3 things to do with your travel photos after every trip

After every trip, most people come home with a memory card full of pictures and memories. Most of us make it as far as getting them onto the computer and maybe sharing a few of them on Facebook. For the majority of us that’s as far as they make it, they sit on your computer’s hard drive collecting digital dust. Why? These are some the best times in our lives. These memories should be cherished, celebrated, and even hung on the wall! Here is my guide to actually doing something with your travel photos.

Pick your best ones

It’s easy to take hundreds or even thousands of pictures while traveling, but let’s be honest not all of them are keepers. Pair down your photos into your best ones in a ‘favorites’ folder from the trip. If you’re like me and take thousands of pictures it can become an overwhelming task to go through your pictures. If that’s the case try breaking up your trip into smaller groups of photos. For example, make a folder for every day of the trip, or create folders for each city or place you visited. Breaking your files up makes it a more manageable task that you can work on piece by piece without being overwhelmed. 

Be selective with which photos you drop into the ‘favorites’ folder. Make sure it is something that would be interesting to someone who hasn’t been to the destination or make sure it holds a special memory for you. Also, keep in mind what you want to do with your photos while sorting them. If you’re are making a photo book or slideshow you might need more pictures than if you were going to hang a few good shots on the wall. If you’re selling photos you might want to keep ones that promote the destination or activity and not necessarily pictures you are in. 

Edit your favorites

The next thing I would recommend everyone try with their travel photos is to pick a handful of their absolute favorites and edit them with an editing program. As sharp as your photography skills are (or aren’t) your photos can really pop with a few small edits with a program like Adobe Lightroom or something similar. Don’t go crazy with photo editing software, but a few quick touch-ups can make the difference between and good photo and one that makes your friends go woooooowww!

Actually Print your travel photos

Last, but certainly not least, actually print your photos! There is something special about having physical prints of the photos from your travels. Fill your home with images from the places you’ve been. It will remind you of the trips you have taken and make them friends and family that visit ask you questions about your trip (and they’ll think you are really interesting and cool too).

One of the best ways to keep your travel memories alive is to print them and print them big. For me, the best way to display the pictures of my favorite places is to print your photos on canvas and hang them on the wall. It’s a constant reminder of the memories you make and something nice to look at between holidays. Not to mention visitors can help but to notice a large print of an amazing foreign landscape!

For more travel photography tips check out my travel photography page for techniques, tips, and tricks!