Going on a trip and want to make the best out of it by shooting catchy videos for Instagram? I’ve got 10 travel reel ideas to share.
There was once a time when I only had to choose between a picture and a video (16:9 landscape ratio). Thanks to reels, now I’ve to decide if I want to take a picture, shoot a landscape video, shoot a reel size video, or a slow-mo video!
Irrespective of how many times I hit ‘save’ on different reels I come across on the explore feed, when I finally have to shoot it, I’ll spend hours looking for the right idea.
The travel reel ideas listed below are of different kinds. Some of them might need a bit of expertise with handling your phone and editing, while others are quite simple.
Beginners can shoot trendy viral-worthy Instagram reels as well, without the need of editing too much. These ideas work for both phones and a camera.
An expensive camera doesn’t guarantee you great reels. Your phone is good enough too.
Let’s begin?
Take out your notepad and write these down!
Table Of Contents
1. Starting with the easiest one – a timelapse video
Who doesn’t love a beautiful sky?
Capture sunsets, sunrises, traffic on the roads at night, the landscape of the place you’re visiting, and more using time-lapses.
How to shoot a timelapse? You will need a stand for your phone.
Since time-lapse is essentially a video shot on your phone for at least 2 minutes, you need to use a proper stand.
If you hold the phone in your hands for 2 minutes, the video will come out to be jittery. Every small movement is noticeable in a timelapse video.
I use and recommend this gorilla tripod. It’s lightweight and sturdy. You can mount your phone and your camera as well.
Most phones now come with the timelapse as a separate video recording option in their system camera apps. If yours doesn’t have it, it’s okay.
Just shoot a normal video of a duration of about 2-5 minutes. Open the video in the InShot app & increase its speed to 5x or 6x, that’s it!
For best results, pair with calm and peaceful audio.
2. Panning videos
Take steady panning videos, from one side to another to showcase a beautiful wall or location.
The key is to not hurry up. Take it slow, move your hand slowly so that the details are visible clearly.
Add text that reveals the location after the countdown ends to build a sense of suspense and make people keep watching the reel till the end to know the location.
But don’t take too long.
3. A photo dump from your trip
A photo dump reel is a video that has multiple photos or videos from a single trip.
Here’s a tutorial on how to make one.
4. Slow-motion video
Your phone’s camera should have a slow-motion feature for this. Slowing down a normal video in InShot wouldn’t have the same smooth-looking results.
Cinematic LUTs for videos (Set of 3) | Compatible with DaVinci Resolve
Colour-grade videos in a single click!
Install the free version of DaVinci Resolve and start using these LUTs on your videos to give them a cinematic look without compromising their quality
I’ve Sony A7III, and you can shoot slow-motion by switching to the S&Q mode.
Just like timelapse, you should use a tripod for slow-motion videos to ensure that they’re stable.
Shoot a slow-motion when there’s a lot going on in the scene in front of you. The best kind of slow-motion video is when you have got a water body around you!
5. Sitting in a car? Shoot a quick video
Shoot a quick video of 10-15 seconds when you’re in a car getting a ride from one place to another on a trip. This is one of the easiest travel reel ideas to execute.
Hold the phone with both of your hands to get the most stable video possible. If you want to stabilize your video more, you can do that in the Google Photos app on your phone.
Simply open the video in your Google Photos app gallery and click on edit.
6. This one is for the PROS
A reel where you show your happy self on a trip is going to be your best shot at getting more views.
You need to be comfortable shooting videos of yourself at various points in your trip.
Some clips can be taken using the front camera but for some, you will need to ask someone to shoot videos of you strolling, walking, or even sitting at a place.
Shoot at different angles, show different perspectives, go macro, take videos in portrait mode, wide-angle, the more variety you have the better it is.
These clips will come in handy many times. Pair these clips with an upbeat song that’s trending right now and you have got a pro travel reel!
Also Read: VN Video Editing App: Top 5 Features That I Love
7. Make it informative
This type of reel is bound to get a greater number of shares and saves. Pair your video clips with information such as:
- Tourist spots you should visit in a city
- Best places to grab a quick bite
- Process of booking flights for international destinations along with COVID protocols
- Recommend affordable trip ideas
- Recommend a hotel & share details about their services and pricing
Compile all of the videos together and add text over them using an app like InShot. You can import your own fonts to customize the look of your Instagram reels.
If your video clips are colorful and have high contrast, use a label to make your text more visible.
One mistake that most people do is that they don’t let the text stay on the video long enough for the people to read it completely.
My take on this – is either try to write what you want to say in bullet points or mention your point partly in the text on the video and partly in the caption of the post.
8. Share what you’re eating and where
I don’t know about you but for me, food is an important part of my trip. If the food isn’t great, the trip isn’t that successful!
Everyone is a bit of a foodie and it would be a great help if you share a video from the cafe or restaurant you’re eating at.
Shoot a quick video that shows both the cafe’s interiors, the dish you’re ordered, and you yourself.
Make the video more ‘saveable’ by adding the name of the dish and its cost, either on the video or in the caption.
9. The location and the photos
Add a small video of the place at the beginning of the video of you taking pictures. And then show the photos you took one by one.
Keep the duration of the photos up to 1 second. Use trendy transitions between the photos to make it look more catchy.
10. Sit down and get low
This is a video that you can shoot while you’re sitting outdoors in a field, at a beach, or on a bridge-like in the video above.
Start by pointing the camera at your shoes and then slowly pan to the side to reveal the place you’re sitting at.
BONUS IDEA!
Have a few horizontal videos lying around that you can’t seem to use on Instagram reels?
Put them together in a split-screen edit in the 9:16 ratio and it’ll look amazing!
This was very helpful and informative, thank you!