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summer vacation

Three Easy Steps to Crappy Vacation Photos

I am a photographer and I almost always photograph people. I am a portrait photographer. I know all the settings on my DSLR camera and what settings to adjust in certain situations. But when I go on vacation, I look like a tourist with my cell phone in hand because it has a great camera - that I don’t know how to use! Things are so bad that sometimes (and by sometimes I mean about 99% of the time) I can’t figure out how to take a selfie, take a video, or how to take one photo instead of a burst of photos. It is THAT bad.

See, I can’t take a selfie with the family. This face is the face I have most of the time I try to take a photo with my phone.

See, I can’t take a selfie with the family. This face is the face I have most of the time I try to take a photo with my phone.

Now that you’ve seen my vacation photo skills, here are my tips for taking crappy vacation photos.

Three Easy Steps to Crappy Vacation Photos

1. Always Use a Flash

Some people are selective about when to use a flash, such as in low light situations. But you won’t get many crappy photos that way! If you really want crappy vacation photos you need to use that flash 100% of the time. You see, as a portrait photographer I use flash or natural light in nearly every photo I take because I want people to see the faces of those I’m photographing. It’s kind of important. When I am on vacation I take a lot of photos of places - landscapes.

On a recent trip to Mexico we went snorkeling in a cenote. It was dark with the exception of a few lights positioned throughout the cave. In true Anna fashion I made sure the flash was on, I mean it was dark and we use flash in low light situations. The photo was alright. Then our tour guide, Alfredo, told me to try one without the flash. I thought for sure I’d get some blurry, grainy image. But I did not! I took a photo that was much more colorful than the first!

tip 1.jpg

2. Copy Everyone Else

When I’m photographing a family we typically use a location that fits with what they’re looking for as far as a background goes and I use objects at that location to create unique images. These objects can be trees, rocks, buildings, etc. Just anything that will allow me capture a unique photo. Well, when you’re on vacation you generally don’t know locations and have to rely on others to show you places. When you get to these places they are usually packed with tourists. After all, why try to figure out a unique place when tons of other tourists obviously have the perfect spots already figured out. Just copy them. Why reinvent the wheel, right? As ridiculous as this sounds, I fall for it every single vacation! Luckily we had an awesome tour guide in Mexico, Alfredo, and he told us as we were snapping photos that he was going to take us to a place to get an phenomenal photo. He did not disappoint! He took us up a hillside, not on a path, and we had an incredible view of the entire grounds of Tulum. No other tourists were on the hillside. It was just us. And it was so worth it to get off the path of everyone else and find our own location.

Typical tourist photo. I had to wait in line to take this.

Typical tourist photo. I had to wait in line to take this.

A view of the Tulum ruins from the hillside away from the tourists.

A view of the Tulum ruins from the hillside away from the tourists.

Alfredo, our tour guide, even took a photo of us in this non-tourist location.

Alfredo, our tour guide, even took a photo of us in this non-tourist location.

3. Always Leave the Camera on Auto Mode

Cameras on our phones are so smart nowadays! There is a reason they are called smartphones after all. When I see AUTO on my DSLR, I know that rarely takes good photos and I need to use manual to adjust the settings so I can capture the image as I’d like. I need to be in control - unless I have my phone camera. If I have my phone camera, which I always do on vacation, auto is the best apparently. Just look at how crystal clear Elvis is. What a sweet photo!

Using the AUTO setting on my phone camera sure did a crappy job at capturing this awesome Elvis!

Using the AUTO setting on my phone camera sure did a crappy job at capturing this awesome Elvis!

If you follow these three tips I will guarantee that you take some crappy vacation photos that your friends and family will ooo and ahhh over just to be nice. Maybe they’ll even like them on social media. But why put your family and friends in that awkward position of feeling like they need to praise your photos that are…well, just crappy.


Top 5 Tips for Taking Vacation Photographs

Our summer family vacation is always over the 4th of July.  We enjoy finding new places to watch the awesome firework displays.  Often times we spend this time in the Arlington area and watch the fireworks from the Rangers Ballpark.  In my opinion, baseball on the 4th of July is just about as American as it can get.  Add fireworks to that and you have a PERFECT 4th of July! 

