On this week’s episode we’re sharing the best techniques and etiquette for taking picture for fellow travelers, and how you can help someone else take the best travel picture for you!

We’ve joked about this topic for ages, but now we’re breaking down real ways to avoid the dreaded picture fail when you ask that kind stranger to help you out. Remember these travel photography tips for your next trip!

See more travel tips, hacks, and advice in our hundreds of other episodes!

Gear that helps us get the best travel photos are our favorite packable tripod and a phone battery power bank.

Take Good Travel Photos – Episode Transcript

0:40

Hey squaddies, welcome to this week’s Just the Tip. Today we’re teaching you how to take fabulous photos for strangers while traveling.

0:48

Speaker 3

I’m actually really excited to dive into this episode for you guys because one of my biggest pet peeves when traveling, and there’s many and first thing that comes to mind quite honestly, is people who stand up on the plane early and bum rush.

But you know what number 2 is?

Number 2 is honestly people that just take terrible photos of you when traveling, especially when you’re in front of beautiful scenery, whether it be landscape, architecture, whatever, right?

1:14

It’s like, how hard is it for you to understand?

Like I’m in front of this building, it’s historic.

I want the entire building.

I don’t want just my face and the door, you know?

So we’re going to talk to you guys right now all about how to take those great photos of other people when traveling.

1:31

Speaker 1

I mean, there’s been so many times when people ask us to take their photos and we take our time and try to frame the shot nicely.

We try to we get the background, we take it in portrait and landscape, we zoom in and out depending on what we’re trying to take a picture of.

1:46

But then when we asked to reciprocate the photo, we don’t get back the same quality picture.

Like Jamal said, sometimes we get just the door or a cut off building or tower.

So I hope this is informational for everyone.

1:59

Speaker 2

And I don’t want it to sound like we’re complaining too much either, because a stranger’s doing you a favor of taking your picture, and that’s nice and we all appreciate that.

But we’ve, we’ve all been in that awkward situation when you look at your pictures after you get your phone back and you’re like, we’re going to have to ask someone else.

2:17

This is awkward.

2:19

Speaker 3

I know.

And you got to wait and be polite for the people that took it to leave so they don’t see you taking a repeat photo because theirs was so bad, right?

So again, we’re really not ragging on people as frustrating as it is.

But this is more just general tips and none of us are professional photographers, right?

2:36

But I think sometimes it’s just is common sense really.

And for some people, maybe it’s a generational thing there.

You didn’t grow up posting to Instagram or they had old black and white photos.

I don’t really know.

But you know, we’re going to talk all about how to really frame it, set it, and do all this to make a picture great when you’re taking it for somebody else.

2:58

The Most Common Mistakes People Make Taking Travel Photos

Over the course of the years of these episodes, we’ve talked about different situations we’ve had with getting bad photos back.

One of the things that happens frequently is that the person taking the picture will zoom super far in on the person.

3:14

I do often see this with like my parents, aged people, Gen.

X, they like to frame the people.

The people are the picture for them.

So I’ll get zoomed in pictures and like it’ll be like from the belly button up and it’s just me and like this is too much me, I.

3:32

Speaker 1

Completely understand.

I know exactly what you’re talking about and something else that we see often is when you’re wanting a full body picture, you’re not getting the full body just like you said, you’re getting like the waist or you get cut off at like awkward angles at the knees, the ankles, things like that.

3:49

But when we we are asking for a picture, typically we want a full body picture including our shoes.

We don’t want our shoes cut off because they’re part of our outfit.

3:57

Speaker 3

Yeah.

And I think sometimes too, it goes to understanding of what’s in the background, right?

Because of course sometimes you can’t get the full body, so, you know, you got to do the half body on it.

And again, we’re not complaining in a moment like that.

But of course, if you have all this space, it’s like, what are you doing with that zoom up, right?

4:13

But conversely, I feel it’s the same.

Sometimes though, if they’re not zooming in on you and it’s a real big close up, they’re too far out.

