Your mission: Take three photos of the same person in the same spot and make each one feel different — only by moving the light (or moving them).
- Sit your subject on a chair about one big step away from the window. Turn off the room lights.
- Shot 1 — FRONT LIGHT: stand with your back to the window so the light hits their face straight on. Take the photo.
- Shot 2 — SIDE LIGHT: have them turn so the window is on their left or right. Half the face goes bright, half goes shadowy. Take the photo.
- Now hold the white paper on the dark side, close but out of frame. Watch the shadow get softer. Take that photo too — that's your FILL light.
- Shot 3 — BACK LIGHT: have them turn so the window is behind them. Tap your screen on their face so the camera brightens it. Take the photo.
- Line up all three photos side by side and pick your favorite. Write one sentence about why it wins.
- • A phone or camera
- • A window with daylight
- • A willing subject — a person, a pet, or any object
- • A white paper plate or sheet of paper
⭐ Pro tip: If the back-light photo looks too dark, tap the face on your screen and slide the little sun icon up.
Review the Lighting lesson →🎬Camera Angles · about 25 min
Your mission: Tell one tiny story — like someone opening a snack — using exactly three shots: a wide, a medium, and a close-up.
- Pick ONE small action that takes about 5 seconds. Small is better. Boring is fine.
- Shot 1 — WIDE: stand far enough back that you can see the whole person and the room. This tells us WHERE we are. Film the action once.
- Shot 2 — MEDIUM: move in so you see them from the waist up. Film the SAME action again, all the way through.
- Shot 3 — CLOSE-UP: get really close to the hands or the object. Film the same action one more time.
- Try one shot from a low angle (camera near the floor, looking up) to see how much more powerful it feels.
- Put the three clips in order — wide, medium, close — in any free editing app. Trim the boring start and end of each.
- Watch it back with the sound off. Can a stranger tell what happened? If yes, you nailed it.
- • A phone or camera
- • One simple action (pouring coffee, unlocking a door, opening a book)
- • Someone to act it out (or do it yourself)
⭐ Pro tip: Never move the camera and the actor at the same time on your first try. Pick one thing to move.
Review the Camera Angles lesson →🎨Editing Photos · about 20 min
Your mission: Edit ONE photo two different ways — one warm and happy, one cool and mysterious — so you can feel how editing changes a story.
- Pick a photo with a person or object clearly in it. Make two copies so you never lose the original.
- On both copies: crop first. Straighten the horizon and cut out junk near the edges.
- Fix brightness (exposure) so you can see faces without the bright parts turning to white mush.
- Copy A — WARM & HAPPY: push warmth up a little, bump saturation up a little, keep shadows soft.
- Copy B — COOL & MYSTERIOUS: pull warmth down toward blue, lower saturation, and add contrast to deepen the shadows.
- Add a tiny bit of sharpening at the very end — then stop. Too much looks crunchy.
- Show both to someone and ask which feels friendlier. Their answer proves editing tells a story.
- • One photo you like
- • A free editing app (Photos, Snapseed, or Lightroom Mobile)
⭐ Pro tip: Edit in this order every time: crop → brightness → contrast → color → sharpen. Order matters.
Review the Editing Photos lesson →✂️Editing Video · about 40 min
Your mission: Shoot and edit a 30-second video that teaches one thing you already know how to do.
- Pick a skill you can explain in 30 seconds: paper airplane, shoelace bunny ears, best sandwich.
- Write 4 lines on paper: hook ("Here's how to..."), step 1, step 2, the finished result.
- Film your main clips (called A-roll). Then film 3 or 4 extra close-ups of hands and objects — that's your B-roll.
- Make one folder and put every clip in it before you open the editor. Organized first, always.
- Build a rough cut: drop clips in order, don't fix anything yet. Just get the story on the timeline.
- Now trim the fat: cut the 'ums', the walking, and the waiting. Cut on motion or on a sound so edits feel invisible.
- Drop B-roll over any spot that looks boring or where you made a mistake. B-roll saves everything.
- Add quiet background music, then turn it DOWN until your voice is clearly the loudest thing.
- Export and watch it once with headphones. Fix one thing. Export again. Done.
- • A phone
- • A free editor (CapCut, iMovie, or Clipchamp)
- • Headphones for checking sound
⭐ Pro tip: If an edit feels bumpy, cut half a second earlier. Almost every bumpy cut is a late cut.
Review the Editing Video lesson →🎚️Take Manual Control · about 30 min
Your mission: Prove to yourself how aperture, shutter, and ISO trade off, by shooting the same scene five ways with matching brightness.
