travel photography tips

Photography tours are becoming increasingly popular and are now available globally, with options to explore destinations ranging from Iceland to Antarctica, and from New York to Paris. These tours offer a combination of exploration and learning opportunities, making them suitable for both experienced photographers and beginners. They provide opportunities to discover new places and cultures, explore lesser-known locations, take amazing pictures and improve your photography skills.

South-East Asia offers a plethora of destinations for photography tours, including Siem Reap, gateway of the temples of Angkor (Cambodia), Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi  (Vietnam), Yangon (Myanmar), Bali (Indonesia), Bangkok (Thailand).

In this post, we will examine eight compelling reasons for considering a photography tour during your next holiday in South-East Asia.

1.Improve your photography skills

A photography tour in South-East Asia is an ideal opportunity for even the most experienced photographers, including those specializing in sports, wildlife, or wedding photography, to improve their skills. The diverse range of locations and subjects available in South-East Asia offers endless photographic opportunities, many of which may be outside of your comfort zone. From capturing workers harvesting rice on paddy fields, ancient temples, to taking portraits in busy food markets, a photography tour in South-East Asia will challenge and inspire photographers of all levels.

vietnam photography tour

Rice harvest at sunset in Hoi An Vietnam

 

local market cambodia photography

Local market scene in the morning in Siem Reap Cambodia

 

2. Enjoy people photography

When living  in South-East Asia we often take for granted that taking pictures of people is  easy to do. Due to privacy concerns, it is almost impossible in the West except during large public events. In  Asia,  people often get into the game and even sometimes  ask you to take pictures of them:)

 

vietnam photography tour

Cute elderly couple in Hoi An Vietnam

 

smiling and smoking Cambodian man

Worker taking a break in a knife workshop in Siem Reap Cambodia

 

market siem reap

Two Cambodian women selling betel leaves in a local market in Siem Reap Cambodia

 

3- Photography Tours Asia: Discover a Country from a New Perspective

During  a photo tour , you will be guided by a photographer who is always looking for new places and has been living in the area for many months or many years. This considerable asset  will allow  you to have access to some locations out of the beaten path which often are not available during  a “normal” tour. Often,  the photographer has develop some relations with locals, speak some of the language and this will be valuable in people photography. You might have access also to remote locations with tribes or be the witness some local Buddhist ceremonies.

 

siem reap photography tour kids running countryside

Kids plating in paddy fieds in Siem Reap Cambodia

 

 

 

Buddhist ceremony in a local monastery

 

tatoo women myanmar photography tour

Face-tattooed women in a remote village of Myanmar

 

4- Photography Tours Asia: Pushing the Boundaries of Your Photography Equipment

Sometime, at the end of a tour, it happens that some  guests decide to upgrade their camera system or buy  new lenses.   Whether you have a  entry level camera, you will test the limit of your equipment: shooting a low lights with moving subjects in some festivals or in  markets with dimmed lights. You might no get also the nice bokeh you were expecting in your portraits.   Common purchases are wide angle lenses to do architecture shots or a portrait lens.

 

angkor wat circumambulation

Khmer family going around the main tower of Angkor Wat temple

 

angkor wat photography tours night

Angkor Wat under a starry sky before sunrise 

 

5- Meet like-minded people

 

If you take part in a photography tour  with a small group of people especially for few days,  it is likely that you will a blast together, keep in touch and maybe even do another trip together in the future. For many people,  a photo tour remains the highlight of their trip in Asia.

 

 

countryside sunrise photographers

 

 

6- For beginners,  a  quick way to improve your photography

 

Many people start learning  photography by taking theoretical courses in a classroom with little or no practice. During a photography tour, a lot of  the time is spent on hands-on practice and because of on many different situations encountered during the  day (sunrise/sunset, low light, portraits,architecture shots), you are most likely to make long lasting improvement on your photography. You will look after very differently at the triangle of exposure:)

 

silk farm puok cambodia

Silk farm in Siem Reap Cambodia

 

sun star bamboo forest

Bamboo forest with shining sun in Siem Reap Cambodia

 

 

7- Get to the best locations  with the best light

 

Photography is all about light and when exploring a  new place, knowing  the best photographic  spots with the best light  is very difficult even after some prior  extensive research online.  Depending on the destination (cities, archeological parks, national parks), it can take months to know the best shooting locations and the best angles. Even if seasons are not marked so much in South-East Asia, there is an impact  photography.  In Angkor Wat temple for example, the path of the sun is drastically different between June and December making  shots very different depending on the season.

During the monsoon,   your photography leader will  guide you around the locations  to get those nice reflection shots.

 

Panoramic view of Bayon temple in Angkor Thom Cambodia with water reflection. Bayon temple was built late 12th century by Jayavarman VII.

 

angkor wat sunrise reflection

 

devata carvings in Angkor Wat

Beautiful devatas carvings in the temple of Angkor Wat Siem Reap Cambodia at sunrise

 

 

8- Go back home with great pictures

Because you have being in the right locations  with the best  light, and had guidance during your shots, you will be sure  to go  back home with  the best pictures of your holidays. Why not make a coffee table book of your best pictures to show your friends and plan together your next photographic adventures?

 

photo book Cambodia photography tour