Secrets for Taking Fantastic Travel Photos With Your Phone

The best camera is the one you have with you. These days it’s your phone, because it’s right on your pocket. Traveling photography has never been easier or more shareable. With a couple quick and easy tricks, you are able to take better photographs with your phone on the go, catching memories efficiently and creating tales to share with friends and family.

All the snapshots below were shot with a Samsung Galaxy III or an iPhone 4.

David Duncan Livingston

Create a narrative of your excursion and think of approaches to tell that story in particular photographs that do the talking. Pictures of maps, signs, menus and even T-shirts are excellent ways to set the places or mark the occasions of your narrative.

David Duncan Livingston

Lead the audience to your path.Show them in which you began, the route you took and that was there.

David Duncan Livingston

Cameras in iPhones have wide-angle lenses, so it is fun to get someone or something in the foreground to switch the scale and provide context.

David Duncan Livingston

We’re accustomed to viewing the horizon right, so take care in framing the photograph and make things degree.

David Duncan Livingston

Side or directional lighting gives shape and adds life to a photograph by bringing out the textures and colors. Attempt to keep the main light or sun on your left or right side and not straight at your spine.

David Duncan Livingston

Low-light settings are difficult for little phone cameras, but see if your camera has a setting for candlelit or night scenes.

It may be better when the lighting is more in low-light situations too, and not a very bright spot in the framework.

David Duncan Livingston

A fantastic composition trick is to keep your camera straight up and down — thus bend down to get that picture and shoot straight ahead.

David Duncan Livingston

Be a picture director and ask your topic to do things to tell the story in an enjoyable way.

David Duncan Livingston

Camera phones frequently have a built-in lens that allows you take self-portraits, like this one.

David Duncan Livingston

Do not be bashful. Ask passersby to choose the photograph — you need to be in some pictures too!

David Duncan Livingston

Record minutes that would otherwise go undetected — the time and location that they capture will probably be enjoyable to revisit years from now.

David Duncan Livingston

Framing the perspective with a few elements of design or the landscape can help give the picture depth and attention.

David Duncan Livingston

An area with a view — capture unusual elements where you find them ; they’re what makes travel so stimulating.

David Duncan Livingston

Once you take the photograph, draw it back home and make adjustments to the exposure, saturation and cropping. Read the info about your cellphone’s camera and practice using different settings. Use fun effects like people on Instagram. Lots of software programs and mobile apps are able to allow you to make these adjustments, and many are free or very low price. Look into Pro HDR, Magic Shutter, Camera+ and other apps in your phone’s app store. GIMP has free photo retouching software, too.

Show us where you have been! We would love to see your best design photograph from your travels.

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