141. How to Take Stunning Vacation Photos with Your Smartphone: Expert Tips from Jessica Frey

Want to take better photos on your next luxury travel adventure without carrying a big camera? In this episode, I’m joined by pro photographer Jessica Frey, and we’re sharing how to get stunning vacation photos with just your smartphone. You’ll learn the #1 thing most people forget when snapping pics on the go, how to find your best lighting using the “palm trick,” and the easy posing tips that instantly boost your confidence in front of the camera. Whether you're headed to the beach, the mountains, or Machu Picchu, these tips will help you elevate your luxury travel memories, one photo at a time.

Connect with Michele on IG: @jetsettingwithmichele or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/MMTinsiders

Contact Michele to plan your next vacation: www.makinmemoriestravel.co/contact, michele@makinmemoriestravel.co, or schedule a 15 minute consult: https://tidycal.com/texasmfs/15-minute-meeting

This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com.

Transcript

Michele:

Hello, jet setters and welcome back to another episode of Jet Setting with me. I am so excited today because I took a look at all my stats for the podcast in 2025 and I found out that you guys are kind of sick of listening to just me. That you really love the episodes where I bring in other people and we just get to chat and you guys get to kind of listen to our conversation. So I am going to do that once a month now. And I am starting January 2026 with a friend that I have actually wanted to have on this podcast for forever and a day. But. And once you hear her, you won't be able to believe this. She's never done that before.

Michele:

So here we go. I am going to let one of my dearest friends and she has the most bubbly princess personality ever, Jessica. Hi, Jessica.

Jessica Frey:

Hi Michele. Hello.

Michele:

Welcome, welcome. I'm so happy you're here. So tell my audience why or all my jet setting friends why. I'm so excited that you're here.

Jessica Frey:

Well, I am. Super. We've been talking about this forever, so I'm finally happening and I am excited to talk a lot about photography today. As someone who has known you for a very long time, back in our wedding industry days and has done content.

Michele:

Shoots for me multiple times. Like you've gone to Disney with me for content collection. We have traveled my brand shoot. Yeah, we have traveled together. We travel well together. Yes. I've got to go to Vegas.

Jessica Frey:

Quite a lot of different locations over the years.

Michele:

Oh, we should do more of that.

Jessica Frey:

I agree.

Michele:

You should. I wish you had been on that virgin voyage cruise with me in November.

Jessica Frey:

We, we will do that at some point. I would love to get on one of those.

Michele:

I have lots of my next virgin voyage floating deposits. So you know, let me know. Yay. Okay, so tell everyone, like your kind of quick bio. I know you have a passion for travel and you're a photographer and all, but I guess not everybody knows how long you've been a photographer and all that stuff. So give us the quick bio.

Jessica Frey:

Very quick rundown. I have been a professional photographer now for almost 18 years, photographing couples, mostly couples and weddings. Destination weddings all over the globe for 18 years now. Also doing corporate work and headshots especially for ladies. Love you on that. Yes, me too.

Michele:

Super talented.

Jessica Frey:

We always have fun together. Yeah. So professional photographer, mama of a little boy and a lover of travel.

Michele:

Woo hoo. Okay, so this is really for us non techie people who carry around our smartphones and want to take better Travel pictures. So just like the number one, like, takeaway that we should all leave with the best thing that the number one piece of advice you can tell us when we are taking travel photos with our smartphones. For me, it's an iPhone.

Jessica Frey:

Yes. So my biggest advice is to be confident and actually ask somebody to take your photo. I think so many of us women specifically don't want to be in the picture, and that makes me so sad. For confidence reasons or just mom's always the one taking the picture. Get in front of the camera. Have the confidence to ask either a stranger or someone you're traveling with to take your photo in front of Big Bend or wherever you are so that you are in pictures. I think it is so important.

Michele:

Okay, so I'm going to stop you for a second because when I am traveling, obviously I'm all about getting content. Right? Like, and so, I mean, do we want me in all the pictures?

