One of the most frustrating things while traveling is trying to get awesome photos together. Even if you can muster up the courage to ask a stranger to take your photo, there’s no guarantee you’ll wind up with the memorable photo you’re looking for. There’s always that “I feel bad for asking this person right now” feeling, but sometimes there’s just no other way than a good ole’ favor from a stranger. While we are still perfecting the formula for taking pictures together, we’ve picked up a few helpful tips along the way.

Be Selective, And Polite

The number one mistake I make when asking someone to take our photo is that I usually ask the first person I see. I error on the side of asking people that appear to be nice, unfortunately, that doesn’t always result in the best images. As no surprise, we’ve found that the best people to ask to take our picture together are other people who look like they need a picture together as well. Common ground! We keep our eye out for couples that have that same awkward wander –  camera in hand, playing the match game in their head. We almost always end up with a good-to-great quality picture when we offer to take their photo and in return, take ours.

Ask For Round 2

You’ve gone through the trouble of asking for a picture from someone, they snap a few and then they hand you back your camera. While our first instinct is to thank them and send them on their merry way, fight this urge and review the pictures first. One of 3 things will be possible at this stage. 1) The pictures look amazing. 2) The pictures are pretty good but could be a little better with a slight change. 3) The pictures are really terrible. If Option 1 occurs, thank the person and celebrate this tiny victory. If Option 2 occurs, politely ask them to try again, but kindly instruct on what you want done differently this time (tighter crop, center frame, the more feedback, the better). If the dreaded Option 3 occurs, thank them and relieve them of with their unsolicited request. Wait until they are at a safe enough distance away before asking another innocent bystander to take your photo.

Selfie Stick or Tripod

Selfie Sticks get a lot of hate, often for good reason, but unless you have extremely long arms, this may be be your best bet for achieving a selfie together that includes more than your heads. We’ve never personally used a selfie stick, but you have our stamp of approval to use one, just don’t go overboard with it.

In less crowded places, setting up your camera on a tripod pretty much guarantees a quality photo. A master tip when using a tripod is to use it with an Intervalometer so that you can take a handful of photos without running back and forth to the camera. This method also helps the image feel less, posed. If your camera doesn’t have an intervalometer you can set Exposure Bracketing at 0.5 stop increments to take 3-5 pictures per burst.

Make it easy

Many inexperienced photographers get way too distracted by what’s in the background when you hand them your camera or phone to take a picture. Instead, have one of you stand in the exact spot where you want the picture taken,  while the other shows the volunteer photographer exactly where and what angle to hold the camera/phone to frame the photo. It helps here to use a phone because you can set-up the picture before hopping in. Ask them to snap several sequential shots, which will likely result in at least one good photo. Side note – Make sure to tell them not to zoom-in. For some reason, most inexperienced photographers feel the need to do this.

Bring a 3rd (or 4th) Party

When traveling with another person or couple we always try to take advantage of getting pictures together. Whether that’s with friends or family, we know it won’t be as bothersome to them and they’ll want to make sure that you get a good shot. At the end of the day you might have to do a lot of AirDrop-ing or sharing of SD cards, but it’s totally worth it. This is exactly what we did when we traveled with Carly and Garrett to Ireland and I think we both got our Christmas card photos done in June!

What are your favorite tips? I’d love to know for our next trip.

*The first photo in the pictures above was taken by an elderly man who asked if we wanted a photo together. He killed it in one shot! So, you never know!