top of page
Travel Photography
In the Travel Photography Tips section of my blog, I share easy, practical tips to help you take stunning travel photos—no matter your experience level. Whether you're on a quick business trip or on holiday, these simple photography tips are here to inspire you, boost your confidence, and help you tell more compelling visual stories.
With mobile phone photography advice, everything is based on my real travel experiences. My goal is to show you how to take better travel photos.
Friday Image With Words: Never Take a Single Breath for Granted - Simple Photography Tips by Michael Blyth
When life feels hopeless, it is easy to believe that nothing will change. But every day does come to an end, and tomorrow can be a new beginning, especially when you find the strength to turn away from the things that trouble you and towards hope, peace, and a better direction.
Michael Blyth
1 min read
Photographing Bluebells: Depth of Field and Background Choice – Simple Photography Tips by Michael Blyth.
I have always struggled photographing bluebells, as I know have many other professional photographers, and my current post mountaineering accident following last years new hip status has meant that for two years running this man has not been able to get down low to do them something of the justice they deserve.
Michael Blyth
3 min read
Choosing the point of Focus – Simple Photography Tips by Michael Blyth.
A few days ago I took a number of photographs of the same small clump of flowers, initially from the same angle, to share with you the effect of choosing the point of focus by selecting a different flower to focus on, and how that alters both the whole image and our mental response to it.
Michael Blyth
2 min read
Friday Image With Words: Then There was Friday - Simple Photography Tips by Michael Blyth
If it's been a good week, great, pleased for you. Have you taken any of your time to drop some encouragement on the lap of those around you who may not be in such a good place?
It doesn't take very long, or too much, to change someone's day, and each day changed can lead to a life changed.
Michael Blyth
2 min read
The Secret Life of Photographs: Why Some Images Refuse to Be Taken - Why Some Photographs Deserve to Be Burned
There are times when I have become convinced that certain photographs simply do not wish to be taken.
Michael Blyth
3 min read
Learn To Look Until You see - From Photography Tips by Michael Blyth
Let your eyes search the still dark areas to the left middle, the writhing water of the foreground slipping into the fast moving runnel that carries your eye back towards the sun. Within a short while the mist will be gone, and you will see other things - but for now, love the moment
Michael Blyth
2 min read
Beauty Beyond Brokenness - From Photography Tips by Michael Blyth
I noticed this piece of broken glass on the beach yesterday morning and was taken with the whole idea that despite being essentially broken and of no value for it's original purpose, it had been smoothed by it's path backwards and forwards across the beach over many tides; and in doing so had developed a beauty of it's own for those who looked and saw, and appreciated the way the light changed it.
Michael Blyth
1 min read
Looking Down: Photographing Straight Down – Simple Photography Tips by Michael Blyth
Seek to remove the horizon - it does things to the brain when you do. You Start to look for shape, and balance.
Rowers and kayakers stop being athletes for a moment. They become lines, spacing and rhythm across the water.
Michael Blyth
4 min read
What Phase Two - 'The Action Group' - Looks Like in Practice. Photography Observation Exercises
Notice details of trees, moss on logs, or rocks, the way a wave surges back leaving a mist in the air. The light that shines through a hole in the cloud in the distance.
Instead of concentrating only on the subject, notice the space between you and it.
Notice how distance changes things.
Contrast softens.
Colours fade.
Shapes simplify - either blending, or becoming more defined.
Michael Blyth
3 min read
Photographing Buildings at Dusk: When Artificial Light Brings Architecture to Life - Simple Photography Tips by Michael Blyth
The light changes minute by minute during dusk. A sky that feels dull can become rich blue ten minutes later. Artificial lighting strengthens as the winter evening progresses.
Stand still, watch the light change, and let the scene reveal itself before taking the photograph.
Michael Blyth
5 min read
Friday Photo Inspiration With Words By Michael Blyth - It's Mostly About The Journey
The knots in our minds are often the hardest to unravel, so very true sometimes. Anything come to mind? It takes time and sometimes there seems no route, but there probably is.
Michael Blyth
1 min read
Simple Photography Tips by Michael Blyth: Why Distant Hills Turn Blue – Visual Recession in Photography
We were high in the Pyrenees, having risen early to avoid the heat as we climbed towards the col, leaving Spain behind us. In the distance stood Vignemale, the highest peak in the French Pyrenees at 3,298 metres. I found myself transfixed. Ridge after ridge dissolved gently into blue. It is an effect I have always loved.
Michael Blyth
4 min read
Friday Photo Inspiration By Michael Blyth “Beauty Perceived" Presents "Learning To See"
An old door, photographed in France, in desperate need of a rub-down and a coat of paint. But also a thing of beauty, a work of art resulting from the effects of time and weather.
Michael Blyth
2 min read
Friday Photo Inspiration. Simple Photography Tips By Michael Blyth “Fulfilment comes from the journey”
a quiet moment to end the week with A reminder; "Fulfilment comes from the journey, especially if it's a tough one.".
Michael Blyth
1 min read
Friday Photo Inspiration. Simple Photography Tips By Michael Blyth “All We Have Is Today - The Present”
Most of us were taught we have five senses. In reality, we also have senses that help us read our body, movement, and internal state. Sunrise and sunset are perfect moments to practise them, because the world slows down enough for you to feel what is usually drowned out.
Michael Blyth
1 min read
How to Photograph Snowdrops: Simple Photography Tips by Michael Blyth
This video, with a very dour voice to start (sorry) is to inspire you to get in there and see the close-up beauty of Galanthus nivalis, and maybe take some photographs.
Michael Blyth
1 min read
Friday Photo Inspiration. Simple Photography Tips By Michael Blyth “Don't Let The Bad Days Shade The Good .”
Has something happened this week that's left a deep darkness, or hurt. Search as hard as your soul will let you, for something good that happened. If you can't think of anything, than pick up your mobile, or even better a pen and paper, and write a kind note to someone else who's struggling. It will change you, as well as them.
Michael Blyth
2 min read
Welcome To The Centenary Blog Post Number 100 of Simple Photography Tips By Michael Blyth - Dealing with The Perils of Morning Sunshine
Image One is the result of having the lens with nothing to stop the light bouncing around inside the lens, causing the same flare we've talked about before. But this particular morning there was something at stake - pretty cottages, a frosty field and a country scene.
Michael Blyth
4 min read
Simple Photography Tips by Michael Blyth - Subscriber-only membership offer
I’m creating a small photography membership; not a course, and not a busy online group; but a calm, supportive space for people who want to slow down, notice more, and grow in confidence with their photography.
It values care over speed, encouragement over competition, and attention over noise.
It’s built on the belief that learning to see takes time, and that the right environment makes all the difference.
Michael Blyth
2 min read
Simple Photography Tips - Icy Day Photo-Art
realised that the way the autumn leaves had landed in the bowl had combined with the structures that the freezing process had produced, to create some great opportunities for art images.
Rather than looking for subjects, it's an opportunity to seek textures as well.
Tiny bubbles frozen in the water add depth and a sense of time held still. Look for clusters, trails, and size changes.
Cracks are like faults in a precious stone, they can reflect light at a different
Michael Blyth
4 min read
bottom of page