And what do I mean by that?

Sometimes they put too much space at the bottom or the top of the picture.

So nothing I really hate more is like, let’s just say I’m standing in a forest and I want to see the tall trees, but why are my feet in the middle of the photo?

4:37

Why is it not at the bottom of the photo?

Full body, of course, but then more of the shot is up so you can see the forest, the trees, the background, whatever it may be.

So that’s another common mistake we really see is just putting too much space at the top or bottom of the picture.

4:50

Speaker 1

We actually just saw this with my dad.

We went on a trip with my dad and his girlfriend.

We went to upstate New York and we were in the Finger Lakes region.

We were hiking through the forest and it was a really beautiful shot.

And I was like, dad, can you snap a picture of Jamal and I?

And he’s like, yeah, yeah.

I give him my phone and then he takes it and it’s like half of the pictures ground.

5:10

And then Jamal and I are in there and you barely see any of the trees.

I’m like, what kind of picture?

5:14

Speaker 2

Is this?

I hate to say it, but men are the worst offenders of this.

For my entire life I’ve always given the picture back to a man and been like, what’s up there?

What’s down there?

Why is that in the picture?

5:28

Speaker 1

Something else that we often see is, and you kind of touched on this a little bit, not enough background or scenery.

Like we don’t want to be front and center frame.

Like if we have a really beautiful picture and landscape behind us, then we want to be kind of off to the side so that you can really see the background or the scenery or whatever it is behind us.

5:48

Speaker 2

Yeah, visual interest in pictures is great.

You can have someone small in the corner of or the side of the picture where if it is a really big scenery, or you can enhance the look of the scenery in the picture when it is like a big sprawling Canyon, for example.

The Canyon is this impressive gorge and when you zoom so far in on an individual and that really takes away from the scenery of it all.

6:10

Or the trees, right?

You’re going to want a vertical picture that really captures as much of those tall trees as possible.

6:17

Speaker 1

Same goes for buildings like Jamal was saying earlier, you know, if we’re in a big historic building, we want the picture of the building or the tower.

But when the top is cut off, it’s like you really didn’t capture it the way that we wanted to.

6:30

Speaker 2

I have to call him one of my own friends here.

It’s not just strangers, right?

Sometimes your own friends are offenders.

And so I was with my friend Morgan in Salem, MA on Halloween one year and I took this amazing picture of her in front of the witch house.

6:48

And it’s a big house, right?

So you have to go .5 got her in it, she’s looking fabulous, got the angles.

Then I asked her to take it and she cut off like the top half of the building.

And of course, there’s a long line to get this picture, so we’re not going to wait in line again and do it.

And I’m just like, excuse me?

7:05

Speaker 1

I know, I know that exact feeling.

So I mean, happens with friends, happens with families, happens with strangers, can happen to anyone.

Another thing we often see is, and I think it’s a generational thing too, is we want vertical style pictures.

7:22

But we also see a lot of people take them in like wide angle or landscape.

And we’re like, oh, can you get it the other way too?

But sometimes they don’t and they just hand you back your phone and you’re like, OK.

7:34

Speaker 2

And so that’s a good tip is if you are going to do a landscape photo, because maybe it is a long scenery and you want to get it all in there and that’s fantastic, you should do that.

But take a couple different types of shots.

Get a vertical, get a landscape, maybe move around a bit, get them both in there.

7:50

How to Take Amazing Photos for Fellow Travelers

So I know we said we weren’t really going to be ragging in this episode, and I know that Porsche right there was a little bit, but let’s talk about how we actually take good photos and when people ask us things that we do, and of course, these are the tips in general for you guys of what you should all do.

8:07

The first thing would just be offer to take it If you see people taking selfies a lot of times.

Again, I get it.

People want a selfie.

I want to selfies sometimes but if I see people taking a selfie just offer to take the photo.

Maybe they want a non selfie and they don’t have anybody or they’re too afraid to ask.

