How I Became a Travel Photographer with My iPhone

iPhones are great, no doubt about that. However, the worst part about buying a less expensive iPhone is that its camera is not up-to-the-minute. When I had the iPhone 4 while iPhone 6 was already there in the market, I felt it too frustrating to click second-class pictures with what I had. Now that I have iPhone 6s, iPhone X is already there with many people. And those who have even iPhone 7 Plus or 8 can click breathtaking portraits.

Having vented out all that frustrating aspects of not owning the newest iPhone, nothing can convince me to spend a lakh of INR just to buy a Smartphone that is only slightly better than what I have. I can and I have already saved thousands of rupees just by being 3-4 generations behind in technology. And I get the guilty pleasure of seeing the prices of latest phones dropping down like a rock falls from a cliff, after just one year. Nevertheless, that was too much about why I don’t buy the hottest iPhones. Let me share how I rediscovered my iPhone and became a pro at clicking best travel photos on my road trips. Yes, I have to work extra harder than my peers to have magnificent pictures, but I don’t mind that.

I choose the subject carefully

I don’t like to click everything that I come across when I travel, like I see people doing. I have seen people capturing almost the whole lot of their vacation in their camera rather than enjoying their real time. I carefully analyze the things, places, and people I would like to click and then invest a few minutes in getting the best shot of it. Even if I choose ordinary subjects for my pictures, I make sure that I change the angle of my images to give them an interesting look.

No zoom policy

I hate zooming in to click anything or anyone. Even if I am there at a distance of several meters, I like to reach as closer as I need to because the zoom feature distorts the quality of pictures. I don’t like the grainy and blurry pictures that are too embarrassing to upload on Instagram. Yes, Instagram is another guilty pleasure that I indulge in. In case the background of my subject is too large, I can crop the picture later without compromising on the quality.            

    

Sunlight photos

Thank God that we have sun that gives us blissful daylight for most hours of the day, and we can click awesome portraits with the humblest cameras on earth because of sunlight. I love wearing my sunglasses and have myself clicked to get the best portrait of mine. I happened to be in a professional outdoor shoot a couple of times during the day time. Even though I was feeling uncomfortable because of the scorching heat, the pictures came out surprisingly well. We were shooting for the Self-Drive Cars in Chennai, and the photographer was brilliant in capturing the sunlight in moderation. From that day, I became a fan of outdoor photos.

The best thing that I bought for my road trips was a tripod rather than a Selfie stick. I have always hated Selfies, even when I was not clear about the reasons for it. Now that I see almost the entire world obsessed with those silly close-ups of their nose, I know why I despise Selfies. Anyway, my tripod helps me to click as many pictures as I want without taking help from anyone, which has made me an even better travel photographer.