9 easy tips for improving your vacation photos

My shoe boxes of travel photographs bring back memories of the pictures that got away.

Mom in Paris in springtime, except the Eiffel Tower is sticking out of her head like a rocket. My friend Russell on the steps of Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library in Florence, not that you can tell because of the low-light blur. Australia’s Uluru, better known as Ayers Rock, looking really big but really boring.

It’s frustrating to spend lots of time (and lots of dollars) on a major trip only to return with lackluster pictures. Yet there are easy ways to improve the odds that at least one shot among your next batch of vacation photos will earn a place in a frame. Here are nine tips to help.

1. Start shooting before you leave home.

That’s especially important with a new camera. Reading the manual on the plane is not enough, says Eliot Cohen, a Washington, D.C.-based photographer who teaches digital photography classes.

“At that point it’s way too late. Practice with it before you take important pictures,” Cohen says. Shooting at home without the pressures of being on the move during a trip will help you become familiar with the camera.

Besides, it won’t take that much effort. “You don’t need all the functions on the camera,” Cohen says, “only about 10 percent of them. Knowing the things that are important to you is enough.”

2. When photographing a landscape, make the foreground interesting.

“A rock, tree or statue can work,” says Scott Stuckey, author of National Geographic’s “Ultimate Field Guide to Travel Photography” and managing editor of its Traveler magazine. “Even better is a shot of a person doing something that relates to the landscape — a fisherman tending his nets, a cowboy on horseback, even a tourist taking a picture.”

Sunsets aren’t all that interesting, Stuckey says. “Turn around and photograph the landscape where the setting sunlight is falling, with the sun at your back. That’s where the interest lies.”

3. Go beyond the posed picture.

“Vacations pictures are about remembering moments, not just places,” says Susan Walsh, an Associated Press photographer in Washington. “Sometimes a posed picture doesn’t tell the whole story,”

Shots of your companions in action will capture the fun of a trip. “They remind you what you were doing,” Walsh says, “whether it’s how hard it was to climb up that mountain or splashing in the pool or paddling a canoe.”

Don’t forget to include the locals, Stuckey advises. “They reveal the character of a destination more than any other photographic subject,” he says. “Shoot them while they’re interacting with a member of your party.”

4. Get as close as you can to your subject.

Let safety and other considerations be your guide, of course, but try to move in and “fill your frame,” says Charles Dharapak, an AP staff photographer in Washington. “If you can get closer, I’d say the results will be sharper.”

Avoid using the camera’s zoom in low-light situations. The zoom lens usually engages a slower shutter speed to collect more light, which increases the chance of blur from movement. “If you’re outdoors, say, at the Grand Canyon, it’s not much of an issue because it’s bright,” Dharapak says. “But if you’re in an indoor setting, like a museum or a cafe, it won’t be that great.”