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How to Take the Perfect Travel Photos for Instagram

How to Take the Perfect Travel Photos for Instagram

Whenever I travel, I always plan ahead and try to find the most Instagram-worthy spots to visit.

It isn’t just about the photos and how good they’ll look on my feed – I travel to see beautiful and unique places, and that’s pretty much what makes any place Instagram-worthy.

Sometimes it’s even hard to find Instagram-worthy places where you live, and if you’re just spending a day exploring your own city, all of these same tips apply!

Here’s your ultimate guide on how to take the perfect travel photos for Instagram.

Be sure to also follow me on Instagram and TikTok – I share a lot more content on those platforms that don’t make it to the blog!


How to take the perfect travel photos for Instagram


Plan your shooting locations ahead of time

I personally like to plan my trips ahead of time with a full schedule and everything.

On my itinerary I include everything we want to do and any cool spots I want to take photos at.

If you’re not much of a trip planner, at least plan your shooting locations ahead of time so you know where you’re going to want to take photos!

There are three easy ways to find the best Instagram spots where you travel:

  • Searching through hashtags and geotags
  • Looking for tourism board or repost/feature accounts on Instagram
  • Finding blog posts or articles about Instagram-worthy spots

I’ll explain each one in more depth below!

Search through the city’s hashtags and geolocation tags on Instagram

This is pretty much the number one thing I do before exploring any new city.

I planned pretty much our entire one week Iceland trip just by finding all the cool spots on Instagram!

Be sure to take advantage of Instagram’s “Collections” feature and save photos of places you want to visit, as well as inspiration photos from other people.

I create Collections for all the cities and countries I plan on visiting or revisiting, and separate them into different folders.

They’re basically like Pinterest boards, except they live on Instagram!

Be sure to save multiple photos of places you really want to go, because if people delete or archive their photos, they disappear from your collections as well.

Look for Instagram accounts specific to that city

Many destinations and tourism boards have their own Instagram accounts, where they’ll share cool photos and things to do.

There are also tons of feature and repost accounts that specifically only post about their own cities.

I went to Vancouver for a few days earlier this year and followed local foodies to find out about any great new restaurants and food spots to check out.

Find articles or blogs on the most Instagram worthy spots to visit in that city

Fun fact: I was actually one of the first people to ever write an article on Instagram-worthy places back in 2014.

It’s since become a popular article topic, and you can find tons of them all about different cities and different places.

Just Google “Instagram-worthy spots in ____” and you’ll likely come up with tons of blog posts and articles!

How to find the most Instagram worthy spots in any city | top tips on finding photo worthy locations | best location scouting tips and tricks when traveling | how to find cool spots to visit when you travel | Diary of a Toronto Girl, a Canadian lifestyle blog

Wander around and take spontaneous photos

Walk around and actually take a look around at your surroundings.

You might find hidden gems that haven’t yet been popularized, or you might even just find a random coloured wall that matches perfectly with your outfit that day.

Not every travel photo on Instagram needs to be planned!


Use continuous or burst mode on your camera

If you’re using an actual camera to take your travel photos for Instagram, set it in continuous mode so it takes multiple photos at a time.

If you’re using your smartphone, put it in burst mode.

Whether you’re using a tripod to take travel photos of yourself or someone else is helping you to take photos, it always helps to capture photos in continuous or burst mode.

You might be blinking at the wrong time, or your skirt might flow in a weird way, but with continuous or burst mode, it’ll capture more than just one photo so you might potentially get at least one good shot!


Don’t be afraid of the clone stamp

We all know what it’s like to have a random person photobombing your travel photo.

Or to have stray hairs flying around your head.

If you use Photoshop, the clone stamp, patch tool, and spot healing tool will be your best friends.

You can also use similar tools on the phone apps Facetune or Snapseed.

How to find the most Instagram worthy spots in any city | top tips on finding photo worthy locations | best location scouting tips and tricks when traveling | how to find cool spots to visit when you travel | Diary of a Toronto Girl, a Canadian lifestyle blog

How to take the perfect travel photos for Instagram:

  1. Plan your shooting locations ahead of time
  2. Wander around and take spontaneous photos
  3. Use continuous or burst mode on your camera
  4. Don’t be afraid of the clone stamp

While getting awesome Instagram photos isn’t the main reason why I enjoy traveling, it’s definitely a plus.

It’ll also be nice to look back on your cool travel photos 50 years from now and maybe even show your kids or grandkids!

Do you have any other tips on how to take great travel photos for Instagram? I’d love to hear your tips in the comments!

Planning your next trip? Check out my other posts on travel tips:

Jessica Lam | Toronto lifestyle, fashion, beauty, and travel blogger | Diary of a Toronto Girl, a Canadian lifestyle blog

How to find the most Instagram worthy spots in any city | top tips on finding photo worthy locations | best location scouting tips and tricks when traveling | how to find cool spots to visit when you travel | Diary of a Toronto Girl, a Canadian lifestyle blog

Photos by Desirée of Petite in Blush

  1. Kimberly Hsieh says:

    I always look on Instagram for fun photo spots! Including yours 🙂

  2. Mary Gui says:

    great tips! i’m always looking for good instagram spots, I’ll keep this in mind next time I visit a city!
    http://www.layersofchic.com

  3. Keri H says:

    Such good tips, babe!! Although, if I ever find myself in Toronto, I am going directly to you to show me the good places 😉

  4. Kuleigh says:

    I followed a lot of these tips while we were vacationing in Ottawa and I ended up being featured on 4 accounts after our trip! IG is one of my favorite travel planning tools right now– especially for restaurants!

  5. Lauren says:

    Distillery is seriously so cute for the gram’!

  6. Jessica Lam says:

    Hehe I save all the cute NYC spots you go to! 🙆

  7. Jessica Lam says:

    Come visit Toronto!! ❤️

  8. Jessica Lam says:

    That’s awesome!! I love finding restaurants on Insta as well!

  9. Jessica Lam says:

    Agreed, it’s adorable there!

  10. Chloe Tzang says:

    I do love following all your posts. Your photos always have such great settings and okay, now I know and thank you for sharing that. I have to start thinking of stuff like this myself. And as for Christmas shopping …. oh god, I have to start!

  11. Love this post. Coffee shops + patterned walls are my fav!

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