Travel Photos Worth Remembering — Why They Look Like Postcards, and Cropping

At travel spots, the more frames you take, the more they all “look like postcards.” The causes are pulling back too far, no clear subject, and how you use people and light. Changing the crop a little gives a shot worth remembering.

Decide one subject

Trying to fit the whole famous view in gives an explanatory, ordinary shot. Decide one subject, move in or place something in the foreground, and a story emerges. For wide views, landscape tips help too (→ Landscape photography).

Crop with a frame or a line of depth

A flat tourist shot gains depth with a road, corridor or avenue running into the distance (→ Leading lines). Shooting the subject through a window, arch or gate conveys the air of the place (→ Framing). When you meet curved architecture — a spiral staircase, a run of arches — you can also try the golden ratio, placing the subject at the curling center (→ Golden ratio).

Composition guideLeading linesSee the full guide for this composition → Composition guideFramingSee the full guide for this composition →

Bring in people and light

Including a small figure conveys the scale of the scene. Backlight and morning/evening light create drama with silhouettes and long shadows (→ Making the most of backlight).

Composition tips

Varying wide, close, vertical and horizontal keeps the album from going monotonous. Mixing in close-ups — the ground, a sign, food in your hands — brings the trip’s memories back. The basic of placing the subject on an intersection helps too (→ Rule of thirds).

Composition guideRule of thirdsSee the full guide for this composition →

BeforeAfter

Start with just this

Decide one subject, add a foreground or a line of depth, and mix in close and vertical. Bring out scale and air with people and light. That cuts down a lot of the “tourist brochure” look in travel photos.