The DOs and DON’Ts of Travel Photojournalism

Moyan Brenn/flickr

Documenting your travels should be easy and fun, so do yourself a favor and be digitally prepared before you venture into the world.
If you’re about to embark on a journey, you should feel more excited than stressed. But as much as you’re looking forward to the adventures that await you, you feel anxious about documenting the trip — what equipment should you bring, when should you take pictures, and how should you share them?
No need to worry — we have the answers. Check out these photojournalism do’s and don’ts before you leave home.

DOs: The following camera features, each recommended by Fodor’s Travel, are worth dropping a little cash on before your big getaway.

Rechargeable Batteries

Save yourself the trouble of constantly buying new batteries and invest in a charger and rechargeable batteries. Though this approach is more expensive in the short term, it will ultimately save you money — and time! A charger will also allow you to shoot throughout the day, which should lead to an end product that more thoroughly captures your travel experience.

Anti-Shake

Unless you’re a professional photographer, you probably won’t be travelling with a tripod. The good news is that technology has recently been developed to help out amateurs, as a lot of newer digital cameras have anti-shake technology, also called image stabilization.
This feature is indicated by an “IS” or “AS” in the name of the camera model, and it signifies technology that will correct for blurriness created by wobbly hands. With a little help from image stabilization, not every building that you photograph will look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

DON’Ts: If you want a successful photo-taking trip, here are a couple habits to forego.

Relying on One Memory Card

If your memory card fills up while you’re out and about, you’ll either have to stop taking photos or start erasing — neither of which is ideal for a budding photojournalist! To avoid this unfortunate situation, prepare yourself with at least two memory cards.
The two most popular memory card formats, CF and SD, are completely affordable. An SD card only costs $5 per gigabyte — a pretty great deal, given the hundreds of photos it’ll help you store.

Schlepping a Huge Camera

Since you’ll want to capture everything you come across while travelling, don’t inconvenience yourself with a big, bulky camera. While it may take great pictures, carrying it might tire you out so quickly that you won’t be awake long enough to use it! Besides, smaller cameras have incredible capabilities now, including panorama functions, which allow you to capture entire landscapes in one shot.

Share the Joy

When you finally return from your stress-free travels, you’ll want to start sifting through the photos you’ve taken and figure out what to do with them. There are several online communities where you can share your photos, like Flickr and Facebook.
But the mile-a-minute consumption of social media means your audience may have too short an attention span to appreciate the documentation that you put so much time and passion into.
That’s why a digital photo book is your best option. It enables you to order your pictures chronologically or thematically, adding captions and other interesting scraps that you pick up along your travels. Plus, it gives you the ability to show your photos only to the people who will give them the attention they deserve.
Where should you begin? Explore Printique for travel book templates — through our site, you can select your photos and let Printique do the rest. Once you complete your digital photo book, you can start planning your next adventure!