You can’t be expected to store all your travel experiences in your head – you’ll need a few photos to jog your memory. But you don’t need to be a professional photographer to take a great pic. With a little confidence and some patience, you can get a fantastic picture. It’s all about composition.
- Consider what’s in your frame – adopt a stylist’s eye for crop and angle.
- Work out what should and shouldn’t be in the pic. Check, for example, where a wall or stair ends, or that you’re getting in the top of an object.
- To avoid distortion, it can sometimes be a good idea to stand back and zoom in; likewise, you need to be careful not to stand at an odd angle, otherwise things can look as if they’re tilting.
- Take your time – a snapshot doesn’t have to be ‘snap’, but it can still look spontaneous. The beauty of digital is you can check everything and go back to correct, right then and there.
- It’s important to go back and edit; be ruthless and do it as you go along, before you download your pics. It makes for a stronger ‘story’ at the end, which often gets neglected upon your return.
- Don’t store your photos away – I get mine printed as soon as I get back. It keeps the globetrotting inspirations alive, as well as let me physically move the pics around, put them in a different order, and play with colour and content. You’ll find this plays a large part in coming up with a trip-based 10-colour palette, even if one wasn’t obvious while you were gallivanting around.
- I often think of pictures in pagination, i.e. how the pages turn and a story runs in a magazine. I like to make a strong picture story of it, which can then be put into an album if I feel like it.