You don't need an expensive camera: When you think about travel photographers, you probably envision someone with a big camera slung around their neck. But, not everyone likes to take heavy and expensive equipment with them, especially if they’re traveling somewhere where theft and pickpocketing are common. The good thing is that you don’t have to bring all of that equipment anymore! Smartphones take great high-quality photos nowadays, so if you don’t have an expensive camera or if you don’t want to carry anything too valuable/ heavy with you, you don’t have to. Sure, if travel photography is your passion, definitely bring your camera! But if you’re just a person who wants to take memorable photos from your trip, a smartphone will work great! If you’re traveling alone, you also might want to consider bringing a selfie stick or a phone tripod. Both of which are inexpensive and lightweight. They can be helpful to get a photo of yourself if you don’t want to rely on asking other people.

Wake up early & stay out late: When you’re on vacation, you probably don’t want to get up really early, but if getting the right shot matters a lot to you, you might want to consider getting up and out before sunrise. The best lighting of the day is the hour before sunrise and again at an hour before sunset. Some people refer to this period of time as “golden hour” and they’re absolutely right! During golden hour, you will get some of the best and most flattering lighting for your photos. Whereas in the afternoon when the sun is overhead, the light will be a lot more harsh, and cast a lot of shadows. As an added bonus for getting up super early or staying out late, you can hit up some of the busiest tourist attractions when they’re the least busy, and get some great photos without a lot of people in the background. Plus, you get to see and snap some photos of gorgeous sunrises and sunsets.

Rule of Thirds: The rule of thirds is something that is used in photography and filmmaking all of the time, and is a simple rule to follow to get better photos! According to Adobe.com, “The rule of thirds is a composition guideline that places your subject in the left or right third of an image, leaving the other two-thirds more open. While there are other forms of composition, the rule of thirds generally leads to compelling and well-composed shots.” The rule of thirds always starts with a grid, and every smartphone with a camera will have this already feature built in. You’ll just need to turn this setting on! Here’s how to turn the grid on with an iPhone and with an Android. All that’s left to do is find your subject and place them in only one-third of your image using the grid. This is actually way easier than you might think!

Look for leading lines: Your eyes love to follow lines, and photographers know this. According to Masterclass, “Leading lines are lines that appear in a photograph that have been framed and positioned by the photographer to draw the viewer's eye towards a specific point of interest.” You can easily find leading lines because they’re everywhere! Things like roads, fences, rivers, train tracks, etc. are all something that you could photograph to get a great image that leads the viewer’s eye. This is just a cool tip that you might have already been doing, and may have not realized!