Vlogging Tips from Top Travel Vloggers

Last week I shared with you some of my favourite travel vloggers. Since then I’ve been chatting to them to find out what if they have any vlogging tips to share with us.

They’ve come back with some brilliant advice with practical tips and insider secrets that you can only gain through years of travel vlogging.

Dan from This World Rocks

Keep your video clips short and sweet

Remember that you aren’t shooting or making a full-length feature film. People get bored very quickly, and it is easy to lose a viewer’s interest if your videos tend to drag on. This applies not only to the overall length of the video but more importantly to the actual clips within the video. As videographers, we tend to be very keen on all the video we shoot, and we like to assume that everyone is just as interested in our 3-minute clip of us narrating a sunset. In reality, they really only need to see three seconds of that sunset. What I do is try and make all of my videos look, act, feel, and sound like a movie trailer.

Before publishing, watch your video one last time, and shorten or remove any clips where nothing is really happening (like a 30 second clip of the inside of a taxi ride). It is better to have a 2-minute video that packs a punch and leaves people wanting more than a 10-minute video that no one watches more than 2 minutes of. The video I did of our time in China is probably the best example I have of using very short clips to try and keep the video’s pace fast and exciting.

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Jenna from Wander the Map

The one aspect we feel is the most crucial to think about while shooting video is camera stabilization. Think about it–no one wants to get motion sickness from watching your video!

Some easy ways to keep your camera stable are as simple as using a tripod or setting your camera down on a flat surface. Another way to keep you camera still without additional tools is to use your camera strap to apply tension–when you support your camera through the strap and your body, your shots will be smoother than just simply hand holding your camera. Also, using tools such as a steady cam or shoulder mount can help improve the quality of your shots as well.

Sonia Gil from Sonia Travels

Tip: Clean your lens very very often. I can’t tell you how much it suuucks to come back after a day of wonderful filming, and find out that there is a little spot on ALL of your footage. Even if everything looks clear on the screen, remember the motto: Clean, clean, clean your lens.

Cailin from Travel Yourself

A good tip is “audio is extremely important” it can really make or break a video. Whether it’s clear audio taking on camera with no wind or background noise or recorded voice overs that don’t sound tin-ey or the perfect song that just flows with the video all of them can make or break how good a video is no matter the visuals.

Get yourself a good microphone and spend time searching for good music and most importantly only use music that you have the rights too, even if it means you have to spend some money to get those rights it’s worth it in the end.

Nadine from Hey Nadine

Don’t be afraid to get the shot. Most times when I vlog and film myself I feel self conscious, awkward and everyone stares at me. You have to not let that deter you. You don’t know those people, why do you care what they think about you? They don’t know your gonna produce a wicked video from that tiny clip, and if they did they would probably still think your weird, so don’t worry about them. You must get over those fears, practise vlogging in public locally if you feel uncertain. It will eventually come naturally to you, and if not, well that’s what voiceovers are for.

Mark from Migrationology

Be in your videos. Ok, let me expand. People may find your travel videos by searching for a place or a thing, but people will keep watching your videos because of your personality. Through videos, viewers get to know you and can connect with you, in my opinion, much more so than through writing. I’m not saying your entire video should just be of you talking to the camera, overlaying video clips is a good idea, but you should still show yourself and be the unique voice of your videos.
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Booker from Booker Travels

If you’re traveling with multiple people, have everyone film. We usually travel as a 3-person crew, and while we have a professional camera as the “mother camera,” we also use a second DSLR, a go-pro, and even smartphones with filters to film our activities. Although you can put different filters and looks on your footage in post, different camera formats add great layers to your material, and having the camera work be a group activity makes filming fun and more experiential on the go.

Also, on a conceptual level, immersing yourself in the local culture makes every trip unique; whether it’s staying at a local home or going to a local market, make yourself open to meeting people, trying new things, and seeing a hidden side of that place through your experience. This goes for everyone, not just video bloggers, but when you become a part of your surroundings you are able to pick up on details of that culture that not many outsiders see, making your video stand out from the rest.

If you’d like to read more travel vlogging tips, check out this post on the Travel Massive blog by Greg Brand from Travizeo: Video Tips from Travizeo There are some really useful tips here!

If you have any more tips of questions, let us know in the comments below.

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Birendra Duwadi

Sunday 17th of February 2019

Wonderful. Thank you so much, its really great vlogging tips. I was in search of such information. Thanks for sharing.

Namsan

Tuesday 2nd of October 2018

Wow ! Thanks so much for these tips! I tend to keep my videos between 3 – 5 minutes in length. Sometimes I go overboard but that’s because there’s just so much to talk about!!! When it gets to 6 minutes, I have to make a judgement call if it’s something I can slice in half and make it a 2 part series. !

Julex

Monday 10th of July 2017

Awesome tips to consider. Thanks for sharing. <3

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