Jessica Frey:

Yes. And especially for those people that know you, I would rather see a familiar face of you in a location than just a photo of the location. Okay.

Michele:

And I don't take good selfies, meaning as the photographer, I do not take good selfies. So we'll come back to that for a second. You're saying, ask someone to take my photo.

Jessica Frey:

Okay.

Michele:

What if that person sucks as a photographer?

Jessica Frey:

That's round two. If they suck, there's two things. Either one, you did not direct them. Well, I'm very vocal when I have someone take my picture.

Michele:

Well, yeah, but you're a professional. So tell me, the amateur, what I should do. Do when I ask, Mr. X, can you take my photo?

Jessica Frey:

Anybody has to have the confidence to ask a stranger, say, hey, I'm going to go stand. Here's how I want. Actually set your phone where you want the photo taken and have them just push the button. And if it sucks, guess what? Wait five minutes and ask somebody who might be a little younger or a little more capable or I make sure to ask the right people when walking by. I look.

Michele:

One I forgot to mention is that Jessica also worked at Disney. Not at the same time as me, but so we both have that. Hey, can I take your picture for you? Remember Jean? So I'm actually asking the stranger. I don't hate that idea because I usually am the person going, hey, do you want a photo? I can take it with both of you in it, but I have to admit, like, telling somewhere else where to stand and like to take it vertically instead of horizontally. Or, like, where the light is. Or like, we flip around, like, I don't know those things. So let's start small.

Jessica Frey:

Okay.

Michele:

If I'm the subject and now I have this beautiful background, like Arches, Utah, which was one of my favorite places, and I couldn't find anyone to take a picture of me actually in it, where should the light be?

Jessica Frey:

Okay, so that's about three different questions. First, if you have someone to take your picture, you want to find even lighting. So that means you don't want half your face in the shade and half your face in the sun or the top half of your body in the sun and the lower half in the shade. You want to stand somewhere where it's evenly lit all over your face. So, like, if you're standing under a tree, you have dappled lighting. We don't like that. That's little bitty circles of shade all over your outfit. Nobody wants that.

Jessica Frey:

So don't stand under a tree that has dappled lighting. I know I've taught you this. And every time I travel with people, I teach them my palm trick. So the palm of your hand equals your face. And if you put it out in front of you, so you're looking at your palm and you just start turning in a circle, you'll be able to see where the light is hitting. And you want to find even lighting on your palm. And you look absolutely insane. And it's really funny when people watching you, but it's the best way to find lighting.

Jessica Frey:

So if you. It depends on the time of day. It depends on where you are. That's kind of my easy, quick trick to find the best lighting. And wherever that palm looks the best, that is where your face needs to be. And I know that's hard to describe on a podcast.

Michele:

Well, I do know that trick because you have taught it to me in person, but I think a lot of people know that you may be able to envision that.

Jessica Frey:

Yes. Looking at your palm.

Michele:

Yeah. So we'll do. We'll put a demonstration on our stories. Looking for the palm Clicking heart for good life. Okay, so that's where your face should be.

Jessica Frey:

Yes.

Michele:

Now, okay, now, you said I asked three different questions and now I have another one. What if I'm squinting like I'm all in the sun, but the sun is.

Jessica Frey:

Too bright for me, so either put on sunglasses or move. Move. Which we also. So it depends on the time of day. My biggest tip, when you are in a location that you're like, this is my once in a lifetime opportunity. I really need this photo. Is to think through ahead of time, especially if you're doing it for content and not just pretty vacation photos. If you're doing it for content, you need to plan ahead.

Jessica Frey:

Like, I knew I was going to Machu Picchu and I wanted to stand out. So I prepared a yellow dress to wear to the top of Machu Picchu because I knew content purposes. I wanted to stand out, and you stand out in a yellow dress. But I also knew the time of day we'd be going there. And so I watched the sun. And towards the end of our hike on Machu Picchu, the lighting was perfect. So I had practiced in several different spots getting photos. And then I knew at the end of the day, one of those five different spots would have ideal lighting.

Jessica Frey:

So another example would be when you get to a location or hotel or spot and you know you're going to be there multiple days, use day one to look at the lighting and say, hey, I really like the sun when it comes at 4 o' clock or the morning light here is really pretty. And then you schedule your photos for that next day during that time frame. So, okay, so two different things, right?

Michele:

Well, you and I are getting content because we are both in the travel industry and we want to post specific pictures. But I think in this day and age, really everybody is collecting content because, you know, everybody wants the Instagram photo. It can be a food, it can be of travel, it can be us. As you said, number one tip, get behind the camera. So I think that really applies to everyone. Although, you know, my favorite mode of travel is a cruise. So taking that, you're not going to be like in one port for multiple days to kind of do that. Day one, find your lighting.

Michele:

Let's just say I arrive in Grand Cayman because the lighting there, I can only imagine is beautiful on Seven Mile Beach.

Jessica Frey:

I have photographed on Seven Mile Beach.

Michele:

Okay, there we go. I do too, but somebody else definitely was sinking it. Okay, so we get there because it's a tender port. So we arrive at, you know, 9:00am and we know we want that beautiful Seven Mile beach pristine. So we're going to probably take it pretty early. You want me in the photo. I'm assuming you want the ocean behind me or ideally, yeah, in the middle of the beach.

Jessica Frey:

I will say beaches and sunsets are two of the hardest things to photograph. Even as a professional, because your light is so extreme with the sun in front or behind you and the ocean, you always want to face your light. So if you're at a beach, the fingers crossed moment is hoping that the sun is on the other side. Because if the sun is behind you, it's not going to be blue. It's going to be white or it's going to be yellow. So if you want that blue, really pretty lighting. Like, I was just in the Bahamas last week, and I set up a pretty photo of my boyfriend and I with the beach behind us. And I had to navigate to a beach part that had.

Jessica Frey:

Didn't have a lot of people. I set up my tripod because I am that person, too. I do have a tip for that. And angled it so that the blue water was behind us. And also it was really cloudy. So as soon as the clouds broke, the sun came out, the water turned blue. When the clouds are out, the water's going to be a dark gray. So you also have to just kind of wait for the sun to come.

Jessica Frey:

So I was sitting there, hoping the cloud would pass, waiting for the sun, and then ran out, took my photo, and then five minutes later, another cloud came in. So it's Instagram versus.

Michele:

Yeah, we don't have that kind of time. Can't you just light it in the editing room?

Jessica Frey:

You can. I mean, to an extent, you get what you get, especially when you're traveling. It's just. It is what it is. So if it is rainy and cloudy, you get a rainy, cloudy photo. Unless you want to pay someone to really doctor it up and add in a fake sunset. So, yeah, I think travel photography is either, A, you're really trying to get content and that's your focus, or you're traveling and you just take photos of what is happening around you for your own personal use.

Michele:

I like b. I mean, there are definitely, like, I will give an example. Like, people always see me in my travel photos, and they're always like, don't you ever take your family with you? And I'm like, yeah, all the time. Like, but I don't post them in the pictures. I get pictures of us because I want those memories.

Jessica Frey:

Yeah. So.

Michele:

So, yeah, I mean, when we were in London, it was like, rainy for 10 minutes, pouring down. Like, I couldn't even take my smartphone out because it would get soaked. And then 15 minutes later, it was dry and pretty, but, well, gray. Yeah, I mean, I wasn't afraid to take those photos. They're just not anything that I would have ever posted because they have my family in them. But what are some tips that, you know, you're just out and about taking photos because this is what you're doing and you want to remember the Fabulous time you had in London when you got to go to Buckingham palace, for example.