- Put the camera in manual mode and set a correct exposure on a still subject. Write the three numbers down.
- Open the aperture two stops (e.g. f/8 to f/4) and shorten the shutter two stops to match. Shoot it.
- Close the aperture two stops and lengthen the shutter two stops to match. Shoot it.
- Compare the two: same brightness, different background blur. That's aperture doing its job.
- Now shoot the moving subject at 1/30, then at 1/500, raising ISO to keep brightness. Compare motion blur versus grain.
- Write one sentence on which trade-off you'd choose in a dim room.
- • A camera or a phone app with manual mode
- • A still subject and one moving subject
- • Something to brace the camera on
⭐ Pro tip: If a photo comes out brighter or darker, you moved one control without compensating with another.
Review the Take Manual Control lesson →📖Visual Storytelling · about 40 min
Your mission: Tell a complete small story — someone finishing a task — using exactly six shots and no dialogue.
- Write one sentence: who wants what, and what's in the way.
- Plan six shots: establishing wide, subject's face, what they see, hands working, an obstacle detail, and the result.
- Film each shot for at least 6 seconds and hold it steady before and after any movement.
- Cross the 180-degree line on purpose once, then reshoot it correctly, and compare how confusing the wrong one feels.
- Edit in order with no titles and no dialogue.
- Show it to someone and ask them to describe the story. If they can, it worked.
- • A phone or camera
- • One person doing one real task
- • A free editing app
⭐ Pro tip: The 'what they see' shot is what makes an audience feel like they're inside the scene.
Review the Visual Storytelling lesson →🎨Color & Sound Like a Crew · about 45 min
Your mission: Take one rough 60-second clip and finish it properly: matched color, clean dialogue, music, and levels.
- Watch the cut once and note every shot whose color doesn't match its neighbors.
- Fix white balance and exposure shot by shot first, before any stylistic look.
- Apply one gentle look across the whole timeline, then dial it back by half.
- Clean the dialogue: remove hums, even out volume, and aim for peaks near -6 dB.
- Add music under the dialogue and duck it whenever someone speaks.
- Export and listen on phone speakers, then on headphones, and fix whatever sounds wrong.
- • A 60-second edited clip
- • Any editor with color and audio tools
- • Headphones
- • A licensed music track
⭐ Pro tip: Grade for consistency before style. Matching shots is 80% of a professional look.
Review the Color & Sound Like a Crew lesson →📋Running a Real Shoot · about 60 min
Your mission: Plan and execute a small shoot the way a crew does: shot list, call sheet, backups, and a wrap.
- Write the goal of the shoot in one sentence and list your must-have shots.
- Build a call sheet: location, times, contacts, gear list, and weather.
- Scout the space (or a photo of it) and note where the light comes from at your shoot time.
- Shoot the must-haves first, then the nice-to-haves. Check focus and audio after the first take of each setup.
- Back up both cards to two places before you leave the location.
- Wrap: pack all gear, thank everyone, and note three things to do differently next time.
- • A one-page document
- • Two memory cards
- • Any subject or short scene
- • One helper if possible
⭐ Pro tip: The shoot that finishes early is the one that was planned on paper.
Review the Running a Real Shoot lesson →🔎Cameras & Lenses · about 45 min
Your mission: Learn what a focal length really does by shooting only one for a week.
- Pick one focal length: 35mm or 50mm equivalent is ideal.
- Shoot 10 photos a day for five days: people, spaces, details, and one at night.
- Do not crop and do not switch lenses. If you need a different frame, move your feet.
- On day three, shoot the same subject from three distances and note how the background changes.
- At the end, pick your best five and note what this focal length is good and bad at.
- Then repeat the same subject with a much wider and much longer lens to see the difference.
- • Any camera or a phone locked to one lens
- • A notebook or notes app
⭐ Pro tip: Moving closer changes the background more than zooming does — that's the whole lesson.
Review the Cameras & Lenses lesson →📱Get the Most From a Phone · about 30 min
Your mission: Get five genuinely good photos and one clean 30-second video with only a phone.
- Clean the lens, turn on the grid, and set the highest quality format available.
- Shoot a portrait using the 2x or 3x lens, tapping the face and locking exposure.
- Shoot a backlit photo where the subject is still properly bright.
- Shoot a low-angle photo and a detail close-up of the same subject.
- Shoot a night photo braced against something solid, no flash.
- Record a 30-second piece to camera with the mic close, then watch it back with headphones.
