Photograph your vacation like a pro: tips and tricks for dreamy wall-worthy images

Whether you’re on a vacation or a trip (there’s a huge difference, see below) you’re likely going to be snapping a hefty amount of pics. Here is some advice to help you produce beautifully artistic, dynamic, and meaningful images that will take you right back to that place every time you look at them. Because that’s the whole point right, making memories? Now let’s capture those memories...

*vacation- a time to relax. sip cocktails. enjoy nature.

*trip-a series of planned excursions whereupon you must move a lot, make many plans, herd those around you. There is joy but not much relaxing.

Candid is key

There are only so many “smile and look at the camera” photos you can take and also keep the collection interesting. Instead, try focusing on the action of whatever you (or they) are doing in the moment.

Are you at the beach?

Let your kids play in the waves while you snap away.

-get a close up of the handful of shells they bring you

My girls search for beach treasures in the waves as their friends do the same in the foreground

Touring a city?

-Get some shots of your partner as they take something extraordinary in for the first time.

-Snap shots from behind and be sure to include skyline (or run ahead and snap a few of your companions walking toward you)

Direct the shoot

When candid won’t happen, direction is best. People are more at ease (and therefore more photogenic) when they have been instructed to do something.

ex.

-“Babe, put Henry on your shoulders…Henry, see if you can reach that flower!”

“Hey kids! who can run the fastest? Jump the highest? make the best pterodactyl sound?- whatever it is, it will generate some fun images and typically genuine smiles”

"Mess with his hair!"

Set the scene

Like the realtors say: location, location, location! Make sure that you capture a few scenic images of where you are staying or visiting for the day. Don't always include a person in the images either. And sometimes it's nice to have a subject included, but as they are naturally interacting with the scene (i.e from behind, side etc).

A view of our houses and set up from the beach, as well as our view from the houses

Details matter

Capture the small details that stand out to you.

Are you obsessed with that bathroom tile? Get a shot!

The local flowers knocking your socks off? document them!

And that cocktail? yep, snap away

Small details that you may otherwise forget about will be a part of your vacation memory forever.

A mermaid purse discovered by our friend

Variety is critical!

In any situation, variety is key to keep anything interesting

-Angles: always try a few different angles. Squat down and aim up, get an aerial shot, shoot your family from the side instead of directly on. Just keep mixing it up!

-depth of field: close ups and wide shots: always get a wide variety

-alternate subject placement. If all photos are focusing on something in the dead center, well, it gets boring pretty quickly. The rule of thirds is handy for this:

The rule of thirds is a compositional guideline that breaks an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so you have nine pieces and four gridlines.

According to the rule, by positioning key elements along the gridlines, you’ll end up with better compositions.

-Vertical & horizontal: can crop to square too!

Artistry is Achievable!

Here are a few helpful hints to add an artistic element to your photographs....

~Capture through reflection

I am so in love with reflection pics. Whether it’s a bathroom mirror selfie with the girls, you and hubs reflecting in The Bean, or your family walking along the ponds of Versaille, if you ever see a reflection, snap it!

~Sometimes blurry is better!

Is your spinning child blurry in your images? Great! Blur means motion, and adds to the feel of the image. Put the image in black in white and bam, hang it in the Louvre!

~Display: Curate it!

You will always appreciate a purposefully curated album over a photo dump of everything you snapped. Take the time to polish your collection by doing two main things:

-Select your favorite images

&

-edit/enhance those images

Before you close the page, hear me out... I’m not saying you need a whole photoshop tutorial to polish your photos. Editing and manipulating your photos can be as simple as a crop here and there and a black and white image from time to time. But these are some of the common actions anyone can do with their phone (or computer)

-cropping

-contrast

-brightness

-saturation

-vibrancy

-white balance

-filters

Ok ok so Instagram filters have gotten a bad reputation BUT I still sometimes love a gram filter. And I love to manipulate my images. And with digital photography, why not? Make it sepia, or black and white. Desaturate the colors. Or up the vibrance. Increase or decrease contrast. if you like a vintage feel, add grain to your images- whatever floats your boat!

I personally like to…

-decrease saturation

-slightly increase vibrancy

-increase contrast (especially for black and white images)

-warm up the white balance

Play with the tools of whatever program you have and see what you like! You may even discover a new hobby!

If you’re reading this, you may not think that you have an artistic eye. LIES. You do. You’re just not used to using it! Think outside the box of your comfort zone when shooting. And if the photo sucks? WHO CARES? You can delete it! So just try it. You might just impress yourself!