creative Archives - Photo Tips, Creative Photography + Travel Guides - The Wandering Lens

Setting the Scene – Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)

Lisa Michele Burns — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 02:53:10 +0000

Intentional Camera Movement – ICM Photography: Learn how to create beautiful blurred motion! Blur in photography isn’t usually a good thing. We all want sharp, clear images with plenty of detail to showcase the subjects and scenes we’re photographing. But. What if the blur was intentional!? Sometimes it’s all about letting go of the rules and seeing what happens. Panning is a creative technique that can sometimes be overshadowed by long exposures or traditional landscape compositions. The combination of working with movement, colour and light can really test your abilities as a photographer but once you’ve got the hang of it, you’ll find it’s a fun way to capture a scene and incorporate some blur of the good kind! Rather than locking focus on an individual subject and panning to ensure it stays sharp while the surrounding area blurs, let’s take a look at panning to produce an entire image in motion. Photographing seascapes is a great way to test this technique so if possible, venture down to the beach or an open area to give it a go. Below are some tips on settings, gear, light and composition then you’ll find a collection of sample shots with the settings...

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Creative Photography Techniques to Try with Your Camera

Lisa Michele Burns — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 09:17:03 +0000

Creative Photography Techniques – For Beginners to Advanced! Creative photography techniques aren’t only for professionals or advanced photographers, anyone can get started by learning a few nifty little tricks to improve your photography. Your camera should be a tool that helps you create images without restriction. When you come up with that cool concept, develop a creative idea and want to get out to capture it, it’s great to know your camera is capable! If you’re all about using water in your images, make sure your camera has the appropriate weather sealing, grab a little tough camera or invest in an underwater housing. Otherwise, if you’re keen to try things like reflections, bokeh and backlit subjects as mentioned in this article, you can use just about any camera you want to give it a go. When getting creative with photography, there really are no limits, it’s all about what you can dream up and make happen. So let’s get going! #1 Reflections A favourite amongst landscape photographers, reflections are hard to stop seeing once you discover them. Still lakes, shiny surfaces, windows, puddles, they’re kind of everywhere once you delve a little deeper into a scene and really seek...

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How to Plan a Travel Photography Trip

Lisa Michele Burns — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 12:56:00 +0000

Prepare for your next Photography Adventure! We’ve all got those dream photography missions that one day we’ll accomplish. It could be capturing the frozen beauty of Iceland (yes please!), or photographing gorillas in the jungles of Uganda (take me with you), or even just getting a decent angle of your local beach. Regardless, you can give yourself a little advantage by investing in some time spent planning just how you’ll make that epic shot happen. When researching ideas for The Wandering Lens, I spend hours on the computer weighing up where to go and when. I’m a little sick of visiting the over populated tourist hubs and have resorted to scouring satellite imagery for hidden corners of the world that may be a bit trickier to reach. I’ve even started challenging myself to a daily hike or run (*fast walk) in order to increase the chances that I can physically make it to these places I find while sitting comfortably at home adding to my wish list. There’s of course no real textbook approach for planning a trip but for photographers like me who love a good spot of travel strategising, I thought I’d pop together a little list of...

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The Power of Instagram – How It’s Changing The Way We Create + Travel

Lisa Michele Burns — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 03:25:16 +0000

A few thoughts and observations on the impact of social media for photographers… Designed as a tool to share visual art, Instagram is used by over 500 million people each day. From those users, up to 95 million photos are uploaded each day, 4.2 billion likes are generated and behind the screens, I’m sure millions of people are staring, wishing they were inside the photos they’re looking at rather than their current location. It’s this last part that I want to write about, the FOMO element, the way Instagram is tapping into our creative thoughts and twisting them a little. Morphing them into what we believe we should be photographing, where we NEED to travel and blending our talents into styles that we think are going to make us popular. Now, I don’t want this to be a rant. There’s always one very simple solution to the problem, don’t open the Instagram app. I actually get pretty fed up with Instagram ranters hating on the app or complaining that people are scamming the system because at the end of the day, you have the power to turn it off and move on with your life. There are plenty of traditional...

