Photography Tips for Landscape and Travel Photography

How to Understand Camera Settings When You’re Travelling (Without Overthinking It)

Lisa Michele Burns — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 03:11:57 +0000

If camera settings feel overwhelming, you’re not alone. There’s often a moment when you arrive somewhere new, camera in hand, and everything feels right. The light is soft, the scene has depth, and you can already imagine the photo you want to take. But when you look at the result, something doesn’t quite match. It might be slightly blurred, a little darker than expected, or lacking the clarity you thought you’d captured. It’s a familiar experience, and more often than not, it comes down to not quite knowing how your camera is responding to the scene in front of you, or not being creative enough with your composition choices. When Conditions Change, So Should Your Settings One of the most common challenges isn’t understanding what each setting does in isolation, but recognising how they need to shift depending on where you are. As light changes, so should your settings, but more than that, learning how to harness it to enhance your photographs will allow you to make better creative decisions that result in more impactful photos. Let’s chat scenes: The Scene: A bright coastal morning You’re walking along the coastline just after sunrise. The light is soft, but already strong...

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Travel Photography for Beginners: Where to Start (Without Feeling Overwhelmed)

Lisa Michele Burns — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 06:00:05 +0000

Photographing your Travels – A Quick Guide to Getting Started Starting to focus on photographing your travels can feel exciting and intimidating in equal measure. There is so much advice available, so many images to compare yourself to, and an endless list of things you could learn. It is no surprise that many beginners feel unsure where to begin. The good news is that while settings knowledge, quality gear and creative onfidence are eventually something you’ll develop or acquire, you don’t need it when starting out…although a camera of any kind is helpful for obvious reasons! Your photography journey should start with curiosity, observation, and giving yourself permission to learn as you go. It’s about enjoying the experiences you’re having, just as much as the images you’re capturing. This guide is not about doing everything at once. It is about finding a calm, creative way to begin. You don’t need to know everything before you begin One of the biggest misconceptions about travel or landscape photography is that you need a solid technical foundation before you can take meaningful photos. In reality, learning too much too soon often leads to overwhelm and hesitation. It is completely fine to begin without...

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5 Creative Photography Tips to Instantly Improve Your Composition

Lisa Michele Burns — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 06:12:10 +0000

Learn 5 simple photography tips to boost your creativity and improve composition. Easy techniques you can try with any camera or lens. You’ve got a new camera or lens, or maybe you’ve been photographing for a while but feel like your images are starting to look the same. It happens to every photographer. That moment where the excitement fades, and photos start to feel flat or predictable. The good news? Creativity in photography doesn’t come from owning the fanciest gear. It comes from learning how to see differently and finding fresh ways to compose and capture the world around you. Here are five simple approaches you can try on your next adventure to bring new energy into your work. I’ve already found travelling somewhere new helps in expanding my creative process and approach, but these tips will work no matter where you are in the world, close to home, or further afield. Why Creativity Matters More Than Gear New gear is exciting, but it will not automatically make your photos more engaging. A sharper lens might improve detail, but it is your composition skills, how you choose to frame, balance, and light your subject, that creates the real impact. Focusing...

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Insight: Why I started The Travel Photography Club

Lisa Michele Burns — Sat, 18 Jan 2025 04:42:06 +0000

A Global Creative Community of Travel Photographers (beginners + professionals) Photography is a rewarding, enriching, and adventure-filled hobby, or in my case, a profession. One that can take you to all corners of the world for experiences with other cultures, vibrant cities, natural wonders, and wildlife encounters. It can, however, also be a little lonely. A lot of the photographers I know photograph solo, whether travelling, or photographing close to home, we all tend to venture out with just a camera as our companion. Sometimes, I prefer it this way, it helps me focus, be creative and not have distractions, I can simply wander, explore and experiment. It is nice though to connect with like-minded people, and I’ve found social media has been great for supporting fellow photographers, chatting, and sometimes even meeting up for an adventure. But then social media can also get overwhelming, the comparison trap is real, the endless amount of content feels like you’re never doing enough or sharing enough, and to ensure my mind functions well to work and feel creative, more often than not I need to separate from it. That’s not to say I’m not a late-night scroller of cute dog videos…this absolutely...

