Is Your Travel Photography Fit For The Graveyard or Scotland Yard?

TravelLifestyle

Apr 13

Written By Andrea | Chapter 50

travel photography with iphone, small town travel

Janice + Her Travel Photography Bloopers

Poor Janice - she takes travel photos on EVERY. SINGLE. VACATION…

…but when she opens up the phone album to share her latest trip, it’s a graveyard of

“No, it’s not a ladder, it’s Chichén-Itzá” {blurry}
“If you look past my nostrils, you can see the London Eye” {unflattering zooming}
“No, you can’t catch jaundice in the Las Vegas casinos” {yellow skin in bad light}

Does your camera roll resemble Janice and look like a graveyard of poorly lit + poorly framed phone pics?

You don’t even bother snapping photos with your phone – what’s the point?

We can tweak those photo snaps so you have memories on your camera roll that people recognize as people, and not a four-handed-person, animal, octopus waving at the camera. 🤷🏻‍♀️

{Wait, is that a person or a chimpanzee lunging at your window in that photo?!}

If they have to ask, it’s probably not your finest work of cell-phone-photo-art.📷

Professional photographer turned iPhone-ographer for Travels

{And I invent words}

After traveling for years with my big girl camera – and begging everyone I was with to carry my shoulder-boulder after a few hours – it was time to go minimal for my photo snappings.

If you’re a camera-phone-only-traveler + delete 14 out of the 17 photos you take, then stick with me…

I have five tips to MAKE YOUR PHOTOS INSTANTLY BETTER!

Tips are where it’s at!

Plus some practice.

Plus playfulness to look a little silly.

Life’s too short to not have some silliness added into the day.

5 Tips For Better Travel Photography

Here are five iPhone photography tips that are so simple, even a selfie-obsessed llama could master them {and they don’t even have opposable thumbs}::

Clean your lens (ideally with a soft cloth, but inside of your shirt works too).
Find good lighting (but don't stare directly into the sun).
Experiment with different angles (even if it means getting down on all fours – the llama can do this one with ease – I think it can right⁇).
Use the grid feature (crooked horizons aren’t art – they’re just wonky).
Don't over-edit (unless you like a radioactive alien look - in the instance, YOU DO YOU😉).

Let's break down these five and turn you into the Ansel Adams of iPhone photography…well, not Ansel per se, but someone who can capture travel – or the everyday – photo moments that make you smile instead of cringe

Lighting

Lighting is the créme de la créme, raspberry cheesecake topper, and overall essential to getting a good photo.

The best lighting is during the “golden hours” - the period just after sunrise or just before sunset when the light is softer and warmer.

If you're shooting indoors or in low-light conditions, try using window light or shadows to your advantage.

Face the light source to sparkle the eyes
Light from behind for a shadowed affect

Full Sunlight

Tours, sight-seeing, and all the other fun stuff is in the middle of the day…the sun is shining its biggest + brightest, AND directly over the top of your head. No bueno for getting great travel photos.

But there are work-arounds to full sun shots on those tour days.

Tricks to full-sun photos

Photos with sunglasses {no dark eyes or squinters that way}
Use the shade of tall buildings/overhangs to block harsh direct sun
Use your sun hat to shade or creatively block the sun off your face

Tap your screen {Focus & Light}

By tapping on your screen, you’ll bring up two easy fixes for your pictures::

Focus feature - a yellow box appears & whatever’s inside is most in-focus
Light - ☀️ Sun icon pops up next to the focus box {slide the ☀️ up or down to change exposure}

Angles

Your never-ending high school geometry class…Geometry angles and triangles follow you forever.

Another fun way to up your photo game is to play with different angles and triangles.

high - low - really low {like “lay on the ground” kinda low}
up close & personal or give the full view
“if it bends, bend it” arms, elbows, knees…angles add interest {pretty sure even Flat Stanley used angles. No dimension, but he bent his knees, and elbows😄}

Try this fun trick next time you want the full view::

Your travels take you to “oui-oui Paris”. And today you’re standing in front of Notre Dame Cathedral and want a photo in front of all of it.

Turn your phone upside down so the lens is close to the ground and angled slightly upward to the tippy-top of the spires.

This way, you can get your people AND the tippy-top of the Cathedral in your travel photos.

Get on the Grid

Open your camera settings and turn on grid view. Every time you open your phone camera, the grid will pop up and help you align your shots.

Beach photography:: Next time you want the sunset shot on the beach, you can get your horizon on a straight {grid} line.

In your iPhone settings:: Setting > Camera > Grid {slide it on}

The grid gives you the Rule of Thirds also.

Play with putting the most important piece {a building, human, seal, rock, mermaid} on one of those intersecting grid lines - upper half, lower half, or smack-dab in the middle.

pink readers, grid line photo, better photography — Practice by moving your phone around to place your subject in different spots on your grid. See which you like best and keep that one.

Avoid the Alien Edits

Editing should enhance your photos, not turn your skin into silly-putty or add glowing eyes that look like they’ll shoot lasers at any second.

Unless you’re shooting for a sci-fi movie, then of course alien eyes make complete sense.

You can use editing apps, but your iPhone has some decent quick edits to use in your travel photography.

Try these Two Easy iPhone Edits in your Travel Photos::

Your Basic Two-Step💃🏼🕺🏼

Open the photo & click “edit” {top right}
Bottom of the screen gives you options to adjust your photo

Tap on “auto” and the adjustments are made for you. Then, slide over to the “sharpen” icon and raise it to 18-20, click save, and done!

Tailored Four-Step Adjustment

Click on the overlapping circles on the bottom middle of the screen
Brings up specific edit actions. Slide from “original” to “vivid”
Move the slider down between 45-65 depending on how crisp/vivid you want your colors
This edit works best on your outdoor travel shots
Sharpen to 18-20

These easy in-app edits will take 6, maybe 8, seconds {once you find where the clicks are}.🤔

Use editing apps to bring out highlights and shadows {lights and darks}, sharpen details in the picture, and, when you start to get photo-finessed, add a click – or 2 – of your own creative flair.

Take your iPhone travel photography from ordinary to extraordinary!

You’ll be resurrecting your travel photos from your camera roll graveyard and be ready for the Scotland Yard forensics team with some snapping practice.

This could be your new passion, hobby, or, who knows…Sherlock Holmes’ photo assistant?

Sign up for the Mid Life Refresh Newsletter and see what other passions you’ll find in the middle chapter of life {+ a few shenanigans along the way}.

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Join the Passion-filled list today!

View on for two more Mid Life Refreshments in your photography travels::

Which is your favorite – Traveling small towns or Big Cities?

💖xo Andrea

✈️In-flight insomniac since 2002
😵‍💫Queasy at the sight of vitamin jars stuffed with cotton🤢
📸Suspicious of cell phones with less than 12 photos in the camera roll