Chain Bridge, Budapest, Hungary

All photos by Lola Akinmade

You’ve picked out a solid camera body and 2-3 lenses you currently use. Wondering what next to buy?

MANY PROFESSIONAL TRAVEL photographers travel light.

This means, one camera body (two if they’re on assignment), 2-3 lenses depending on what type of photography they intend to capture, and a bag of extras such as batteries, memory cards, and sometimes an external flash system.

Buda District, Budapest, Hungary

For many travelers seriously interested in travel photography, a key deterrent is the shear amount of extra gear they may need to carry.

Figuring out what next to invest in after lenses and their camera body can be daunting.

If you’re wondering what additional gear to buy at the moment – from filters to external flash units and other peripheral devices, consider these items below:

Tripod
  

Photographing a city or street scene at night can be challenging because at that time of day, the light is too low for the camera’s sensor to capture adequately and there is a lot of movement as well.

This combination of low-light and movement makes for blurry photographs.

By setting your camera on a steady surface to help eliminate any type of shake, you have a better chance of capturing a crisper shot of the scene.

From basic table travel tripods and Gorillapods to larger ones, investing in a tripod can help you diversify the types of photos you capture of a particular locale by including night shots.

Read full article on MatadorU

Trying to find new markets or become a successful travel photographer?

Grab Matador’s Free Report 15 Publications That Pay For Travel Photography and help accelerate your career as a photographer.

Community Connection

For more travel photography tips, visit Matador’s Focus on Travel Photography resource.

Camera + Lens
 

About The Author

Lola (Akinmade) Åkerström

Lola (Akinmade) Åkerström is a MatadorU faculty member and Network contributor. Her work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Vogue, BBC, Fodors.com, and many more. Follow her photoblog at Sweden.se.

  • http://matadortrips.com/ Hal Amen

    Great tips, thanks Lola.

  • http://barriesgirl.wordpress.com Wendy

    Great tips, especially the extra memory. I always have at least two additional memory cards, just in case.

  • http://www.traveldroppings.com/photos.php traveling_mike

    Great advice. I love the night photos but too bad I dont see them very much on some of my favorite travel blogs. Perhaps because they dont have these items…

  • s. shankar

    Great tips. I have two more:
    - Extra battery: I’ve had the battery die at the worst time.
    - A small back up P & S. Apart from backup, the P & S is also great for walks around town, or if you are a culture vulture like me, who loves to interact with the locals, much less ‘in the face’ than an SLR.

  • http://www.10minutetravel.com/ Travel Tips

    Great advice. every one like night photography.thanks for your informative post during traveling.

  • http://www.MariaAbroad.com MariaAbroad

    Hello Lola,

    thanks for the great tips. I totally agree with the tripod and the extra memory, and while I would love to have a cable release just for the photo trips around home, you can avoid schlepping this around when you travel and just auto-time your release. This is may be not the most practical way, but it works just as fine! ;-)

Galleries →

Last week, we asked you to show us what you've seen outside your window while traveling....

Camera + Lens →

This sleek hard-bodied Fort Knox-secure black box that arrived on my doorstep was a...

Photo + Video + Film →

Print photography magazines are still alive and kicking. Which one is your favorite?

Photo + Video + Film →

Paul Sullivan rounds up various apps that can help you take much better pictures with...

Camera + Lens →

In the third installment of our iPhone Travel Snapper Apps series, Contributing Editor...

What's in your backpack? →

Award-winning National Geographic photographer Bob Krist opens up his camera bag.

Photo + Video + Film →

Adequate time should be spent addressing how those photographs will be properly stored.

Photo + Video + Film →

From the makers of the Saucy Phrasebook that taught us how to flirt in Russian comes an...

Photo + Video + Film →

Here are a few items to channel your obsession with photography down the right path.

Photo + Video + Film →

The fundamental differences between a DSLR and a compact digicam plus the facts about...