Travel photos serve as memories of adventures one has had in their lives. The individual enjoyed the moment so much that they wanted to capture it to share with their friends, family and future selves. Although captured, the photos are often not captured with quality. Most travel photos are taken by overworked, overstressed families that just want to relax and unwind. With that said, it becomes reasonable that people do not take the time to ensure quality photos. The person taking the photo does not need it to be quality because they lived it and can remember it. The following tips are for those photographers who want pictures that will impress and stun:
Get as close as possible
Everyone has seen a vacation photo where the photo is taken from so far away that it is not clear what the person is trying to capture. The closer you are to the object or person being photographed the more detail will be expressed. Most basic digital cameras and phones have a zoom function.
Adjust the lighting
Photos taken at different times of the day are going to have different degrees of natural light, especially beautiful portraits of a sunrise or a sunset. Most phones and cameras have an auto-adjust feature that does this part for you. Sometimes, however, the auto-adjust does not always do a very good job. So it is important to know how to adjust the light yourself. For more light in the photo turn on the flash or take the picture facing the sun. For less light turn off the flash or take the photo facing away from the sun. Several photos might be necessary since this can be tricky for amateur photographers.
Make sure the object is in focus
Sometimes photos come out blurry because the desired object was not in focus. On phones and cameras, it is as simple as holding down the shutter button for a few seconds until the photo is taken. On the screen, it is very clear when something is not in focus or not.
Do not pose in the photo
Although non-traditional, not posing in the photo creates a more natural feeling. One can capture many more emotions this way. Most people smile in photos because they want the photo to look nice. A smile does not mean the individual is having a good time. Furthermore, I believe not posing captures the person as they really are with nothing fake or cheesy about it.
Add a filter and add a caption
This applies mainly to smartphone photographers. Sometimes taking a photo several times to get it perfect is too much work or we are in a rush. A filter can move the emphasis of the photo so it lessens the effects of a photo out of focus. Memory has a tendency to fade over time so adding a caption serves as a short reminder as to what is going on in the photo. This fixes the problem of a photo being taken from too far away when getting close is not an option.
Most important, never let a bad photo ruin a beautiful vacation. Do not stress too much about getting that perfect photo because no photo is perfect.