Implication of Free Selfies on Your Tourism Photo Business

Smartphone Camera Overiew

Apple has a 12 MP camera at the back, with special software that is supposed to produce ‘truer colors and sharper, more detailed photos.” This is a 50% increase in megapixels over the iPhone 5s. The front facing camera is 5 MP HD camera with a Retina Flash, to make “wonderfully bright selfies.” Apple also released Live Photo, which captures the moments before and after a picture is taken, so its customers can “living memory rather than an instant frozen in time.”

Google just announced two new phones, both with a** 12.3 MP camera on the back and shoot 4K video.** A 54% increase in megapixels in as little as two years. The cameras come with “time of flight IR sensors” for rapid autofocus. They both can take 30fps bursts of photos so customers can create fun GIFs. One phone has an 8MP front facing camera while the other has 5MP.

GoPro is set to release their highly anticipated Hero 5 in 2016. It has been reported to have 8K resolution and have dual lenses. The Hero 4 can shoot 4K video and take 8MP photos.

Implications

Close range group shots can be beat by your customers. They can and do take these pictures with ease. The smartphones that they have in their pockets have powerful cameras that take high quality pictures. They simply have the best technology available to them to do this job.

They are able to take selfies, close range shots and fun pictures with ease. Their phones create GIFs and ‘living memories’ and can instantly be share with friends. They can do this for free. Why would they purchase photos that resemble what they can get for free?

Don’t Panic – Offer Premium Photos

Don’t try to compete with the smartphone. Look at it’s weaknesses. Smartphones do not have lenses capable of long range photos. What this means is that it is impossible for them to get high quality action shots of themselves.

Action shots are photos of when a guest is actively participating in an activity and is tightly framed. This is not staged group shots or photos of guests about to do the activity. It is not a POV video.

Our data shows that the most sold, viewed and shared photos are action shots of guests, actively participating in the tour.

This demonstrates that guests are willing to pay a premium for high quality photos showing them actively participating in the most exciting part of your tour. Your guest will want this picture because it clearly identifies them and will spark more conversation for them on social media. They want to show their friends that they actually participated something exhilarating while on vacation. These photos break through the clutter on social media because your guests friends will want to see unique, exciting photos.

To achieve great action shots, you do not need high tech, automatic photo equipment and you do not want a smartphone. It can be easily achieved with a quality camera that has a simple telephoto like lense. This provides you the ability to capture a tight frame of your guest actively experiencing the best time of their life from an angle they are unable to get.