Have you ever wished to travel like your friends do after watching their travel photos on social media? Well, we have a tip for you! Your friends might just be using their mobile phones to take astonishing pictures.
That phone, which you were planning to leave behind just a few moments ago, can now be used to click astonishing travel photos. The idea of traveling with a bulky camera bag is long gone.
With the current technological advancements, mobile phones are able to capture photos via their cameras like few-year professional camera with lenses. Let us see how you would now be able to use your mobile phone as an excellent travel photography gadget. 
Advantages of Using Smartphone as a Travel Photography Gadget
Since your phone is mobile, you would ready to caption a long way off insightful and clever moments. The easy accessibility of a phone lets you capture spontaneous moments which give a unique essence to travel photography.
A phone has the advantage of multifunctionality over a normal camera. Phones are multifunctional and offer everything from editing and sharing to instant uploading of photos. The moments captured can easily be backed up with the click of a button.
Primary benefits of mobile travel photography:
- A camera is at hand anytime.
- Better portability
- Editing is done directly on the device
- Sharing and storage is done automatically and instantly
- Protected from the elements (with most recent mobile devices)
- Various camera options: wide and ultra-wide as well as telephoto.
Important Mobile Photography Tips That Every Traveler Must Learn
Use of the Rule of Thirds
You can enable the grid feature that comes with your camera app. This grid feature splits your display into nine equal parts.
You can place some interesting objects on the dividing lines or at the intersections of the lines. Instead of placing the horizon at the center, consider setting the horizon at the bottom third line and let the colorful sky fill the upper two thirds.
Take Advantage of Deals with Professional Mobile Photography
Sandwiching your shots with some attractive covers or cloud background can instantly add pizzazz and magic into your image.
These sets of natural phenomena recur on a daily basis, and they can also occur on overcast days where the lighting is softer.
Freezing of the image can be done while standing still outdoors in a well-lit place where there is no power of the sun directly above.
Insider Tip: Keeping the flash off is a safe option. The reason is that external sources of light will most likely outperform the internal ones, and especially that of your mobile device.
Plus, your phone will be ready with low light shooting options by the time night comes around.
Fill Your Frame
One problem novice photographers often run into is maintaining too much distance from their subject.
Don’t be shy about getting close to the action as getting close to the subject will fill the frame with details that tell a story.
Rather than capturing the entirety of a building, zoom in to the intriguing weathered textures, colorful doors, or the architectural details.
Include The Following Adjustments To Your Photograph
If you own a smartphone, you will be glad to know that most of them provide smartphone cameras with manual options, you just have to search the right places. Here is what you should change:
Focus and Exposure
One of the most common practices to set the subject focus is to tap the subject. After the focus has been set, finger sliding up or down will be used to set the exposure (the brightness).
Beach and snow scenes are bright, so increase the exposure a little to avoid dark, underexposed images.
HDR Mode
With high dynamic range (HDR), a combination of multiple images that are taken in varying exposures is created.
This is useful when we have a bright sky and dark foreground as in landscapes. But do not use HDR when you have moving subjects, as the images will lose definition due to the blending.
Portrait Mode
If portrait mode is available on your smartphone, do not shy away from trying it on other objects or even people. The faux depth of field can separate your subjects from blurred backgrounds and yield images that look professional.
Composition Techniques That Always Work
| Technique | When to Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Leading Lines | Paths, roads, railings | Use a winding street to guide eyes toward a distant landmark |
| Framing | Windows, archways, trees | Photograph a monument through an ornate doorway |
| Patterns | Architecture, nature | Repetitive elements like columns or waves |
| Symmetry | Reflections, buildings | Perfect mirror images in water or glass |
| Fill the Frame | Close-ups, details | Zoom in on intricate tile work or food presentation |
Mobile Photography Quick Start
Before shooting:
- Apart from cleaning, ensure that there’s no dust on your lens. (lint can impact images)
- Assess your available storage
- Enable geotagging by location services to set geotags automatically
During shooting:
- Focus on the details by shooting wide, medium and close
- Photograph from different angles
- Focus on wide shots and close details
- Capture fleeting detailsPost shooting:
- Focus on immediate back up for photos
- Edit shot photos first to preserve instant memories
- Post the ones you love, but leave the edits for later
Things that should not be done
Don’t fall for digital zoom, which will always be your foe. Closer shots can be achieved by moving forwards, not zooming.
