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For whatever reason, when many of us travel, we find ourselves automatically taking standard, posed – dare we say boring – photographs.
Even those of us who are fairly adventurous with our day-to-day snapshots can fall into the trap of taking images that do little more than offer proof that “We were there.”
That’s an important part of taking travel photos, of course – deep down, we all want to be able to prove to ourselves that we took that exciting trip.
But if you’re someone who likes sharing your photos with friends and family, whether through social media, during family get-togethers, or on your Nixplay WiFi Cloud digital frame, then you may want to liven things up a little bit.
These tips will help you take those vacation photos to another, more exciting, level.
Skip the poses – most of the time.
Now, there are some landmarks that just beg for posed pictures of you and your family. The Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Canyon, Stonehenge – there’s nothing wrong with gathering your travel companions together and getting a shot of all of you smiling at the camera in front of these iconic locations. In fact, if you don’t do that, you’ll likely end up wishing you had!
But during the rest of your trip, consider focusing more on capturing the natural, candid moments that occur. Doing this will not only make for more interesting photos. It will also let you better capture how the trip actually felt, and how you spent your days.
Include people in your shots.
While photos of beautiful scenery have a certain appeal, they’re not a very interesting way to illustrate your recent vacation.
Shots that include people, on the other hand, give your viewers a place to anchor their eyes – especially if they’re people from your group. So instead of taking a picture just of that waterfall, try taking a candid shot of your son or daughter looking at the waterfall, or pointing out one of its incredible features.
Of course, you don’t have to take photos of only the people in your group. Including images of local people will give your photos a real sense of place.
Take decent selfies.
However you may feel about selfies, they’ve become a quintessential way to document the places we go.
When it comes to travel selfies, a good rule of thumb is to try to include as much background as possible. After all, you’re in a new, beautiful place – why not let it shine through in your selfies, as well as in the other photos you take?
An effective way to accomplish this is to place yourself off to the side, so that the setting you’re in is still visible. Some people opt for placing themselves low in the frame, but that usually doesn’t capture very flattering images.
Include identifying markers – signs, landmarks, etc. – to remind yourself of where you took the photo.
While you can always turn on the geotagging feature on your smartphone camera so you know where you took each photo, a less technological approach is to include something in the picture that will remind you of where you were and what you were doing.
Did you catch an amazing sunrise while drinking coffee at a charming beach cafe? Try including your coffee mug, or the cafe’s awning, in your shot so you remember which sunrise you were looking at.
Did you see a gorgeous vista while driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway? Make sure you include that rustic mile marker sign, or that highly distinguishable mountain peak in your photo, too.
Taking great travel photographs is an art, and we don’t always get it right. The good news? You can always go back and make your photos a bit better with some subtle photo editing. Read our post “How to Make Your Smartphone Photos Look (Almost) Professional” for tips!
Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.
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