SCHOOL · LEARN THE CAMERA
School
Short lessons with a drawing and one thing to try today. Start with exposure, then light, then which camera fits which job.
22 TRACKS · 142 READY
142 lessons
Exposure
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Guides
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Video and practice
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Film
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Digital
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Library
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Light
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Which camera for what
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Composition
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The rule of thirds and its limits
A useful grid, not a law.
Leading lines
Paths that take the eye somewhere.
Framing
A frame inside the frame.
Negative space
Empty room that makes the subject speak.
Symmetry and balance
Mirror halves, and when to break them.
Colour theory for photographers
Wheels, opposites and harmony in a frame.
Golden hour and blue hour
The two softest lights of the day.
Perspective and lens choice
Distance shapes the picture, not the lens.
Genres in practice
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Portrait
A person, their light, their moment.
Street
Chance moments in public places.
Landscape
Land, water, sky and patience.
Night and astro
Long exposures, dark skies, steady tripods.
Macro
Small worlds at life size and beyond.
Sports and action
Fast shutters, long lenses, good spots.
Wildlife
Patience, field craft and long lenses.
Architecture
Straight lines, deep focus, patient light.
Real estate and interiors
Rooms that look as they feel.
Product
Clean light for things that sell.
Food
Styling, light and the angle of eating.
Wedding and events
One chance, many people, long days.
Documentary and photojournalism
Telling true stories with pictures.
Fashion
Clothes, models and a point of view.
Children and pets
Get low, be quick, follow them.
Concert and low light
Fast glass, high ISO, three songs.
Underwater basics
Colour loss, housings, and getting close.
Technique
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Focus modes and back-button focus
Single, continuous, and the thumb trick.
Depth of field and hyperfocal distance
How much is sharp, and where to focus.
Long exposure and ND filters
Smooth water, streaking clouds, empty streets.
Panoramas
Wide views from several frames.
Focus stacking
Many thin slices, one deep image.
HDR and bracketing
Several exposures for one wide range.
Motion blur and panning
Showing speed by letting things smear.
Metering modes
How the camera decides what is right.
Shooting in bad weather
Rain, snow and fog: keep gear dry.
Light in depth
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Cameras and processes
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After the shot
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The working photographer
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History and criticism
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Reading a photograph
How to look, and how to critique.
History I: 1826 to 1900
From a pewter plate to a box camera.
History II: 1900 to 1950
Art debates, small cameras, and the documentary.
History III: 1950 to 2000
Moments, museums, colour, and the first pixels.
History IV: the digital era
From film's decline to phones everywhere.
Video basics
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Frame rates: 24, 25 and 30
Why three numbers rule moving pictures.
The 180-degree shutter in depth
Motion blur, measured in degrees.
Resolution and aspect ratios
Pixel counts and the shape of frame.
Codecs and bitrates
H.264, H.265, ProRes and RAW, compared.
Log profiles and LUTs
Flat on purpose, then shaped later.
Zebras, false colour and waveform
Reading exposure without trusting the screen.
White balance for video
Set it once; video forgives less.
Sensor readout and rolling shutter
Why fast pans bend straight lines.
Slow motion
Shoot fast, play normal speed.
Timelapse and hyperlapse
Hours of time in seconds of screen.
Variable ND for video
Keep the shutter, keep the aperture.
Colour spaces: Rec.709, Rec.2020, ACES
Which colours a signal can carry.
HDR video
More light range, not more pixels.
Cinematography
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Shot sizes
From wide to extreme close-up.
Camera angles
Height and tilt change power on screen.
Camera movement
Pan, tilt, dolly, crane, handheld, gimbal.
Anamorphic or spherical lenses
Squeezed wide frames versus clean round optics.
Three-point lighting in depth
Key, fill and back, placed with purpose.
High key and low key
Bright and even, or deep and shadowed.
Motivated light and practicals
Light that seems to belong to the room.
Mixing colour temperatures
Warm lamps, cool windows, one frame.
Blocking actors and camera
Who stands where, and when.
Day for night
Shooting night scenes in sunlight.
Shooting for green screen
Light the screen, then the person.
Lighting interviews on a budget
A window, a reflector, one lamp.
Production
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Pre-production and the shot list
The shoot is won before it starts.
Storyboards
Drawing the film before shooting it.
Continuity on set
Making shots from different days match.
Who does what on a film set
The departments, from director to dolly grip.
Recording clean dialogue on set
Boom, lavalier, room tone.
Data wrangling and backup on set
Never format a card that is not copied.
The job of the DIT
Between the camera and the edit.
Audio sync and timecode
The clap, the code and the frame.
Multi-camera shoots
Several angles in one take.
Editing and finishing
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Cutting rhythm and the J and L cut
Where to cut, and when sound leads.
Continuity editing and the 180-degree line
Keeping space readable across cuts.
Proxies and the editing workflow
Edit light files, finish on the originals.
Colour correction versus grading
First make it right, then make it yours.
Sound design and mixing basics
Dialogue, effects, music, then the mix.
Delivery: web, broadcast and DCP
The right file for each screen.
Subtitles and captions
Text that carries sound to every viewer.
Formats
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Shooting documentary
Real people, real time, ready camera.
Shooting interviews
Eyeline, framing and the questions.
Music videos
Images built around a finished song.
Vertical video for phones
Framing for a screen held upright.
Live streaming setups
Camera to encoder to platform, live.
Drone filming rules
Aerial shots, and the law first.
Cinema history
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Aspect ratios through film history
From 1.33 to scope and back.
Film stocks for cinema
Gauges, negative and the last makers.
Cinema technology 1: the first moving pictures
From peepshow to projected screen.
Cinema technology 2: sound arrives
The talkies change everything, 1900 to 1930.
Cinema technology 3: colour and widescreen
Kinemacolor to CinemaScope, 1906 to 1970.
Cinema technology 4: the digital turn
From the first sensors to the DCP.