Do you want to transform your travel memories into captivating photos and videos in Buenos Aires? ExpatPathways is here to show you that photographing and filming your adventures doesn’t require a university degree or a professional license.
In our era, a smartphone is all you need to create fantastic content on your journeys. Yet, we often fail to maximize our devices’ potential. We’ve all looked back at photos and videos, disappointed that they don’t capture what we had envisioned.
Sometimes, simple tips on taking photos and shooting videos are more beneficial than an expensive, challenging digital photography course. It’s about more than just getting the perfect shot; it’s about knowing how to take a great personal photo without relying on others and using the resources available to you, whether it’s a smartphone or a camera.
Check out our “5 Simple Tips to Get Your Best Photos and Videos in Buenos Aires” to learn how to leverage your equipment and environment effectively.
5 Simple Tips to Get Your Best Photos and Videos in Buenos Aires
Side Vision Developed
The first tip for your photos and videos in Buenos Aires is about your safety. In places like museums, restaurants, or other venues that are not on public streets, you can relax when capturing whatever you want with your camera. However, in parks and public streets of Buenos Aires, it’s best to always be aware of your surroundings.
The challenge is not too difficult, though for a foreigner it might be a bit complicated at first. It’s about developing your side vision so that while you capture your photos and videos, you can detect any suspicious movement around you. Although it doesn’t happen every day, some foreigners have been surprised by thieves who stole their camera or mobile phone while they were taking photos.
Far from limiting your “photo tour,” all you need to do is look around before, during, and after taking your shots or videos.
Define a Capture Order
I recommend having a predefined order of photographic and audiovisual captures. For example, start with photos and then proceed to film a video.
Defining a capture order will help you not waste time thinking about the shot, angle, and movement. Sometimes, indecision can make you miss what you wanted to capture, whether it’s a movement or a static scene.
For instance, you can start with vertical photos for your social networks. Then proceed with horizontal captures, especially for landscapes or buildings, and finally take some time to film videos. This capture order is perfect because once you memorize it, you simply execute it and won’t be thinking about what to do first and what to do next.
Details for Beautiful Photos
In Buenos Aires, sunlight adds a particular charm to photos, especially in neighborhoods near the port like Puerto Madero, La Boca, and Retiro.
However, don’t let the sunlight ruin your photos. This means not only avoiding glare when taking a photo with the sun facing the lens but also ensuring it doesn’t do the same to your face when you’re in the shot.
Moreover, consider different angles and perspectives depending on the photo’s context. In the case of building fronts and monuments, it’s ideal to take one photo of the structure and another where you also appear with it.
For large buildings, whether tall or wide, it’s best to use panoramic or ultra-wide-angle shots so you can appear in the photo without overshadowing the place.
Additionally, remember that horizontal photos are ideal for websites and covers, while vertical ones are fantastic for social networks, whether as posts or stories.
Make Your Videos Charming
Videos gain more value for the audience when they provide a sensation similar to being live and direct in the place, i.e., an immersive experience.
Therefore, a good idea is walking videos, where the camera or mobile phone accompanies you on your journey, capturing the path and what’s happening around. Here, you shouldn’t make abrupt changes in shots or move the camera too much. Nor should you walk quickly or run. Also, remember to keep the camera in front of you, either at chest height or slightly higher.
Panoramic videos are also a good idea. Here, you stand in one position and turn on your axis while capturing everything around you in a video. The key is a slow movement without deviating from your axis, as if you were glued to the ground.
These two types of videos are ideal for generating immersive content and deviating from classic tourist videos that serve more as proof of having been in a place than as content in itself.
In the case of walking videos, it’s important to know which platform you will publish them on. If it’s Instagram, for example, it’s best to film in a vertical frame, while for YouTube, it’s better to do it horizontally.
Tips for Selfies and Personal Photos
The self-portrait is the most popular default photo among travelers. It’s a visual testimony of where we are and, therefore, the first or second shot we take in each place.
Fortunately, taking a selfie with a scenic background requires nothing more than extending our hand and smiling. In some cases, a selfie stick or arm can help us widen the frame and prevent our face from completely overshadowing the shot.
However, we don’t always want a selfie. Sometimes, we want a different shot where our face isn’t the only thing in the photo, but also our body, and even giving more prominence to the scenery. In these cases, here are four keys to achieve it:
- Ask someone else to take the photo for you. In Buenos Aires, you’ll always find someone friendly and willing to do it. They might even ask for a favor in return: they take the photo for you, and then you do the same for them.
- Use a tripod. You’ll find accessories that include not only a selfie stick but also a stabilizer and tripod in one product. This way, you can take both selfie photos and more professional captures with wider shots.
- Set the timer. Remember to activate the timer for wide-angle photos. Ten seconds is ideal so you can get into position with enough time from when you activate the timer.
- Take advantage of support spaces. For example, stairs, walls, the edge of a sidewalk, and steps. When you don’t have someone to take photos for you or a tripod to use as a base, you can use these mentioned places to support your phone or camera and photograph yourself.
