Most souvenir shops are filled with great keepsakes that will help you remember your trip. Unfortunately, they tend not to have great prices and if you’re anything like me, you don’t have room for 15 Madrid baseball caps in your suitcase. Here are some tips for taking beautiful photographs of the gizmos you find in souvenir shops. Print out the photographs on nice paper for some great (free) mementos.

1. In the words of Robert Capa, “If your photographs aren’t good enough, then you’re not close enough.”                                 souvenir shops-5

2. Try to photograph items that aren’t directly in front of a wall to get nice depth of field. An out of focus store can be a much better background than a blank wall.

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Notice how the photograph of the pens is so much nicer than the photograph of the hats? The photograph in tip #1 is also a great example of getting a nice background.

3. Pencils and bottle openers can be fun, but try to also find objects that reflect the culture of your city.

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4. Postcard displays can be a great way to get multiple perspectives of a city and culture in one photograph.

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5. DON’T: Take photographs of items in plastic bags. They don’t reflect light well and the photo will be difficult to edit.

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6. Same goes for metal keychains. You might be able to edit the photograph so it looks nice, but you won’t be able to capture any details that really reflect the heart of your destination. The keychains will LITERALLY outshine the culture.

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Comment below if you have any additional souvenir shop photography tips you’d like to share 🙂