7 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR

vacation photos

Here they come again: the classic feet in the sand or the feet by the swimming pool, the close-up selfie of you and your bestie sharing a big pineapple cocktail, a great big jump for joy on the beach and oh yes, the very celebrated heart hands, preferably taken during a sunset. Do you recognize your own vacation pics in one of these descriptions? I very much do, but as May wrote about the cliché hashtags: nobody is waiting in anticipation for these things. Not even you, I’d say. With these tips, you’ll be taking the most fresh and original photos on your smartphone and I bet they even yield more likes!

Selfie-weary

I personally find all the up-close selfies so 2014. Same said for the selfie stick actually. But what do you do if there is no one else around? Did you know you can take iPhone photos with the sound button on the headphones? Lean your phone up against something, a full can of soda for example, and hold the cord of your headphones (attached to the phone, of course). You can still go for that cocktail-selfie, but now it looks like it has been taken by someone else.

Position

Previously I’ve given tips on how to take a good festival photo and I mentioned unique positions. This is also true for your holiday snapshots. Want a beautiful beach photo? Lie down on the ground and zoom in on the grains of sand. Wowww.

Panorama

I notice that very few people use the panoramic option. Now, I don’t know about other phones, but the iPhone takes some pretty darn cool photos with this function. For example, the gloriously-filled dining table or when you’re in the car and driving alongside a beautiful mountain (simply holding your telephone out the window). Not so suitable for Insta because they become so small, but on Facebook you will most definitely score.

Droplet

This is a tip I found on Youtube. You can put a tiny drop of water on your lens (nothing will happen to your phone) for an interesting effect. The image where the water sits is enlarged and the rest is hazy. If that is not arty, than I don’t know what is.

Lighting

The reason why professional photos are often so much better has mostly to do with the use of lighting. I’m sure you have all seen photo shoots with a guy or girl standing there holding onto a big silver disc. This is a technique that helps to reflect the sun and give better light. You can do this on your vacation too! Want to take a beautiful portrait of your guy on the picturesque balcony, for instance? Grab (carefully) the mirror from the bathroom, put it diagonally from yourself, facing your man and if the position is right you should see that his face is more brightly lit. This creates beautiful, clear pictures. Do you have one of those silver windscreen protector things in the car? Even better!

Flash

In very bright sunlight also use your flash. This ensures that there are no dark shadow left under the nose and eyes.

Telescope

Yes you read it right, you can put a telescope to the lens of your camera. So you can enlarge the image even further, you also have a nice round frame. Genius right?