Getting Started with PhotoTraces and Travel Photography

I am Viktor Elizarov, the founder of PhotoTraces.com. If you share my passion for landscape and travel photography and you want to improve your skills by learning different aspects of the trade, this page is for you.

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Today, in the era of globalization, travel has become more accessible to everyone, photography equipment is more affordable than ever, and the internet is full of learning resources. Even with this, travel photography can still be overwhelming when you are just starting and want to take your passion to a new level or make it more than just a hobby.

I believe that most of this frustration comes from the remarkable number of choices in photography equipment, editing tools, processing techniques, and learning resources. When you start, it is not always obvious what is an essential part of the learning process and what is not.

My goal is to simplify the process of learning travel photography by providing only essential and high-quality learning and inspirational resources.

Most Popular Resources on PhotoTraces.com

In recent years, Lightroom has become the most important tool for any type of photographer. These days, it is more useful and effective than Photoshop. Lightroom covers three crucial aspects of photography: Photo Organization, Photo Editing, and Publishing. If I had to choose the only tool to recommend to a beginner, it would be Lightroom.

It is no wonder, that the most popular resource on my blog is my Free Lightroom Preset Collection.

This collection represents 10 years of my experience in editing and processing photos and reflects my personal style and my artistic vision. Just download the collection, and I promise that it will help you to improve your photography, and save time on processing but, most importantly, it will demonstrate how I approach the process of editing photos. And, if you need further help, the collection comes with a tutorial.

Free Lightroom Presets

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Lightroom Tutorials

Photography Basics

Case Studies

Finding the Perfect Destination

One of my main goals as a travel photographer is to discover amazing destinations worldwide and share them with my blog followers. First, check the DESTINATIONS section of the blog, where I feature some of the most interesting locations I have been privileged to visit and photograph.

Most Popular Photo Destinations

Photography Tips

“Deconstructing Photo” Blog Posts

When I publish a new photo to my blog with a detailed breakdown of how it was taken and edited, it goes into the “Deconstructing Photo” category. I have learned that the readers’ most popular feature of these posts is the Before & After demonstrations.

  • Golden City (San Francisco)
  • Rio De Ca’Tron in Venice (Italy)
  • Sunrise Over the South Shore of O’ahu (Hawaii)
  • The Tree Stub at Cypress Cove in Point Lobos (California)
  • Sunrise Over Kailua (Hawaii)
  • Climbing the Sugarloaf at Montmorency Falls (Canada)

Photography Equipment

If you check any photography publication (web or print), everyone wants to sell you a new piece of equipment. Camera manufacturers spent years trying to convince beginners that “you are as good as your photography equipment,” which is absolutely far from the truth. My opinion is that photography equipment is the least important part of the equation when you are just starting.