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Mastering Light: A Quick Guide to Golden Hour Photography

Lisa Michele Burns — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 04:56:16 +0000

What Is the Golden Hour in Photography? The golden hour, often hailed as the “magic hour” by photographers, is a brief period shortly after sunrise or before sunset when the sunlight is softer and warmer in hue. This time of day is favoured for its ability to add a magical, ethereal quality to photographs, transforming ordinary scenes into extraordinary ones. If you’ve ever travelled somewhere to capture landscapes, you’ll no doubt be Googling the best hours for sunrise or sunset. To maximise your opportunities to capture stunning golden hour photographs, it’s always best to arrive one hour before, and leave one hour after the official sunrise or sunset time. This ensures you’ll be treated to changing light, colourful conditions and oodles of photo opportunities! Understanding the Golden Hour The golden hour occurs when the sun is low on the horizon, casting a diffused light that minimises harsh shadows typically associated with bright midday sunlight, and reduces the contrast between highlights and shadows. The lower angle of the sun also produces a warm, golden tone that adds a pleasing aesthetic to any subject, particularly landscapes. Just like switching on your ‘cloudy’ white balance, but a natural aid! Finding the Exact Time...

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Photographing the Lunar Landscapes of Valle de la Luna, Chile

Lisa Michele Burns — Sun, 21 Jan 2024 23:04:43 +0000

Landscape Photography Adventures in Valle de la Luna, Chile. Declared a natural sanctuary in 1982, Chile’s Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) is home to an other-worldly landscape of salt flats, craters, sand dunes and rock formations. Located in the Atacama Desert, the dry lunar like landscape attracts nature lovers year round and is inspiring from the first glimpse of its rugged beauty. Photographers, you need to add this to your wish list. Sitting at 2550metres above sea level, this natural wonder is simply extraordinary with endless patterns, shapes and colours resulting in composition possibilities in all directions. Carved by the elements over centuries, the weathered landscapes are impacted by wind patterns and the extreme climate of its geography within the driest desert on earth. I recently visited in May when the nights were chilly and days a perfect blend of sunshine and cool air. The Atacama Desert has over 300 days of sunshine and it’s this fact combined with extremely low humidity levels that result in ideal conditions for photographers and visibility for miles. Where to Photograph the Valle de la Luna To really capture the beauty of the valley, you’ll need to base yourself in...

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Behind the Lens – Photographing a Sumo Tournament in Tokyo

Lisa Michele Burns — Sun, 01 Oct 2023 12:34:21 +0000

Photographing a Sumo Tournament in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo wrestling has been an integral part of Japanese culture for centuries, and its tournaments have captivated audiences all over the world, some intensely interested, others puzzled but amused by what they’re witnessing. *A little warning for those who don’t want to see too much flesh, the photos within this article do showcase a lot of skin. I’ve tried to photograph the event tastefully and used creative techniques to make the images a little more arty…hopefully you’ll enjoy seeing a peek inside this fascinating Japanese sport. On my recent trip to Tokyo, I was lucky enough to reserve a ticket to the September tournament at Ryogoku Kokugikan, the national sumo arena of Japan. I reserved the seat online, picked up the tickets at a local 7-Eleven store and had no idea as to where we’d be sitting, but assumed it would be very far from the action because they were roughly $20AUD. Spoiler, we were in the very back row, but this actually ended up being ideal for someone who had no idea what was happening and wanted to photograph as much as possible without getting in anyone’s way. So, let’s...

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Luminar NEO by Skylum – Exploring Image Editing Advancements

Lisa Michele Burns — Sun, 24 Sep 2023 07:40:37 +0000

Image Editing and AI with Luminar NEO Let’s talk image editing, a topic we’re all interested in, yet sometimes fail to explore beyond our comfort zone. For years there have been some key players in the program realm, but lately, the innovation of AI and new technologies, have led to some exciting developments. If you’re like me, you probably have a favourite program and editing workflow in place. You’re comfortable opening an image and knowing what you want to do with it. But what if there are more possibilities? Tools available that will help take our work to the next level, or simply allow our creative mind to wander into a world where anything is possible? I’ve spent the past two weeks experimenting with Luminar Neo, an advanced image editing software created by Skylum. Just opening the program feels like a breath of fresh air, its clean and minimal interface and appearance makes exploring the features and tools quite fun! When testing a new program, I like to edit both a coastal scene and a mountain scene, as I find they’re great examples of landscape photography and work well with enhancements and adjustments to see what can be achieved....

