Regardless of the cruise line sailed, the places visited along the way or who is sailing with us, we want to capture the moment in photos. We might do that with the camera in our smartphone, use an easy point-and-shoot camera or invest in professional-quality equipment. However we go about it, what counts are the images we end up with and will share with friends and family or just keep for our own amusement. Focusing our attention first on some basic image-capturing guidelines,  then on the subject, can make all the difference in the world.

Shoot Wide, adding more border around a shot than is necessary is a good idea that gives us more to work with later. While we may be focusing on a person, place or thing, the camera sees it all and might see something we missed at the time but are happy to have later.

Take Two Shots of everything to be sure you have captured what you intended. Holding down the shutter just a little longer gets the second photo which can also be sharper because your finger is not moving.

Back It Up. Have a way to back up photos, either by syncing a smartphone with a laptop, copying them on to an external drive or, if the at-sea Internet situation allows; sending up to a cloud-sourced backup supply. Using multiple memory cards can also be helpful here.  If using a new camera for the first time, take ‘back up’ shots with your familiar smartphone camera, just in case the new one is set on ‘night portrait in pitch black’ and you are at the beach on a sunny day.  Yes, I have done that too.

See more photo tips at CruiseAddicts.com