Beginning Photography Fundamentals: Composition, Lighting & Camera Settings

10 years ago Chelsea & I made a 7-hour photography training DVD/BluRay series. A lot has changed in photography since then (you'll see a lot of HDR in this video haha), but the fundamentals have stayed the same, and these lessons are still valid.

I think the timing is good because YouTube and TikTok have degraded the study of the art of photography down to clickbait and 30-second “tips”. This is a structured and thorough lesson. Bookmark it, put your phone down and pay attention. Your time will pay off.

If you think others should learn the fundamentals of photography, please share this video.

0:00:00 INTRODUCTION
0:01:19 PART 1 - QUICK TIPS
0:18:31 PART 2 INTRODUCTION - COMPOSITION
0:19:22 Have a Focal Point
0:20:30 Simplifying Photographic Compositions
0:24:05 Travel Photography Tips
0:25:56 Rule of Thirds
0:28:57 Rule of Space
0:31:03 Angle of View (Focal Length)
0:33:44 Controlling the Background
0:37:43 Showing Scale
0:39:15 Using Lines as Compositional Elements
0:43:18 Patterns in Photography
0:49:38 Symmetry in Composition
0:52:57 Showing Depth
0:56:57 Creating Panoramas
1:01:29 Abstract Photography
1:03:55 Black & White Photography
1:20:24 Photography Composition Practices
1:22:27 PART 3 INTRODUCTION - LIGHTING & FLASH
1:23:27 Hard & Soft Light
1:28:47 Reflected Light & Color Casts
1:32:30 Direction Light (Front lighting, side lighting, back lighting)
1:46:09 Lighting Quiz
1:50:38 Golden Hour
1:56:05 Using the Photographer’s Ephemeris
2:07:23 Using Flash for Photography
2:09:51 Using Fill Flash
2:13:12 Using Bounce Flash
2:15:13 Flash Modifiers
2:20:04 Using High Speed Sync (HSS)
2:24:06 White Balance
2:34:49 Taking Pictures in Full Sunlight
2:37:55 Using Flash Exposure Compensation
2:40:30 Flash & Lighting Practices
2:45:10 PART 4 INTRODUCTION - CAMERA SETTINGS
2:45:17 Parts of your Camera
3:10:53 Focusing Types: Manual Focus, Autofocus, Continuous AF
3:21:44 Back-button Autofocus
3:25:18 Precise Focusing
3:27:50 Shutter Modes (Single Shot, Continuous Shutter, Delayed Shutter)
3:31:36 Understanding Shutter Speed & Shutter Priority Mode
3:40:03 Avoiding Camera Shake
3:47:39 Handheld Long Exposures & Reciprocal Rule
3:52:35 Aperture, f/stops and Depth-of-Field
4:09:51 ISO
4:14:25 Auto Exposure & Exposure Compensation
4:24:51 Exposure Compensation and Histograms
4:34:36 Exposure Triangle (Aperture, Shutter Speed & ISO)
4:48:10 Raw vs JPEG for image quality
4:59:43 Practices for Understand Camera Settings
5:18:29 PART 5 INTRODUCTION - TROUBLESHOOTING PHOTOGRAPHY PROBLEMS
5:18:48 Troubleshooting Blurry Pictures
5:32:41 Testing your Camera’s Autofocus System
5:50:18 Removing Stuck Lens Filters
5:51:58 Troubleshooting Motion Blur
5:59:17 Diffraction
6:01:34 Checking Lens Sharpness
6:08:21 Noisy Images
6:14:17 Color Problems
6:18:52 Washed-out Pictures
6:21:44 Chromatic Aberration (Fringing)
6:23:01 Dust Spots on Lenses and Sensors
6:34:44 Crooked Horizons
6:36:44 Poor Battery Life
6:40:00 Running out of memory card space
6:40:49 Troubleshooting Flash Battery Life
6:45:00 Troubleshooting Flash Sync Problems
6:49:02 Troubleshooting Lens Flare
6:50:05 Summary

[bruceking]

I’m 71 years old and have just started a photography journey. I purchased a Nikon D850 and enjoyed you video regarding the 850. I also am using a Brand New Nikon FM2N that has been sitting in a box for a very very long time. So I want to thank you for sharing you expertise free to the world. You are truly a very Honorable Gentleman to share this knowledge. Bruce

[OzMadMan]

7 hours of free professional advice. Thank you for the contribution

[junglialoh]

One of the most extensive introductory guide for the photography ever in Youtube,

[PaulKretz]

This is some serious commitment and contribution! Much respect!

