For me, the professional travel images are referring to the photos taken for travel destinations in professional ways using the high-end cameras and tools and then will be edited in high quality post-processing steps. For the end result, what your eyes will see when visiting the destinations will be so much different compared to the previous images you have seen before.
The professional travel images aren’t only limited to the destinations but also to the other relevant businesses such as travel attractions and things to do, accommodation offers, restaurants and more.
It has been our common sense that no matter how magical the images are displayed, our brain is actually telling us that what you see is not really what you will get. Look, I have never seen a glowing atmosphere and condition when I was visited a beach before, nor the skies or landscape are in high dynamic range (HDR effect) in reality. No such things I have been experienced before. See the before (left) and after image below.
But, we are actually realised that the images must have been edited to get more engagements through the people who are seeing it and will also a great way of marketing asset to attracting more travellers for visiting the destinations or experiencing the tourism related businesses.
I am writing this and suggesting you to aware of the professional travel images for a reason. My last weekend ago, I was visiting the Penglipuran village in Bali as one of the most attracted traditional villages in Bali. If I am not getting it wrong, it is also one of the cleanest village in Indonesia or could be the world?
The village is actually unique which is why I am in loves with it. All of the architecture of the buildings are still following the traditions and each land plots are informing the different families divided by the wall as the plot’s border. You can even know how many families are in each land plots since the information is written on every gates of the land as the main entrance to the houses.
The thing that put me in sorrow and was feeling disappointed is the length of the village itself. When I was seeing the village’s images before, it seemed to be a pretty much long village to walked through. In fact, it is not. You can even reach from both ends in just 2 minutes.
I know that I have too much and high expectations for the village through the professional travel images I have been accessed before that led me to thinking about how stupid I am. But seriously, it all is not my own mistake. The village is still unique and I will recommending you to pay a visit, but it is better to find the real images that are close to reality. Just find the amateur Instagram users that are uploading the images without applied a single filter before or read a review about the village because there may some reviewers will also uploading the images that have not been edited before.
Professional travel images are important especially for the businessmen or the village community when promoting the destinations and attractions. But when they are encouraging the travellers to expect more of what they could see, I think that starting from now on, we should have been aware of the professional images.