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How to Photograph Landscapes at Sunrise

Lisa Michele Burns — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 06:34:53 +0000

5 Sunrise Photography Tips Photographing a sunrise can be a truly magical experience, if you’re not too much of a grump in the mornings! The soft hues of orange, pink, and purple gently painting the sky can create stunning photographs that capture the beauty of nature. However, capturing the perfect sunrise photograph requires some planning and technique. In this article, I’m sharing five tips to help you photograph a sunrise and make your images stand out. Throughout my career I’ve had a few moments photographing sunrise outdoors that I reflect back on, when the light aligns with the landscape and you just have to compose the scene, click the shutter and enjoy the moment. It’s these special moments that I want you to have, to be prepared and ready for when you’re photographing sunrise! Sunrise Tip #1 – Choose the Perfect Location One of the essential aspects of capturing a beautiful sunrise photograph is selecting the ideal location to ensure you’re ready for the appropriate direction of light once it rises. Research and identify places where you can capture unobstructed views of the horizon. Look for spots with interesting foreground elements, such as cliffs, trees, or bodies of water,...

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Minimalist Landscape Photography – A Quick Guide to taking Minimalist Photos

Lisa Michele Burns — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 04:50:35 +0000

Minimalist Photography: How to take Minimalist Landscape Photos Minimalist landscape photography is one of the most inspiring forms of photography to capture. Those empty spaces that work to highlight a beautiful subject and scene. Gorgeous light paired with one singular tone that creates a long shadow over dunes or grassy hills. Minimalist photography is exciting, mysterious and so much fun to create, you just need to find your location and work with the landscape. Epic outdoor scenes can sometimes formulate the desire to try and capture every little element in a photograph. But what if you stripped it all back to focus on something singular within the frame? The ‘less is more’ approach can be applied to almost anything within our lives but when it comes to landscape photography the art of removing distractions from your image is a creative way of seeing the world around us with fresh eyes. Photographing landscapes with the intention of highlighting the simplistic features of a puts your knowledge of colours, shape and composition to work. Instead of simply reducing the amount of subjects within your frame, it’s about looking at the overall effect that elements within the image are producing and whether or...

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The Art of Telling Stories with Photos

Lisa Michele Burns — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 09:26:18 +0000

Storytelling with Travel Photographs Connecting visuals with the art of storytelling is something photographers have been doing since the invention of cameras. Telling stories via photographs of places, people, cultures and landscapes is such a special way of documenting our own experiences for others to see. Have you stopped lately to consider what type of photographs you’re taking and why? What makes you click the shutter and compose an image? Are you considering the story before capturing an image, or taking a whole bunch of photos, editing and then working out the story later? There’s no right or wrong approach, lately though, I’ve been thinking myself about ways I can get back to a more traditional way of storytelling with images. When my first photo feature was published on Lonely Planet way back in 2007, I remember being so proud to share the magic of Marrakech’s Medina via my work. It was designed as a gallery for people to browse through, image by image revealing a little more of the alleyways, atmosphere, Moroccan architecture and culture. I’ve found that sharing on social media doesn’t have that same feeling. Of course it’s lovely when people engage, like or leave comments on...

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What is Vero and Why Should Photographers Care?

Lisa Michele Burns — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 21:37:55 +0000

Hello Vero! Is this social media app for you? Vero is a social media platform offering everything we love about social media. The ability to share images and video still exists just like on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and so on, the big difference though is all the extra features. As creatives, we can share links to our work, recommend books and connect in a more authentic way. Perhaps we’re all missing this connection a little bit lately!? With Instagram appearing to steer towards video content and a more Tik Tok, loud, fast and moving approach, a lot of photographers are wandering back to Vero for another peek. Back in 2018 I remember a mad rush to secure a Vero account. It was the latest social media platform and suddenly we all loved it and wanted to be on it from the very start. Then, who knows what happened? Did it disappear? Did we all just continue with Instagram and never really make the switch? I recall some issues with the founder as people started looking into their past but after a major update, it looks like it’s been sitting there in the background just waiting for us to remember. You...

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