Jessica Frey:

And then for travel photos that are not content worthy, just kind of to gather the location, two very quick tips would be shoot wide. That way you can see the whole thing. Like if you're at Buckingham palace, take it wide. And every iPhone or I'm not sure about the other phones, allows you to either have 1.1 or 0.5. And that is the angle of the lens. So you can make it wider, you can make it closer so you can play around with your phone. And my biggest advice is to learn about your phone. Take a quick YouTube video on your phone.

Jessica Frey:

Google your phone how to take pictures. And there are so many quick videos. Like, hey, here are what these buttons mean. So go watch a five minute video to learn how to take better pictures on your iPhone. Specifically the one that you have. Like there's a little arrow button when you're taking a selfie right below the screen screen. Nobody ever knows what that is and they don't push it. And so when I'm with friends, I said push that button and it automatically widens the screen.

Jessica Frey:

So if you're taking a selfie.

Michele:

Oh, you have show me this.

Jessica Frey:

Okay.

Michele:

The two little arrows and all of.

Jessica Frey:

A sudden your selfie has a little bit more room around it. So it's not just your face. Yeah, quick and easy. That's my favorite.

Michele:

I'm taking one now, people. It's got like. Because my office background, if we're not just focused on my face, has all my, my ears in it. So now that's in the picture.

Jessica Frey:

Especially if you're taking a group shot or a group selfie, all of a sudden you can fit everybody in just one little button. So that's. Oh, quick tip. My second quick tip is to wipe your lens on the other side or even if you're taking a selfie mode, wipe it. The amount of fingerprints and gunk will cause your picture to look blurry when it's just a dirty lens. So before any photo, I always wipe my phone with my shirt with something nearby. It doesn't matter.

Michele:

It like nothing. Like use a napkin or is that going to scratch the lens?

Jessica Frey:

Like just anything. Because the amount of just fingerprint or gunk or if you carry it in your pocket and you take a picture without wiping it, it just looks like, oh, this is murky. Like, oh, wipe your lens and then it's clear.

Michele:

So I have the iPhone 17. I think I'm usually like two. So it's got two lenses on the back. But doesn't it have a lens on the front, too?

Jessica Frey:

Yes. And that top middle should be a little tiny camera. And I always just. If I'm gonna take a selfie, just wipe it real quick with my shirt.

Michele:

You wipe that one, too. You wipe them all?

Jessica Frey:

Yep. And I've gotten in such a habit, I don't even think about it. Anytime I pull my phone out to take a photo, I wipe it first.

Michele:

Okay. So those are so the two arrows when you're to make it wide and.

Jessica Frey:

Swipe your lens very quick and easy. And then if you want to dig further, watch a quick YouTube video on your specific phone and you'll learn even more. There's so many things you can learn, and even as a professional, I don't utilize half the things on my phone.

Michele:

Okay. So one thing that I actually did learn from a quick YouTube video. Okay, I'm lying there. I actually tried to take an iPhone photography course, and I made it through. The first one was the composition and making the lines appear on your phone. Like, do you know how? I don't even think I have them on there anymore. The composite. Oh, I do.

Jessica Frey:

I've got my grid that helps you just stabilize. And if you have a horizon you want to like so that you're. For me and for my generation, we like our photos straight. I have learned younger generations like the 0.5 all the way up, looking down and crooked. So it just kind of depends on your age group on what kind of photos you prefer. But I will say, never take your photo below your face. Like holding your phone below, always at least at your face or slightly above.

Michele:

For the best, because that makes us look skinnier. Right.

Jessica Frey:

It defines your chin and it gives you some shadow under your.

Michele:

Okay, so the other biggest tip, because now you're telling us we should be in front of the camera. So now, in addition to taking the photo, we have to give the best pose tips that you have. These are my favorite, but I'm not going to steal your thunder. Go for it.

Jessica Frey:

You know, I have taught you them well.

Michele:

Yes, yes. And I try and teach other people, but it will sound so much better coming from you. What is our best way to pose in pictures so that it, as you just said a moment ago, defines our.

Jessica Frey:

Face, finds our face, and thins up our bodies as much.

Michele:

Yes.

