Taking great holiday photos isn’t all about having the best camera or going to the most exotic locations. You too can take great holiday photos with your phone or compact camera with a few simple tricks.
Compose with Care
Whenever you take a photograph it’s worth spending a few seconds thinking about the composition of the final picture. Make sure your scene has a point of interest, offset this from the centre to make a more pleasing picture. Use lines of roads, paths or fences to lead the eye to the point of interest. You can find out more about composition in my post Take Better Pictures a Guide to Composition.
Check your Background
Once you’ve got the composition you want take a good look round the edges of the image. Also have a look at the background behind your subject or group, to make sure there’s nothing intruding that you don’t want in shot.
Get a Different Perspective
Don’t just walk up the the front of a subject and take a straight on shot, everyone does that. Get down low, get up high, move to the side to get a different and more interesting angle on your subject. An easy way to find out what the common views are in an area is to have a look at postcards on sale in the area.
Be Spontaneous
Not all holiday photos should be staged. Some of the best pictures can be had when people are concentrating on something else. This is particularly useful when taking photos of children, so make sure you have your camera or phone ready to capture the moment. You can read more tips on photographing children in my post How to Take Great Pictures of your Kids.
The More the Merrier
Gone are the days when you were limited to 24 or 36 frames to last you whole holiday. Take full advantage of digital technology and take lots of pictures; different angles, different orientations of the camera and multiple shots. This is especially important if you are photographing a group of people, to make sure you have one with everyone paying attention and with their eyes open.
Edit Edit Edit!
By editing I don’t mean you have to become a wiz at Photoshop, though there’s nothing to stop you getting all creative if you want. What I mean by editing is that before you present your pictures to friends and family, take some time to review what you’ve taken and only show them your best work. Your friends and family will thank you for only showing them the edited highlights.
If you do need make a few tweaks to your photos to; to straighten up a wonky horizon or edit out random background distractions there are a whole range of free apps available for your phone or computer and even a few online sites that can help.