5 Tips for awesome adventure photos

Did an adventure really happen if you haven’t got the photos to prove it? We all know that if it’s not on Instagram or Facebook it’s almost like it didn’t really happen. Best you have your smartphone handy to capture your adventures.

A picture speaks a thousand words, the old adage goes, so here’s five tips for making your pics a thousand times better.

1. Composition is key

If the composition isn’t right it’s doesn’t matter if you’re shooting on a bottom-of-the-range smartphone or a state-of-the-art pro camera, it just won’t be a great photo. Composition refers to the placement or arrangement of visual elements. It is essentially the decision of what to include in your frame and what not. Half an arm falling out of the frame of the right? No thanks, change the angle. This can be tricky to get right mid-adventure so spend some time at the beginning planning your shots and the best angle (it might be from the bottom) and work around that.

2. But lighting is king

Lighting is as important as composition. The whole concept of photography is built around the manipulation of light so it stands to reason that it is really important to get this photographic element right. Shooting adventure on your smartphone will probably always mean using natural light – which is easier to work with anyway – so you need to pay attention to the where the sun and the shadows are. There is so much to be said for light but this article does a great job of explaining the intricacies of light.

3. Steady does it

There are many reason why the extended arm selfie has not won a World Press Photo award. One of the reasons is that it is typically taken with one hand, which causes balance and focus issues. Hold your phone with both hands as you would a “proper” camera as it helps to minimise movement, which helps to make your images sharper with better focus.

4. More is more

It’s simple, the more photos you take the better chance you have of finding “the one” in your reel. Adventure also implies movement so it’s best to get a variety of images from different angles and of different movements.

5. Edit, edit and edit some more

The great thing about digital photography is that you don’t need a dark room, or very advanced photography skills, to take a decent photo. Thanks to a plethora of photo editing apps and resources it’s fairly easy to turn your snap into something stunning. Play around with the contrast and brightness of the image, for starters, or download a photo editor like Snapseed or VSCO (for iPhone) or Photo Editor Pro or Bonfire (for Android). The more you play the more pro you’ll become. Play until you have the prize winner!

Lastly, just play around and have fun. Even if you don’t ever get the prize winner you’re sure to capture some fun memories along the way.

Images via Pexels.com