Exposure & SettingsBeginner3 min read
Aperture and depth of field
The aperture controls light and how much of the scene is sharp at the same time. It is the control that most changes how a photograph feels.
Lessons
Start anywhere, or work through a topic in order.
Topics
- Camera BasicsWhat the parts do, and how to hold, set up and carry a camera.
- Exposure & SettingsShutter speed, aperture, ISO, metering and the modes that combine them.
- CompositionWhere to put things in the frame, and why it changes the photograph.
- LightingReading available light, and shaping it when you need to.
- GenresPortraits, landscape, street and macro, and what each one demands.
- Post-ProcessingA first pass at editing: what to fix, and what to leave alone.
All lessons
Exposure & SettingsBeginner3 min read
The letters on the mode dial
P, A, S and M are not difficulty levels. Each hands you a different control and does the arithmetic on the rest.
CompositionBeginner2 min read
Choosing your viewpoint
Zooming changes how much you keep. Moving changes how everything in the frame relates. Only one of those fixes a background.
GenresIntermediate2 min read
Close-up and macro
Everything gets harder up close: depth of field collapses to millimetres, light disappears, and tiny movements ruin focus.
LightingBeginner2 min read
Daylight through the day
The same sun gives completely different light at dawn, noon and dusk. Knowing the pattern lets you plan rather than hope.
Camera BasicsBeginner3 min read
Files, cards and what to keep
RAW or JPEG, which memory card to buy, and the backup habit that stops one failure from costing you everything.
Camera BasicsBeginner2 min read
Focus, and what it is for
Autofocus is very good at focusing accurately on the wrong thing. Deciding what should be sharp is the part it cannot do for you.
Camera BasicsBeginner2 min read
Holding the camera steady
Most photographs that beginners call out of focus are not. They are blurred by the photographer's own movement, and that has a specific cure.
Exposure & SettingsBeginner3 min read
ISO and noise
ISO buys brightness when there is not enough light, and pays for it with noise. Knowing when that trade is worth it is the skill.
GenresBeginner2 min read
Photographing landscapes
Depth of field, a tripod and the right hour do most of the work. The hard part is finding a foreground worth including.
CompositionBeginner2 min read
Leading the eye
Lines, frames and layers give a viewer a route through a photograph. Used carelessly they lead straight out of it.
Exposure & SettingsIntermediate3 min read
Metering, and why it lies
Your camera's meter assumes every scene averages to mid-grey. Knowing when that assumption fails explains most automatic exposure mistakes.
GenresBeginner2 min read
Photographing people
What changes when the subject is a person: which settings matter, where to focus, and the part that is not technical at all.
LightingBeginner2 min read
Reading the light
Before the settings, the light. How to judge its hardness, direction and range — and why that decides most of the photograph.
Exposure & SettingsBeginner3 min read
Shutter speed
How long the sensor is exposed decides whether movement is frozen or smeared. It is the most visible of the three controls.
GenresIntermediate2 min read
Photographing in the street
Fast settings, a small camera and a way of working that keeps you ready. Plus the part about other people.
LightingBeginner2 min read
The direction of light
Front, side and back light produce three different photographs of the same subject. Choosing between them is mostly about where you stand.
Exposure & SettingsBeginner2 min read
The exposure triangle
Three controls decide how bright a photograph is, and each one changes something else as well. That trade-off is the whole of exposure.
Post-ProcessingBeginner2 min read
The first five adjustments
A short, ordered routine that covers most of what a photograph needs, and stops editing becoming an aimless slider hunt.
Camera BasicsBeginner3 min read
What a camera actually does
A camera collects light for a measured moment and records it. Everything else is a way of controlling how much, and for how long.
Post-ProcessingBeginner2 min read
What editing is for
Editing finishes a photograph rather than rescuing one. What it can reasonably do, and what it cannot do at all.
CompositionBeginner2 min read
What to leave out
Most weak photographs contain too much. Subtraction is the compositional skill that improves pictures fastest.
LightingIntermediate2 min read
When you need more light
Before buying anything, there is a lot you can do with a window, a wall and a piece of card. Then, if you must, flash.
CompositionBeginner2 min read
Where to put the subject
The rule of thirds, centring, and the more useful question underneath both: what does the space around your subject actually do?
Post-ProcessingBeginner2 min read
White balance and colour
Your eyes correct for the colour of light automatically. A camera does not, which is why photographs come out orange or blue.