Guide To Curating Your Travel Photos
Sharing your travel photos is a fun way to display your experiences on vacation. You may want to post 100+ photos of your time spent in Lisbon, however, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, wants to look at that many photos. I had to sit through someone’s photo presentation of their 10 day trip to England with about 100 photos of sheep. I am not embellishing. No thanks! The photos you captured have great meaning to you, but most likely do not for the people you want to share them with. The goal of posting your photos is for your audience to wish they were with you by keeping people engaged. To do that show the highlights.
Taking great quality photos is the best way to make it easier when choosing the photos you want to share on social media.
Use your camera’s gridline feature.
Place points of interest in these intersections or along the lines, your photo will be more balanced, level, and allow viewers to interact with it more naturally. Use the rule of thirds. Stacey Lalande, a Sudbury, Ontario based photographer explains the rule: “Put important things (like horizons, or people) where the lines are, and REALLY important things (like the subject or points of interest) where they intersect. But there’s something to be said about symmetry, and if you’re faced with some architecture or something that is very symmetrical, it might look better perfectly centred.”
iPhone: Go to "Settings," choose "Photos & Camera," and switch "Grid" on.
Samsung Galaxy: Launch the camera app, go to "Settings," scroll down and switch the "gridlines" option to "on."
Edit the photos using your phone’s program
Using your phone’s program to edit your photos enables you to crop, brighten, straighten and add filters to enhance your photo. It is a great idea to limit the amount of zoom as this can often cause photos to look blurry and grainy. Instead, use the crop feature. This is a great way to optimize a larger image.
Get creative
Use Negative Space
Using empty space in a photo will help your subject stand out
Play with Reflections
Using bodies of water, sunglasses, mirrors and metallic surfaces can create interesting images that our eyes are drawn to.
Repetitive Patterns
Patterns can make a strong visual impact. Mosaic tiles, foliage, animals all have patterns that are visually appealing.
Capture Small Details
Small and intricate details make for intriguing visual content. Find subjects with delicate detail. Most updated phones have a micro lens that can capture these subjects.
Leading Line
Lines that appear in a photo that have been framed and positioned to draw the viewer's eye towards a specific subject point of interest.
Stacey gave me this amazing tip - Cloudy days make for nice close ups or portraits and sunny days makes for nice landscapes.
Add a great caption to tell a story
While oftentimes your photo can speak a thousand words, voice your own story. Let your viewers know what you are experiencing through your photos by keeping your caption detailed, but concise. And check for typos (thank you autocorrect!).
Be Selective
Choose wisely by using a critical eye and pick the best of the best to share with your audience. Choose only one photo of each subject or point of interest. On Facebook keep it to five photos. After that you got the dreaded + sign and most people keep scrolling. Instead of doing a photo dump, make a daily post with your five top photos of the day.