What makes an unforgettable travel photo? And how is an unforgettable travel photo made? To find the secrets behind that once-in-a-lifetime shot, we turned to the folks who know best. The photographers featured here are ones whose images have appeared in the pages and on the covers of Travel + Leisure and other magazines the world over. We spoke to them about the process of capturing each of the shots ahead—and while high-end gear and meticulous shoot setups are often part of the equation, you'll also find that experimentation and a willingness to learn are vital, no matter your skill level. Read on for a master class in capturing the perfect shot.
Manhattan-henge
42nd Street, New York City
Gear: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Settings: 640 ISO, f/4, 1/100 second exposure
"What I found appealing here was not the sun aligning with the cross streets but how people reacted. I like that the photo tells you as much about the people and the city as it does the event. I climbed up on a bridge to take this shot—it's always good to explore a different angle. I think with social media people get bombarded with certain images of a place, then when they go there they think, I have to take the exact same picture in the same light at the same angle to prove I've been here. When you change that — that's when things get interesting." —Tobias Hutzler
Swing Carousel
Tibidabo Park, Barcelona
Gear: Nikon D7000, 17–55 mm f/2.8 lens
Settings: 250 ISO, f/7.1, 1/1000 second exposure
"I was shooting into the sun, so to capture the people on the swings, I had to overexpose the image. I used a high shutter speed since the ride was moving so fast. The motion made it hard to predict each shot, so I took multiple frames in quick succession, then selected the best one later." —Adriaan Louw
Moonlight in the Alps
Near Le Grand-Bornand, Haute-Savoie, France
Gear: Linhof Master Technika, Schneider 135 mm lens, Gitzo carbon tripod
Settings: 160 ISO, f/8, 7-minute exposure
"This was shot in the French Alps as part of a series I did called "Full Moon," which features moonlit landscapes. I was staying at a ski resort and decided to go shoot by a nearby frozen lake. I wanted to get very sharp details and capture a lot of different tonalities despite the dark, so I shot this series on a large-format camera, and I used a low-ISO film so the photo wouldn't appear grainy. When you're doing a very long exposure like this, you need a tripod and a night with no wind — even a little tremble will cause a blurred image." —Roberto Frankenberg
Taj Mahal Palace Hotel
Mumbai
Gear: Toyo 4x5 field camera, 120 mm lens, Gitzo tripod, hot-shoe cube level
Settings: 100 ISO, f/45, 2-minute exposure
"This staircase caught my eye because it looks like a jewelry box. The most important thing for a shot like this is to have a little cube level for your camera, so you can line it up straight. It'll change the way you shoot dramatically. When you just rely on editing to level your shot, you lose part of the image — you have to crop it, and you lose data. You have the most control when you are setting up a photograph, not when you're editing it later." —Joaquin Trujillo
Rodez Cathedral
Rodez, France
Gear: Canon EOS 5D Mark III, 24 mm tilt-shift lens
Settings: 100 ISO, f/16, 4-second exposure
"I always go into churches — I think French Gothic architecture is sublime. There's not a lot of adornment, so photographing a cathedral is all about angles. You have to consider the shape — usually shooting down or across the nave. It's important to get the ceiling and floor to capture the scale. I used a tilt-shift lens so I could get that wider angle with little distortion." —Simon Watson
Salar de Uyuni
Daniel Campos, Bolivia
Gear: Linhof 4x5 Technikardan, Rodenstock 135 mm f/5.6 Apo-Sironar-S lens, Gitzo Series 3 tripod
Settings: 100 ISO, f/32, 1/8 second exposure
"I like compositions that feel balanced, so I'll play with shapes or lines or colors until it feels right. I try to break down the elements of the photo in an abstract way — not just as sky, salt, cactus, rocks — and I'll switch up where I frame the horizon, or do landscapes that are vertical instead of horizontal." —Stefan Ruiz
Shaman and Apprentice
Otovalo, Ecuador
Gear: Hasselblad 503CW with a Phase One P45+ digital back, 120 mm lens, two Profoto D1 strobes, ring flash
Settings: 100 ISO, f/5.6, 1/250 second exposure
"This shaman was going through her routine, but it was almost pitch-black in the area of her house where she performs the cleansings. I set up my lights and asked her to go through the routine slowly. I used strobe lighting so the setting would feel authentic. As part of her ritual, she had a lit cigarette reversed — she was blowing the smoke out through the filter. Capturing smoke with the flash is tricky — it can get washed out with too much light. You have to time it well so the cloud is as dense as possible." —Ian Allen
