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Road Trips and Photo Tips!

How to get the most memorable photos while traveling.

ghost sign on wall
Faded ghost sign on brick wall with flowers, note the framing
hides the car. By getting down level with the foreground object
you can get a better shot and composition to add a more pleasing photo.

Taking road trips can be a fun way to explore. Trying to get the most memorable photos?Traveling by car allows for greater freedom to not only stop and see more, but also allows for more photo taking opportunities! Here are a few photo tips to get the most out of your road trip whether it is a short trip down the road, to the next town or across the states.

Try for a different angle, not straight on from the front for a different look to an oft photographed subject. The Old Cathedral, St. Louis, MO.

There maybe time when you may have to go back to get a better photo, when there are less people around or less traffic. Maybe the sun is less harsh or setting. Take more angles and more pictures so you come away with at least one ‘keeper’. The sun is most harsh at noon, with the most shadows. You may want to get up early one day to catch a great sunrise photo or stay out and get a stunning sunset picture.

While on your road trip, it is important to make time in your schedule for exploring. You may find an exciting, overlooked area. These road trip photo tips are useful even around your own town. Just today I was on a road I travel often and noticed something new to me. Keeping your ‘eyes open’ and looking all around you can really pay off.

Found this mural today on the side of a business I pass frequently and never
noticed. Yes, I stopped in the rain and got wet!

Timing is everything

Sometimes you may have to wait for people or cars to move for the perfect picture, other times you have to get creative! Like when you are at a busy festival or at a national monument. A kids soccer game or just at the local produce stand. Now days everyone stops to get a picture of just about anything! I love to find ghost signs, old advertising left behind from a lost era. If I have time, I drive around the city looking for them, but many times, I have to go back at a time when there isn’t as many people or cars around.

Timed so no cars or people or other impediments were in the way of this architectural
photo.
Same location, different view/angle.
Use a different vantage point so an oft photographed
spot comes out unique.

Sometimes you need to enlist a helper for your photos,
but with direction, they can turn out the way you want.
The Mural Mile in downtown St. Louis in the summer is
very busy, but a sunset timed photo works with minimal
interference. Also makes for a more interesting visual picture.

The best time to take the best pictures depends on what it is that you want to accomplish. Do your research and look around, ask locals and have fun! Drop a comment or a cool photo of your last road trip and any photo tips you may have!