One of the most frequently asked questions we get is how we take travel photos as a couple. We in no way shape or form consider ourselves to be expert photographers. We are most definitely beginning level photographers and have been slowly teaching ourselves since we started our blog almost two years ago. It has become something we really love and we find that taking photos while we travel really enhances our travel experience. We also love having photos together from our travels as they are the best souvenirs we could ask for from any trip. After each trip, we love to look over the photos we took as a way to remember the experiences we had. Even though we are very much beginner photographers and have a lot to learn, we have learned a few tips and tricks on taking travel photos as a couple. Here are the most frequently asked questions we get regarding taking travel photos as a couple.

How We Take Travel Photos as a Couple

How do you get photos together? Who takes your photos?

Getting photos together is definitely a challenge! We find that it takes some work and effort to be able to get photos with both of us in them, but we do prefer having both of us in photos. Almost all of our photos are taken with a tripod, as that just works best for us and we don’t mind carrying a tripod around. Here are 5 different ways you can get photos together:

Use a tripod:

This is our preferred method. Probably something like 95% of our photos are taken with a tripod. I won’t lie, it is annoying to carry the tripod around, but we’ve gotten used to it and Bassam prefers it to any other method. In order to take the photo you can set the camera on a timer, connect the camera to your phone, or use a remote. We’ve tried all of these methods and we prefer using a remote. While connecting to your phone is nice because you can see what the image looks like, we find the phone to be bulky and hard to hide. It’s really easy to hide the remote and so you have more flexibility with your poses. It’s also easy with a remote to set the camera on auto shutter mode if you want to take a series of moving photos, for example, like the twirl shots we love to do.

The concern with tripods can often be safety. Make sure to put your tripod on stable ground, so that you don’t risk the tripod falling over and damaging your camera. If you’re in a crowded place, don’t leave the tripod far from you. We only put the tripod far from us if we are somewhere where theft isn’t really a concern or it’s not a crowded place. We take the photo quickly so that we don’t leave the camera unattended for long. Sometimes it takes awhile for us to be able to take our shot since there can be a lot of people in the frame. One of us will stand positioned for the shot while the other person stands next to the tripod. As soon as the frame clears of people, the person standing next to the tripod will run over and we will quickly snap the shot.

This is the tripod we use. It’s light weight, which makes it easy to carry around. It’s good quality, folds up small which makes it easy to pack, and it’s easy to set up. This is the remote we use which is compatible with Canon.

Ask someone to take it for you:

I'd like to travel the world twice. Once, to see the world. Twice, to see the world through your eyes. .. You guys always ask how we get shots with no one in them or shots of the two of us. This particular street was a tough one because everyone wanted a shot here. We kept checking back and it was always super crowded. .. Finally it started raining and all the crowds disappeared. We handed our camera to a friendly looking stranger and had a quick photo shoot. .. All the shopkeepers came out of their colorful stores to watch us and cheered when we did this dip. They came up to us afterwards and wanted to see the pictures. They all weighed in on their favorites and everyone agreed on this one. .. Have you ever had an experience where strangers got super into your photo taking? .. 👗: link in bio

A post shared by Couples Lifestyle & Travel (@happilyeveradventures) on Jun 1, 2017 at 8:21am PDT

We rarely do this as Bassam HATES asking people {more on this later}, but we have found that sometimes it’s our only option. Having someone else take your photo can be really hit or miss, so it isn’t a method I advise for you to rely on all the time if you are very particular about how you want your photos to look. Here are some tips we’ve found effective for getting the best possible photo when you ask someone else to take it for you:

• Ask someone who seems to be friendly and not in a rush. Bonus points if you offer to take their photo first
• Look for someone who is holding a professional camera. It’s not a no fail strategy, but often times those with professional cameras tend to take better photos. You can also look for someone who is taking a lot of camera phone photos and seems to know what they are doing in terms of angles
• Take the photo yourself first so you can show the person how you want it to look
• Set up the shot for them, put your camera on auto mode, and tell them exactly where to press
• If you don’t like it, no worries, just ask another stranger!

Hire a photographer:

While this is a more expensive option and not one the average person can do all the time, it is an option that we recommend for special trips. It can be a really beautiful souvenir to have professionally shot photos of you while traveling. We’ve never personally done this while traveling, but we are planning to do it the next time we visit Paris.