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Setting the Scene: Aerial Photography

Lisa Michele Burns — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 19:41:12 +0000

Aerial Photography Tips, Camera Settings + Gear Advice Capturing an alternate perspective of a scene is always exciting, perhaps never more so than when taking aerial photos. With the world beneath and a never ending canvas of potential shots waiting, aerial photography is a thrilling way to take landscape photos. You can be in a helicopter, seaplane, small plane, hot air balloon…the list goes on, whatever your aircraft of choice is, more often than not, the process of taking a great aerial image is the same. In this months ‘Setting the Scene’, I want to share a little about how I capture aerial photographs and list some of the best lenses, settings and creative tips to use for your next aerial attempt. If you’ve never photographed aerials before it can be a little intimidating at first because you’ve got limited time in the sky, it’s usually a bit of a splurge and with the movement and distance, can be tricky to know what to set your camera at to get optimal results. But fear not, once you land you’ll be wanting to do it over and over again! Aerial Photography – When is the best time? Now obviously this depends...

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Behind the Lens: Creative Phases + My Current Obsession

Lisa Michele Burns — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 08:30:52 +0000

Creative Photography + Stories Behind the Lens Throughout my career as a photographer I’ve gone through a number of phases that at the time I’ve thought are just the coolest thing ever. There was the lovely vignetting phase back in 2009, the tilt-shift blur of 2011 (that never really looked like tilt-shift blur) and then there was my underwater, split-level phase which started in 2012 and has stuck with me until today. Lately though I’ve been a little crazy about creating fog-like reflections, making the foreground a misty haze that reflects the sky and clouds. It’s not done via editing, it’s all in camera with the help of a handy little reflection surface that I’ve always got with me, my mobile phone. It’s become such a phase that wherever I’m photographing I need to take a shot with this technique before I can settle, otherwise I feel it’s an opportunity missed. After I’ve got my foggy reflection I can continue with the rest of the shoot and capture traditional angles. I know, geek. Since I’ve started creating these reflections I’ve loved how they change the foreground. How they replace what might be a crowd of people or an average street...

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The Sydney Opera House – Australia’s Striking Icon

Lisa Michele Burns — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 00:30:31 +0000

In Photos: The Sydney Opera House Appearing like a ship floating on the harbour, the Sydney Opera House is a photogenic marvel. With structured, shell-like sails forming a skyline that’s unlike anywhere else in the world, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is somewhere I always visit when I’m in Sydney. A fixture of Sydney’s foreshore since it’s completion in 1973, the Opera House is now a national icon that’s recognised globally for its striking design. From quiet coves to aerial vantage points, on the water or wandering the foreshore, the Sydney Opera House is a fascinating subject that happens to look amazing from all angles. You can photograph this beauty from countless locations around Sydney Harbour with no end to the possible perspectives, not to mention how changing light reflects against its exterior. While wandering around the harbour foreshore to compile images for the guide I couldn’t stop staring at the Opera House. There was always a new angle, new foreground subject or gorgeous pastel skies hovering above its pointed peaks to capture. Rather than just share my favourite image on social media, I wanted to post them all here as a visual tribute to this architectural wonder. Let me...

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7 Easy Ways to Improve Your Travel Photography

Lisa Michele Burns — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 06:00:32 +0000

Travel Photography Tips – Improve Your Travel Photography! Travel photography is about so much more than following a step by step guide and visiting popular destinations. It’s about stepping off the beaten path in search of something unique. Even if the location you’re photographing is just down the road from your house, being prepared or at least having an idea of what you want to capture can go a long way in achieving beautiful results. Instagram has told us where the hot spots are and how you should pose when you get there but forget all that noise and dream up where you want to go, how you want to capture it and create your own perspective of somewhere interesting. Knowing the best camera settings is one thing but personally, I find a huge part of photography is how you see the world and having the motivation to get outside and start shooting. Once you’ve got plans to travel somewhere new there are a number of things to do that will improve your travel photography, some are possible before you even arrive. Travel Photography Tips #1 Scout for Locations Before arriving at a destination do some research to scout the...

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How to Overcome Creative Block + Avoid Burnout

Lisa Michele Burns — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 23:20:19 +0000

Are you feeling uninspired and struggling with burnout? Creativity is a wonderful thing. Like taking a break from the real world, it allows you to get caught up in your own vision and thoughts. A form of escapism that can result in works of art, dreamy images and innovative ideas. What happens though when you run into a creative block or start to approach burnout? Those weeks that just blur together in a haze of frustration, lack of motivation and very tall brick walls. If you work in a creative industry I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. I’ve spoken with a lot of photographers and writers who’ve run into creative blocks and most of them feel exactly the same. The urge to create is strong but there’s a constant doubt cloud that hovers over every idea, every image and every word. While there are no doubt a number of factors that contribute to getting a little stuck creatively, I’ve found one major player has for me personally been a big drain on creative thinking. Social media. Scrolling through images on Facebook or Instagram, most taken in landscapes and destinations you dream of being in at that very moment...

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