5 tips for taking stunning travel photos on your iPhone

I kept forgetting about Italy.

I was so busy starting my internship at the Tampa Bay Times and working for the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, with about a dozen other things happening simultaneously, that I kept forgetting I was going on this trip. I even packed in a rush the day before I left, leaving my backpack by the door before I went on assignment.

Here's a tip: Don't go abroad in a rush. You will forget things.

I traveled to Italy at the end of May with my mom and my sister to explore Tuscany, including Siena and Florence, and, finally, Rome. Click here to see all the photos.

I soon found out I had left my batteries for my professional camera at home. I was in one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen, and all I had was a phone. But the best camera is the one you have with you, so all images and video were taken with my iPhone X. The pressure was off, and it was freeing, fun and actually convenient.

Here are some tips for getting the best possible shot out of your iPhone.

Great light makes great pictures, so find it. If there isn't any quality light, use the flash if your subject is close. This works best for a portrait, not scenery. Otherwise, find a small part of a larger scene you can work with, like I did here in St. Peter's Basilica.

Use framing and the rule of thirds to get eye-catching composition. I framed the scenery with the parasol left of center.

Notice the details. Often on vacation, we focus on the big things like architecture and monuments, but your photos will be a lot more unique when you find a different point of view. The streets in Monticchiello were covered in flowers.

Use portrait mode to isolate a subject like I did here with my mom in front of the Arno River in Florence.

Make sure you get in the photo. I'm always the photographer so I seldom make it into the photograph. You were there too, so flip that camera around and selfie with zero shame.

If you accidentally deleted or lost videos on iPhone, first please check on the Recently Deleted folder. Alternatively, you can use the professional tool Gihosoft iPhone Recovery to recover deleted iPhone videos from Camera Roll or some apps.