10 Ways to Take Photos of Yourself When Traveling Solo

How to Take Pictures of Yourself Alone When Traveling – [SMART TIPS]

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. It has no standards and no criteria. Everything which pleases you and mesmerizes your eyes is beautiful. Everyone adores beauty and wants to capture it in the camera. Therefore, people always carry a camera while traveling.

Related: 7 Benefits of Traveling Solo

When traveling solo taking pictures for your social media channels or just for your memories can be very challenging. Therefore, we are bringing some smart and practical ways of taking perfect photos while traveling and how to take pictures of yourself alone:

Use Tripod – ALSO FOR YOUR PHONE!

how to take pictures of yourself aloneTripod is the best thing for taking a full picture of you while traveling.

In order to take the perfect and accurate picture, travelers use a tripod to capture memories and picturesque views without way less hassle.

Don’t think you need a tripod only for DSLR cameras! If you want to take amazing shots of yourself alone, you might get great results just by having SMARTPHONE with TRIPOD!

Best Travel Tripods
Check out our post about the Best Travel Tripods 2020

Camera Holder/Selfie Stick – BEST FOR TAKING PICTURES OF YOURSELF ALONE

The camera holder or selfie stick is a device that is designed in such a way that it holds the camera and you can take your picture by yourself with the perfect angle.

You have to make sure that you are setting your camera properly in the camera holder to take a beautiful and flawless picture.

2 camera holders recommendations:

Set Timer & Multiple Shots – SIMPLE AND USEFUL TRICK

Another (often forgotten) way of getting a great shot of yourself is to set a timer in the camera and place the camera on the tripod or a steady surface. 

This will make the process of taking pictures easy and convenient. 

If you also add to it burst or multiple shot, you can try different poses, move around and see what comes out the best later.

EDITOR’s NOTE: this is my favorite TIP on how to take pictures of yourself alone since I use it a lot. It’s always better to have 20 pictures of yourself to choose from, rather than having a few and you don’t like any of them.

Simple or Standard Compact Camera Might DO!

In order to have a beautiful and error-free picture, you should have high-quality equipment for capturing pictures.

The standard camera plays an essential role in making your picture beautiful by enhancing colors and effects in it. Therefore, it’s necessary to have a high-quality cobra dash camera for capturing amazing photos of yourself while traveling.

Absolute n1. favorite travel camera – QUALITY + COMPACT

SONY A6000 series is an absolute N.1 choice of travelers because it comes with high quality in a very compact design. We have reviewed the best travel lenses for SONY A600o in detail few months ago.

DEPENDING ON WHAT RESULT YOU WANNA ACHIEVE BUT THIS MIGHT BE JUST A MYTH FOR YOU! 

Phone Camera Might DO too!

The newest smartphones are running a “TECHNOLOGY race” and advancing really fast! You can take some stunning and authentic shots without caring a standard camera and nobody can’t tell the difference anyway. 

Most of the famous Instagrammers run their accounts just by using their phones. Especially, in the beginning when they keep it as a hobby.

Advanced Camera – TO LEVEL UP YOUR GAME!

If you want to take your photography game to the NEXT LEVEL and take the best photos of yourself while traveling, you should have the perfect, advanced and upgraded camera.

The cameras which are coming now in the market have the most amazing and awesome features which make the image look beautiful and stunning.

Here are 2 best travel cameras recommended by TOP TRAVEL BLOGGERS:

Don’t Have a Tripod? Set Camera on Sturdy Surface

No tripod no problem! If you don’t have a tripod or you just simply forget it, just look for a steady surface and go with that. It might not be perfect but will do the job.

Get a Remote Controler

People usually take pictures of them by setting a timer on the camera while traveling but it’s not a very practical way. You might find yourself running too much between your spot and camera, to get a perfect shot.  

Having remote control will enable you to control the action of the camera. In this way, you can have more time to play around with your positioning, face impressions, etc.

Know The Settings of Your Camera (Phone or DSLR)

The common mistake of most of the people that try to take pictures of themselves is that they run everything on AUTOMATIC mode.

Every camera has some advanced settings that can really improve your outcome. Knowing them is definitely a bonus! You can find a camera guide for almost any device on youtube, so NO EXCUSES HERE!

Full Face Selfie

In order to take perfect pictures of yourself while traveling alone, you have to be thoughtful and creative. This might look like that most common and classy way but depending on the situation, this could come out as a great shot!