This year we decided to change it up a bit since some of our children are still very small and don't quite enjoy the game yet.  We went to Port Aransas, Texas.  We've never watched a firework display from the beach so that is what we set out to do.  We were definitely not disappointed! 

Our vacation lasted five days and many memories were made during this short time.  Of course I brought my camera and all of the older kids have cell phones with cameras.  Let's just say that several hundred photographs were taken by our family! 

Before we set off for the beach vacation, I did some research about tips for taking vacation photographs.  I found a large array of tips, however one concept in particular stuck with me.  LIVE!  Don't watch your vacation through a lens, but LIVE your vacation!  That was a completely foreign concept for me as a photographer and as a mother.  I have always been the one with my camera ready to capture the kids' cuteness and as I reflected upon this idea I realized that I have thousands upon thousands of photographs of my kids, I only feel that I "lived" a handful of those.  There are so many cute things that I captured in film and/or digital format and many of them do not have a story to go with them.  I was simply pushing a button.  I made a decision at this point and that was to keep the camera handy, but not keep it ready at all times.  However, before I could do this I needed to narrow down instances when I would like to take photographs during our vacation.  I came up with a list of five tips for taking vacation photographs that I'd like to share with you. 

1.  Be prepared.  Before you pack your camera, consider where you are taking it.  We were going to the beach and I know that sand is an enemy to my camera.  For that reason I chose to leave my camera in the house rather than take it to the beach with all the sand. 

The view of the beach dunes from our back door during sunset.

The view of the beach dunes from our back door during sunset.

2.  Be creative.  Be creative in how you pose your family members and/or the angles of your shots.  Don't be afraid to experiment.  Lay down on your tummy to get a direct view of someone or something or get up above them to get a bird's eye view.  The sky is the limit! 

Our oldest, William, took this photograph of the two youngest, Lily and Sadie.  The color was very blue due to the lights in the Texas State Aquarium, but he changed it to black and white.  Don't be afraid to experiment and get creative!

Our oldest, William, took this photograph of the two youngest, Lily and Sadie.  The color was very blue due to the lights in the Texas State Aquarium, but he changed it to black and white.  Don't be afraid to experiment and get creative!

3.  Candids.  Candid photographs are real and allow you to feel and see with atmosphere and mood of a particular moment in time.  These are not staged, but instead real photographs without any prompting.  My kids LOVE taking these types of photographs and they are often SUPER close to the subject...usually a person.

Candid photographs of me and my husband, John, eating Oreos while visiting the USS Lexington.

Candid photographs of me and my husband, John, eating Oreos while visiting the USS Lexington.

4.  Keep the camera handy.  You never know when the unexpected is going to happen.  Often times these unexpected events are awesome once in a lifetime experiences.  If you can capture them, they will be treasured forever.  Keep the camera handy, but don't keep it in your hands at all times.  It's not the end of the world if you don't capture your daughter petting a sting ray.  Sure, it's cool, but living in the moment is so much more important.

Our youngest making an unexpected kissy face while visiting the Texas State Aquarium.

Our youngest making an unexpected kissy face while visiting the Texas State Aquarium.

5.  LIVE!  Do NOT live life through the lens of your camera.  Do not be scared to put the camera down and live life and enjoy your vacation.  You will still have the memories, even if they aren't recorded on your SD card. 

I’m living inside the moment, not taking pictures to save it.

—Drake, “The Resistance”
— http://www.theminimalists.com/photos/

While we were on vacation, I put down the camera.  I took less than ten photographs the entire trip.  I decided to pass the camera to the kids, who enjoyed playing the part of the photographer.  The camera was passed between four children and each has their own style.  The camera was not allowed at the beach.  It only came with us when we visited the USS Lexington and the Texas State Aquarium.  We LIVED our vacation and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Didn’t have a camera by my side this time,
hoping I would see the world through both my eyes.

Today I finally overcame,
trying to fit the world inside a picture frame.

Maybe you should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes;
it brought me back to life.

—John Mayer, “3×5”
— http://www.theminimalists.com/photos/