There's no doubt about it having beautiful imagery and inspiring photos on the walls is a sure way to brighten up a room, make these images personal of your own travels, experiences, and loved ones and you're sure to create a more uplifting home. In one of my recent blogs relationship expert Paula Hall highlighted the importance of holiday photos as a reminder of the good times you've had with your partner as a way to help maintain a happy relationship.
This is all very well but the difficulty can lie in actually getting the great shots in the first place. Some of us simply forget to take them, others take hundreds, making the editing process overwhelming, and some people like me just fail to get anything remotely sharable.
I recently had the opportunity to gather some tips from a pro photographer and thought I'd share them on here for any other frustrated photographers out there.
Matt Davis has made a successful wedding photography business out of his stunning, natural style of portraiture photography. Here are his top tips for capturing wall-space-worthy pictures on holiday:
1) Only carry what you need. Lugging camera kit around is hard work - and you're meant to be on holiday. The old adage, the best camera is the one you have with you is definitely true here. I use my iphone for snaps on the move.
1b) Have a camera at hand (with the camera switched on, lens cap off and settings ready to shoot), and be prepared to react quickly if a photo presents itself.
2) Taking holiday photos in the middle of the day in harsh (direct) sunlight is hard to produce great results. Get up early to get some shots, or take advantage of the wonderful evening light from one hour before sunset, to one hour afterwards.
3) If you do have to take photos in the middle of the day, try to shoot with the sun behind you. That may mean not taking the photos you wanted, and instead having to move to another spot - or repositioning the subject how you want them.
4) Vary your photos with regards your perspective and subject matter. Include family members, but also tell a story of the trip. Think beginning, middle and end. If you are going to make a wall montage or holiday photo book upon your return, you'll have a great variety of content.
5) After your holiday set time aside to edit your photos, removing the out of focus photos, blinks, etc. Be harsh, and only keep the best ones. You can tell a story of your holiday in 36 frames, no one needs to see 200 shots just because you have a digital camera and it's 'free' to take photos. Quality NOT quantity.
You don't need a holiday of a lifetime to take beautiful images, a day in the park could produce some beautiful results. That said, if you do fancy a 5* break Mark Warner has teamed up with Kiddicare to offer families the chance to win a week's holiday worth £3,500 to the sunny beach resort of Levante on the Greek Island of Rhodes. Find out more here.