Check out these amazing selfie ideas if you’re running out of creativity!

Ask Someone – Simple 🙂

If you don’t know the art of photography and you are traveling solo then you can ask someone to take your picture. Since many travelers ask random people for taking their picture it’s not something unusual or something that should be out of your comfort zone.

TIP: tell people to take a bunch of photos for you and try to move and change your position while they are taking photos of you. Feel free to go up to 10-15 photos, the chances of getting a good shot will be higher.

Video Screenshots

Another way of capturing a perfect moment is making a video and then taking the screenshot of the video. In this way, you can get a picture of your choice.

Try New Angles

how to take pictures of yourself aloneTo make your selfies more entertaining and keep your social media feed more dynamics, you should try new angles and directions in order to capture the perfect image of you.

The new angles will help you in making a flawless picture of yourself. Once you practice for a while it will become a habit and more automatic.

Make Short Video

In order to take the picture of you at the beautiful places and picturesque locations, you should try making a short video yourself. You can take the screenshots of that video in order to get the desired picture.

Random Body Parts – You don’t always need your face in the pic

If you want the world to witness that you are traveling all these beautiful places and you cannot capture the whole view with you in it then you can photobomb any of your body parts like a hand or a leg in the picture.

In this way, you will have a half picture of yourself. The beautiful picture of the view with your hand or half body in it will make a picture look good and a piece of art and creativity.

Long Arm Selfie

Longarm selfie is very impactful in taking your picture at a beautiful place. Taking a picture is a tricky task, therefore, you should be thoughtful of the perfect angle and background while taking a picture.

You can take a long arm selfie in order to get the picture of the amazing view as well as yourself. This will make your picture beautiful and aesthetic.

Fellow Travelers

Every solo traveler has a problem in taking pictures of himself. Therefore, they are always in search of friendly people who can take their pictures easily. Almost every traveler is always willing to help other fellow travelers in the matter of taking pictures.

Asking other travelers to assist you will help you in making new friends as well as enable you to have your pictures at alluring and captivating places. Don’t know where to find them? Well, check-in to some of the backpacker’s hostels around you!

Candid Pictures

Natural and smiling pictures look amazing but the candid photos even more. When you are traveling alone and you cannot decide which angle is the most suitable for you then you should take your candid picture without making pseudo expressions.

Don’t Be Apprehensive

You don’t need to be apprehensive and conscious of your look and your style. Just be authentic, feel the beauty of the place and take your pictures in the most amazing manner while traveling.

Take Action Shots

If you don’t like to make pseudo expressions and you admire beauty in its actual form then you should take action shots of yourself. 

Not everyone knows the art of action shots as they are difficult to capture in a proper manner. But everyone who is traveling solo should try to take as many action shots as possible.

Travel Diary Selfie

According to the research and analysis, every traveler takes a travel diary selfie in order to celebrate the being in a specific location.

The travel diary selfie is a very good idea for all solo travelers as it enables you to have a beautiful gallery of amazing pictures of yourself at the beautiful and appealing places.

Feet Brag Selfie

People usually take feet to brag pictures of themselves in order to celebrate their presence at the beach. This type of photo is usually a great mix and addition to your Instagram feed or your travel diary.

Remove Distractions

If you are aiming for the perfect shot eliminating distractions from the picture might be your last move! Sometimes you need to aim for simplicity and make sure it’s you and the location in perfect harmony on your photo. 

Use Manual and Auto Focus

You should make sure that you use manual and autofocus in order to make your picture beautiful and aesthetic.

Each time you take a photo of yourself you should set the manual and autofocus in your camera. This will make you look beautiful and stunning in the picture.


Author Bio: Robert is a student of business administration. He has a great passion for cars and devices that improve the driving experience. He loves photography as well and has his own little studio in California. He ritually posts on DashcamSafety.  


We hope you’ve found some useful tips on how to take pictures of yourself alone while traveling around the world or staying at home as well.

These tips can help you a lot with your photography game and improve your online presence. Most of the famous Instagrammers use these tips on a daily basis as their routine. 

At the end of the day, most of them are super basic skills that anybody can learn. What’s great, is that they can make a huge impact on your photography results. DO NOT HESITATE and start practicing some selfie perfection!

If you have some other ideas or tips that we could use in this article, feel free to submit in the comment below. We gladly appreciate any feedback.


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