Digital zoom can greatly reduce the quality of images captured.
Do not use automatic modes exclusively. Relying solely on your phone’s AI features can restrict your creativity. Learning the basic controls of your phone’s camera can unlock new possibilities.
Avoid over-editing. Using too many filters or increasing the saturation too much can make images look inauthentic. Subtle edits with lesser values can often yield the most eye-catching results.
Do not ignore the background. Before taking the photo, scan the entire area to check for background elements such as power lines, litter, or people who may unintentionally ruin the shot.
Best Apps for Travel Photography Using Mobile Devices
These applications can help improve the photo-taking experience beyond what the built-in camera app of your phone offers.
For shooting:
- Camera+ on iOS and Open Camera on Android offer manual options
- Exceptional computational photography can be found on Google Camera
For editing:
- Adjustments on photos can be done at a professional level by using Lightroom Mobile.
- Snapseed allows users to make edits quickly and intuitively.
- VSCO offers film-inspired filters and community features in addition to editing photos.
Protecting and Organizing your Travel Photos
For most people, the most disheartening part of a trip is the loss of photos. Setting up automatic backup on the cloud before starting the trip offers peace of mind.
Google Photos, iCloud, and Dropbox can automatically backup images, providing protection from losing images even when the phone is stolen or damaged.
While on the trip, setting up a basic organization system is useful. Most photographers prefer to use location-based albums or split the images captured during the day into separate folders.
Best Practices for Professional Mobile Photographers
After developing foundational skills, consider trying the following:
Long exposure shots: For certain types of phones, there are features that will allow the user to capture smooth flowing waterfalls, light contrails, or other similar subjects.
Multiple exposures: With some editing, you can increase the dynamic range of a picture by partially altering the exposure of different regions of the same scene, combining multiple images with varying exposure levels.
Panoramic photography: While it is common for phones to have a panorama option, you can also perform vertical panoramas, useful for tall objects such as waterfalls or skyscraper buildings.
Street photography: With phones, one can easily capture candid portraits of people, which can be referred to as street photography.
Final Talk
Having a sophisticated smartphone or the newest editing app does not equate to better travel photos.
What is most important is your understanding of the light and how to utilize it to tell stories through images, which presents opportunities that most people miss.
A traveler’s smartphone will always have the functionality required to take great photos, all that is needed is proper understanding.
While traveling, ensure that you always practice your smartphone camera skills. Mastering your camera will prepare you to capture travel moments that cannot be repeated.
Smartphones are always handy, so all need is to take them out and document those unforgettable moments. They are the best camera you can have.
Common Questions
Isn’t a good travel photo only possible with an expensive smartphone?
Most recent mid-tier smartphones over the last few years can capture sensational travel photos as well as more expensive devices. A few dollar smartphones from a few years back can take great travel photos as long as good technique is applied. Focus on composition and technique. Remember, fundamentals matter most.
What can I do to improve photo quality while traveling in low light?
Use your mobile’s nighttime mode if available, keep your hands steady, and look out for available light sources to make the most out your traveling photos. Remember to keep the flash off to avoid unnatural lighting on your pictures. Capturing low light photos with slight underexposure can be more moody.
What is the best method for travelers to backup photos without the use of WiFi?
Use a SIM card with enabled data. Combining a phone with a portable backup charger can be a simple and effective way to provide portable data. Users can also use a secondary phone as portable data, while travelers can store their data on devices without the use of mobile data. Backup your travel photos whenever you are in range to good WiFi.
Is it advisable to capture travel photos on my phone in RAW format?
If your phone allows for RAW shooting (often labeled as DNG), it’s advisable to use it for key captures, like in tricky lighting or during landscapes. RAW format gives you more options for post-processing edits since it contains more data than a standard JPEG. This comes at the cost of using a lot more phone storage, so keep in mind the phone’s backup plan and total capacity before switching RAW on for every photo.
