We took the day off to walk around Las Vegas before our scheduled filled work week at the Photoshop World convention began. People were everywhere taking cell phone photos of themselves and loved ones in front of Vegas landmarks. Every shot the same; they got as close to the landmark as possible then captured the image. That got me thinking. This will be a great article to write How I got the shot.

To start with, these are cell phone images. We only had a few seconds to snap a shot before people walked into our frame. I tried to recreate a standard vacation photo I saw people taking with their cell phones. They had their loved ones stand close to landmark, then they snapped the shot. I recreated the shot by asking our buddy Keith from Hunt’s Photo & Video to stand far back so I could see the landmark.

The image recorded the location of the event and portrayed a sense magnitude. That’s great, but Keith is so small you can’t tell who it is until you look very close. By having him stand closer to the camera, we are still able to record the location of the event and see a good sport Keith in the photo.

Sometimes, you want to portray how large an object really is. In that case, stand as close as you can. This will give the viewer a reference to compare. My producer Nick wouldn’t pose by a really large Cinderella like shoe, so I had to fill in. Photo credit goes to Nick.

These basic photography concepts sometimes get lost when taking cell phone images. Usually the shot is spontaneous and you’re caught in a moment. Take the shot. If you try to pose or find the perfect angle, the moment may pass. If you don’t want to carry around your expensive gear, carry around your knowledge of photography and bring back great vacation memories.