Travel Photography sites

Remembering every moment of your travels is difficult, particularly if you’ve just embarked on the trip of a lifetime and everything feels like a whirlwind. Recounting stories when you immediately get back may be fine, but what about in a few weeks time? How about in six months? Or a year? The likelihood is that you’re going to lose a lot of your cherished memories, as what was at the time an unforgettable experience becomes, well, forgettable. Be that as it may, one thing can certainly help you from failing to recall your travels on a cold, wet afternoon. Photographs. With photographs you can be instantly transported back to the very place where the picture was taken, capturing details that you had never even realised were there. A lot can be said with a photograph and they have understandably become an essential aspect of almost every traveller’s trip, whether in the form of a smartphone camera, GoPro or someone taking professional standard photos with a wide angle lens Nikon.

Hence, we’ve compiled a list featuring the top seven travel photo and video platforms, including ones for editing, and for booking photographers. Not only will they enrich your memories of the whole travelling experience, they offer something that you will be able to share with friends and family and on social media as a way of offering inspiration to others. In creating the list, we reviewed each photo and video platform, picking out each one’s highlights, what makes it unique and its potential drawbacks. With so many similar services on offer, it can be difficult to know which one is best to use, hence we took into account a range of factors to ensure that only the best were selected. The pros and cons are also listed in an easy-to-read set of bullet points below each review.

Travelling can be an expensive business, with items such as flights, accommodation, vaccines and transportation between towns adding up to a significant amount, which is why one of the first factors we took into account when reviewing the various photo and video platforms was pricing. Not just pricing but also value for money, as even if you have the resources to put a substantial amount towards photography and editing, it is still necessary to feel as though you are getting good value for your money. With so many companies out there ready to take your hard earned cash, it’s important to consider whether the service matches the cost and to do this you will need to be aware of as much information as possible. VSCO, for example, is priced at just $19.99 USD for an annual membership, making its quality content and features accessible to even the most budget-conscious backpackers. Adobe Lightroom, on the other hand, comes in at $299 USD for a service that performs similar functions to its cheaper competitors, while it also only deals with photos, meaning for that amount it would be wiser to opt for a platform that allows editing of videos as well.

Another factor that was assessed when reviewing the platforms was the range of options available to customers, whether it was the number of filters in an editing app or the selection of packages on offer from professional photography companies. Although too much choice can sometimes be a disadvantage, we found that the more limited platforms tended to be less appealing than those that catered for a wide variety of different people. For example, on top of its standard packages that allows travellers to book a personal photographer, Localgrapher.com also offers a “Design Your Own Package” in which you can customise everything, from who you hire to how long they are with you for. Flytographer, meanwhile, only gives its users the choice of booking a photographer for up to a maximum of 2-hours, which may not be long enough to capture everything that you would like memories of. Hence, we ensured that we factored into the review process the flexibility and choices offered by each platform in order to present those that suited the largest range of preferences.

Verified feedback from former customers was also factored in, as this can often be the most accurate and telling form of information about a platform or the individual photographers within it. As, unlike the company themselves, customers do not have a vested interest to promote the service as anything other than what it is, they can be a better reference than any other in attaining information on what to expect. The photographers on Localgrapher present themselves by writing a short bio and uploading a portfolio of photos, however it is difficult to know what they will be like in reality just from that. Therefore, the reviews taken from Facebook users are a great addition as they offer a more accurate representation from people who have experienced the photographer first hand and have no reason to say they are better than they are. Whereas, on Shootmytravel, the website is lacking information on the photographers, and you can only view a short bio and some examples of their work, while there is no verified feedback. Therefore, we strived to look for those websites that included a good selection of verified user reviews when assessing the various platforms as they undoubtedly contribute towards making the service more transparent for customers.

Finally, we looked at whether the platform offered a blog and, if so, how useful the collection of articles were. Posts contained on the blogs could range from inspiring locations for photography and film, to how to get the most out of taking photographs while travelling and using editing platforms afterwards. VSCO, for example, offers with its premium subscription service a whole host of useful hints and tips from experts who will assist you in taking full advantage of the edit tools available. Shootmytravel also includes its very own blog, featuring articles from a range of different writers with first hand experience of the destinations about which they write. Topics include local tips, food recommendations, and unique travel experiences spanning the globe. Each blog entry is accompanied by original photographs and a comments section below, where users can leave their own feedback on the piece. This makes for a fantastic resource, particularly for providing travel inspiration, as the high quality photographs capture each destination in its best light. While blogs are not an essential aspect of any platform, they make the website or app more encompassing and go beyond their function as simply a service, by showing their passion for the industry in which they operate and giving something back to their customers.

Overall, this list provides the ultimate selection of photo and video platforms to help preserve your memories of each and every trip. Travelling can be a whirlwind experience that can make remembering each place difficult with time, however by taking and editing great photos or simply hiring a photographer, it is possible to capture each moment in its best light. With the development over the last few years of smartphone cameras, each traveller can turn themselves into a quality photographer, regardless of budget or resources, therefore knowing the best platforms to accompany your phone’s camera is invaluable information. Each platform has been thoroughly and meticulously reviewed, taking into account the aforementioned factors, to bring you only the ones that we believe will enrich your travelling experience. Take great photos, edit like a professional or hire the perfect photographer to do it all for you by referring to this list featuring only the top platforms available.