Photographing France: making the most of your French cycling holiday snaps

You’re all ready to travel to France for your big cycling adventure week, excited to meet new people and explore the French landscape on two wheels…

But how are you going to capture all those magical moments – from the coffee and croissants to the breathtaking landscapes, the memorable wine tastings to the action cycling shots?

Get ready for our short guide to taking amazing holiday photos on your cycling tour of France… (All you need is a phone, if you prefer to ride without a camera in your bike bag)

Before you click, think: Focus, Frame, and Light

These three simple ideas will instantly help you take better photos:

  1. Clean Your Lens: Sunscreen, fingerprints, and road dust won't help you take a good photo! Remember to wipe your phone lens with a clean cloth regularly to make sure your focus is at its best when you need it.
  2. Deploy “Human Zoom”! The digital zoom on a phone can reduce image quality, and make your photos grainy, so use your feet to zoom instead! And while you’re moving backwards and forwards, don’t forget you can get lower or higher too: crouching down or standing (carefully!) on a wall can make all the difference between an average shot and a great one.
  1. Find the best light: If you can, embrace "Golden Hour" (one hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset) for that soft, warm, beautiful glow. It’s a great time of day for romantic – and very French – pictures! Also, keep the sun behind you if possible, to avoid excessive contrast and silhouetted faces. (That said, sometimes sun flare can create a fun effect which captures the atmosphere, eg. for coastal photos)

a Golden Hour picture of vines as the sun sets
A "Golden Hour" picture of vines with the sun setting in the background. (Credit: Boudewijn Boer)

Going a little further: try these composition tricks for landscape shots

In your phone settings, you can turn on a grid that appears on your camera, splitting it into nine squares which make a helpful guide when trying out these tips.

The “rule of thirds”
It’s tempting to point and click, with your main subject (let’s say it’s a Loire châteaux) in the centre, but just take a moment to play around… Try to position the châteaux towards the top third of the frame so there’s an expanse of the gardens in the foreground. Or if you have a dramatic sky, try placing the castle in the lower third of the frame to add atmosphere. This easy trick creates a more interesting composition.

Find the line
Take a look at your scene. Are there rows of Burgundy vines leading to a rustic building? A road going off into the Alpine mountains in the horizon? A promenade or walkway leading to a coastal lighthouse?  Use lines in the landscape to draw the eye to a main or complementary subject within the frame.

Credit: Sylvain Brison. Picture of rows of vines leading to a chateau in Burgundy, France
Rows of vines in Burgundy - the lines lead the eye to the building. (Credit: Sylvain Brison)

Play with depth
If you want your French holiday snaps to stand out from the crowd, this trick is an easy one to make your photos more colourful and unusual: find something interesting nearby (it could be your bike, some tree branches, pretty flowers, a building, a friend…) and bring it into the frame at any edge. This really helps bring your photo to life.

The fortress of Carcassone in France. Credit: Alain Bonnardeaux
Even though the tree branches at the top of this picture aren't in focus, they frame the shot of Carcassonne from a distance. (Credit: Alain Bonnardeaux)

Look for reflections or repeated shapes/colours
A lovely way to add interest or grab attention is to keep an eye out for repeated forms. You can do this easily using reflections, eg. a still lake, a window or a mirror, or by drawing attention to similar shapes within a scene, for instance circles (eg. a bike!) or horizontal lines.

Image of the chateau de Chenonceau in France where the castle is reflected in the moat water.
Chateau de Chenonceau reflected in the still moat water - a highlight of our Loire cycle tours (Credit: AXP Photography)

The same idea works with colours work too - think cream and green hollyhock flowers against the the beautiful green window shutters on the whitewashed houses we see on the Ile de Ré (on our Atlantic coast tour).

Clever close-ups

Let’s say you want to capture some atmospheric pictures that really convey the “essence” of France: the little things that give you that “I’m really in France!” feeling.

Keep your eyes peeled whilst you’re out and about to spot these quintessential and idyllic French scenes:

  • A doorway in a medieval walled town
  • Bright red geraniums on a windowsill
  • Coffee and croissants in a café
  • A glorious field of cheery sunflowers
  • A glass of Provencal rosé on the seafront
  • Rustic shop or street signs in a quaint Luberon village
  • A plate of shimmering oysters, fresh from the Mediterranean
  • Grapes ripening in the Bordeaux sunshine
  • Scarlet tomatoes or prickly artichokes on a market stall
  • Rows of lavender in a field in Provence
  • The restaurant’s cheese trolley, laden with oozing deliciousness
  • Rows of barrels in a vineyard cellar
  • A selection of edible works of art in the patisserie

The list goes on (and it’s making us hungry just writing it!) Rest assured you’ll see SO many little French moments like this as you pedal around the countryside on your French Cycling Holiday.  

three yellow sunflowers against a blue sky enjoying the French sunshine
A close of of French sunflowers growing in a field. We cycle past SO many sunflowers on our tours! (Credit: French Cycling Holidays)

OK, so what’s the best way to capture these scenes?

Human zoom + a sharp focus! Approach your subject as best you can, getting right up close if possible, then tap your phone screen to bring up the focus square and hold it. This shallow depth of field focus makes your subject really “pop” and looks professional (and makes everyone back home incredibly envious of your trip!)

Photographing France’s famous landmarks

On our cycling tours we often visit UNESCO heritage sights, famous Roman architecture, magical fairytale castles and astonishingly beautiful hilltop villages, so the urge to take photos as you see these famous sights for yourself is strong!

But if you’re fed up of having the same pictures as everyone else, then here are some ideas on getting creative with your angles and framing when it comes to taking photos of France’s wonderful monuments and architecture:

  • Change your angle: Instead of standing at eye level, try crouching down low or finding a higher viewpoint (like a hill or bridge) to get a different perspective. Don’t forget about the rule of thirds here too.
  • Find a frame within a frame: Use natural elements like archways, trees or a reflective window to create a "frame" around the main landmark.
  • Capture the je ne sais quoi: Think about the atmosphere before you click. Try and tell a story. Play with your camera’s settings to slow the shutter speed and include blurry passers-by in a busy area, or place interesting things into the foreground, whether that’s café tables, a street artist or even your bike!

photo of Pont du Gard in France with river in foreground
A duck's eye view of the UNESCO Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct (Credit: Xuan Nguyen)

In on the action: cycling photography basics

You’re on a cycle tour so it’s pretty obligatory to get some shots of your guides and friends cycling along. Here are three ways to get the best action shots:

  1. Get ahead: in a particularly pretty setting (and France is full of them!), why not boost along the road in front of the group and place yourself at the side of the road to take snaps as they ride past. If you warn them you’re going to do it, they’ll even give you a smile or a wave which make even better pictures!
  2. Use “Burst Mode”: On most phones, if you hold down the ‘shutter’ you can take lots of sequential photos in a “burst”. This massively increases your chance of getting one perfect shot!
  3. On the road: Whilst you’re out on your bike, you’re naturally going to have plenty of tarmac in your pictures, so make the most of it. Get down low, even resting your phone on the road, as cyclists pass you, and you’ll be rewarded with a dramatic shot with the wheel in the foreground. Alternatively, on a winding trail, use those lovely curves to good effect and enjoy the lines of the road itself.

 

Cyclists ride along a bike trail in France, as viewed from above
Spotted by our guide Susan from a bridge - David leads cyclists along a track (Credit: French Cycling Holidays)

Et voila, our top tips on getting the most out of your phone to capture some memories of your cycling tour!

If that’s inspired you to join us, head over to our Tour Dates page and browse our next tours in a region you’d like to explore by bike or contact us to find a route and dates that work for you and your group: