All right, so summer is here and the kids are out of school.  Now it’s time for a well earned vacation.  It seems as though everybody and their grandmother has a digital camera these days, and since most people don’t make prints anymore there is no “cost” for clicking away.  We often think more is better, but when it comes to taking pictures, more might simply just be that “more”.  This summer learn to take better vacation photos with these tips.

1. If you are going to an attraction or event and you’re bringing the kids, take pictures of them when you first get there.  This is when they are happy and fresh and don’t have a chocolate double scoop ice cream cone down the front of them.
2. Interact with your surroundings instead of just lining up in a straight line.  If you’re at the beach get the kids running from the waves.  Make it a game to get as close as you can without getting wet.
3. Look twice, shoot once.  Look for distractions in your scene and see if you can crop them out by moving left / right or zooming in more.  That extra second will be well worth it.
4. Don’t be afraid to get out of auto mode.  I shoot most often in aperture priority mode so I can control the depth of field.  I can decide if the person is in focus with a background that’s sharp as a tack, or artfully blurred out.
5. Tell the whole story.  Introduce the story with an overview photo of the scene or establish what it is you are going to do.  If you are going to a National Park, get the welcome sign with a grove of trees.  If you are going to the beach try photographing the street leading up to the beach, just as you begin to see the ocean.  Make sure you show the action.  What did you do?  If you were at a neighborhood pool party shoot the kids doing a cannon ball and splashing around.  Show what you saw. If you are at the pier shoot some pictures of the street performers and vendors.   Show a row of fishing boats lined up at the dock.  Find something interesting to highlight with a unique perspective.  Look for interesting textures and color.  Maybe it’s a strand of fish tied up just coming off the boat, maybe it’s a close up of sand ripples in a tide pool.  Every story needs an ending, be sure to tell yours. Take a picture of packing up the car, the sun going down into the water, or deflating the beach ball.  Be creative and most importantly have fun!
6. Now when you get home, don’t forget to upload or print you images. Just leaving them on the memory card in your camera is not going to help you remember your amazing vacation at all.  There are lots of great companies where you can upload your photos and share them with your friends and family like Shutterfly, Snapfish or Flickr.  And for those a bit more creative there are also websites that can help you create a digital scrapbook of your adventures.

Note: This Article first appeared in the Biltmore Beacon Newspaper June, 2010