Friday, March 26, 2010

Tips for a Great Honeymoon Photo Album

Words by Jennifer Stein

Words by Allyson Murphy from Realhoneymoons.com

While you’re on your honeymoon, you’ll most likely be documenting all of the great moments — romantic dinners, reaching the summit of a hike, zip-lining through the jungle canopy. And when you get home, you’re going to want to create an album to remember it all. Below are some easy tips for getting great shots.

1. Vary the range of your shots. You don’t want a whole album of close-ups, nor do you want only wide shots of the beach. Try to mix up your photos between long-range, medium and close shots. While in Belize, Melody and Kevin did a great job of capturing little details, like the crab and the local beer, but also got some great shot of themselves in the middle of San Pedro.

2. Don’t forget to include yourselves! One couple Jaime and David (whose Moroccan honeymoon will be featured on our site this spring) carefully documented all of the meals they ate and the great architecture they saw. But Jaime realized they missed one important subject – them! She says, “When we got back and were looking through our photos I flipped out saying, ‘David! We don't have any photos of ourselves!’” Don’t be afraid to ask strangers to snap a shot of you. A friendly smile almost always gets you a yes. And the arm-out self portraits always make adorable honeymoon shots. Above are (top) Marissa & Chris and (bottom) Mark & Christi.

3. Frame your shots well. With portraits, putting the person off-center makes things more interesting. For landscape shots, as above, instead of putting the horizon dead-center, try moving it to the top or bottom of your photo.

4. Take advantage of online tools. Pixlr and Picnik are great free sites that let you edit photos. You can upload and crop, tone and color-correct. Once you get the images the way you like them, consider making an photo book using Lulu.com, Blurb.com or iPhoto. You can upload your files, create your own layouts and have the book shipped to you in no time.

Realhoneymoons.com is run by founder and editor Allyson Murphy. The site offers tips, stories and travel ideas by sharing the real-life experiences of couples who’ve honeymooned around the world. She’s currently obsessed with planning an upcoming trip to Sweden.