Once upon a time, a camera was a luxury, and on a family holiday, you generally had to share it. I remember my first trip abroad – Japan in 2009. I had to seek my parents permission to take the family digital camera with me.

Though these days cameras have become an essential, and every traveler has one. In fact most people have two; a camera which is actually a camera, and the one built into your phone.

Yes, we’re well and truly living in the camera phone era, and as you travel around the globe you may notice a trend that travelers are leaving their traditional digital camera’s at home. Instead, most people these days are favoring their phone.

So that begs the question:

Do You Really Need a Camera on Vacation? Or Can You Use Your Phone?

Is the Camera Phone Better than the Traditional Digital Camera?

Most digital cameras produce high-quality photos, but the quality of pictures on your camera phones will usually differ.

The quality of pics taken with your device depends on the phone’s autofocus, image stabilisitation, megapixels, exposure, preset scene modes and built-in support to enable image sharing. But most phones these days offer high quality photograph and video.

Whether or not a camera phone is equal or better to a digital camera will depend on your purpose. But generally, as long as you have a quality camera phone, you’re good to travel. And the multi-tasking abilities which come with today’s mobile phone makes them more economical than traditional digital cameras.

How to Take Good Photos on a Camera Phone

Whether it’s a planned picture where the subjects have time to strike a pose, or a spontaneous shot of a bird’s feet touching a wave’s tongue, you can take captivating, impromptu pictures with amazing detail on a camera phone.

Here are tips to ensuring that the pictures you take on your phone are of high quality.

Setting up your camera phone

It is important to regularly clean the lens, before and during your journey. The camera lens can collect dust, dirt and tint, thus producing blurry pictures.

Go to camera settings on your phone and tune them to the highest quality possible. Sometimes we take great pictures that we want to print but can’t due to poor resolution.

Check the exposure, white balance and preset modes. Pay closer attention to white balance settings, to prevent subjects from being redder than normal or being ‘white lightened’ out.

Remember to remove any frames, as they may cut things off or ruin the initial picture quality. You can add the frame during editing. Even as you go through the preset modes, ensure that you do not leave any effects on. Things like sepia and grayscale can be adjusted during editing.

Low Light Equals Poor Quality

Camera phones aren’t great for taking pictures of subjects in low light. So if you find yourself in this situation, switch the flash on and make sure that your camera is stable to avoid blurry images.

Avoid Tight Focusing

Camera phones produce clear pictures when almost the whole scene is in focus. This is mainly because of the camera phone’s short focal length.

For example, it can be difficult to tight focus on writings on a historical wall. However, if you manage to capture the whole scene, you can use editing software to tighten focus on the writings on the wall.

Getting Full Images of Yourself

If you are travelling alone and are wondering how to get full pictures of yourself, your best bet is to ask someone to take the picture for you, or set your phone somewhere it can capture your full self and use the timer feature to switch poses.

Storage

Losing pictures on our phones is as easy as taking them. Insure your photos by keeping a backup in cloud storage so that your pics survive, even if your phone falls in water!

Send Them Instantly as a Postcard!

A definite perk of using your camera phone is to send them instantly as real postcards! MyPostcard is a website / app at the center of a movement which says no to E-cards, and yes to the real thing!

You upload your photo and a personalized message, they print and mail them. It’s easy, cheap, and hassle free; you don’t have to worry about the old-day hassles of getting your photos printed, running down to the post-office, and trying to find the word for ‘stamp’ in Hungarian!!

TECHNOLOGY WE RECOMMEND FOR TRAVELING WITH YOUR PHONE↓

Apple iPhone 7 Unlocked

Portable Battery Charger & External Battery Pack

Universal Travel Adaptor

Megan is an Australian Journalist who has been travelling and blogging since 2007, with the main aim of inspiring others to embark on their own worldwide adventure. Her husband Mike is the American travel photographer behind Waking Up Wild, and together they have made the world their home.

Committed to bringing you the best in adventure travel from all around the globe, there is no mountain too high, and no fete too extreme! They haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on their list.

If you enjoy getting social, you can follow their journey on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram.