7 travel photo ideas to capture vacation memories

Travel photos that thrill you months and years later won’t look like postcards. Anyone can snap a photo of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but that shot of the amazed face of your five-year-old as she looks out from the top observation deck is yours and yours alone. And that’s the key to taking travel photos that will carry your memories.

Whether you are taking a year to travel the world or heading to Napa’s wine country for a weekend, your photos should reflect your memories. That requires an understanding of why you chose that location and what part of the experience moved you.

Here are seven of our top travel photo tips that will help you create an exceptional travel photo book with Mixbook.

1. Do your research before you set out

According to Robert Caputo, travel writer and photographer for National Geographic for over 25 years, “Photographers for National Geographic spend a lot of time doing research. This helps us figure out what's there—what the place is about and what subjects we need to cover.” He suggests reading brochures and travel books about a destination and talking to friends who have already gone there.

This kind of research will give you an overview of a location’s heart and soul and also suggest experiences that could trigger emotions. You are likely to remember the façade of a famous cathedral, but will you recall how the wild birds flocked to the extended arm of an old man who scattered food for them? That might be the photo that triggers an emotional memory of the time and place.

2. Remember your first impressions and memorialize them in snaps

First impressions are important and extremely personal. One person might notice the colors of the fishing boats in the river, while someone else might be stunned by the wisps of mysterious fog. Think about what your eyes target and how it makes you feel, then get creative about how to capture it in photos.

Don’t take one picture of those fishing boats. Take 10 different shots. With digital photos, there’s no reason to be stingy with the snaps. Try a close-up, then a long view. One of the 10 is likely to capture all the different colors that made your heart dance.

3. Focus on the people, not the scenery

You may go to a location to see the northern lights or to admire a famous mountain. Yet photos of this iconic scenery may not remind you how it felt to see them for the first time. If they did, you could just pull images of the famous scenery off the internet.

Sure, go ahead and take some shots of nature, but also include some people shots with the scenery as background—photos of your family and friends or just other present individuals reacting to the magic of nature. Their joy or astonishment at seeing the northern lights or Mount Denali may have more of an emotional impact on you over time than the scenery itself.

4. Find and photograph elements of local culture

Learning about the customs and traditions of a new place will go a long way toward helping you take heartfelt photos. This can include dance, music, ways of celebrating, and even local cuisine and how it’s made. Be sure to act respectfully and ask permission before taking a snap.

A photo of a woman in rural Mexico patting out masa harina dough balls by hand into round tortillas could bring back the entire sensory experience—the tap tap tap of the patting, the smell of cooking tortillas, the cry of birds from a nearby tree.

If you are traveling with family or friends, try shots of your companions trying to learn to tap out tortillas in Mexico, or taking a hula dance lesson in Hawaii. It will mean a lot more to you than a snap of a taco on a plate or a hula dance performance.

Only use photos of local cuisine if it is colorful and amazing, like street food vendors in Bangkok with neon lights and steaming pots. Immersing yourself in something that's totally foreign to you does more than create great photo opps—it creates an unforgettable vacation.

5. Embrace the new environment

Spend some time thinking about which aspects of your destination fascinate you, then be sure to capture that aspect in photos. If your family takes a winter vacation in Canada to let the kids see snow for the first time, a photo of a field of snow is not going to evoke memories.

You’ll get more memorable shots if you get everyone being interactive with the snow. Take snaps of the children making snow angels. Capture the dog ear-deep in a field of new snow, the teens engaging in a fierce snowball fight, or grandpa hiding behind a tree as snowballs whiz by.

6. Use people and pets for scale and context

A small figure looking over the Grand Canyon. A dog jumping for a ball against the golden hour of sunset. A mounted policeman riding through Golden Gate Park. The contrast of big and small adds story and perspective that pure landscapes often lack.

This is particularly important when you head out to see things that are not easily photographed. Have you ever tried taking a snap of a redwood tree in California? It’s difficult to capture their huge size in a photo. But if your tall spouse stands beside a redwood tree that soars on up to the sky behind him, it’s easier to remember how enormous the iconic trees actually are.

7. Always carry your camera

Planning has a place in photography. But when it comes to travel photography, serendipity is the rule. Always keep your camera with you and train your eyes to keep scanning for great shots. That way you will be prepared when the mother grizzly and her two cubs cross the road, and for any once-in-a-lifetime shot that comes your way. You never know what you are going to run into, so be sure that you—and your camera—are ready.

Travel over to Mixbook today to get your photo book going

There’s no reason to wait until tomorrow to start your travel photo book. Your photos represent memories that will make you happy for years to come as you relive your peak travel adventures. Head over to Mixbook and turn your travel memories into a tangible treasure.