How to Make a Travel Video: A Guide to Capturing Your Vacation on Film
May 25
19 min. to read
If you're still making the usual boring videos you definitely need our article. Today we will tell you how to make travel videos for beginners in this travel guide.
Sometimes it's not enough to get a good photo shot. You can always make your pictures even better with the best photo editor Luminar Neo! Its artificial intelligence-based tools allow the most inexperienced beginner to do the hard work.
Choosing the Right Equipment for Your Inspiring Travel Videos
What should a travel photographer have in his or her camera bag? A modern full-frame camera will allow you to get the best quality pictures. You can read our blog to choose the best travel camera. We can also offer you several models to try:
- The simple and versatile Nikon Z 5 is a relatively budget solution.
- The high-speed Nikon Z 6 II is a camera for dynamic, reportage scenes.
- The 45-MP Nikon Z 7 II or Nikon D850 will suit those interested in landscape, and architectural, interior photography because high detail and wide dynamic range are especially important in these genres.
As an ultra-light and ultra-compact kit, we can safely recommend the Nikon Z 50. With it, you can print A3-sized (and sometimes larger) pictures! The DX matrix won't provide the same quality as full-frame cameras, but that's not always necessary, because, in many scenarios, compactness is more important, for example, in mountain climbing, where every gram of gear counts. You can complement this small kit with a compact Nikon NIKKOR Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR telephoto for long-range shooting. No camera can reach its full potential without the right optics.
What classes of lenses should be in a travel photographer's bag? Everything is standard: a wide-angle and a telephoto. Using them, you will quickly understand how to make a vacation video.
Be sure to have extra batteries for the camera and charge your smartphone before you go out to shoot, take a high-capacity power bank. For long and difficult hikes, it is better to take an additional paper map and a simple push-button phone, which can work without recharging for weeks. Mirror cameras usually require a separate device to charge the battery, so look out for a USB charger to charge the battery from the power bank. For mirrorless models things are simpler: you can charge the battery by connecting the camera directly to a power bank or USB charger. Only original batteries support in-camera charging.
Not taking a tripod with you on a trip means not shooting any epic night views, or morning landscapes, or taking quality self-portraits. And yes, optical stabilization, even the most effective, is not a substitute for a tripod, but only a safety net for working at "risky" shutter speeds up to about 1 second. A tripod will allow you to shoot at slow shutter speeds and low ISOs. And that's what you need to shoot in low light. Armed with a tripod, you'll be ready to get quality photos in any environment. If you take pictures in a city where there is no tall grass, but there are posts, stairs, and railings, a compact table tripod is enough. It's convenient to take pictures from observation sites where there are always a lot of people. It is important to make sure that it holds firmly the weight of your camera: it should stand without vibration, or wobble and vibrations.
When choosing a tripod, how do you know if it can support the weight of your camera? Every tripod and its head has a "maximum load capacity" characteristic. This is the weight under which the tripod won't break yet. Divide this number by five and you will get the actual weight of the equipment. For example, if you specify a maximum load of up to 15 kg, then such a tripod will surely hold a camera weighing up to three kilograms, and it is a full-frame camera with a 70-200 mm lens. Don't forget to check the payload capacity of the tripod head. This is a separate accessory that has its own characteristics, even if it is sold as a set of "legs". Now that you know what you need and how to make a travelogue video with this equipment, we can move on to the next section.
Tips and Tricks for Capturing Stunning Footage While Traveling
This rule is the most important thing to start with. As soon as you stop being embarrassed about wanting to take pictures, and as soon as the fear of taking a bad picture is gone, the shots are bound to get better. Shoot everything – preferably not just yourself in the mirror. You can take anything as a subject: coffee cups, dogs, buildings, friends... The most important thing at the initial stage is to get your hands on it. Start making a secret Instagram profile, and don't tell your friends (especially photographers) about it. At this stage, it's best to reassure yourself. Even if you think another macro photo of a flower is already a masterpiece, it probably isn't. Face it.
How to make a travel video? As a rule, when you don't know what and where to shoot, you just get lost on the spot. We are sure this situation is familiar to many of us: you arrived somewhere, saw the most beautiful sunset... But you don't know how to shoot it, where to run, where the best view is. Such moments can be disappointing. That's why it is important to reconcile the route and mark points for filming. Think in advance about the subjects, and the composition. You can find terabytes of photos from around the world as references: search in your browser, maps, and panoramas of Google. You can watch videos on YouTube for inspiration and come up with your own scenario! Or you can be inspired by the experiences of other top travel photographers. We will give some more useful tips that will help you not to get into a difficult situation:
- Check for free memory. It's better to take the time before your trip to do this depressing thing and clean your memory, rather than losing pictures at the most important moments or deleting old photos instead of enjoying a can-do pizza in a Neapolitan restaurant.
