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Module 3 · Quick Wins in Auto

Ten better photos on your street

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PracticeLesson 8 of 8 · 20 min · mostly doing
The short version

Walk out of your front door with your camera in P. Take ten photos, each using one quick win from this module. Stay within a few minutes' walk.

You don't need anywhere special. Ordinary streets are full of subjects once you start looking: doors, letterboxes, bikes, plants, signs, shadows. Set P, ± at 0, single focus point in the centre, then work through the list. Tick each one off as you go.

  1. A front door or gate, straight on, in P. Use the grid to keep the edges upright. (Lesson 1)
  2. Something small on a wall or fence: half-press, hold, check the focus signal, press. (Lesson 2)
  3. A plant, letterbox or sign off to one side of the frame, with the focus point moved onto it. (Lesson 3)
  4. Something white: a painted wall, a white car, a pale doorstep. Use plus until it looks white. (Lesson 4)
  5. Something dark: a black car, a dark doorway, a shadowy hedge. Use minus until it looks dark. (Lesson 4)
  6. A tree, wall or bin lit from the side, so it has shape and texture. (Lesson 5)
  7. The same kind of subject against the light, as a silhouette on purpose, with −1. (Lesson 5)
  8. A detail that fills the frame: a house number, peeling paint, a rusty hinge. (Lesson 6)
  9. A before and after pair: one subject from across the street, then from as close as you can focus. (Lesson 6)
  10. Your favourite: one photo where you used three or more quick wins at once.
A bicycle leaning against a black railing on a sunny pavement, the street running back
A bike against a railing: a good subject for the before and after pair.
Two blue wheelie bins in front of a graffiti-covered brick wall in a laneway
Bins and graffiti. Ordinary things make good practice.
A row of outdoor café tables down a street with brick buildings and a lamp post
A café street. Find one table, step close, and you have photo 8.

When you get home

Copy the ten photos to a computer or look at them full screen. For each one, zoom in to check the spot under the focus point is sharp. Look at photos 4 and 5: does the white look white and the dark look dark? Then pick your best three.

Where people get stuck

  • Feeling self-conscious. Go early in the morning or at a quiet time. Photographing a door is unremarkable; nobody minds.
  • "There's nothing to photograph." Stand still for one minute and list ten things you can see. Photograph three of them.
  • Forgetting ± after photo 4 or 5. Check the scale on the screen before every new subject.
  • Phone users. Do the whole list. Tap for the focus point, slide the sun icon or brightness slider for ±.

Watch out for

  • Rushing through the list in five minutes. Slow down; two or three tries at each one is normal.
  • Photographing people's homes too closely. Doors and gates are fine from the footpath; don't point into windows.

Self-check

  • All ten photos taken in P (or the phone's Photo mode).
  • The focus point landed on the subject in at least eight of them.
  • I used ± at least twice, and reset it to 0 afterwards.
  • My before and after pair shows a clear difference.
Quick checkPhoto 4, the white wall, came out grey even at +⅔. What next?

Go further: try +1 and +1⅓. Stop when the wall looks white but still has its texture.

Try it now

Do the walk today, then do it again in a week at a different time of day. The light will be different, and so will your photos. Use the second walk for the skill challenge.