How to take better travel photos with your phone

Reviewed regularly · 8 min read

You don't need a camera or any knowledge of photography. Four things about light and framing transform a trip's photos.

Light is everything

The best hours are the first of the morning and the last of the afternoon, when the sun is low and the light warm and soft. Midday is the worst: harsh shadows, ugly contrast and washed-out colour. If you can only visit somewhere at midday, look for shade or interiors.

Sunrise: the real trick

The world's most photographed places are empty at seven in the morning. The square that's a tide of people at midday is yours alone at dawn, with better light. It's the only tip that improves both photos and experience.

Composition: the rule of thirds

Turn on the grid in your camera settings. Place what matters on the lines or their intersections rather than dead centre, and put the horizon on the upper or lower line, not the middle. A small change that shows a lot.

Find a foreground

Flat landscape shots usually fail from lack of depth. Put something near the camera (a branch, a railing, a rock) with the landscape behind. The image gains layers and stops looking like a dull postcard.

Set exposure before shooting

Tap the screen on the area you want correctly exposed and slide your finger up or down to brighten or darken. With bright skies, lowering exposure slightly saves the shot: recovering a blown-out sky afterwards is impossible.

Digital zoom ruins photos

Pinching to zoom crops and loses quality. If your phone has multiple lenses, use the longer one, which is optical. And if you still can't reach, walk closer.

Photos of people

Backlit at sunset works well and avoids squinting faces. And for street photos of people, ask permission or shoot so nobody is identifiable: many countries have rules on image rights.

After the trip

Edit lightly and consistently: raising contrast a little, straightening the horizon and cropping covers 90 percent of photos. And back up every night, because losing your phone without a backup means losing the whole trip.

Keep reading

Browse every cities destination, or go back to the board and filter by month.