Going on holidays and coming back with no good photos to show? Well, you may as well not have gone, right?
Whether you’re using a fancy SLR or just your phone camera, here’s 10 tips to take killer holiday photos.
- Rise and shine! Goooooood morning! That’s right, get up early. Make the most of the magic that is early light with the added bonus of avoiding crowds and getting that perfect landscape or action shot all to yourself.
- CROP don’t Zoom. If you’re on your phone, don’t use digital zoom as it results in a loss of quality. Take a full photo and crop later.
- Shoot moments, not poses. It looks more natural and captures the energy realistically. Look out for those little instances you’ll want to remember in years to come, it’s as much about creating an image as capturing it.
- Change your viewpoint. Usually we take photos from eye-level because that is the most natural position. However, interesting angles can really add to a photo. Next time try moving the camera up or down, or even above your head or on the ground. This is particularly important when photographing kids or animals.
- If you’re on an iPhone, trash the flash. It’s a glorified led flashlight, nobody wants to see themselves in those photos.
- Clean your lens. We’re always holding our phones, so there’s bound to be some chip grease from your lunch on there. Get into the habit of giving the lens a quick wipe before taking any shot or risk ruining the perfect pic!
- Don’t add fake blur in apps. We love a good filter as much as the next person but this will look bad, trust us. It’s applied uniformly which is not the way a lens works, so it looks unnatural.
- Edit, don’t filter. Speaking of filters… Part of getting a good photo is the production stage. If you edit individual components, you’ll get a nicer finish that boosts your photos unique qualities. A few apps we recommend are vsco, pixlr, or even Instagram’s on-platform functionality.
- Have people in your photos, including yourself! This gives life and proportion to your images.
- Know when to put your camera down. Make sure you still enjoy the holiday! There’s a time for everything, don’t be too click-heavy as you’ll end up missing out on the special moments.