8:24

Or even if you see a family taking a photo and one person is out, just offer to be that person to take the photo.

8:31

Speaker 1

Jamal’s actually really good at this.

Sometimes he’s too good at this will be somewhere and Jamal’s like, oh, would you like a photo?

I can get you.

And then he’ll pose them for them and everything’s good.

8:41

Speaker 2

Car, I always want Jamal to take my pictures and you guys listen.

Listen, Jamal used to be that offender who had a ton of cloud space, dirt on the ground.

You were cut off like he was bad when we first started travelling together.

8:56

Speaker 3

Well, let’s keep in mind first started travelling together was all the way back in like 16.

So we’ve had many years for me to perfect the skill and again, still not a professional, but obviously you have enough common sense after a while to know what it is that you want.

9:09

Speaker 2

To thank you, take my pick then Brittany.

9:11

Speaker 3

Yeah, I agree.

I agree, although, although as of late, let me tell you this, Brittany has been complaining about the photos.

Yeah.

9:18

Speaker 1

I have been lately.

9:20

Speaker 2

Oh, he’s slipping because we haven’t been traveling together as much.

9:26

Speaker 1

I know.

And so sometimes I’m like Jamal, this is what I want in it.

But he’s really good at listening and then getting the shot.

He’s also tall.

So if you’re trying to get, you know, something that’s down below, like if you’re on the edge of a Cliff, he’s a good person for that.

Where I’m not really.

9:41

So when we’re together and he offers to take pictures or someone asks us, hey, can you take a picture?

I will usually hold our stuff.

Jamal would take the picture and that’s.

9:49

Speaker 2

How we do it, And then when you do offer to take someone’s picture or they ask, you kind of ask them, do you want it zoomed in?

You want more of the scenery in there?

See if they have any preference on the picture that they’re hoping you’ll take for them.

10:02

Speaker 1

And I kind of mentioned this earlier, but Jamal does try to pose people like he’ll tell them where to stand so they don’t block certain things.

Like, I hate nothing more than if we are traveling somewhere and we’re trying to get a picture in front of a waterfall and it’s in the distance a little bit, and when the people take the picture of you, you’re completely blocking the waterfall or something really important.

10:24

Speaker 2

You guys do a lot of waterfalls, so I that this has happened to before.

10:28

Speaker 1

Yes, so we will especially even like in Group shots too, because when there’s multiple people, it’s harder to get it exactly.

But Jamal will be like, oh please stand right there.

Oh, stand apart just like this and he’ll help guide the photo so that we’re not blocking anything important.

10:44

Speaker 2

That’s great.

Coaching is so important for the person on the other end of that camera who can see the shot.

This is even great if your family and friends because you are closer with these people and you can give them direct, right?

Like, oh, hey, your underwear line is showing or you have something in your teeth or your hair sticking up.

11:02

Something that if they’re going to see it and they’re going to think, oh man, if this would be a great picture if it wasn’t for that and you see it, give them a little bit of coaching, a little bit of tips.

Suck it in, put your shoulders back.

11:13

Speaker 1

Look more relaxed.

11:14

Speaker 2

And smile.

Lastly, here we’re going to just fire off good tips for anyone taking pictures just in general, in no particular order.

The first one is when you are traveling and you are looking for someone to take your picture.

11:31

I recommend finding someone that looks like they take good pictures.

So some of the things I look for are they are taking pictures and they’re getting multiple shots and angles are moving around.

Maybe they’re adjusting settings on their phone.

Maybe it looks like an influencer or a creator who is a little more technology enabled, right?

11:51

These are just like little cues that I’d be like, okay, they’re a good picture taker, let’s do it.

Not always right.

11:57

Speaker 3

Or look for somebody like a Jamal, who you said is directing people, oh, stand here, stand there, you know?

12:04

Speaker 1

We also, when we take pictures of other people, we try to take a few different pictures, not just one, so they have multiple to choose from.

