Excited already about your upcoming vacation? Read our photography tips below so you and your students can capture your trips in images as well as words. Follow these guidelines and your pictures will take you back to your favorite memories over and over again.

Place the Point of Interest Off-Center
Put your subject of interest away from the middle of the photograph and you will immediately get a bolder image. Pretend you have a tick-tack-toe grid in your viewfinder and move your subject to any intersecting line to figure out where to place it.

If you have an auto-focus camera, your camera will naturally focus on what is in the middle of the frame. To avoid this, center the subject and press and hold your shutter button half-way down. While still pressing half-way on the shutter, move your camera to the position you want the subject to be in. Then, push the shutter down all the way.

Arrange Your Group in Varied Formations & Poses We hope you're traveling with ACIS this summer, and if you are, we see a few group shots in your near future. Ensure your group shots have more personality than a standard classroom photo.

Take your picture outdoors against a plain background whenever possible. If it's sunny, make sure the sun is lighting faces. If you can, change the white balance setting on your camera from auto to cloudy to warm up the tones in your photo. If you're feeling ambitious, also change your flash setting to flash on instead of fill flash to illuminate your subjects.

Then, arrange your group into smaller units, such as one or two triangles with a few people in each triangle formation. Lastly, direct people in the group to pose differently—some looking at the camera and others to the side, some standing while others are leaning on something.

Take Candid Shots to Tell a Story
Of course you want to photograph Machu Picchu, and you should. But make sure your photos tell the whole story, from departure to arrival. Take candid shots of people in action on the trip—talking, sightseeing, eating, or even taking photos themselves!