My fiancé and I visited Paris for the first time while back-packing through Europe. Despite staying 3 short days, we managed to arrive home with HUNDREDS of photos of the Eiffel Tower and other popular tourist attractions.

Just as Shruti noticed, I am surprised that many of my favorite photos are NOT ones of us showing off our big CHEESEY smiles. (Although those are in plenty supply!) My unexpected favorites are the pictures we took of the Eiffel Tower from unusual and interesting angles. Here are a few along with the photo taking tips we used for them:

Unusual and interesting angles. I wanted to capture the Eiffel Tower from an unexpected angle, so I went directly to the middle and looked UP. It's not an obviously identifiable photo of the Tower but I just love the dimension captured. It makes people stop and think before they realize the photo subject.

Move the subject away from the middle. All too often we place our subjects directly in the center of the frame. Before you snap - try placing your photo subject off-center. This simple trick can create visual interest and have you producing photos that others will think are professional!

Play with color modes.  It was a bitterly cold winter day during our visit and the scenery was mostly grey.  Merely changing the color mode on my V610 added INSTANT colorful interest to our photos.  Low Saturated Color, Black and White and Sepia were used to capture the sparkling lights of the Tower in the fog with drastically different effects.

Move in close or exaggerate an element. Simply zooming in can make a big difference in the impact of a photo. It allows you to capture more detail and fill the entire frame with the subject. Pairing zoom with an unusual angle also creates an exaggerating effect like which is neat and different.

Get creative and think about a photo's use beyond the photo album! Could the subject or scene make a great coaster? What about trading IN your boring mouse-pad at work with one that will allow you to enjoy your vacation long after your arrival back home?  I took different pictures depending on their use: making enlargements for display, creating note-cards, or stuffing into photo albums for example.

There are LOTS of creative uses for photos - so don't be hesitant to try out different ideas on photo subjects.  You can read more tips about taking great photos here. Have one to share that you don't see? We'd love to hear that too - make sure to leave us your comments!

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