Your vacation was spectacular - clear skies, brilliant water, lush foliage - but your photos didn’t do it justice. By following a few simple tips, you can take better picture of your next tropical vacation. Finally, the emerald waters, the magenta flowers, the saturated sunsets, and the pastel homes will be preserved for your scrapbook as they appeared.

Lighting, Lighting, Lighting

Photography is all about lighting. In fact, it’s the very basis by which the technology was invented - exposing film to light. Hence, light is the single most important factor in taking a good picture.

Take a tip from movie makers and snap your favorite views during the "magic hours," which are at dusk and at dawn. If you’re a morning person, dawn won’t be a problem. But, for most vacationers, dusk will be a more viable option. (It’ll be right around time for your first happy hour drink.) This soft lighting, from the sun at a low angle, will produce vivid, beautiful pictures of both people and scenery.

General Rules About Light

Keep bright light behind you. If you want to play with shadows and silhouettes, experiment with the light at different angles.

Cloudy days are great for portraits and bad for landscapes. So, take close-ups of those people your vacationing with when the sun is obscured. This filtered light is flattering for people. And, as an added bonus, you’ll finally get vacation pictures of people who aren’t squinting.

Experiment with Light

Pick one spot, or view, that you particularly like. A good option is the view from your hotel balcony or from the veranda of a favorite restaurant. Choose a place you have access to over the extent of your vacation or even just a full day. Then, take several photos of that view at different times of day. (Try to stand in the same exact spot each time.) When you get your photos back you can mimic Claude Monet and mount four of them in the same frame. It's not just a memory of your vacation but also a study in light.

Change Your Perspective

Most amateur photographers will bend, kneel and back-up to capture the perfect photo. But, consider a drastic change in perspective. Lie on your back for a picture of the exotic flowers bordering your villa. Wade out into the water to capture unique views inland. Climb a rock wall or even a tree to get a bird’s-eye view. A unique perspective can turn an ordinary shot into a work of art.

Foregrounding

Let’s face it, most photos of landscape scenery are boring. Yet we shoot beach after beach, hoping one day it will look like more than a sad patch of sand and a finite stretch of water.

This year, take a tip from award-winning photos and consider the foreground. Stand under a tree and frame your photo with the waving palms in a top corner. This will anchor your photos and make a boring landscape interesting.

Slow Down and Hurry Up

Remember, take your time. Be still. Take in the scene for yourself before you take it in with the camera. After all, you’re on vacation and each delicious moment is precious. So, don’t rush around trying to capture the light or the mood or the quintessential island moment.

But keep your camera handy, because when the pictures do come to you, you’ve got to be ready. Now! Nothing is gone quicker than the perfect picture moment. And there’s no shortage of film, so you don’t have to conserve. After all, a great picture is forever, and film is cheaper than that margarita you’ll only have for ten minutes. And, if you’ve given up on canisters and shutter speeds, those digital shots are free. So, take bad shots. They litter the path to good ones.

Concentrate on Composition

Get familiar with, and use, the rule of thirds. How? Well, look through your lens and mentally divide it evenly into thirds, both horizontally and vertically. These invisible lines intersect at four points that are north, south, east, and west of center. Now, place your point of interest at any one of the intersections for the strongest visual impact.

When you think composition, think "simple." Unless you’re a fan of M. C. Escher, frame out the clutter and concentrate on capturing clean lines.

Airports and Your Film

ALERT: Unprocessed film can be damaged by checked baggage x-ray machines! However, this currently is only a problem with checked baggage. This was not always the case. So, don’t assume that because it’s never happened to you before, it can’t happen now. The scanning equipment is more powerful than ever before and it can cause film to be irreversibly fogged.

Protect Your Film

• Put your film in your carry-on luggage. The x-ray machines at passenger security checkpoints are still perfectly safe for unprocessed film unless you pass through them more than five times. So, keep your film separate and ask to have it hand checked if you are transferring more than five times.
• Get your film processed while you’re on your vacation. The negatives and prints can not be damaged by x-ray machines.
• Buy a lead bag from a photo shop to protect your unprocessed film. This will leave you open to inspection, but will keep your film safe (depending on the thickness of the lead and the quality of the bag).
• Ship your unprocessed film home or straight to your favorite processing center.
• Use a digital camera. They’re safe under any x-ray equipment.

Quick Word on Cameras

Taking better pictures is not about updated technology or complicated equipment. Sure, those things are fun. And polarized photos are unbeatable in clarity and brilliance. (If you're into equipment, buy a polarized lens.)

But, no matter how expensive the camera, the real work in composition and design comes from the mastermind behind the lens. (Often photographers claim that their most famous photos came unexpectedly from cheap automatic-focus cameras that were in the right place at the right time.)

So, use a camera you’re comfortable with. And don’t leave home, car, or hotel room without it. If your equipment is valuable, buy some disposable cameras and stash them in your fanny pack and pockets for rainy days or unburdened hikes.

Remember, the worst pictures are always the ones you missed. So, get clicking and, please, don’t tell people to say cheese.