Worked examplesLesson 7 of 8 · 20 min · 5 reading, 15 doing

The short version

Every quick win in this module fits one simple routine: P mode, the light on your subject, step closer, focus point on the subject, half-press, check brightness. Here it is on five ordinary scenes.

Coffee at a café table

What you see: Your cup and cake, cutlery, a sugar bowl, people at the next table and the street behind. A bright window is behind the cup.
What to decide: What the photo is about, and where the light is.
The decision: Turn the cup, or swap seats, so the window is beside it instead of behind (Lesson 5). Stand up and step closer until the cup fills most of the frame (Lesson 6). Put a single focus point on the near rim (Lesson 3), half-press, and press.

A friend in front of a bright window at home

What you see: On the screen, the view outside looks great and your friend's face is dark and muddy.
What to decide: Whether you can move, or whether the window has to stay in the photo.
The decision: Swap places: your friend faces the window and you stand with your back or side to it. Their face lights up and the camera exposes it properly. If the window view must stay, keep your spot and add +1 to +1⅔ (Lesson 4), accepting a whiter window.

A snowy field or a white beach on a sunny day

What you see: A bright, sparkling scene. On the screen, the snow or sand looks flat and grey.
What to decide: How much brighter to go.
The decision: Add +1 and take the photo. If the snow is still grey, try +1⅓. If the brightest parts lose all texture, come back ⅓. Set ± back to 0 when you turn to something else.

Your black cat in a dim room

What you see: In Auto the cat's fur comes out a washed-out grey, and the camera focuses on the cushion beside it.
What to decide: How to keep the cat black and get the eyes sharp.
The decision: Use P and set −⅔ to −1, so the camera stops lifting the black to grey. Move a single focus point onto the nearest eye; eyes are the one thing with enough contrast to grip. Hold steady, as in Module 2, because the light is low.

One flower in a park garden bed

What you see: Dozens of flowers, a path and a bench. The one you like is small in the middle, and Auto focuses on the leaves in front.
What to decide: How close to go and where to focus.
The decision: Step in until that flower fills most of the frame; step back a little if the focus box won't lock. Put a single point on the centre of the flower. Half-press, hold, wait for the breeze to drop, then press.

What all five have in common

Not one of these needed a new lens, an editing app or a manual setting. Each fix was one or two of the six quick wins, used in the same order:

Mode: P, so your choices stick.
Light: where is it? Move until it falls on your subject.
Closer: fill the frame; do the edge check.
Focus point: on the subject, on an eye if it has one.
Half-press: hold, wait for the moment, press.
Brightness: look at the result; adjust ± if the scene is mostly light or mostly dark.

After a week of practice this takes a few seconds. You'll notice you do steps 2 and 3 before you even raise the camera.

An outdoor café table with a small flower pot in the foreground, the street beyond softly blurred — Close on one table: the street becomes a soft background.

A woman in silhouette in front of a bright window with blinds — The "before" of scene 2: window behind, face dark.

A lone bare tree on a snowy field under a clear blue sky — Snow that stays white needs plus.

A single yellow tulip sharp against a soft blurred background — One flower, close, with the focus on it.

Common mistakes

Doing all six steps for every photo, slowly. Most scenes need only one or two fixes. Look first, then fix what's wrong.
Forgetting to reset ± after the snow or the black cat. The next normal scene comes out too bright or too dark.

Quick checkYou're photographing a white boat on dark water. The boat is small in the frame and comes out glaringly white with no detail. Which two quick wins help most?

Get closer, so the boat fills more of the frame, and turn ± to minus (try −⅔). The dark water was pulling the camera's brightness up, which burned out the white boat.

Tip

Take a "before" photo in full Auto, then an "after" using the routine. Keeping the pairs side by side is the fastest way to see your progress, and they're exactly what the skill challenge asks for.

Try it now · 15 minutes

Choose the scenario closest to something at home right now: a drink on a table, a person by a window, a white or dark object.
Take a "before" photo in full Auto, from wherever you happen to be standing.
Run the six-step routine and take an "after".
Write your own scenario in the three parts: what you see, what to decide, the decision.
Compare the pair. Name the one change that made the biggest difference.

Five everyday scenes, before and after