Jessica Frey:

The quick and easy best tip is when you are facing a camera, always put your weight on your back foot. So if I'm facing you, I put my weight on my right foot, my left foot Is towards the camera. Bend that knee just slightly.

Michele:

The knee bend? Yes, the princess knee bend.

Jessica Frey:

The second biggest tip I give for everybody is shoulders back. You want to pull your shoulders back, and that immediately gives you better posture.

Michele:

That's not really how you say it, though. Come on, Jessica.

Jessica Frey:

All right. For my close friends, I. All right.

Michele:

Get stop or lead with the girls. That's what I remember. Lead with the girls.

Jessica Frey:

Depends on how close we are.

Michele:

So shoulders back, Lead with the girls.

Jessica Frey:

Yep, shoulders back. Lead with the girls. And then chin up. And it just immediately, like you have a pencil coming over the top of your head. It pulls your whole body up. Your posture looks good. Your weights on the back of your leg. And then for my ladies that are not as confident with their arms, hold them away from your body.

Jessica Frey:

And that can either be hand on.

Michele:

The hips or to me, I am famous for the hand on the hips.

Jessica Frey:

There's no space between your arms and your body. It just makes you look unnecessarily wider. So those are three very quick, easy. You want to kind of make your body look like an S in the shape of an S. Oh, my God.

Michele:

I can't believe our time is, like, pretty much over now. And we barely scratched the surface. So I had, like, six more questions on my potential questions. So just really quick. You said, learn about your iPhone, shoot wide, wipe your lens. Wipe your lens, Be in the photo, Be confident. And you gave us some posing tips. Is there one other quick takeaway? And can I invite you back for a future segment where we can dive deeper into some of these? Like, once I've learned my phone, like, maybe you can teach me more.

Jessica Frey:

We'll get into some more technical stuff, but absolutely. I think the biggest takeaway is have a little bit more confidence when being in front of the camera by asking people to take your picture and leaving memories for your family and friends of you in front of Buckingham palace and you in front of Machu Picchu. And those are the pictures people love to see. And I think especially women do not get in front of the camera. And it makes me so sad. So I'd love to see more of you guys in front and have the conference to ask others to take your picture.

Michele:

I have so many more questions, and this one I just. Because you mentioned Machu Picchu again and you plan to have a yellow dress which kind of dovetails on my favorite packing episode, which is like, I now pack in a carry on. I am a carry on only girl. So if I need one outfit to stand out, I mean, And I know we all have the color analysis and whatever and that's separate. But like, how did you land upon yellow dress for Machu Picchu color?

Jessica Frey:

I just love to stand out and I found out yellow, greens and reds are my colors.

Michele:

Okay, so. So now we'll have someone on in a future episode with color analysis because I'm getting really into that too because I've decided I'm tired of taking the GLP1 shot. So I'm just gonna like find my colors, always look my best, and accept my body as is. That's my 2026 goals. Jetsetters. So we'll at that end December of 2026, we'll find out how I did, like if I'm, if I'm still willing to be in front of the camera or not.

Jessica Frey:

Well, we always have fun. You always are very confident with me in front of the camera, so you're very sweet.

Michele:

So if any of my local jetsetter not so local because like I said, you've traveled with me, want to find you. What is the best way to find you? I know you're in transition too, so just tell us the best way to reach you, where to follow you.

Jessica Frey:

Absolutely.

Michele:

All that good stuff.

Jessica Frey:

Instagram is my favorite place to live and that is at Jessica Fry F r e y photography.com and that's also my website, Jessica Fry photography.com.

Michele:

Thank you, friend. I love, love, love you and I cannot wait. I'm serious. We're gonna have to have you back on. I'm gonna do some diving into my phone and then hopefully my jet setting listener family will do the same and then we'll have you back for more.

Jessica Frey:

Wonderful. Thank you so much for having me.

Michele:

Oh, until then, everyone make every journey an unforgettable memory and I will talk to you next week.