Taking time to study and reflect on composition is a way to deepen your visual understanding and train your eye. If you do this regularly, it won’t just improve your ability to see photography more clearly—it will empower you to make stronger, more intentional compositional choices when you’re behind the camera. This is one of the most effective ways to grow as a photographer.

“The clean shot,” in my view, is the very foundation of photographic composition. Novice photographers often rush to advanced techniques, hoping for quick improvements—yet they overlook something far simpler, but still very effective: visual clarity.

If you’ve ever taken part in a photography challenge—say, "a photo a day" or "shoot only in black and white for a week"—you know how fun and energizing they can be. Challenges are great for sparking creativity and pushing you to try new things. But when it comes to truly learning and growing as a photographer, challenges often fall short. That’s where exercises come in. While both challenges and exercises have their place in the learning process, understanding the difference between the two—and how each supports your development—can make a big impact on your progress behind the lens.

This kind of exercise is intended as the final preparation for the practical exercises. By analyzing the photograph, you are tasked with identifying the key elements and recommending the camera settings required to capture it. While in the field, you can practice shooting similar photographs with various adjustments, which will broaden your knowledge and skills. Furthermore, this section aims to demonstrate how to learn from the work of other photographers.

Sharpness is one of the fundamental standards in photography, and focus settings play a critical role in achieving it. Any errors in focus can prove costly or even fatal. Therefore, it is essential to have a sound knowledge of the focus settings available on your camera and use them competently to produce sharp and clear images.

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive in my photography courses is: “When should I use a flash?” The students usually anticipate a long list of rules about when to use flash and when not to, but the answer can be summarized with a single criterion: What is the quality of light in which my subject is located?

Sharpness is one of the fundamental standards in photography, and focus settings play a critical role in achieving it. Any errors in focus can prove costly or even fatal. Therefore, it is essential to have a sound knowledge of the focus settings available on your camera and use them competently to produce sharp and clear images.

Achieving optimal sharpness in photography is not solely a matter of focus. While proper focus is undoubtedly vital, other factors such as camera stabilization, aperture settings, and shutter speed also play an important role in obtaining sharp photographs. Ignoring any of these factors can lead to blurry or soft images, even if the focus is precise. Therefore, it’s essential to consider all these elements to ensure your images are crisp and clear.

This kind of exercise is intended as the final preparation for the practical exercises. By analyzing the photograph, you are tasked with identifying the key elements and recommending the camera settings required to capture it. While in the field, you can practice shooting similar photographs with various adjustments, which will broaden your knowledge and skills. Furthermore, this section aims to demonstrate how to learn from the work of other photographers.

Everything you need to know about the exposure mode Aperture Priority and the aperture. With this knowledge, you will be able to make the right choices with these settings every time again in any situation.

In the following two posts, I will cover everything you need to know about the exposure mode Aperture Priority and the aperture. With this knowledge, you will be able to make the right choices with these settings every time again in any situation.

The setting “exposure modes” allows you to determine how a photograph will be exposed, or more accurately, which decisions in the exposure process you are enabled to make and which ones the camera handles automatically. This setting is also known as “shooting modes”.