From controller to camera — this photography sim is the ultimate training tool for your next shoot in the real outdoors

And you don't even need to leave your couch

Features By Alicia Haddick published 3 May 2026

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Often the most difficult part of improving as a photographer has less to do with equipment, and more with finding the time and opportunities to take photos in new places and expand your skills at pressing the shutter. What are the best settings for your camera? How does the aperture and lens focal length impact the bokeh? How should you frame a shot in order to best capture the emotions and beauty of a location, not just what you can see?

Which is why, for all it can’t entirely replace the feeling of using a real camera, Lushfoil Photography Sim does a great job of allowing experts and newcomers alike a chance to relax and hone their photography skills in some of the world’s most beautiful landscapes.

From Italy to Iceland, Australia to Japan, and so many places in between, only you and your virtual camera sit between a chance to explore painstakingly-recreated iconic touristy and visually-stunning locations, devoid of people and with as much time to explore and photograph as you could ever desire. It’s freeing, calming at times of stress, but it’s the benefits this game offers as a learning tool that make it such an appealing proposition.

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Every frame a painting

On the surface, Lushfoil Photography Sim is exactly what it claims to be. There’s a serenity that comes when launching the title for the first time and being thrown immediately into the gorgeous Southern Italian mountainous landscapes of Lago di Braies.

Ironically, a place I personally have admired in photos but had never visited, I could now explore with a camera in hand. The music is minimal-lo-fi, and other than a few basic introductions to the controls and how to use your SLR camera, you’re left to it.

The goal is to experiment. There are some tutorials to teach you the basics of how to focus, how to adjust your flash settings and things like that, but the goal is to simply explore these locations and take photos.

Compared to the gamified photo modes of typical games, Lushfoil replicates the controls of any modern DSLR or mirrorless camera with intense attention to detail. It’s more than just ISO and aperture, or even the ability to switch between zoom, fisheye and prime lenses from 14mm to 100mm. You have exposure compensation tools, filters, an adjustable flash, white balance tools, manual or autofocus, and anything you could need to frame a shot.

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