Guides · Travel

How to get good photos of yourself when you travel solo

Updated 12 November 2026 · 6 min read

You come home with four hundred photos of the trip and you are in three of them, all selfies. Travelling alone does not have to mean that. It mostly takes a plan, the right light, and a way to take the photo that does not depend on strangers.

Plan the photos of you, not just the places

The photos of you that people end up loving are rarely at the famous viewpoint. They are on the walk there: a doorway, a café table, a bridge with the city behind. Before you go out, pick two or three moments a day where you want to be in the picture. It turns "I should get a photo of me" from a guilty afterthought into something you simply do.

Go early, or go golden

• Early morning gives you empty streets, so you can prop a phone without an audience, and soft light that flatters everyone.
• The hour before sunset gives you warm side light. Turn so it falls across you rather than behind you.
• Midday is the hardest: hard shadows under the eyes. Look for open shade, under an arch or a tree, rather than full sun.

Keep your phone safe

The real reason solo travellers do not prop their phones is the fear of watching someone walk off with it. Some rules that help:

• Only leave the phone where you could reach it in two steps, and never in a crowd.
• Prefer a tripod that clamps to a railing over one standing free.
• Use the timer burst and pick it up straight after, rather than leaving it out for many tries.
• In busy places, skip the propped phone altogether.

The options, honestly

Propped phone and self-timer

Free and good in quiet places. Back camera, chest height, 10-second timer with burst. The full method is in how to take pictures of yourself alone.

Tripod and remote

The most control over a real photo. It is one more thing to carry and set up, and it is conspicuous.

Asking someone

Fine at viewpoints where everybody is doing the same. Set the shot up first so they only need to tap: see how to ask a stranger to take your photo.

An AI photographer

With BackPix you frame the place and tap, and about a minute later you have photos of you in that view, made with AI from a selfie you saved before the trip. It works where the other options don't: in a crowd, on a moving boat, with nowhere to prop the phone, or when you simply do not want to pose in public.

Photos worth taking on every trip

• The arrival: you with your bag at the station, the hostel door, the first street.
• The table: breakfast or a drink, seen from across the table.
• The walk: you from behind or the side, heading into the place.
• The view: you small in the frame, the place large.
• The last evening: the same spot as the first, if you can.

More ideas in photo ideas for when you're on your own.