Jamal’s really good at this too, because he’ll get a few different angles in there for you as well.

Plus of course the vertical versus horizontal photos.

12:20

And then if someone’s requesting a jump shot photo, use the burst mode because that can capture a lot of photos so you’re not relying on just one photo to get it as well.

And the live feature also helps with this as well.

I.

12:31

Speaker 2

Love the live feature.

I get so upset with my myself when I don’t have it on the live feature.

I don’t know if Samsung has this, do they Jamal?

12:39

Speaker 3

If they do, I am unaware and don’t use it.

I don’t believe they do.

12:44

Speaker 2

Oh, another reason my iPhones are better.

12:47

Speaker 1

So much better.

12:48

Speaker 2

So on the iPhone there is a setting where you could do like portrait or photo or video, right?

So on photo, you can turn live mode on.

Essentially it takes like a three second video clip of the picture you’re taking.

But when you go to edit, you can click on live to edit and it’s got frames of that whole 3 seconds.

13:08

So you can convert that live photo into a three second video might be two seconds or you can choose which still shot you want to be the 1.

So it’s perfect for those little tiny differences, like maybe you were blinking and the picture that you see, your eyes are closed, but when you look through the Live photos, you see one with your open one when they’re half closed or your hair is blowing in the wind.

13:30

Like I would die without Live Photos.

It’s the best feature ever.

When taking photos, always make sure that’s turned on before you hand that over to a stranger.

13:40

Speaker 1

That is a really good tip.

And on the opposite side of that, Kim, I was just thinking back to when Live Photos first came out.

Do you remember when we were in Cusco, Peru, and you took a Live photo?

And in the background or as we’re getting ready for the photo, I was like making a really terrible, weird face.

13:59

And you were able to capture that because we always like to get silly photos of each other and like, send them to each other.

So it can take really good pictures, but you can also capture some real gems in there too.

14:10

Speaker 2

I love the live photos, it’s it’s so great too for converting them to videos if you want to make a reel afterwards and then you just have super short clips of moments.

14:19

Speaker 1

Another really simple tip for everyone is to wipe your lens.

You know, we’re touching our phones all day, and so just wiping our lens off to clean the lens is so helpful sometimes to make your photos really clear and pop.

14:32

Speaker 2

Wipe it off before you hand it over, and wipe it off before you take the picture.

14:36

Speaker 3

Another good tip is to adjust the lighting if possible when taking pictures of the exact same shot or frame.

So here’s a really good example.

We were just in Finger Lake, New York region, as you had mentioned.

Brittany, in fairness, I wasn’t taking this of somebody, but in general, this tip makes sense because we’re looking at fall foliage color.

14:57

It comes across beautifully in its normal frame.

But if you just adjust the lighting, the settings and a few different tweaks here and there, if you have the time while you’re taking it, sometimes just the coloration from the lighting that comes through can make the photo pop a little bit more.

So imagine if somebody’s standing in it too.

15:13

So do take the time to adjust lighting.

15:15

Speaker 2

And on the other side of that, when someone’s taking your picture, when Jamal’s doing that, you can’t really tell what he’s doing doing on the other end of the camera.

So don’t move too much.

Let the person actually get the picture.

They’re trying to adjust the lighting on and frame the shot for you before you start moving around.

15:31

These next two tips I feel very emotionally connected to.

So the first is, and I see this often with someone that doesn’t really want to take the picture, isn’t good at taking pictures, doesn’t like pictures.

They grab the phone, they violently move it around and snap a bunch of photos like they’re not framing the shot, they’re not looking at what they’re taking.

15:51

Nothing.

It’s just boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom.

Here’s a bunch of pictures of trash.

Don’t do that.

15:58

Speaker 1

Don’t do that.

16:00

Speaker 2

The next one is don’t tilt the phone sideways.

For some reason, men love to do this, men and kids.

I noticed my niece in the Gen.

Alpha area, like kids who aren’t, you know, super well versed and how to take great pictures.

