Travel Photography: What Equipment You Must Not Forget If You Want To Take Photos or Videos When Travelling

A lot of people love taking photos and shooting videos when travelling. It helps show people at home what you have been up to, and so you can look back in the future at happy memories.

Of course, nowadays everyone has a smartphone which includes a camera. More photos are being taken every year. But sometimes people want to travel with more than just their iPhone camera. So what gear is best? Read on to find out...

Firstly, you need a camera. There are many options, and as this is not a photography blog I won't go into too much detail.

You can get a cheap nice point and shoot, a nice entry-level DSLR or even splash out on something more high end. But at the end of the day, it is a person operating the camera. Give a professional photographer an iPhone and he will produce fantastic photos. Give an amateur photographer a $5000 camera and the photos won't be anything amazing. So before you go on your next trip, head to Amazon's Photography book section and read up on how to take great photos.

You should also consider bringing lamps and flashes, especially if you expect to do night time photography.

A Tripod

One of the essential things when taking photos or videos when travelling (especially for time lapses or night time photography) is a good travel tripod.

There are two main categories. Flexible/bendy and non bendy.

The Gorilla Pod tripods are the most popular bendy ones. They are high quality (often much better than the cheaper imitators you can find), but not always too cheap.

Some of them come with magnetic feet, which is really handy and I recommend you get one with this feature. It means you can wrap the legs around anything, and also hang it from anything the magnets will stick to.

Do some research before buying a Joby GorillaPod though, as there are many options to select. It depends on your intended use how heavy your camera will be.

The other category of tripods are the most traditional (non bendy) types.

There are many of this kind of tripods that are made to be taken with you while you travel. They often have a smaller size, not so heavy, and being strong enough to hold a camera and endure being thrown around in a bag or backpack. They also often tend to be a bit cheaper than professional tripods.

Some of the most popular ones include:

• MeFOTO Aluminum Roadtrip Travel - however this is not very cheap
• Vidpro Table Video/Photo/Digital Tripod - a smaller one and also quite cheap at only $10

If you want more information, check this page out.

Spare Batteries for your camera

Do not forget spare batteries! And your charger!

USB Power Bank

If your camera can be charged via USB then get a USB power bank. They are super handy when you are on a trip - you never know when you will look down and see 1% battery!

Insurance

Taking lots of expensive equipment abroad? Be sure to get adequate insurance. You never know what will happen to you on your next trip!

Spare SD Cards

Get some spare SD cards. They are cheap enough, and you never want to be in the situation while out where you run out of space and have to delete photos via your camera. Save that for when you are sat at home on a computer.

Power Strip

Need to charge more than one thing at a time? Take a power strip. It is handy when at airports too (there are never enough power sockets) or when sharing a room with someone.

Get rid of that “NIKON” or “CANON” camera strap, and replace it with a plain black one

There is no reason to make it more obvious that you have an expensive camera. The more noticeable it is, the more chance you will be targeted by thieves.

You can easily find lots of generic camera straps on sites like Amazon.