Photography is a passion of mine that I’ve been able to explore in a unique way. Through my job, I have the opportunity to take photographs while I travel and this has become a particularly enjoyable aspect of my hobby. Travel photography can offer you a unique way to showcase your adventures with family and friends. However, not everyone knows how to effectively use this medium, but I would like to share a view tips to help you get started.

Tip 1: Don’t be afraid to zoom.

First, I want to explain something: optical vs digital zoom. Optical zoom is the tightening of the frame of reference through the use of planes of glass to focus in on a specific spot. Digital zoom does the same thing, but at a very important expense. Digital zoom is why your blown up photo from your phone where you zoomed in looked like a cubist art representation of a face rather than your dear mother. That’s because instead of “zooming in” on the image, all it is doing is making the pixels that make up the image bigger, removing the smooth lines of the smaller pixels and it gets blockier. This distortion is made worse the more you zoom in. Therefore, unless your phone has a separate lens, like the iPhone 7 does, or you don’t care about picture quality, do not zoom in on a phone camera. Instead, get closer to the object you are photographing.

Now for the meat of the tip: think back to when you were looking at your parent’s old home movies and slide shows from vacations of yore. Unless your parents were really good at this, chances are it was ok, but kind of boring. That’s because most people simply take a picture of everything as they see it, as if to save you the trip of seeing it yourself. Instead of the bland overall picture of a statue, find an aspect you like, say a face and a nearby detail like an arm, zoom in on it, find a nice angle with a pleasing background, and snap away. Now the statue has character, it has a bit of your influence over the experience of the statue, and it’s a lot more interesting. Don’t be afraid to take many pictures and different angles too. In the digital photography age, memory space is free.

Tip 2: There is an artistic approach to nearly everything.

Google “fine art photography” and you’ll quickly notice that even ordinary situations can become extraordinary if you just take a little time to find it. I won’t go into a lot of detail here, but here’s a few things to look up: rule of thirds, leading lines, golden ratio, and basic camera controls. This will give you a basic understanding of artistic control that you have as a photographer. Now, take that picture of the statue from earlier, zoom in on the upper body, offset the head to a third of the frame with empty space where it is looking, blur the background with a low f/ stop number (you’ll learn about this in basic controls) and see how it changes the experience. Not only does it tell of a great thing you saw, but it’s a work of art in itself.

Tip 3: Tell a story.

Photo stories are a somewhat complicated concept, but can be extremely interesting as an art form, and travel is a fantastic story to tell. The idea is that if a photo is worth a thousand words, then a photo story is a novel. Consider the following example: You are flying to Florida and will be going to the beach. So you take a picture of your bags all packed with your beach hat on top, the seat number plaque over your seat, the palm trees along side the road, your feet partially buried in the sand, and lastly your beach chair and umbrella silhouetted by the setting sun. Sounds like a fun trip, right? The ideas can be a bit tricky to think up, but if you do it, the results literally speak for themselves.

Tip 4: Don’t forget to put the camera down.

When I was growing up, I decided it was my job to catalog our vacations through photos and video. I was the one responsible for every bit of visual content that we gained from our adventures. I just had a few problems. I hadn’t learned anything about photography, so it was all boring stuff. I was rarely in any of the pictures or videos because I was taking it. I also don’t entirely remember everything we did because I was worried about the camera, not the experience. That is where my advice comes in. Don’t forget to actually experience your trip! Photos are great for obvious reasons, but don’t take pictures non-stop without living your trip as well. A few pictures is all it takes for people to get the idea. The rest is all about you.

I hope these tips can help you as you progress into the world of travel photography. The most important thing to remember though is to have fun and enjoy your time. If you aren’t, then the pictures aren’t worth anything without a truly memorable trip behind them. Now get out there and see the world!