- Keep a portable charger at the ready if you want to create a masterpiece. The battery dies quickly, and there can be nowhere to charge your phone during a busy day. Especially if you're planning a nature trip.
- If you have your laptop or hard drive with you – it is great because you can transfer photos from your phone there, thereby freeing up invaluable space. But when pouring pictures into a popular cloud, remember that it's just someone else's computer. Save provocative photos for yourself.
- Plan your travel time so that the main outdoor activities you do in the morning or closer to the evening, when the light is at its best, and there are not so many tourists around. Midday is fine to devote to transport rides, museums, or just have a quiet hour.
- Try to learn to turn on the camera mode on your phone as quickly as possible.
- Train yourself to always be on standby. Being able to get your camera out and take a picture in 5 seconds is rewarding with great shots.
- If your camera has the ability to shoot RAW files instead of JPG, use it! It's much easier to get the information you need from RAW files. At the very least, you can correct errors of exposure and white balance so you will get the best quality possible. On the contrary, it is better not to abuse the HDR function. If the goal of the trip is to bring more cool pictures, you have to be disciplined.
- Tweak the settings and maybe your photos will look human and your friends will stop wiping their eyes after another photo of you with toxic color and killer contrast on their Instagram feed.
Read more about travel photography on our blog.
How to make good travel videos? You can also use a drone and take pictures from a bird's eye view! And don't forget about drone video editing software.
Every trip is a project for a photographer. It can be planned both on paper and in an app for notes so that the details are always at hand. The desire to get good photos may motivate you to get up early, walk a couple of kilometers more, and look in the yard.
Try not to use the digital zoom (the quality of the photo leaves much to be desired anyway) and, if possible, walk closer to your subject or, conversely, move away from it. You can find good angles in unexpected places, they are literally everywhere if you are observant and ready to move. Don't be afraid to take a photo shot where others can't see anything. If a place that some famous photographer has publicly raved about doesn't inspire you, just walk away. Practice your photographer's eye If you are in transition, and in time you'll learn to anticipate shots and see the angle and the event before it happens.
So, that's all the tips, and now we can move on to video editing!
How to Make Travel Videos: Post-Processing
Perhaps, once you get the hang of it, you'll decide to dedicate your vlogs, website, or channel to a specific topic, or, on the other hand, to create a universal base of drive and excitement. And for the first trials, thematic stock videos of short duration can be a good solution. An app that helps to remove background from images can be useful in this area.
The best choice for a create travel videos is a topic in which you are knowledgeable and which you like. Then your video would be great and has a good chance of getting a lot of views from grateful viewers and attracting new subscribers to your channel.
By the way, the most important thing in editing is to create a travel story, not to find flashier effects. And the sound line is very important: the atmosphere is conveyed by the voices and sounds, and the mood is created by the music. In some cases, you might need to put two or even three videos with as high quality as possible sequences together on the screen to create the right mood for the viewer. You can also use an online photo editor to make your photos and videos perfect! The best option is Luminar Neo which makes it easy for you to organize your stock footage. In addition to the online version, you can also buy a subscription to an app with lots of features that you can install on Mac and Windows. So your video quality would be perfect for a travel vlog.
Organizing Your Footage
In order to make a great travel video you will have to shoot and go through at least a gigabytes of materials. This is the most interesting part of the story. Here you have to pull yourself together so you don't shove everything that you think is good into the video. For starters, we suggest you stick to the following principles:
- Be sure to do an introduction, and it shouldn't last more than 7-10 seconds. In these seconds you need to put something so inspiring and cool that the viewers do not switch to another channel. Tell them what the video is about and give them a vivid lead.
- The clue itself: literally a few seconds of slices of the bombshell moments.
- Video is a great way to tell your story, so make it as rich in detail as possible.
In the end, add a call to action – a message that gives you a head start for the future: an appeal to subscribe to the channel, like or share the video, and an announcement of the next one.
Conclusion: Adding the Final Touches to Making Travel Videos
We would like to wish all readers to travel more often, to get more vivid impressions and good photo shots. Many people can't even dare to make a video of a simple trip on their own: either they don't have the time, or they're not in the mood. Reasons not to go anywhere, you can always find a lot! But it is worth starting small: go out with a camera in the nearest park, or downtown, take a walk around the suburban village, or go for a weekend in another town. There is no trip where everything is perfect, but through mistakes, you will gain experience. Only through practice will you find your own style, the perfect set of equipment, and tactics in travel photography.
FAQ
How to Make Short Travel Videos?
Choose the most exciting part of your footage and start making your video. Vlogs about funny moments are also great in this format.
How to Make Travel Blog Videos With Photos?
Simply select a photo from your library and add it to the video using a special app, such as Luminar Neo.
How to Make Aesthetic Travel Videos?
First of all, you need to find a place that is perfect for it, for example, a flight over a mountain or a beautiful river. After that, take the camera, set the necessary settings, and start working.
