Tips for Taking Great Holiday Photos With Your Phone

Now this is entirely up to you! Some ideas are to look for things that pique your interest. Using colour always makes for good holiday photos. You could even edit the photo when you get home to highlight a specific colour. Or leave only an object or the person in your photograph in colour which will also draw focus.

Alternatively, try and look for symmetry around you. Photos of puddles showing the reflection of a building are interesting and draw attention. There is symmetry everywhere, in reflections, in architecture, or even in the landscape. Try and utilise this to get a truly one-of-a-kind picture.

There are several apps you can get that will help you edit your holiday photos. Adobe Lightroom has a free version that gives several tools and filters, enough to make the perfect holiday photos. A little goes a long way here, even tweaking some of the settings can make all the difference. Be careful though, too much editing can make the pictures look fake!

Some phones have editing features built-in, so you can edit the brightness or use filters. The filters allow you to make the picture black and white or they have other warmer filters too to enhance your pictures. If you need to, you can also crop the pictures if you want to remove anything or alter the composition. If you have a lot of space around the picture, it might be worth cropping it to make your subject more prominent.

There are also many apps that can help you generally when you are on holiday so be sure to check these out too!

One tip for taking good photographs is to consider where the light is when you are taking the picture. If you are taking a photo of someone and the light is behind them, it will make them hard to see. Instead, place your subject somewhere in the light so that they are more visible. Think about the time of day, try and catch the ‘golden hour’ when the sun is setting/rising as it gives you that perfect holiday glow! Alternatively, you can edit your holiday photos afterwards to make them appear lighter, but it is easier to try and find good lighting at the time.

Also, try taking lots of photos at once – just keep hitting that button! This will hopefully eliminate the risk of closed eyes or distracting things in the background. If in doubt, check what the photo looks like before finishing so you know if you need to move anything. For example, you may not have noticed your bags are actually in the picture! Moving them will save you a lot of editing time at home.

It may sound obvious but clean your camera lens! If the picture seems blurry or ‘not quite right’, just give it a clean with a cloth to see if that does the trick. Sometimes we may not realise it, but it may have gotten dirty in our pocket or bag so if in doubt, give it a clean.

You should consider investing in a tripod, you can get portable ones that are small enough to fit in your hand luggage. This is a great way to get holiday photos of yourself and a partner for example if there is no one around to take pictures for you. It is also a way to make sure the shot is framed as you would like without relying on strangers to help you.

Another thing to consider investing in is a portable charger. These are compact and relatively cheap to get. Now you can take photos at your leisure without the risk of your phone dying halfway through the day. Nowadays everything is on our phones, so you might have tickets, directions, payment cards, and your camera on there which is why it is important to plan ahead.