SIMPLE HACKS TO TAKE BETTER TRAVEL PHOTOS ON YOUR PHONE
I am not an expert by any means, I started out as an average tourist taking average photos. Over the years I gradually picked up ideas and tips to take better photos, to the point now where people always rave about my photos on social media. I still just take photos of my travels on my phone, with no camera equipment, using a simple free editing app called Snapseed. This app helps with some of the things I am going to tell you about below. However, most of the newer phones have these editing features built in.
1. Turn the grid lines on your camera to help with the Rule of Thirds.
The Rule of Thirds is a technique in photography where you divide your picture into nine equal parts using imaginary lines. You then position important elements of your photo along these lines or at the points where they intersect. Many photographers find this method helpful because it gives their photos structure and makes them look better. So basically, it's about placing your subjects a little off-centre to make your photos more interesting. You find the grid lines in the settings of your camera on your phone.
Photo 1: The gondola is in bottom 3rd and off centre, bridge in middle and sky in the top section.
Photo 2: Gondolas off centre in bottom 3rd, buildings in middle and sky at the top.
Photo 3: The spritz is located on the cross points, grass in middle and lake and sky in top section.
Photo 4: Flowers on the intersection point of grid lines.
2. Horizon and Background
OMG! This simple thing makes a HUGE difference! Make sure your horizon (or other background elements - like buildings etc) are STRAIGHT. I know that sounds simple, but when I first read about how many people don’t do this, I went straight to my photo albums to check out mine - and to my horror quite a few of my pics had crooked or tilted horizons! I hadn’t even noticed – but when you know – you know. So, check your horizons people. You can use the grid lines on your phone to help or use the function in Snapseed app called rotate.
Photo 1: This is an example of a crooked horizon.
Photo 2: Then I straightened it using my in-phone editing tools
Photo 3: This is the before photo with no editing
Photo 4: Cropped, brightened up and horizon straight
3. Framing Your View
I like to find a tree, flowers, an archway or something else that makes a feature or a frame in the photo. Sometimes it can be a lot of foliage and other times just a subtle amount. You can see four examples of my photos using my framing method below.
Photo1: Just a few branches across the top
Photo 2: Framing can be at the bottom
Photo 3: You can use framing on the sides as well
Photo 4: Trees enhance this surf club building
4. Find the Angles
When I take a photo that includes a path, river, or beach etc, I try to make it at an angle that adds a bit of movement and interest to the photo. It leads the eye on a journey through the scene. I also try and make sure the path (etc) doesn’t start exactly in the middle of the frame. As you can see in the pictures below, the paths (etc) are just off-centre and lead the eye towards the main part of the picture.
Photo 1: Your eye follows the angle of the water
Photo 2: Here you can follow the river across to the sunset
Photo 3: This picture is more interesting with the angle of the umbrellas
Photo 4: Lots of interest here with straight horizon, but angled beach
5. Portrait or Landscape?
I take 99% of my photos in portrait aspect. I do this because it is the best for using on social media and on my website. If you look at your photos – or others – on Facebook, you will see what I mean. Portrait photos definitely show more and are much easier to look at as a viewer, especially on mobile devices. Portrait aspect is also the best for short form videos to upload to social media as well.
6. Editing Photos
As I mentioned before, I use a free app called Snapseed, but I think most of the functions I use are now available in your photo editor in your camera. There are two main things I do to edit my photos: 1. I always crop my photos to the 5:4 ratio – as this is best for social media. I sometimes crop them a bit more to remove some of the background as well.
2. If you are game, have a play around with the brightness, saturation, and shadow features on your photo. I don’t always use them, but I find these three features help brighten some dull photos. Don’t overdo it though – try to keep them looking natural.
Photo 1: Original picture - nice colours and looks nice, but with a few tweaks ...
Photo 2: You have a better photo. Straight horizon, rule of thirds and bit lighter
Photo 3: This is the original photo - not bad but after a bit of editing and cropping
Photo 4: It now looks like this. I straightened the horizon, lightened it and used rule of 3rds
Bonus Tip 1
If you are zooming in when taking a photo – don’t use your fingers on the screen to zoom. Always use the numbers at the bottom of the screen to do the zoom e.g. x2, x5 etc. This makes the picture clearer – I’m not sure why – but try it – you will be surprised.
Bonus Tip 2
Find scenes that have reflections and make sure to capture the whole reflection.
Photo 1: Golden hour (sunset and sunrise) are great times for reflections.
Photo 2: A still, sunny day can be another time to capture the best reflections.
Photo 3: Cloudy days make for chances to capture moody reflections.
Photo 4: Sometimes finding a feature that is reflected like the jetty above is enough reflection.
Bonus Tip 3
I once heard someone say that if you only take photos of scenery, then they are just like a postcard. When looking back over my photos, the ones I love the most always have people in them. Try to take photos of yourself, family and friends in creative ways. Some can be serious, funny or action. Postcards are great, but for memories and social media you need something social: people.
Photo 1: Try to include the background view when you can.
Photo 2: This would just be a nice picture of a big fish without Lyle.
Photo 3: We receive the most comments on our silly photos
Photo 4: I love capturing my family enjoying themselves
Final thoughts:
I hope you give these tips a try in your travel photos - and if you do, please tag me @beachtravelwine on Instagram or @beachtravelwinepodcast on Facebook. I would love to see your travel pics too.
You can see all my travel photos by clicking the button below to the podcast page. It has all the blogs with pictures to everywhere we have podcasted about around the world.
Keep an eye out in your inbox for a couple of my favourite travel pics each week from somewhere around the world as Lyle and I continue our travels.
If you would like to download the PDF versions of this guide - there are two parts - as the file size is large - (you don’t need to enter another email) then click the buttons below.