They love to do tilted photos and like, OK, I’m over here at the mystery spot in Santa Cruz, I guess.

16:22

Speaker 1

I do see that sometimes I’m like what?

What is the point of this?

Please just keep it vertical or horizontal.

16:28

Speaker 2

Oh my gosh, I want to I want to say this next one too because I feel emotional about this one.

16:31

Master Composition, Etiquette, and Podcast Wrap-up

Also capture multiple pictures, right?

Like take more than one, give the person some options.

But what we don’t want to see is 10 photos of the exact same thing.

If you just get the phone, here’s 10 photos of the exact same shot.

16:47

That’s not helping anyone.

It’s just taking up phone storage space.

So if you are going to take 10 pics, move the phone to the left, move the phone to the right, maybe move it up and tilt it down, adjust the lighting, whatever.

Get 10 different photos, not ten photos of the same exact thing.

17:02

Speaker 3

Also, if it’s a scenery pic, place the people off center and fill the shot with scenery.

Because a lot of times two people of course think I want to be the center.

Not from an egotistical standpoint, right, but just center frame makes sense when you really think about it.

But a lot of times that doesn’t make a very good captivating photo, let alone when there’s beautiful scenery behind.

17:22

You want the shot and the photo to have the scenery, so put and adjust the people to be off center.

17:27

Speaker 1

But on the opposite end of that, you might want to center them for monuments, doorways, temples, and even like a street shot.

Not all the time, but sometimes it looks really nice.

Jamal sometimes hates when I do this.

Sometimes if I’m like taking a picture of just building, if I am not completely center, he’s like moved to the center, moved to the center.

17:44

So he’s really good about this.

17:46

Speaker 3

That I am because when you’re taking a photo, like I could see your few steps from being in the center and it’s just like, why are you doing that?

That like irks my chain a little bit.

But to each their own, right?

That’s for her private catalog, so to speak, of photos of those buildings.

18:02

Speaker 2

Something else I’ve resorted to, this is my last tip is to actually just put the phone on video mode and then hand it to the stranger and ask them to just hold it and capture a few seconds of video footage for you.

Then I like to screenshot from the video.

It’s similar to taking a live photo, but then you have video similar to burst mode that we mentioned before.

18:23

But I feel like it’s really beneficial for those people that when you hand them the phone, they’re like, oh, I suck at taking pictures.

Like, OK, well let me turn it on video and just see what we get.

18:32

Speaker 1

You can also do this if you’re a solo.

That’s all I know.

Kim, you did this while you were in Iceland and needed to get some shots when no one else was around.

That’s true.

Or when it was super cold outside and you want to take your hands outside of your gloves.

18:43

Speaker 2

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

And look, Squatty’s, there are tons of TikTok videos and articles that you can read about settings that you can do on your phone that for some reason when they start talking about numbers and different words, I don’t understand, it just really goes right over my head.

19:00

So this is not a technological photography settings in that kind of a sense episode.

These are truly tips that anybody can do, no matter your age, no matter how many photos you’ve taken in your life.

And so hopefully this will give you some better picks on your travels and help you give others better picks.

19:18

Speaker 3

Yeah.

And before we go, I just want to say one last tip here for you guys, and that is really to just ask the person to look at the photo and offer if they want you to take another one, right?

Because sometimes you may take the photo thinking it’s the way you would want it, but of course, it’s not the way that they necessarily want it, even if you ask them questions.

19:39

So just a good general rule of thumb, you take a photo or two, ask him to take a look at it, see if it needs any adjustment, and you’re happy to do it.

And hopefully if you’re taking it first, they’re going to reciprocate and do the exact same thing for you.

That way you have the perfect shot for yourself.

19:52

Speaker 2

And that is the etiquette.

If someone gets a picture for you, you always offer to take one for them.

19:57

Speaker 3

Absolutely.

19:58

Speaker 2

Squaddies, thank you so much for tuning into this week’s Just the Tip.