Lens on Life · Guide

The course

Two lessons a week until you fly. Each one ends with an assignment; you shoot, I read the results.

Phase 1 · 2 Sep – 1 Oct

Operate

Come home from South Africa with photos you're proud of.

  1. Lesson 0 · Week 1 · 2–8 Sep

    Ready

    Setting up the R50

    Hold it properly, know every button by feel, and lock in the settings so the camera works for you instead of against you. About 20 minutes.

  2. Lesson 1 · Week 1 · 2–8 Sep

    Ready

    The mode dial

    Know what every position on the dial does and which dial changes what in each — then forget most of them and live in two.

  3. Lesson 2 · Week 2 · 9–15 Sep

    Soon

    Light and exposure

    Understand the three things that control brightness — aperture, shutter speed, ISO — and how each also changes the look of the photo. Fix a too-dark or too-bright shot with the Up key. Read the histogram.

  4. Lesson 3 · Week 2 · 9–15 Sep

    Soon

    Focusing

    Choose where the camera focuses, tap the screen to focus, use eye detection, know One-Shot from Servo, and know what to do when the lens hunts and won't lock.

  5. Lesson 4 · Week 3 · 16–22 Sep

    Soon

    Aperture in practice

    Deliberately blur a background, deliberately get everything sharp, and shoot into a bright sunrise sky without silhouetting everything.

  6. Lesson 5 · Week 3 · 16–22 Sep

    Soon

    The long lens

    The 100-400: how fast the shutter must be, stabiliser on, Servo plus animal detection, burst mode, and tracking a moving bird without losing it.

  7. Lesson 6 · Week 4 · 23–29 Sep

    Soon

    Long exposure and the polariser

    Silky water at the pier: M mode, the tripod, the two-second timer, and the polariser as both glare-cutter and light-reducer. How to rotate it and when to take it off.

  8. Lesson 7 · Week 4 · 23–29 Sep

    Soon

    Dress rehearsal

    White balance, drive modes, reviewing and deleting on the camera, card and battery habits. A full day shooting as if you're already in Ballito, so the problems show up at home.

Phase 2 · 2 – 21 Oct

Shoot: South Africa

Collect results and confusion.

  • No lessons. Field mode, and the nightly ritual: copy the card, star three keepers, log one thing that confused you in the Diary.

Phase 3 · 22 Oct – 7 Dec

Process

Turn 3,000 photos into 50, and learn from them.

  • Culling — choosing 50 from 3,000 is a skill
  • The big review — your best and worst frames, read from the settings, and your three recurring mistakes
  • Editing basics — RAW, exposure, crop, white balance; choosing software
  • A printed photobook of the trip
  • Composition and the quality of light, illustrated with your own photos
  • Winter prep: snow exposure, cold batteries, condensation

Phase 4 · 8 Dec – 31 Jan

Shoot: Sweden

Everything phase 3 taught from theory, Skåne teaches live.

  • Field mode, Skåne region: mist, bare beech, blue hour, sunsets over the sea, candle-lit interiors
  • Same nightly ritual

Phase 5 · Feb onward

See and make

The art, and the business decision.

  • Full manual mode, properly
  • Portraits and people
  • Low light and family without flash
  • The 100-400 mastered
  • Buildings, art, and the polariser on glass
  • Developing an eye: study photographers, define what you like
  • A monthly project, reviewed together
  • Read the Diary back and decide whether the guide is a product