it in the metadata. Later, if you forget where a photo was taken you can get the precise location from the metadata. Since you will be taking hundreds, maybe thousands, of photos on a road trip it is easy to lose track of where each photo was taken.
7. Have a Plan for Backing Up Your Photos
Backing up your photos is important to avoid potentially losing them. Since you won’t be returning home until the end of the trip you will probably want a way to back up your photos each day. You may want to move your new photos to a laptop each day, and then bring an external hard drive along for backing up. If you normally use a cloud storage service for backups you may want to have an alternative plan in place because your internet connects may be very slow, or non-existent, in some locations.