[zumateen]

You guys are the GOAT
Not only for doing this quality training and also sharing it for free, but not dragging it on several videos for reach
Kudos 👏 👏👏👏👏

[DENNISNGANGA-bm]

i am a beginner photographer and let me say these tutorial has really helped me

[xanthanx]

Wow! Thank you Tony and Chelsy for your altruism and willingness to share, for free, this great, 7-hour photography 101. For that, I will pay for your books and learning series. I've always wanted to do so for a long time, but always hesitated for many unexplained reasons

You've now confirmed that you guys are not just only doing this for the money, but you're truly and sincerely dedicated in sharing your knowledge and experience to help us bring out the creative artistic inner-skills. You guys are the Bob Ross of photography, and for that, I'm very grateful and thankful.

I love you guys. ❤

[mattbigmonster]

I can't believe you did this. Not only a fantastic resource for myself but also amazing place to send my friends who start asking questions about photography. Thank you for creating this, I can only imagine how many days this took to complete.

[suyaharleysan]

Thanks! I have enjoyed your content, should be contributing much more!! I am an eternal beginner, started in the 70’s in middle school (dreaming of the AE1) with my moms choice Cononnette 28, used many years, a few GREAT shots, but I never studied, I just shot. I have had several “beginner” cameras from Minolta x370 and srt101 to canon AE1 (actually those last two were much later, canon AE1 in the 90’s just before film supposedly died…. Now finding it isn’t dead at all, though still dying. I eventually got an automatic Ricoh Mirai to finish out film, then my first Digital Canon Xti, and just recently decided to get off the stick and lean into this a bit. I purchased a canon T7 and later an R50 (I am a distance “Biker” my Harley and I have covered some miles and I used GoPros to record my adventures, decided I’d like to try my hand at vlogging, thus the R50, but haven’t just done it, yet! This FREE course, I’m Hoping, will give me more Focus (see what I did there…. Lol) I appreciate your making this available for me! Thanks So Much! So sorry for the story!

[sunnycoastvideos]

I've been shooting for 10 years but I will STILL watch this as I know I will learn something new. Much respect for making quality content freely available. JP - Australia.

[kevinkelly]

I’m 61, and have been taking pics with my cell phone and want to “upgrade”. I highly recommend this video to anyone considering buying a camera. I am getting a basic understanding of photography with the cell phone, and its processing in the phone. I’ve been applying the composition principles and taking tons of pics to get better. Once you watch this video, you will have a much better understanding of the camera features when Tom and Chelsea talk about them in their reviews. I feel like I will be much better prepared to make an informed purchase, and not be disappointed.

[Tradescant]

This has to be one of the best free photography resources on Youtube. It's been an enormous help in clarifying several things I'd been struggling with. Many thanks, much appreciated.

[paulcampbell]

Tony - THIS is the content that is MOST NEEDED by the beginning photographer - AND something that you are really good at. I know you have to generate traffic with controversial topics and titles - In spite of that, I really hope this serves your business and the photo community well.

[actorjay]

Wow. This is incredible value. THANK YOU for providing this complete online course for FREE. I've just shared it with my photography study, who is a Pakistani refugee in Thailand. She is using a Nikon D60. I'm excited to see how she applies the knowledge learned in your course to start taking photographs. I hope it changes her life.

[operator]

Thank you Soooo much. Photography is already an expensive hobby, this free tutorial, is very much appreciated.

[mitchbakarich]

It's older content, but your lessons are timeless. Thanks so much for sharing these! I wish I could send this to myself 5 years ago

Long form content >> 30s tips

[nlikesmath]

Don't even need this tutorial but the fact that it's 6 hours long I had to come by and drop a like. Props and love for putting in the effort to make something like this for us ❤️❤️

[fredat]

Thank you!!!! Please don't ever take this down. I'm a newbie, and this is so helpful. I'll have to watch it in a couple of hour increments because there's so much to take in. Thank you again!

[festivamaxima]

My kids and me are reading your books together and have learned a lot, it has been a great summer learning program for us. We will definitely watch this video together. Thanks a lot!

[MosesE-tukl]

Thank you so much. Your experiences and fundamentals should be a required course to own any camera that cost more than a car payment. Invaluable.