Are you familiar with that? You arrive at the beautiful sight you’ve been wanting to see for a long time and there are people everywhere. Not a big surprise. But this is extremely inconvenient if you want to take your vacation photos. I have five good tips for you on how you can still take beautiful photos without people.
Be an early bird
I recommend you to be at the sight or place as early as possible. It’s best to be there right at sunrise. Most people don’t get up that early on their vacation, so this is the best way to avoid the crowds. In addition, at sunrise you have a beautiful, delicate light with warm rays of sunshine that is perfect for your pictures.
Find different perspectives
If there are already a lot of people at your location, look for different perspectives. You could shoot the landmark further from the left or right of the page if there are fewer people there. Continue going down steps, change location and go to the other side, avoiding the places where everyone is taking their photos. Be creative. In Riomaggiore, for example, everyone took photos on a small platform next to a staircase. There you have no space for a proper photo and people are constantly walking into the picture. So instead I went further down the stairs and took some nice photos on some stones in the sea. Not only did they look more picturesque, but they also had virtually no other people.
Fisherman's Bastion in Budapest at sunrise and ...
... the same spot in the evening. It is sooo crowded.
Cover people up
Another option is to cover up the people in your vacation photo. Take close-up photos of yourself, this will take up more space in the photo and will already obscure a lot of people. I also like to use the portrait mode. Because the background is blurred, people don’t stand out that much anymore. Alternatively, you can use your hands or accessories such as an umbrella or a large handbag to cover people.
Be patient
Sometimes you have to wait a bit, but regardless of the time of day, you will catch a moment with few or no people in the photo. It is often the case that a lot of people are at a sight at the same time or are walking through your picture. Then just stay relaxed and wait a while. In between there are always phases in which there are few or no people at the attraction. Then take your photo quickly.
Found a different perspective of Riomaggiore in Italy.
I cover people with my body on the Chain Bridge in Budapest.
Photo editing
If you couldn’t avoid having people in your photo, there is one last option: photo editing. I can highly recommend the Snapseed and Retouch Apps apps. Both apps are free and there is the option to remove people using the eraser function or repair function. Snapseed is completely free, but works less well. The Retouch app works more efficiently, but you can only edit one photo per day in the free version. The most popular app or software for editing photos and removing people is Photoshop or Lightroom from Adobe. However, you cannot remove people in the free version.
Same photo of the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, but ...
... in this photo I removed the people and a monkey.
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