my favorite travel photographer of all time is someone who happens to edit every single photo to make it look a little less realistic and a little more fantastical (is that even a word?)

his name is Trey Ratcliff and he runs the number one travel photography blog called Stuck in Customs (almost 7.5 million followers!).

have you heard of it?  if you said yes, then you are amazing and I like you.  if you said no, well then allow me to introduce you (Jay-Z’s song “Public Service Announcement” immediately came into my head after typing those words. please tell me it happened to you as well).

these photos seem a little too good to be true right?

well they are.  the scenes pictured above are not what Trey originally captured in real life.  but he does not hide the fact that he edits his photos using a process called HDR.  (you can learn how to do it yourself here.)

personally I think this type of travel photography is a-ok.  while it is not an accurate representation of the true scene, it is ok because the photographer is not at all trying to pass it off as real.  this photographer has done more than just merely strengthening the saturation or warmth of a photograph.

so is editing ok just because you state that you have edited the photograph?  what happens when every single photograph of a destination is an edited version of the real thing?  yes, individuals might be disappointed when they visit a place and it’s different, but 20-30 years down the road will these photographs have a tangible effect on the economy of that destination?