How to Take Better Vacation Photos

Someone requested that I make a post on taking vacation photos. I hope this helps!

How many times have you looked through your vacation photos and picture after picture is of a person standing in the middle of the photo (blocking the background so you can’t tell where it was taken), squinting through the sunlight with a dark shadow (from a baseball cap) hiding their face, grinning (uncomfortably) at the camera? How many times have you shown your vacation photos to friends, with a running commentary the entire time because the photos just don’t tell enough of the story? Here are some photo-tips to help.

Taken with self-timer, I rested the camera on a granite slab.

1. Get familiar with your camera. Read the manual and play with it before your vacation. Learn what all the dials do and how they can help you take the best possible photo. Learn how to use the self-timer.

In the example on the right, I used the self-timer because there was no one around to ask for assistance.

2. Use the Rule of Thirds. Using the same picture on the right, I positioned us on the far side of the frame because I didn’t want to block the landscape. If we had been in the middle of the frame, we would have blocked the desert scape and missed the opportunity to capture the feeling of that location. For more information on positioning and composition, check out my post on The Rule of Thirds and The Horizon Line.

3. Use a tripod. Using the same example on the right . . . sure, my composition is interesting . . . yes, I captured the feeling of the desert . . . yes, the photo tells a story . . . but the fact that the image is skewed ruins the photo. If you’re using a small point and shoot on vacation, then bring a lightweight, inexpensive tripod to use on uneven surfaces and avoid mistakes like this.

4 . Be aware of distractions in the frame. I hate it when a stop sign sneaks into one of my photos. Move yourself or your subject to avoid clutter and distracting shapes, colors, objects, etc. Also, make sure that you don’t have anything directly behind your people that will look like an extension of them. Ever seen those photos that looks like there’s a tree growing out of the top of someone’s head?

An action shot, photographed from above.

5. Take candid photos (in addition to the hard-to-resist posed photos). We can’t avoid taking the posed photos, but we can avoid having all our vacation photos looking the same. Snap a picture when people are engaged and ignoring the camera. People tend to tense up, force a smile, suck in their guts and look less than natural when they know you’re pointing a camera at them. So, catch them when they’re unaware but be respectful. Ask yourself if you would mind your photo being taken in that situation. If the answer is yes, then lower the camera and wait for a better opportunity.

Posed, but interacting with the scene.

—5a. Take action shots.
—5b. Take photos of people interacting with the scene.

6. Get creative with your poses. Switch it up with some new poses so that all the posed pictures won’t look the same.

7. Position things dynamically by moving your position and angle. For more on this topic, check out my post on The Line as a Design Element. By arranging your compositions, or your placement of people in your photograph, you can create more dynamic images. Shoot at the base of a building, looking up to the sky, instead of shooting the building head on. Move around, squat down, view your subject from the side (not just head-on) hold the camera vertically (not just horizontally).

8. Get close to capture more detail. You don’t necessarily have to show the entire structure to get your point across. By getting closer, you can learn a lot about your subject. Also, getting closer may reveal some great textures that you would have otherwise missed.

This hiker gives the Death Valley landscape a sense of scale.

9. Show scale by including a person in your photo. Without a reference point, it’s very difficult to decipher the size of something in a photograph. When you’re photographing small objects, like a stone, set a quarter next to it for a frame of reference. In this case, the hiker was a perfect way to show scale.

10.Keep the sun at your back when possible. It’s not always possible do this. And, if you can’t, then use a fill flash to help open those shadows. For example, if you’re taking a photo of your father who’s standing with his back to the sun, then you will get a silhouette of him. There will be very little discernible detail in his face. Using your flash, you can light his face so that you can actually see him smile.

But, try to avoid scenarios like this because on camera flash does not create a flattering light. So, Avoid using flash.

11. The best time of day to shoot people, outside, is before 10 am and after 2 pm (or 4 pm during the summer months). The light is much softer at those hours and much more flattering for people. It’s also better for photographing scenes and landscapes because you won’t have dark shadows and bright white highlights.

What if it’s noon and I have to take the picture?

If possible, position people in the shade. You’ll get better skin tones, more flattering light and more natural looking postures (because they won’t be uncomfortably squinting into the hot sun). What if there’s not enough shade to fit everyone? Then either break the group into multiple photos or get everyone into the sun. Avoid having some of your people in sunlight and others in shade. Keeping the lighting even on all people will create much better photos. Have you ever seen a photo with half the people in shadow and half in sun? Those in the sun end up looking pale and squinty, while the ones in the shade are a little too dark.

12. Break the rules. It’s important to learn these guidelines because they’ll get you thinking while you’re taking a photograph, instead of just snapping away. There will be times when you want to break the rules and deliberately center something in the frame. Or, in the case of the ruins photograph above, shoot into the sun. Remember, rules are made to be broken – especially if you want to get artsy.

Additional Photos:

Instead of shooting this Mine from the front, I moved to the side to create a more dynamic photo, through the use of diagonal lines.

The people give this cabin scale.

I laid on my back to take a more dynamic photo.

Take photos of people interacting with the scene.

A silly pose, and interaction in the scene, makes this a fun vacation photo.

Show a sense of scale by including a person in your photo.

Interact and get creative with poses.