8 Steps to Better Vacation Photos

Most vacation photos stink. That's the hard truth. But you don't have to be "Scary Boring Vacation Photo Taker." You just need to learn a few tricks to make your own luck. Some could be posts on their own, but here are eight of my favorite tips.
1. Know How to Pick a Camera
gapixels are a salesperson's best friend, not a buyer's. See, the size of the image sensor is the real issue. Compact cameras have postage-stamp size sensors. Superzooms are a bit bigger, and SLR cameras are even bigger. Give me a 5-MP digital SLR over a 10-MP compact any day. The bigger sensor will capture more color and detail.

2. Crank the Quality When you're on a big trip, resist the temptation to take small photos. Some people try to cram as many onto their memory card as possible. Big mistake! You can easily buy more cards - but if you take a photo of beautiful scenery on a low image setting, game over. You can't do anything to re-capture the lost detail. If you're camera shoots in RAW format, go for it! Otherwise, just choose your biggest JPEG setting.

3. Befriend the ISO Setting
The ISO setting tells the camera how much available light there is. Many cameras range from ISO 64 (for super-sunny conditions) to 1600 and beyond (nighttime, caves, indoors, etc.). Use ISO carefully - high setting increase grainess (or "noise"). ISO 200 and below are great for general outdoors, with 400 nice for overcast. The higher settings are good for dusk 'till dawn.

4. Forget the Q - Mind Your P
Once you're familiar with ISO, experiment with your camera's P, or Program, mode. Set the ISO, and the P mode will automatically adjust the shutter speed and depth of field (f stop). It's not perfect, but it's a nice bridge to leave Auto behind and step toward Shutter and Aperture priority - and eventually, manual!

5. Candid Camera
Keep the "say cheese" nonsense to a minimum - it makes for boring shots. Get someone inhaling the scent of a pine forest, or laughing as they play in the waves. Real emotion and action is best.

6. Watch Your Back(ground)
You're not just shooting the foreground - the background matters. Be mindful of your subject's head. Many shots go wrong because your subject seems to have a tree or flagpole sprouting from her head! The subject might also be obscuring a great view.

7. Perform Some Manual Labor
Okay, you get the P mode. Now switch to M and play around! Get different effects by altering the shutter speed. A slower shutter speed lets more light in, and can produce artistic blurring (see geyser photos). Faster settings freeze the motion, and are less likely to be overexposed or produce unintentional blurring.

8. Adjust Your White Balance Having the right colors in your photos is huge. Here's a tutorial all about white balance. You won't believe the difference.