Your Camera Coach Challenge: Put your camera in Aperture Priority (A or Av). Photograph one scene at f/4, f/8 and f/16. Post all three below and tell us what happened to the background. 📎 Download the free Exposure Triangle Cheat Sheet (attached) and keep it in your camera bag. I’ll comment on every photo. Let’s see what you find! — Dan

Here's a photography lesson I want to share with you: When you're out with your camera, don't just photograph what's directly in front of you. Look up, look down, move closer, and explore different angles. Pay attention to how light, color, texture, and movement can turn an ordinary scene into an interesting photograph. Sometimes the best photograph isn't the obvious one. Your Camera Coach Challenge: The next time you're outside with your camera, look for a reflection. It could be in a pond, a creek, a puddle, or even a window. Try creating a photograph where the reflection becomes the main subject rather than the object being reflected. I'd love to see what you create! Share your photograph in the community, and tell us what caught your attention. — Dan Dan Cleary The Camera Coach

My wife and I recently took a long weekend in Wisconsin and rented a house right on Lake Michigan. You know I couldn’t resist. One morning I got up before everyone else, grabbed my gear, and walked down to the shoreline to wait for the sun. What I love about this spot is the way that first light skims low across the rocks and lights them up in warm gold, while the lake still holds that cool blue. The waves were rolling in hard against the shore, and I knew right away I wanted to show their motion, not freeze them. Here’s what I used to create this photograph: Nikon D850 on a tripod 24–120mm f/4 lens 3-stop neutral density filter 1 second · f/22 · ISO 32 Why those settings? The secret to this shot is the shutter speed. At 1 second, the moving water turns soft and misty, but the waves still keep their shape and energy. Go too long and the lake flattens into fog; too short and it just looks like an ordinary splash. One second was the sweet spot for these waves. The problem is that even at sunrise, there’s a lot of light coming off the water. To get down to a 1-second exposure, I had to stack up every tool I had: - ISO 32 – the D850’s lowest setting (Lo 1), to make the sensor as insensitive to light as possible - f/22 – a small aperture to cut light further and keep the rocks sharp from front to back - A 3-stop ND filter – like sunglasses for your lens, it blocks light so the shutter can stay open longer And of course, a sturdy tripod. At 1 second, the rocks would never be sharp handheld. A few composition notes: - The shoreline makes a strong diagonal that pulls your eye from the bottom-left corner out to the waves breaking in the distance. - I kept the horizon high in the frame because the real story was down in the rocks and water, not the sky. - I got low so those foreground stones feel big and close, with texture you can almost feel. Your turn: Have you ever tried a long exposure with moving water: waves, a waterfall, a creek? Post one in the comments! And if you’ve never tried an ND filter, tell me what’s holding you back.

I've always looked at the photograph right out of the camera as just the beginning. Photoshop is where I create the final image. In this six-minute video, I walk through the steps I used to create my photograph John A. Roebling Bridge and the Cincinnati Skyline. Most of the time I'm already thinking about the Photoshop process when I take the photograph. This time I wasn't. I'd had a very long day of shooting in Cincinnati. I got to my location before sunset, and as I stood there for an hour or so, the clouds started rolling in. I know from experience that I like the light about 45 minutes after sunset. It can get pretty dark, so I'm actually overexposing the photo so the lights on the river become strong vertical elements in the composition. But waiting that long, when the sunset is just a memory, means I'll have some Photoshop work to do. I use layers in Photoshop so I can work on individual areas of the image separately. I know Photoshop can be very intimidating, and I've used it since the beginning. In the back of my ebook, Understanding Your Digital Camera, there's a beginner's guide to Photoshop that explains many of the terms you'll hear in this video. Now it's your turn: - Try it yourself. Go out about 45 minutes after sunset and photograph a skyline, bridge, or anything with lights reflecting in water. Post your photo in the comments, straight out of the camera or after editing. I'd love to see what you get. - Ask me anything. If a step in the video didn't make sense, like layers, masks, or why I overexposed, drop your question below and I'll answer it. - Want one-on-one help? Many people book a private lesson just to get comfortable with Photoshop. Send me a message here on Skool and we'll set up a time to work through your own photos together. Let's see those blue-hour shots!

This photograph shows downtown Dayton and RiverScape MetroPark from across the river. On its own, it is a cityscape. But the story behind where the photograph eventually ended up is what makes it interesting. A company selected this image as a framed retirement gift for one of its executives. He was retiring and moving to Florida. The company building where he had worked was visible within the photograph, but there was another connection as well: he had spent years running along this stretch of the river. That meant the photograph represented much more than the Dayton skyline. It connected him to his career, a familiar running route, and the city where he had spent an important part of his life. There is a useful photography lesson here: A strong photograph can become even more valuable when it connects with someone’s memories. As photographers, we often think first about composition, exposure, light, and technical quality. Those things matter. But viewers frequently respond most strongly to something they recognize personally. That might be: - A hometown skyline - A favorite park - A university - A family property - A workplace - A vacation destination - A familiar road or neighborhood This is one reason local photography can be so meaningful. What may look like an ordinary location to one person can represent decades of memories to someone else. It is also something to think about when you are deciding what to photograph. You do not always need an exotic location. Photograph the places around you that people have relationships with. Those photographs can become artwork, gifts, historical records, and reminders of important moments in people’s lives. Photography challenge: Think of one location in your community that has meaning to the people who live there. How could you photograph it in a way that makes it feel special rather than simply documentary?