The secret of getting good photos is as simple as taking one action. Whether you are on vacation or just want to get good landscape photos, you can take this action. You can usually do this without causing too many scheduling problems with your travel partners. Your travel partners may whine a little and you may not like it, but if you take it you move one step closer to getting good photos. If you want to travel with like-minded people who will take this action, you should consider taking a photography workshop.

The action for getting good photos is simple

It’s simple:

• Wake up early!
• Get to your scouted sunrise location one hour before sunrise.
• If you can talk your travel companions to go to sunset with you, get there one hour before sunset.
• Stay for at least 30 minutes after sunset.

That’s it. It’s pretty simple. The reason that you’ll want to shoot during these times is because the light is best. Most of the time when traveling, we tend to sleep in and get dinner during sunset and because of that we miss the best light. But, if you want good photos, you have to get up early. Get to sunrise early and be there waiting for the right light.

Compare the following photos of mangroves shot on a vacation. The one shot in midday lacks the impact of those shot in the morning. The right light makes the photo.

Scouting Locations on Vacations

When traveling with others, you’ll have a hard time scouting locations. This is especially true if your travel partners aren’t photographers. If you can, scout your sunrise location midday the day before. If you can, get to sunset two hours before to leave time for scouting. When you have to skip scouting use PhotoPills to figure out where the sunrise will be in relations to the area you want to shoot. Combine that with Google Street View or Google Earth in 3D view to see what the area looks like. This gives you an idea of what to expect when you get there. It can also help you decide if that sunrise place will work for when you are there.

Here are example images from Devil’s Track Lake near Grand Marais in the middle of June. The Planner in PhotoPills shows the sun setting over an island. The Google Earth view shows what to expect from that area. The view is rotated to look towards the island and sunset. Using both shows that this spot would work well for sunset.

With all this said, just get there before sunrise or sunset by at least an hour. Then shoot the good light. That’s the key to getting good photos whether you are on vacation or shooting landscape shots. It’s not always easy to get up early or stay out late, but putting in the time during the right times makes a good photo.