How to create a narrative with travel photography

Good travel photography goes beyond the classic postcard shot to give a real sense of what it feels like to be there. The real skill comes in turning the character and soul of a place into a visual story – one that takes viewers on a journey and helps them see familiar destinations in a new way.

Dutch photographer Cuno du Bruin has been sharpening this narrative approach for many years. He specialises in travel, landscape and adventure photography and has helped to bring locations to life for international brands and tourism boards, including Peru Tourism, Switzerland Tourism and South Tyrol Tourism.

From choosing the right composition and making the most of the weather to using full-frame cameras and smartphone apps to capture a scene, Cuno shares his seven top tips for creating travel images that help viewers to step into the scene and feel as if they're there, experiencing the moment.

Layers in an image add depth, helping to draw viewers into a scene. Some scenes naturally lend themselves to layered compositions – such as landscapes and cityscapes, where the foreground, middle ground and background can be framed to lead the eye through the shot. Cuno took advantage of this while on a shoot on the Dutch island of Terschelling. "I love the landscapes, where you have multiple layers, with the sky, the ocean, beach and dunes," he says.

By including a person in a scene, Cuno can add another layer – one that allows viewers to enjoy the view vicariously. When he's travelling alone, this usually means locking the camera on a tripod and putting himself in the shot, and Canon EOS R System cameras such as the EOS R5 Mark II that Cuno uses make the whole process quick and easy. Intelligent autofocus enables the camera to keep track of him as he moves around the scene, while the Canon Camera Connect app on his smartphone allows him to control the camera remotely from the palm of his hand.

The Canon Camera Connect app takes the guesswork out of remote shooting. It turns your smartphone into a discreet wireless remote shutter release that's easy to conceal in a pocket, but what makes it such a useful tool when you're standing in front of the camera is the extensive control it gives you – from changing the exposure, white balance and drive mode to fine-tuning the focus and reviewing shots on the camera's memory card.

If you're looking to step into the scene yourself, then setting People as the priority for the autofocus on compatible EOS R System cameras means the camera will keep track of your face, head or body as you position yourself in the shot. Enabling Eye Detection brings added precision. "That’s what I set if I want to be sharp in an image," Cuno says. "You can also make a lot of autofocus adjustments using the app on your phone."

Register People Priority, a feature available on the full-frame EOS R8 Mark II, EOS R6 Mark III and a growing number of Canon mirrorless cameras, is a great option if you're shooting in a crowded location such as a popular tourist spot. Register your face on the camera, and it will automatically focus on you even when other people are present in the frame.

If he isn't the main subject and Cuno wants to make himself an out-of-focus element in the foreground, then, using the Camera Connect app, he uses single-point AF and locks the focus on a specific point in the distance. By selectively focusing in this way and using a large aperture such as f/2.8, he can blur himself out.

Shooting an image over a person's shoulder – or your own – as they look towards something in the distance produces a point-of-view shot that immerses the audience in the scene. It's a technique that Cuno frequently turns to. "If you look at my Instagram, you'll see that I often shoot over a person's shoulder or put them in the frame to add perspective or scale," he says. "I want a viewer to imagine they're standing there instead of that person."

Intentionally blurring the person can make it easier for viewers to imagine they're there. Cuno says the fast aperture and versatility of his Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM lens on a full-frame camera gives him plenty of creative control over depth of field for this type of shot. "You can blur the foreground at f/2.8 to give the impression that you're almost walking behind that person," he says. "And you can compress the scene at 70mm, to build up the layers in an image, but also capture a wide shot when you need to."

"A 70-200mm lens lets you compress the scene more," Cuno adds, "so you can make the background look closer to your subject and exaggerate the scale. But I think a 24-70mm lens gives a more natural feeling."

Similar to using a person close to the camera to add depth, finding other foreground details to frame a scene can give a viewer a real sense of place. Natural frames such as windows, foliage and buildings can add to the story, as well as hiding parts of a scene that you don't want to include. By enabling depth-of-field preview on your camera, you can see how much of the foreground appears sharp.

It's all about creating those layers, says Cuno: "This really gives the viewer the feeling that they're there." It's a technique you can experiment with when you're staying in a hotel while travelling, as Cuno did on Terschelling. "You only need a window frame or some curtains. I even set up a shot in the hotel room where there were two framed photos on the wall, which I just walked in front of, out of focus, holding a cup of coffee." All these additional shots can add depth to a story and allow viewers to step into your world.

You don't always have the luxury of time or return visits when you're travelling, so you need to be prepared to make the most of the conditions you encounter. In fact, embracing changeable weather, as Cuno did on his trip, can bring a new creative aspect to your story.

"On the day, I had a mix of everything," Cuno says. "Beautiful weather to begin with, then dark clouds rolled in, followed by nice weather at sunset. If the weather is bad, you have to show that in your images. I don't stop shooting. A lot of people might say, 'It's raining – let's go inside', but that's the moment you just have to keep going."

A full-frame camera such as the travel-friendly EOS R8 Mark II is a great option when lighting is changeable and challenging. Compared with a compact camera or smartphone with a much smaller sensor, a full-frame camera can offer greater dynamic range, helping you retain more detail in the shadows and highlights. "I think it's also nice when people go from APS-C to full-frame and they start editing their RAW images in post-production and see, 'OK, I can get more of the sky back'. All these things help a lot," says Cuno.

Having durable, weather-sealed cameras and lenses also helps, he adds, but staying adaptable and open to opportunities is important. "Rain can also be beautiful. It's still part of the journey that you're trying to capture."

Intentionally introducing motion blur by using a slower shutter speed is another effective way to express a sense of what it feels like to be at a location. Blurring vehicles and pedestrians in a street scene can help to convey some of the hustle and bustle of the scene, for example. Using a camera equipped with In-Body Image Stabilisation (IBIS) or an IS lens will make it easier to keep the stationary elements sharp when you shoot handheld at slower shutter speeds.

"It's not always possible, of course, because sometimes an image is just a still image," Cuno says. "But capturing things like wind moving the water or grass, or a person walking by, can add a little bit of movement. I think it helps to give the feeling of the wind and the smell of the ocean, if that makes sense."


Learn more about Cuno de Bruin’s approach to travel photography on Canon Club.