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

Setting the Scene: Depth of Field + the Foreground

Lisa Michele Burns — Wed, 26 May 2021 07:48:19 +0000

Photography Tips – Depth of Field + the Foreground Composition is one of the most important elements of photography. The way you see a scene is translated by your creative approach to framing a subject and there are a multitude of ways to produce something unique to your own vision, one of the best is using depth of field. What is Depth of Field? In short, it relates to the area of sharpness within your image, specifically the distance between the closest and furthest subjects in a photo that appears sharp and in focus. Aperture (f-stop), your focal length and the distance from your subject working together to create the depth of field. You can have a shallow or deep depth of field, which work almost the same way as aperture does, a shallow depth of field results in more background or foreground blur, separating your subject from the surroundings, whereas a deeper depth of field will see your entire image in focus and sharp. Playing with foreground elements is a fun way to learn about depth of field and change up your images by introducing various tones, shapes and patterns into your shot. It also helps you expand your...

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Setting the Scene: Underwater Photography

Lisa Michele Burns — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 00:00:22 +0000

Getting Started with Underwater Photography Taking your photography below the surface opens up so many creative opportunities. Water is my favourite element to work with and once you’ve got the gear and some technical skills, it’s a canvas that’s hard to ignore. Whether you’re in the ocean, a lake or pool, underwater photography is such a fun way to capture your surroundings both above and below the surface. You can shoot underwater portraits, split-level landscape shots or capture the beauty of the underwater world and marine life. For this month’s Setting the Scene I’m sharing a few quick tips on underwater photography; how to plan, prepare your gear and some settings to get started. Underwater Photography: Planning the time + location Depending on what you’re hoping to photograph, planning is a big part of capturing beautiful underwater images. Not only is location important but the tides, currents, weather conditions and your own ability to swim for an extended period of time need to be taken into account. If you’re shooting underwater, water clarity is one of the main issues you’ll face and researching when the best time for clarity is can help in your images being clearer and more colourful....

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How to Sell Photos Online

Lisa Michele Burns — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 04:19:57 +0000

Sell Photos Online – Your Quick Guide to Making Money from your Photography Online Selling photos online is a great way to make additional income as a photographer. How do you sell photos online and where do you get started? Better still, can you make money from selling your photos? These are the golden questions I’ll be answering below! With photographs and visual content being in such high demand as the online world and social media platforms require a constant feed of new imagery, the potential to create a side income or even full-time income from selling your photos online is more than possible. After running my photography business for the past 16 years, I’ve dabbled in a number of methods to try and make money from my photos, some worked and some definitely didn’t. It’s all about finding a place for your work; things like stock photography won’t be for everyone, instead building an online store could be a better fit. Getting Started – Of course there needs to be a balance between still enjoying photography as a creative practice; this guide isn’t meant to push you towards selling your soul, your photos and solely focusing on making money!...

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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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Creating Pastel Photos with Photoshop and Lightroom

Lisa Michele Burns — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 07:53:31 +0000

Pastel Editing Tips for Your Photos When editing an image, I don’t like to push things too far. I’m sure a few people just did a little laugh snort because I do use a lot of colour in my images but I always edit, then look back at the original and ensure they’re not too far apart in natural tone. The look of soft pastels instead of harsh hues is what I aim for. You want your final result to believable and beautiful, not a saturated assault on the senses. Learning to control the colours within your image, how the colour palette works together and how to integrate gentle adjustments throughout the image is what creates the magic. To create pastel tones, the effect will not only depend on how you edit but also how you captured your image originally. If you know you’ll be wanting to produce pastel colours, always capture your image a little brighter than normal by overexposing slightly but ensuring you’re not losing detail within the highlights. Having lighter tones to work with from the start will help you massively and avoid the need to remove harsh shadows and dark spots. *If your original image is...

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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 Improve your Photography While in Isolation

Lisa Michele Burns — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 10:19:28 +0000

Learn and Improve Your Photography at Home! One common misconception in photography is that you need to be somewhere to get a good photo. Somewhere outside, somewhere with stunning landscapes and somewhere far from home. Sure, visiting amazing destinations help to easily create some visual magic but when it comes down to it, having a great ‘eye’ for photography is just as important as your subject matter. You’ve got all you need to improve your photography right in your own home and I guess now is as good a time as any to get cracking and take advantage of the chance to get creative within your own four walls! Isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic is the ideal time to improve your photography by simply being a critic of your own work and taking the time to improve your photography by learning creative techniques or developing ideas and photo shoot concepts. You can get started by something as small as reviewing old images, opening up Photoshop and clicking on random tools to see how they work or take it a step further and develop mini photo shoot concepts on your kitchen bench. I’ve been using this time to edit new projects...

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The 6 Best Social Platforms for Photographers

Lisa Michele Burns — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 00:19:13 +0000

Social Media for Photographers – Improve your Social Media Photography With the world relying on social media now more than ever, there are so many opportunities for photographers to have their work seen. Originally this article listed only the 6 best social media platforms however I’ve been updating and shuffling them around regularly so now it’s grown to 8 social media platforms for photographers. Marketing your own work has become a crucial element to success and ensuring your creative work is visible within the online community is one of the best ways to gain attention. Rather than posting every photo you’ve ever taken, putting together a collection of your best work and sharing it with the world online is a modern way of curating your own gallery and hosting an exhibition of sorts. Only it’s free and everyone can attend. Hooray! Social media photography has opened the door to a world of opportunity and for photographers, the visual realm of the online world is ideal for showcasing your images and you have complete control over what you publish. The obvious starting points of Facebook and Instagram are one thing but you’ll also find a handful of apps and sites that...

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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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Photographing on Safari – A Bucket List Adventure in Africa

Lisa Michele Burns — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 09:36:36 +0000

A whirlwind adventure where the wild things roam… The grassland opens up as your safari vehicle cruises through the African savannah. Suddenly a shape forms in the distance and you see it. Its regal presence and majestic mane, you’re about to be one of the lucky ones granted a glimpse into the wild world of the king. The African Lion… Expectations are something that easily soar above mountain peaks and lead us to dreaming up what we hope an experience will become. Sometimes they’re met, other times they’re shattered but when it comes to a safari experience in South Africa, boy are they exceeded in the most magnificent of ways. As a photographer, a safari is the pinnacle of adventure. The unknown creates a heightened level of suspense, camera at the ready and eyes gazing in all directions. It’s anyone’s guess as to what you’ll be photographing next. Within seconds of landing on a dirt airstrip in the Madikwe Game Reserve, north-west of Johannesburg, I saw my first zebra standing beneath an umbrella thorn tree. I’d expected to maybe see an elephant during the trip but the secret was immediately out, an African safari really IS a true bucket list...

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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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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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