Eternalising the most beautiful holiday memories
Whether it’s exciting city trips, relaxed beach holidays or unique adventure holidays – destinations of all kinds offer countless subjects for a personal photo book – because who wants to forget the most extraordinary moments of their life? Eternalise your best memories and wildest stories of your journey in a bound photo book. We reveal our best tips and tricks so that you can also succeed with every snapshot and become worthy of a photo album (or of course worthy of social media)!
1. Planning is everything
2. Sensible photography
3. Hand over the camera
4. Bring a change of perspective into play
5. Recognise and use different types of light
Planning is everything!
Do: Tell a story with your travel photos
What story do you want to tell and what photos do you need? Should the end result mainly show beautiful landscape photographs, or your funniest moments with family and friends – or a deliberate collage of both? Plus, when you travel, you're likely to take countless pictures. Some photos are blurred or duplicate, but there are definitely funny snapshots underneath. To keep track, in the evening you should delete the photos you would rather not keep – because organisation means everything if you want to get the best out of your pictures in the end!
Don't: Take too many pictures
With today's technology, you can pull the trigger anytime, anywhere, and only the life of the battery could possibly be worrying. There is usually enough space for photos. Nevertheless, it is nice to choose special moments carefully. You don't have to reach for the camera at every beautiful moment: a particularly tasty dinner is enough to capture, it does not have to be every single one. Staging a sunset in pictures is exciting, capturing everyone on the journey is almost too much of a good thing. Finally, you don't just want to see your holiday through the lens of your camera. Use your time to relax and explore! Enjoy your holidays and don't miss the beautiful moments in life!
Sensible photography
Do: Embark on a journey of discovery
Typically, cameras are pulled out where everyone else does it. After all, historic places of an extraordinary city and picturesque beaches make for wonderful scenery. However, to let a sight shine in a new light, it is worthwhile to pause briefly and think about further possibilities.: Try out new, unusual perspectives or times of day. Go visit early in the morning or late at night. Play with the light or even use bad weather to achieve beautiful effects. Incidentally, everyday life in a strange place is also a popular setting for picture stories.: People in the metro, at the weekly market or a street art show a refreshing and personal perspective of a city and also tell a story. Why not go on a discovery tour!
Don't: Get pushy
Neither humans nor animals like it when we become too intrusive! Always keep a respectful distance from your living motives. In case of doubt, it is better to ask again if it is okay to take a photo.
Hand over the camera
Do: Have your family, friends, children or strangers take pictures
Our insider tip: During the holidays, usually only one person photographs, who can then rarely be seen in the pictures. Variety in photography among family members and friends adds not only fun, but also different perspectives – because everyone perceives the world and their surroundings from a different point of view. From time to time, ask strangers that are nearby if they can take a picture of you – or hand the camera to your children! Then, at the end of your holiday, compile all the pictures and be surprised by the special memories that have come about.
Don't: Become vain
It is quite normal that we do not look perfect in every photo – sometimes the angle was chosen incorrectly, or we laughed a little too much, that is only human. That's why it would be a shame to never want to be part of a photo. Life is too short to be vain! It's better to look at the photos in a few years, remember and laugh, instead of wondering where you were. The same applies to photo filters! It's preferable to process the images discreetly afterward, instead of employing countless filters until nothing is discernable anymore – lots of filters also damage the image resolution, by the way.
Bring change of perspective into play
Do: Leave your comfort zone
Play with your camera settings! Always leaving everything on automatic is boring, learn about aperture setting or exposure time to catch completely new effects. With new cameras, you often have the option of changing even one of them in order to catch the desired result. This way, you can slowly get acquainted and extract new perspectives from a boring motive.
Want to learn more about aperture, exposure, etc.? Then take a look at our little glossary of digital photography!
Don't: Always take photos from the same angle
Every so often you have to lie down on the floor to catch great perspectives. On the hunt for the perfect motif, everything is allowed: Lying down, (carefully) climbing to a raised position or walking between playing children at eye level. This will make your pictures more impressive and, above all, more varied!
Recognise and use different types of light
Do: Use the "Golden Hour"
The best time for beautiful photos is the "Golden Hour". It starts shortly after sunrise or shortly before sunset – the light, which then shines golden, then shines from an optimal angle to give your motifs a warm shine.
With the Available-Light photography you can shoot impressive images with little light. Find out how to make the most of it here!
Don't: Enjoy using the flash with caution
Even when it gets dark, it is often better to photograph without a flash. Usually, the distance to the motif is too great for the flash to be of use anyway – and people get a completely unhealthy, glaring complexion. Even professional photographers are increasingly relinquishing artificial light!
Eternalise your photos in a personal travel diary
Your journey as a story!
During the holidays, your own snapshots are often uploaded onto social media and shared with friends. However, to give special appreciation to the most successful photos, printed photo books are the right choice because the visual experience of a photo book cannot be compared to clicking through a photo gallery on your mobile phone. In addition, there are no creative limits to designing a photo book. You can combine beautiful images with inspiring texts, create collages with funny photos, paste special memorabilia, and draw beloved places in maps. Tell your personal story with your travel diary!
Get creative!
To give your personal Travel Diary a special touch, you can also add admission tickets or train tickets of the country you have travelled on. If you have been to several places, why not insert a map and mark your route. Beautiful country-specific illustrations add a cool touch to your travel diary. You can also easily edit your photos online. For example, your landscape photographs in black and white look much more noble, or you can add an inspiring slogan that summarises your special moment in words.
Our tip:
The best choice for a personalised photo book is our bestseller, the Deluxe photo book, which really emphasises natural colours with its slightly glossy inner pages. Or you can opt for the Premium Photo Paper photo book, which is perfect for large-format pictures over two pages thanks to the flat sides!
Create a wall of memories from your travel photos
It doesn't always have to be a photo book: your greatest memories can also be captured from retro prints. Make the most of your holiday photos! How unfortunate would it be if the photos on your phone or camera were forgotten? The retro prints can be easily labelled – ideally, by recording the date and destination – and attached to the wall with double-sided adhesive tape or a cord. You can then add to this again after each trip until you have your own travel memory wall!
Or you can choose the practical photo strips on which you can place four of your favourite pictures. In addition, they come with a white frame and in a trendy photo vending machine look. Perfect for adding some variety to the photo wall or as a sweet souvenir gift for your fellow travellers.
Samira Hammami
Samira is actually an art history student, but she has always had a passion for writing. It all started with small blog articles about her biggest hobby: traveling.
Now she writes about all sorts of creative aspects of life, and for some time she has also been supporting ifolor with her articles. Because she is most drawn towards reporting she is especially happy to be starting a master degree course in Cultural Journalism in September.