Ten Tips For Better Holiday Photos

I recently visited the quintessentially British seaside town of Brighton, and of course, my camera came along for the trip.

If, like me, you love documenting your holidays through images, you’ll understand the importance of getting good photos that capture your memories and don’t bore your friends and family to death…

I’m not exactly an expert yet, but I feel like I’m learning all the time, and thought I’d share some of my tips for getting more from your holiday pics.

ONE: Find an angle

If you want to capture a good view or iconic landmark, don’t just take the same bland head-on photo everyone else takes. Try taking photos from different angles or exposing unseen areas.

Brighton Pier

The beach

 

TWO: Light it up

Lighting is important. If you photograph someone in front of a bright sun they will be a silhouette. Alternatively, if your subject is looking directly into the sun they are likely to be squinty-eyed and uncomfortable. Try to find a balance.

 

THREE: Create a theme

If you want a coherent set of photographs it can be effective to focus on a particular aspect of your holiday and create a theme around it. For example, being by the sea, I thought it would be fun to create a set of seagull themed photos.

 

FOUR: Human interest

Photographing other people going about their business can really bring a destination to life. Look out for interesting characters or people that embody the feel of your holiday.

 

FIVE: The golden hour

In my previous blog post I spoke about how much I love sunsets so I won’t bore you with it again. But basically the changing colours as the sun gets lower in the sky can create a whole different world. The warm light is also quite flattering for photographing people.

 

SIX: Up close and personal

Taking close-ups of items from your holiday can help you remember the little details and provide a welcome break from long distance shots. When showing off your photos afterwards, these little details will help give your audience an idea of what it was like to be there and will probably be supported by anecdotes from your trip.

 

SEVEN: Silver linings

Although cloudless, sunny skies are lovely, don’t limit your photos to good weather days. Clouds can create a dramatic backdrop with the added bonus that you don’t have to worry about the glare of the sun!

 

EIGHT: Out of the ordinary

Just because you’re on a beach holiday, doesn’t mean all your photos should be of the beach. If you want your photos to be a bit different look out for unusual sights or everyday things that you can turn into interesting photographs.

 

NINE: Get creative

Holidays are fun so your photos should be too. Play with the settings and modes on your camera for different effects. Try and capture the vibe of your destination. I used a retro pin-hole camera effect on the photo below to enhance the good old-fashioned “British holiday by the sea” feeling and the vintage style of the pier.

 

TEN: Best of the bunch

I can easily take a hundred photos a day while on holiday but many of them will be duplicates and some of them will be complete rubbish. Try not to bore your friends stupid with hours of repetitive photos or blurry accidental shots of the floor. Select your best ones that show off your camera skills and effectively tell the story of your holiday.

 

CNL

Katie x