Remote Selfies Are The Secret Special Sauce To Booking More Travel for Travel Specialists!

Do the travel pictures that you post make people say “I want to go”?

If not, keep reading.

Professional pictures set the standard, but remote selfies give context to the first person experience.

If your goal is to book more travel as a travel agent, the remote selfie is an amazing secret weapon to have in your arsenal for agents and to equip your traveling clients. 

Here is the big problem. 

You have an amazing smartphone that captures quality pictures, but the images have absolutely no connection, which defeats the purpose. #Trashhhhhhhh

How do we remedy this problem?

It’s true! Your smartphone can capture amazing images, but what the camera can’t do is fix the 4 biggest problems most travelers have when it comes to capturing editorial travel experiences that make people say, “I wanna go”. 

What are the four problems:

    ⁃    Lighting 

    ⁃    Angles 

    ⁃    Posing 

    ⁃    Asking Others To Take Your Picture #MoreTrashhhhh 

If you solve these four problems then you will see a significant difference in the quality of your images. 

Let’s tackle these frustrations together. 

LIGHTING 

Lighting can be your best friend with a beautiful sun kiss color or it can be your worst enemy. 

The secret to lighting when it comes to capturing smartphone images is light direction. 

This applies to indoors, outdoors, sunny days, overcast day, and even night time. 

Light direction applies to all scenarios. 

Here is the PictureMann Lighting rule. It’s not about what you see, it’s about what your smartphone camera sees. 

If you apply this rule then you will see a significant difference in seconds. 

ANGLES 

The mega rap star Drake said we have to capture dem angles. 

He is absolutely right! Similar to lighting, if done correctly, angles will be the greatness impact in stopping the scroll on social media. 

Done incorrectly and you will find you’re taking 6000 images to find the one you like. 

Here is the PictureMann Angles Rule: Stop Shooting Chin to Chest: 

Most travelers’ images are boring because they all shoot from the same angle which is chin to chest: 

By simply lowering or raising your perspective, this will instantly change the way your images connect. 

POSING

I don’t know what to do with my hands, my legs, my feet, my facial expression, I feel awkward, I just can’t get It right. 

I don’t like my full body pictures, I don’t like being seen, the camera makes me look fat, etc etc etc 

These are all real concerns that travelers have shared with me when it comes to capturing quality travel pictures that connect. 

How do we fix this?

Here is the PictureMann Rule: 

Pose for your body type. 

The biggest issue when it comes to posing is women try to pose like their favorite celebrity. 

Posing is projected energy, so it’s the reason when you try to pose like Beyonce or your favorite celebrity, it simply does not work. 

Posing for your body, which accentuates your curves, confidence, and character, forces the image to connect, stop the scroll, and pique curiosity of the location that you are in aka “I wanna go”.

ASKING OTHERS

True Story

While traveling back to my home town in Baltimore, MD, I took a meeting with another fellow photographer. At the end of the meeting we asked the waiter to take the picture.

We both as professional photographers suggested that he put his back to the window. He rebutted and said naw I got this. 

Naturally we both laughed on the inside, looked at each other, and allowed him to do his thing. 

He did what most people do, he raised the camera up over his head, angled 45 degrees down, and took the picture. 

Jermaine and I both knew the images were going to be trashhhhhhhh, but we had to allow him to see it for himself. 

We looked at the picture together and made the suggestion to turn around and lower the smart phone camera slightly. 

We use the light coming off the window to our advantage and the waiter learned a crucial lesson.

Your story might be different, I have heard everything from students stating their heads were cut off to feet being cut off to the picture never being taken at all.

Hunh, meaning they never pressed the button.

Worst yet, they change the setting from photo to video or photo to slow motion because they were not paying attention. 

Either way it’s all trashhhhhhhh. 

How do we solve this problem?

Learn to capture yourself because when you can capture you, you can show others how to NOT $&uk It Up. 

If you want to learn more consider joining my free Facebook group called DIY SELF PORTRAITS with Milton Lawrence Jr. 

Milton Lawrence Jr is an internationally recognized portrait photographer, film maker and travel lifestyle content creator.