Whenever my family and I take day trips or family vacations, my wife likes to take her Canon camera with her. I prefer to travel light, so my iPhone XS Max is the only thing I use to take photos. Modern smartphones have pretty amazing photo capabilities with many of them able to take photos of up to 12 megapixels or more. Smartphones also have the advantage over most cameras because you have a host of apps to help you get more from your pictures. You have options that will automatically make backup of your pictures, photo editing software and let's not forget the ability to save your vacation photos directly to social media. So how can you get the most from your smartphone to take the best vacation photos and videos? Check out some of my tips that will help you create the best vacation memories ever.
1. Use The Timer On Your Smartphone. Apple and Android smartphones offer camera timers to be used with a tripod or for large group shots. You can use the timer when taking vacation selfies. The time will give you time to compose your shots and you don't have to struggle to hit the shutter button while you're also holding your phone in position.
2. Hold Your Phone Horizontal When Taking Photos and Videos. Great photos and videos should be able to be viewed on a variety of platforms. TV, computer screens, and social media. For the exception of Instagram, social media loves horizontal videos and photos. Hold that phone sideways when taking those shots. If you have a larger smartphone, you might want to consider getting a smartphone grip or ring to to allow you to hold your phone when taking shots.
3. Edit Photos Easily On Your Phone. There are many great tools for smartphones to edit photos and videos. You can choose from programs such as Adobe Photoshop Express and Flickr, but did you know your smartphones already have great editing software built in? The photo apps built into Apple and Android are as powerful as many of the photo editing apps on the market and the best part is that they are free.
4. Back Up Photos On Your Phone Automatically. I know it appears that I mention backing up in just about every blog that I write, but I cannot stress the important of having a smartphone backup system that will automatically save your photos and videos. At Integral, we receive countless calls from people who have lost images on their smartphones. Unlike those TV shows you watch, where they can retrieve just about anything from smart device, it's not like that in the real world. Backing up your photos to your computer’s hard drive is a great idea, but there is always the possibility that your computer could get damaged. That’s why I always recommend backing up to a cloud-based service like iCloud or Google Photos. The great thing about iCloud and Google photos is that they both organize your photos and videos and backs them up in a secure online location. Once online, you can access them from any device, whether iOS or Android, Windows or Macintosh computer. If you ever get a new phone, your photos and videos will automatically come along with you. With iCloud, Apple gives you 5Gigabytes of storage and after you use that up, it's .99 a month. Google Photos offers unlimited storage for photos and videos with a Google account.
Vacation photos and videos help us keep our memories alive of all of the locations we've traveled with family and friends. Use these tips to help you create the best possible version of those memories so you can enjoy them for years to come.
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Looking to capture amazing summer photos and videos with your smartphone? Here are four tech tips: use gridlines for better composition, adjust the exposure manually, experiment with different angles, and make use of natural light. For post-editing, I recommend using convert PGM online to enhance your images easily.