We all like to take photos while we're on a trip. Sometimes we want to share our experience with our friends and family and sometimes we simply want the photos as reminders of the places we’ve been and the things we’ve done. Wouldn't it be nice to do something more than have your best memories hiding inside your phone's camera roll or on your social media pages? You can! Today I’ll give you five tips you can start following right away to go from taking cell phone snapshots to capturing photos worthy of hanging on the wall in your home.
Tip 1 - Use the rule of thirds
Imagine a tic tac toe grid on your screen or turn this feature on in your camera settings so the grid will be visible on your screen. The vertical lines, spaced one third of the way in from each side, are good lines of reference to place the main subject of your photo. Use the two horizontal lines to help you place the horizon or another natural line that’s in your photo. The four points where the horizontal and vertical lines intersect are good locations to place items within the photo. While the rule of thirds will help with many photos, it’s also a rule that’s meant to be broken. In some cases, such as when catching a sunset you want to remember forever, break the rule and place your subject in the middle.
The subject is framed one third of the way in from the left side, his head is located near the intersection of two of the reference lines and the edge of the rock formation is framed about one third of the way up from the bottom.
Rules are made to be broken. In this photo I put the setting sun in the middle. But notice the imaginary line created between the people and the water is located about one third of the way up from the bottom.
Tip 2 - Watch the background
It’s easy to put so much of your attention on the main subject of your photo that you forget to take a look at the entire image you’ll be capturing. Watch for things like a tree branch sticking straight up behind someone’s head, distracting elements being caught near the edge of the frame and bright lights or shadows that might take away from the image. More than once I’ve looked at a photo and found my finger in the upper left corner of the frame. Had I been paying attention to the entire photo and not putting all my concentration on the main subject, I would have caught it before taking the photo.
This photo is just bad. A tree is sticking up from the middle of my head and the entire image is overexposed except for my face and the cluster of trees on the far right side. When I took this selfie, I was concentrating on positioning myself so I could capture the river and a decent selfie. I succeeded in capturing the river and a selfie, but the rest of the photo is pretty bad. You won't find this one on my wall at home.
Tip 3 - Create space in front of your subject
If you’re taking a photo of a person who is looking towards the left side of the frame, place the person on the right side about a third of the way in. If you’re taking a picture of something moving - a car for instance - put space in front of the direction it’s moving. These are simple composition rules that the human eye naturally finds appealing.
Since the subject is facing towards the left side of the photo, I placed him on the right side to create space in front of him.
Tip 4 - Set the auto exposure lock, auto focus lock and brightness
Setting the auto exposure lock, auto focus lock and brightness is easy to do even though it may sound difficult. When you have the image set up how you want it to look, simply place your finger over the main subject of the photo and hold it there. After a couple of seconds you will see “AE/AF Lock” appear on the screen. This means that the camera software will lock the focus on that point and will also set the exposure based on the spot in the photo. Finally, you can drag your finger vertically on the screen to adjust the brightness. It’s a way to add a manual touch to the otherwise automatic mode of the phone's camera. Just remember, you've locked the focus. So if you move the phone closer or further away, the subject could end up out of focus. If that happens, just redo the steps above to lock in the new focus you need.
The photo on the left is overexposed and the sky is blown out, showing up as pure white with no detail. The photo on the right had the AE/AF Lock set along with adjusting the brightness. The sky turned out blue, the white clouds can be seen and there is still detail in the rest of the photo. Use the simple editing and enhancement tool in your cell phone to make the photo on the right look even better.
Tip 5 - Use a small tripod with flexible legs
When you use a tripod, you can put yourself in the photo without having to reach out with one arm selfie-style. You can set the tripod on a surface or use the flexible legs to attach it to a pole, tree branch or anything else the legs can wrap around. Just make sure it’s stable so you can set up your shot and get in. Using the timer can allow you a few seconds to get into position before the image is captured. If you’re worried the camera won’t focus in the right place after you set the timer and get into the frame, you can set the AE/AF Lock before pressing the shutter button and starting the timer. A small tripod can be purchased on Amazon or most general merchandise stores that sell phone accessories.
The small tripod I use has flexible legs and a head that pivots. I've attached it to trees, sign posts and my hiking poles. I've had it on flat ground, uneven ground and rocks. It's a very versatile piece of gear that is small, doesn't weigh much and can create a big improvement in your photos.
On your next outing, regardless of what it is, give these tips a shot (pun intended). If you had been doing point and shoot snapshots without using these tips before, you should easily notice a difference. Pick your favorite, upload it to a photo lab for printing, frame it and hang it!
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Author's note: All of the photos in this article were taken with a cell phone or tablet. All images are copyright protected.