Friday, July 6, 2012

Do's & Don't's of Taking a Picture for a Fellow Tourist

Let's be honest for a second - I don't know anything about photography. I've never taken a class. I've never had instructions. I don't know anything about shutter speed or any of the numbers that you look at when you buy a camera, except for how many stars it has. But as a tourist, I feel like I DO know a couple things about how to take a picture for a fellow tourist. So here we go.

The Do's & Don't's of Taking a Picture for a Fellow Tourist
1. DO consider what you're trying to take a picture of. DO NOT have a statue coming out of someone's head.

2. DO try and make the person look pretty. DO NOT take the picture from unnecessarily low and unflattering angles. Nobody will like you. 


3. DO notice what's going on in the background. DO NOT take a picture when there's a tourist with a bright blue t-shirt in the frame.

3. DO try and take a half way decent photo. DO NOT hand the camera back with a crap picture and say, "I think it's good."

4. DO take multiple pictures so they can have options. DO NOT just take only one where it looks like they're awkwardly flexing because their hands on on their backpack strings.

5. DO try and get the person in the photo. DO NOT obstruct their head with a giant thing of nutella.

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2 comments:

  1. Wendy Naylor WallaceJuly 6, 2012 at 9:03 AM

    I actually think the Nutella picture is pretty cute/funny. As the person who volunteers to take all of those pictures for friendless strangers, in my defense, I do try to get great pictures but sometimes the people don't want to stand up straight, suck in their gut, take off their glasses, or hold still very long. (Maybe they're afraid that I'm going to run off with their camera...) Plus, I'm also trying to figure out which button to push to even get a picture. I don't have much time to find the zoom or think about the crop. I always take a few, though. Lila, you do know that this taking pictures for stangers is a genetic thing in our family. I learned it from my dad who always volunteered to take pictures of others. (He also liked to have his picture taken. I used to joke that he was more photographed than Princess Diana!) It drives Brendan crazy. He says that it's very uncool for me to offer to take pictures for strangers in NYC. He gets mad when I do it but, of course, that doesn't stop me. It's my good deed. xox

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  2. AmyJuly 15, 2012 at 11:48 AM

    This made me laugh! I have a collection of awkward pictures too... There's one where a lady zoomed way in on my face--there's no context at all.

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