Now that I’ve earned the solo traveller badge, I wanted to overcome the challenge of taking good photos. Alone. Yes, alone. It’s a travel challenge for me because I’m used to having someone take my photo whenever I travel.
Raise your hand if you’re one of those travellers who wanted to take a good Facebook photo during their travels but failed miserably. Don’t worry though, I did some research and found useful ways to take awesome photos when travelling alone. Here are some tips I got:
1. Research pegs
Before I embark on an epic travel adventure, I search for good photo pegs. I usually get inspiration from travel and fashion bloggers on Instagram. They give you awesome ideas, from clothes, accessories, and poses to achieve that perfect solo photo.
2. Your one-man (one-woman) production team
This photo was taken by propping the camera strategically on the rocks.
You need a good camera or phone camera, and a sturdy reliable tripod or gorilla pod. Next, find a good spot to prop your tripod or gorilla pod. Set the camera on burst mode and once the timer goes off, you do your thing. You can choose between the different frames you like. If burst mode is not available, you can set it on video and screenshot the pose you really like. But then again, if you are techy enough, you can invest in camera accessories.
If you don’t have any of those tripods, gorilla pods or other camera accessories, set your camera on timer and work with rocks and other inanimate objects.
3. Use a selfie stick
I am not a fan of selfie sticks because the stick usually ruins a supposed-to-be good photo. But there is a good way to hide the stick when you do use it. You fill up the frame so that the arm that you’re holding the camera won’t be included in the frame. Voila!
4. Ask strangers
If all of the suggested ideas above don’t work for you, you can always ask someone to take a photo of you. If you are one of those people who are perfectionists and want to take photos from all angles, keep the requested shots to a minimum. Let’s say three clicks, and be done with it. Be careful who you ask and pick your potential photographer as wisely as you can, or else they might run off with your camera.
This photo was taken by a stranger whom we instructed to just click randomly. Props to him for getting candid photos.
We’re now armed with these neat tricks and tips to guarantee us awesome profile photos on Facebook, and maybe more importantly, Instagram-worthy uploads. As millennials say these days, do it for the ‘gram!
This article originally appeared in Tripzilla Philippines on May 18, 2018.