To make it budget friendly:

• Find a student or beginning photographer {check a local photography school or college, Craig’s List, or just Google search}
• Do this in lieu of buying any other souvenirs {how much money do you spend on items you’ll probably never use? These photos will be priceless!}

Master the “art” of the selfie:

Just as the rain invigorates the earth and turns the world into a canvas of greens and pops of colorful flowers, travel invigorates our relationship. .. Whether it's just a day trip, a quick weekend getaway, or the rare two week long vacation, we bloom into the best version of ourselves. That best version is more relaxed, more fun, more loving, more patient, and more playful. And our relationship feels the effects for weeks to come. Travel makes us {and therefore our relationship} come alive. .. What makes you "bloom"? 🌷🌹🌻🌸🌼🌺

A post shared by Couples Lifestyle & Travel (@happilyeveradventures) on Apr 18, 2017 at 8:56am PDT

We noticed recently that all of our photos were full body shots and we decided to start mixing things up with selfies. It can be nice to have photos of varying perspectives and as much flack as the selfie gets, it can be a surprisingly nice angle, especially for cute couples’ shots. I’m still trying to teach Bassam the perfect angle {up high, tilted down}, so we are still working on it. You can also get a selfie stick to fit in a lot more background!

Use a drone:

The use of drones has skyrocketed over the past few years and there have started to be many budget friendly drone options. Even so, drones may be the least practical option. They can be a lot of work to set up and you need to check to regulations to make sure you are allowed to fly them. They can lead to very stunning photos and are great for dramatic shots. We are looking forward to taking ours to Aruba next month as they are amazing for ocean shots!

How do you get photos without other people in them?

Patience

Lots and lots of patience. We will often WAIT until the frame clears of enough people for us to take the shot. We have waited up to 20 minutes before. As soon as there is a second without people, we quickly snap the photo. So be patient and act quick!

Come up a unique angle

Often there’s one particular angle everyone wants a photo of. We will try to come up with a unique angle that not a lot of people are taking a photo of.

Early morning shoots

We don’t typically wake up early morning to shoot as we are not morning people, but we will do this every once in awhile if we are trying to take photos in a particularly crowded location. We also woke up early one morning in Cartagena, Colombia just to beat the heat! If you’re a morning person this is a fantastic option as you’ll get great morning light, won’t have to deal with crowds, and can get a head start on your day!

Off season travel

We like to travel off season because prices are often cheaper. This works to our advantage with photos as well because there are less crowds to compete with!

Make it work for your photo

There are some locations that are going to be crowded no matter what. Make it work for your shot and have it be part of the story to be in the middle of a crowd.

Have some flexibility

If people are really far away in the shot, we usually just let it go and take the photo. If you are good at editing, you can also edit people out, but we’ve learned that people don’t typically notice if there are objects or people in the distant background of the photo.

How do you come up with pose ideas?

I actually think we are terrible at this so I secretly get really excited every time we get compliments on our poses. {Although I guess it’s not much a secret anymore because I just shared it with you, haha.} Every time we are in a new location we kind of look at each other with blank stares and “uhhhh what should we do this time”, so we are definitely not pros at this, but here are some tips that have helped us out:

Have go to poses

We have a couple of poses that we typically rely on and will alternate between. Figure out your favorite poses so you’ll always have a go to. Here are ours:

• Twirling
• Walking forward
• Walking backwards
• One person sitting, one person standing

Tip for action shots:

• Set the camera on auto shutter so it takes continuous photos. This way you won’t need to worry about timing the shot at the exact right moment
• Try to move a bit slowly to eliminate the blur

Tell a story

What type of story do you want your photo to convey? What would you naturally do in that setting? What type of feeling do you want your viewer to walk away from your photo with? Try to ask yourself these questions as you are figuring out your pose and angle. This is an area we’ve recently started working on and hope it will improve our photography!

Act natural

I get SO awkward when I’m shooting photos! I have no idea how to stand, how to act, or what to do with my hands. Bassam always makes fun of me because he says I look like a robot. What’s really helped me for is just to act naturally. I’ll tell Bassam to make laugh and then we’ll try to capture the shot then as I’m feeling relaxed. We’ll also put the camera on auto shutter mode and just naturally interact with each other.

How do you get Bassam to be in photos?

Everyone always says to me, “you are so lucky Bassam will take so many pictures with you!” or ask me, “how do you get Bassam to be in so many photos?” This was a big source of arguments for us when we first started the blog! Bassam HATED taking photos and we would fight almost every single time I wanted to take one. It took us awhile to figure this out, but here’s what really helped:

Eliminate the barrier(s)

Bassam’s biggest reason for hating taking photos was that he hated asking other people to take them for us. He felt like we were being really rude and inconveniencing others. This was hard for me to understand because I love taking photos for others and always offer to take it for them. Those people usually offer to take one for us in return. In order to make Bassam feel more comfortable, I agreed to not ask others to take our photo unless absolutely needed and we started using  a tripod instead.

Another barrier I figured out was that Bassam gets really grumpy about photos when he’s hungry {it always goes back to food!} I started trying my best to wait until after we’ve eaten to take photos. I’ve also started carrying around snacks for days I knew we wouldn’t be able to stop for food often or for times when the lighting is really nice and we do need to take photos before we eat.

Finally, Bassam hates having to take the photo multiple times. If we can’t get the shot done within a few tries, we will usually either move on or try taking it again another time.