- • A phone
- • A cloth to clean the lens
- • Anything to brace on
- • Earbuds or a clip-on mic if you have one
⭐ Pro tip: Locking exposure is what stops phone footage from pulsing brighter and darker as you move.
Review the Get the Most From a Phone lesson →🗂️Shooting Different Subjects · about 60 min
Your mission: Shoot four different subjects in one afternoon, each with its own settings plan.
- Portrait: long lens, side light, focus on the near eye, and give three pieces of direction.
- Landscape or building: f/8 or narrower, braced camera, straight verticals, something in the foreground.
- Street or candid: prefocus, shutter above 1/250, be respectful and stop if asked.
- Action: shutter 1/1000, continuous autofocus, burst mode, leading room in the frame.
- Food or product: one big soft light plus a reflector, shot from above or plate level.
- Pick your best from each and write the settings you'd change next time.
- • A camera or phone
- • A willing person
- • A public space
- • A meal or object
⭐ Pro tip: Every genre is just the same fundamentals with a different priority — decide the priority first.
Review the Shooting Different Subjects lesson →🌃Night, Low Light & Long Exposure · about 45 min
Your mission: Shoot a set of night photos that are clean, sharp, and full of mood.
- Go out 30 minutes after sunset while the sky still holds colour.
- Brace the camera and use a 2-second timer for every shot.
- Expose so the brightest signs still hold detail, even if the shot looks dark on screen.
- Take one long exposure of moving traffic to make light trails.
- Take one handheld night-mode shot and one braced long exposure of the same scene, then compare.
- Edit by lifting shadows before touching the highlights, and denoise only as much as needed.
- • A camera or phone with night mode
- • A tripod, bag, or wall to brace on
- • Warm clothes and a safe route
⭐ Pro tip: If a night photo looks right on the back of the camera, it's usually a stop too bright.
Review the Night, Low Light & Long Exposure lesson →🎥Camera Movement & Recording Sound · about 45 min
Your mission: Shoot a 45-second interview clip with deliberate camera movement and broadcast-clean sound.
- Set 24 or 30fps and a shutter around double the frame rate. Keep them fixed all day.
- Get the mic within a foot of the speaker and set levels so peaks land near -9 dB.
- Record with headphones on and listen for rustle, hum, and clipping before the real take.
- Film the interview on a locked-off tripod shot, then a second angle slightly tighter.
- Add two moving b-roll shots: one slow push-in, one gentle slide, each starting and ending held.
- Record 30 seconds of room tone, then edit using J- and L-cuts so audio leads the picture.
- • A camera or phone
- • Any mic you have, even earbuds
- • Something to stabilise with
- • Headphones
⭐ Pro tip: Audiences forgive shaky pictures far more than bad sound. Fix the mic first.
Review the Camera Movement & Recording Sound lesson →🗄️Files, Workflow & Delivery · about 40 min
Your mission: Set up a repeatable ingest-to-archive workflow and deliver one project in three formats.
- Create a folder named YYYY-MM-DD_ProjectName with subfolders for footage, audio, stills, and exports.
- Copy the files in, rename them meaningfully, and star or keyword your selects during ingest.
- If playback stutters, generate proxies and edit with those.
- Save three export presets: 4K web, 1080p web, and vertical 1080x1920 for social.
- Export all three, then check each on a phone as well as a laptop.
- Archive the project plus one high-bitrate master to two locations, one of them off-site.
- • A computer
- • One past shoot's files
- • Two drives or a drive plus cloud storage
⭐ Pro tip: A workflow only counts if you can find a specific clip from two years ago in ten seconds.
Review the Files, Workflow & Delivery lesson →💼Clients, Pricing & Rights · about 40 min
Your mission: Build the two documents that turn a hobby into paid work.
- List every cost of a typical job: hours, travel, gear wear, licences, and help.
- Build three packages with clear scope, deliverables, deadlines, and prices.
- Write a one-page agreement covering payment terms, revision limits, cancellation, and usage rights.
- Draft a short model release and a property release you can reuse.
- Cut your portfolio to ten to fifteen pieces that match the work you want more of.
- Write a three-sentence pitch email with three relevant samples and one clear next step.
- • A word processor
- • Your real costs and hours
- • Ten to fifteen of your best pieces
⭐ Pro tip: Quote a number with a defined scope. Vague quotes are how jobs turn into unpaid overtime.
Review the Clients, Pricing & Rights lesson →Tip: in the print window choose “Save as PDF” to keep a card on your phone.