Photographs help us to remember some of our favorite memories. Whether it’s our 9th birthday, or the trip to grandma’s house, they allow us to remember the wonderful things we have done in our lives! When it comes to traveling, taking the best pictures will make us want to frame those beautiful memories forever!
Taking a good picture can boil down to just a few simple tips. Find the right perspective, be aware of your light, frame the subject, have fun, and practice! Let’s take a closer look at these helpful points to really understand how they can help us create the most unique travel pictures!
Distance and Perspective
When it comes to taking great photographs, sometimes you’ll have to close the distance between you and your subject. Your zoom can only get so much done without ruining the quality of your photograph, so get as close as you can as safely as you can. Don’t be walking off the edge of the mountain in Norway just to get a picture!
Finding a different perspective will also make your photographs more interesting. Whether you lower yourself more, or get a little higher, finding a new point of view will help your photographs POP!
This is especially true when it comes to taking a picture of you and your friends in front of monuments and tourist sites. You don’t want the same boring picture standing in front of the Louvre that every other tourist has! Get down a little, or try to get some height to get a new angle on your picture!
Find the Light
Lighting is a HUGE part of taking photographs. You don’t want your picture to be too dark, or too bright, or your subject is lit from behind and you can’t even see their face! Make sure you find the light in each photograph!
Use your flash, even during the day! Make sure your portraits are lit from the front, that you can see every detail of the marble sculpture, and that your flash is always on! This will regulate the lighting in your photographs, even during the day.
If you’re interested in backlighting and creating silhouettes with your travel photos, just make sure that you don’t have a blinding light drowning out all of the foreground of the picture! You can also turn off your flash to create this effect. When you go to have your photographs printed, or put on a hello canvas, you’ll find that using the lighting to your advantage will always lead to the best photographs!
Framing
Frame your photograph correctly. No, we don’t mean in an actual frame, we mean while you’re taking the picture itself! Frame it according to the rule of thirds. Here’s a breakdown of what that means:
- Mentally divide your photograph into three horizontal sections and three vertical sections. Or two sets of three sections. 9 parts in all.
- With modern cameras, you can choose to place grid lines on the digital screen. This will set the photo into the 9 segments for you! Just go to your settings and turn on the grid lines option.
- Use the lines to place your subjects on the various lines to create more intricate and unique photographs!
- Use the rule of thirds to frame even the most intricate landscape photographs as well! Using the mountains, rivers, trees, etc. on your lines!
Framing your pictures well, especially with up close portraits, will make for a more dynamic image. If you’re taking a picture of your best friend on the beach in Turks and Caicos, you’ll want to frame the photograph so that the top of their head is close to the top of the picture. Or that the beach is the primary subject, and the horizon is on the top line of your grid. No need for unwanted negative space!
Practice and Have Fun!
Don’t panic if they aren’t perfect! You’re not going to be an expert travel photographer over night! Taking amazing pictures takes practice. Finding the light, using the rule of thirds, finding interesting perspectives, all takes practice!
And don’t forget to HAVE FUN! You can look back on your spectacular photographs knowing you were having an extraordinary time on your travels! Frame your amazing pictures to help you remember your fabulous journeys for the rest of your life!