Explain the why

I’ve found that with any disagreement we have, it helps for us to explain our “why” to the other person. This situation was no different. One time I asked Bassam if I could talk to him about taking photos while we travel. I chose to do this outside of the situation and not while we were fighting. I explained to him why taking photos together was so important to me and asked him what we could do to make it better for him {see the tip above}. After Bassam understood the reasons why it was so important to me to take photos together, he started being more willing to do it. I was also willing to try to figure out a way to minimize the things he found annoying about it.

Show the benefit

This is going to sound terrible, but I’ve always been convinced that one of the biggest benefits to Bassam taking photos is that it’s just so much quicker to take the photo than to spend time arguing about it later. {During a recent Instagram Live Bassam actually admitted this is one of the reasons he now takes photos so easily, haha.} So if all else fails, just show your partner how much easier it is to take photos than have you be unhappy. Okay, joking, joking, joking! While it is a valid point, there are way more benefits that aren’t so mean! The other benefits that I’ve shown Bassam are that it’s SO nice to have the photos to look back in the future. He always enjoys looking at them and I try to remind him of that {without rubbing it in!} In addition, since the blog is something I’ve been treating like a business and not as a hobby, we’ve been able to make a little extra money that helps pay for our travels. That extra money is definitely motivating to Bassam.

Don’t let it take over your trip

There are times when taking photos can take over our trip rather than enhance it and those are the times I realize I need to be fair and cut down. I used to be determined to get every single shot no matter how many tries it took and that can be really annoying to Bassam. Now if I can’t get the shot quickly, we will move on. There are some situations in which a shot is really important to me and I will ask Bassam to please bear with me until we can get it, but other than that I really to try my best to have it be quick. Also, there are times when Bassam feels taking photos is taking over our trip. I try my best to hear him out when he feels this way and put the camera away.

Like with anything related to relationships, it’s all about compromise! Sometimes you compromise, sometimes your partner does. Both people need to be happy!

Do you research spots to take photos before you travel?

We probably should, but we don’t. In general, we don’t do a whole ton of trip planning, we like to explore the places we visit and let the place unfold itself to us. If you are someone who does a lot of trip planning, I would recommend scouting photo spots in advance. You can save Instagram photos to a folder, you can create a Pinterest board, or you can even just take screenshots that you save on your phone. It’s not our travel style, but I do think it’s a smart one so that you can make sure to get all the shots you want.

We typically just take photos as we go along with our day and whatever we are doing. I’ve found that this helps make taking photos feel like less of a chore and just an extension of our exploring. Sometimes we’ve found spots that we really want to take a ton of photos in but we don’t have time or it’s not the best time of day and we’ll put away our camera, fully enjoy, and come back another time to take photos.

What type of equipment do you use?

We are in the process of upgrading our equipment! I will update this section when we do. For almost two years now we’ve been using the Canon 80D with a kit lens. While it was a fantastic camera for us to learn on, we are ready for a change and want to upgrade to a camera that we will keep for the next decade. If you do go with a Canon 80D I recommend you get a better lens than a kit lens. We tried borrowing a few different lenses recently and it made a GIANT difference in our photo quality! We initially were just going to upgrade our lens and then decided to go just upgrade the whole thing, especially since Bassam really wants to switch to Sony.

How do you edit your photos?

I wasn’t going to include this question because I don’t feel we edit our photos well at all, but I’m going to get over my insecurities and answer it since we get asked this question a lot. We are still playing around with our editing style and figuring things out, but here’s what we’ve been doing recently. We use Lightroom desktop to edit. Bassam used to exclusively edit our photos, now I mostly edit them.

• Sometimes start with the VSCO Film 02 Kodak Portra 400 VC – preset {because I heard Julia Engel from Gal Meets Glam uses it, haha}
• Increase warmth {unless it’s a food or entertaining post, then I lower warmth just a touch}
• Increase pink tint {unless it’s a food or entertaining post, then I leave it as is}
• Increase exposure
• Lower highlights
• Increase shadows
• Sometimes increase sharpness
• Sometimes mess around with saturation if the colors aren’t showing up as they did in real life, but we usually leave it alone

Editing is a really really new area for me. I started editing our photos about 3 months ago. I used to feel like it was this big scary thing and I would actually cry every time I would try to edit because I had no idea what I was doing. If you are as terrified about editing as I was, just practice. Look up YouTube tutorials for specific styles you like and just mess around with the different controls to see what they do. A big thing for me was letting go of a perfection mindset and realizing that it’s okay if my edits don’t look perfect right now. They will get a little bit better each time. While I’m still not fully happy with my editing, I am proud of myself for getting over my editing fears and doing the majority of our editing. Like anything else, I know it will get better with time and practice.

I really hope this post was helpful and answered your questions! I feel a bit self conscious about posting it because photography and photo editing are areas that I feel insecure about and am constantly learning more about. That being said, we do get asked a lot about photos and I always want to make sure to answer your questions. Let me know if you have any other questions for us OR if you have any tips for us! Would love to hear from you either way!

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