Travel means different things to different people – an escape from routine, a chance to explore the unfamiliar, or simply to experience life from a new perspective. My own trips often blend all of the above, and I believe the best travel photography reflects that diversity, whether that’s a misty morning on the moors, seeing (and smelling!) street food stalls, or towering city skyscrapers.

As a mobile photography workshop leader, I’m passionate about the potential of smartphones when it comes to taking these images. They’re light, quick, and let you capture the moment without fuss. I always say there are two types of shots: the raw, unfiltered, instinctive snap, and the more deliberate, curated photograph. Both are just as important and can show the real heartbeat of a place. The beauty of the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is that it can move seamlessly between the two, with its design, lens options, and AI-enhanced features.

Pre-shoot setup: small tweaks, big impact

When it comes to taking images on a trip, before I even press the shutter, there are two quick, simple tweaks I always make to my phone settings.

1) Turn on grid lines These help line up your shots perfectly, especially when photographing architecture or scenic horizons, and reduces the need for post-editing. On the Galaxy S25 FE you can find them under ‘Composition Guide’ in camera settings. Within the camera itself, touch the four dots bottom right (just above the selfie icon), and navigate to the settings icon on the far left. Scroll down until you find ‘Composition Guide’ and toggle this on.

2) Set aspect ratio to 3:4 This is ideal for most social platforms and print formats, giving your images a clean, balanced frame, with flexibility if you plan to enlarge shots. This can also be found in the 4 dots bottom right and the fourth option from the left.

The lightweight frame of the Galaxy S25 FE – even with a protective case on – feels great to hold. Although slim, it feels solid, and has excellent screen and picture resolution. All in all I can’t wait to try it out.

Four cameras, two resolutions, endless creativity

The Galaxy S25 FE offers three resolution options: 50, 12 or 8 MP. 50 MP is perfect for detailed daytime shots (you just need to be aware that this will create larger file sizes). While 12 MP is ideal for everyday snaps with solid quality and smaller file sizes.

It has three lenses on the rear: a 50 MP main, a 12 MP ultra-wide, and an 8 MP telephoto. You can zoom up to 30x, though the sweet spot is up to 3x for best quality. That said, the Galaxy S25 FE’s built-in AI does an impressive job of smoothing out graininess even at higher zooms.

Each lens opens new creative possibilities. Use 3x for discreet street photography or architecture details, and ultra-wide for sweeping landscapes or dramatic skies. Travel is as much about tiny details as it is about big vistas.

Mastering motion and long exposure

For a dreamy, artistic feel that captures motion, shoot using the phone’s Long Exposure settings (Jeanette Lendon)

Of course travel is all about movement, whether it’s the journey itself, an activity or experience you’re enjoying while you’re there, or simply having the time to stay still and capture how a place moves around you. So it’s fun to play around with this in your photography. On the Galaxy S25 FE, the Motion Photo feature captures a short video (with sound) and lets you select the perfect still frame – ideal for action shots like skiing or jumping.

Even better, you can turn motion shots into stunning long exposures, giving movement a dreamy, artistic feel. For daytime shots, turn the video icon on (top right of the screen), keep still while the shot is being taken, then convert the image (go to your photo, touch the 3 dots top right, ‘Details’ and ‘Long exposure’ will come up as an option. Make sure you ‘Save a copy’ to keep it as a long exposure image). This gives amazing effects, and is a great feature for travel photography – allowing you to make moving scenes, like crowds of people or city traffic, look soft, dreamy and smooth, and actually capturing that sense of movement within the image.

At night, switch to Pro Mode (found in ‘More), lower the brightness ISO to 50, and change your shutter speed to either 1 or 2 seconds, and keep the camera very still for a second or two. Resting your phone on something solid like a wall helps avoid unwanted blurring of aspects, like buildings or landscape elements, that you want to stay distinct.

It’s the kind of feature that instantly elevates your shots from ‘nice’ to ‘wow’.

