Travel Photo Tips

Although the tips for landscapes and portraits apply equally as well when you're traveling, a few special tips can help improve your vacation photos.

• Include your traveling companions in the shots when possible, because without them, you could just buy a postcard.

• Take photos that remind you of an area or event. Shoot details such as buildings, signs, or natural landmarks, but take them from your perspective and, when possible, with your traveling companions (Figure B.15).

  Figure B.15. Having Tristan pose in front of our cruise ship, with its name visible in the background (though hard to read at this size), made for a perfect travel picture.

  

• Don't get sucked into the trap of posed shots of your companions in front of whatever the local attraction may be. Have some fun and keep it light, partly so you get better shots, and partly so your traveling companions don't get sick of your camera.

• Ask one of your companions, or a passer-by, to take pictures that include you. Otherwise it may seem as though you weren't along on the trip (Figure B.16).

  Figure B.16. Make sure to have other people take pictures of you. You'll especially appreciate having done this if you decide to make a book of your trip in iPhoto.

  

• Take pictures of the people you meet (it's best to ask for permission first), and make notes so you remember each person later.

• Plan ahead so you can take lots of photos. That may entail carrying an extra memory card or two, bringing an iPod with a camera adapter or a rechargeable digital wallet drive to store photos, or lugging a laptop along (at which point you can post Web pages of your travel photos for friends and family back home). It's also worth doing a bit of culling every night to free space used by bad shots.