Snapping strategies - as essential as your passport

Picture PerfectFor most of us, our travel pictures tell our stories - sometimes on their own. Tans and memories fade, but pictures bring us back again and again to the magic of our travels.

While digital cameras and smart phones promise the point and click miracle, pictures can still turn out drab and ho-hum. A few simple pointers though can have you clicking your way to National Geographic-quality photos.

• Get close: Get to know your subjects and make them the center of your world, for a few minutes anyway. Focus in on one person, a building, a flower and remember to keep some of the background in the shot for perspective.
• Get in motion: Whether it's kids playing soccer at twilight or market-goers haggling over the price of a fish, catch people while they're doing something. That blur of motion will create excitement and energy in your photos.
• Get clicking: Digital pictures are free until you print them. So go ahead, click yourself silly and, at the end of each day, delete the duds.
• Get big: Use the highest resolution possible on all your pictures. It's simple to downsize images, but quality disintegrates when you start stretching.
• Get storage space: If you're worried about where you'll store all those big files when you're traveling, load them onto a photo storage site or social media.
• Get powered: Always, always, always bring an extra battery and your charger. Just when you see that perfect shot of the sun cresting the mountains, your battery is guaranteed to die.
• Get funky: Once you've mastered the basics, put the rule book away and start having fun. Play with light and focus. You can always delete your failed attempts, but you never know what brilliance you might uncover.

Love travel photography? We’d love to hear your tips. Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook – we’d love to hear your ideas!