Low-light legend: shooting after dark

The Galaxy S25 FE is great for night photography, allowing you to add contrast to your feed (Jeanette Lendon)

From night markets to moonlit streets, evening photography adds drama and contrast to your travel gallery. Many phones struggle in low light, but the Galaxy S25 FE’s AI Nightography mode (triggered automatically in low light) lifts shadows, reduces grain, and keeps your subject clear.

The 50 MP Wide Camera with Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) and Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF) works wonders in dim settings, helping keep shots sharp, even in low-light. You can also manually adjust exposure (touch the screen and drag the sun icon left) to get a more dramatic, high-contrast effect. Both methods give fantastic results, and offer different moods depending on the scene and the look and feel you want.

Selfies, portraits, and food shots

Travel memories aren’t just about views and buildings – they’re also about people, experiences, and moments. Portrait Mode on the Galaxy S25 FE allows you to play around with foreground and background elements, to allow your subject to stand out – whether it’s a person, plate of food, or flower – by choosing how blurry you want your background to be.

To do this, put your phone on to Portrait Mode (either using the selfie camera or the main camera). Touch the dot on the left-hand side of the screen and this gives you the option to change your blur strength from 1 (not blurry) to 7 (very blurry). When you are the right distance away from your subject, the word ‘Ready’ will show in yellow. To change the background afterwards, go to your photo, touch on the 3 dots top right, ‘Details’, then ‘Background effect’ will show. Group selfies can now have everyone in focus, not just the one holding the phone.

**Edit like a pro **– no extra apps required

Using Generative Edit you can easily remove photobombers, with the AI tech filling the image (Jeanette Lendon)

Once you’ve taken your shots, the Galaxy S25 FE’s built-in editing tools let you polish them directly on your phone, making this process incredibly easy and inexpensive (you just need a Samsung account to access some functions). My personal favourite? Photo Assist’s Generative Edit*. Simple tap, circle, erase – and goodbye photobombers, signposts, or traffic cones. The phone’s clever tech fills the empty spaces using AI to analyze the surrounding imagery and create the perfect fill. It’s a game-changer for travel images where you can’t always control what (or who) strays into your shots, and don’t always have the time or opportunity for a retake.

For more creative edits, Sketch to Image** turns your doodles into digital stickers. Draw a simple sketch (like a heart, flower, or bee), and the Galaxy S25 FE’s clever AI technology will transform it into a polished digital sticker that blends seamlessly into your photo.

You can also lean into current photography trends by using the built-in filters. Whether you want bright, bold tones or soft, muted vibes, these let you customise each look to match your style, and stay on-trend while doing it. They can easily be found under the pencil icon when viewing your images. Here you can straighten, crop, add your filters, or completely control the level of contrast, brightness, etc. I personally like big bold colours, although not necessarily on a person, so by using the more bespoke settings, I can control and set the editing to my personal style.

Finally, while I’m more into stills, the Galaxy S25 FE Audio Eraser*** feature might just convert me to video. It automatically adjusts background noise in videos – like toning down a crowd so your narration or subject stands out. This used to require expensive software, but now it’s built right into the phone’s software. By heading to the Edit function and touching on the last icon, you can choose which sound you want to make more prominent than the others. It really is a game changer.

A powerful piece of kit

A common worry when relying on phones to capture images on a trip is battery life. Travel photography is often about being ready – conditions change, and moments are fleeting. The last thing you want is a dead battery just as the sun sets.

The Galaxy S25 FE delivers all-day battery performance, and if it runs low, 45W fast charging gives you 60 per cent battery in just 30 minutes – perfect for a quick coffee between shoots.

From misty mornings to candlelit dinners, this device captures it all – vividly, effortlessly, and creatively. With versatile lenses, smart AI, powerful editing tools, and long battery life, it’s more than just a phone camera. It’s the ultimate travel companion.

To find out more about the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE visitSamsung

*Samsung account login is required. Requires network connection.

**Samsung account login and network connection may be required for certain AI features.

***Samsung account login required. Six types of sound can be detected; voices, music, wind, nature, crowd and noise. Results may vary depending on audio source & condition of the video.