
Learn photography essentials as Adam Tan guides you through a basic photography course that blends technical skills with artistry, emphasizes practical practice, and learning with joy.
Learn to craft a good picture by identifying a center of interest, avoiding cluttered backgrounds, and training your eye to see form and geometry.
Understand the exposure triangle: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, and learn how their settings affect exposure and depth of field, plus camera modes like A-mode (AV-mode).
Master aperture-priority (A-mode) on compatible cameras, set wide aperture and ISO 100, then compose with the rule of thirds and visual balance to highlight the main subject.
Master three effective composition techniques: rule of thirds, visual weight via diagonal balance, and static balance, to create eye-pleasing photos across subjects and landscapes.
Master metering by understanding the mid tone (18 percent grey) and use exposure compensation and the three metering modes to achieve optimum exposure in varied scenes.
Choose the right lens to shape perspective, from wide to telephoto, including 50mm standard and prime lenses; understand distortion, depth of field, and low-light benefits.
Choose the right focus mode for sharp images and learn four primary modes—auto, single, continuous, and manual—plus how focus areas adapt across cameras.
Learn two portrait styles—close-up and with background—and master mindful composition (top third, rhythm), lighting strategies, and long-lens choices for relaxed, eye-pleasing portraits.
Learn when to use m-mode in low light to control exposure triangle, vs av mode, adjusting aperture, shutter speed, and ISO with the exposure level indicator.
Explore s-mode and tv-mode to control shutter speed for freezing motion or capturing rain, using speeds like 1/2000 or 1/30 with a tripod for stability.
Explore how depth of field is controlled by aperture, focal length, and subject distance. Learn to balance shutter speed and ISO to keep foreground and background sharp.
Master storytelling in photography by using essential words, observing light and ambient color, and pairing a strong main subject with a thoughtful background to evoke emotion.
Open the door to editing with Lightroom, covering exposure, color saturation, and contrast to enhance photos through post-processing with downloadable practice images.
Master the basic operation of Lightroom using the light tool and its six sliders to adjust exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks, and export as jpeg.
Learn to enhance landscape photos in Lightroom using Color Mixer, curves, and color temperature adjustments; apply crop and vignette for polished images.
Master portrait editing under varying lighting by adjusting exposure, highlights, shadows, and contrast, then refine skin tones with orange luminance and color grading.
Learn to correct incorrect white balance using color tools, auto adjustments, and selective edits, and explore raw files to maximize dynamic range through post-processing.
“Capturing what your eyes see and what your heart desires ”.
This is what I wish to impart to you at the end of the day.
My teaching is a combination of Art and Technical aspects from what I’ve learned over 2 decades, compressed and compiled into quick comprehension of theory, develop a technique that is easy to understand and master. My teaching is about simplify the complex, practical and designed to make learning fun and engaging.
Every topic is shared in a step-by-step basis, with a lot of demonstration and illustration to ensure you will not lose track along the way. In every lesson I designed a practical assignment for you to put what you have learned into practice to train and develop the creative side of your mind.
The first thing I’ll be guiding you is the core understanding of what makes a good picture.
What are the elements that constitute a good picture?
I find that most of the people often have no clue in making an image, that’s the most essential reason we don’t get good pictures. I will guide you on what are the elements that constitute a good picture & train you to develop the awareness of knowing how to acquire good images. As I believe a good foundation and a clear mindset is very essential in learning.
Secondly, the step-by-step basis in training process.
I’m a believer in step-by-step-basis of training, disregards technical or artistry aspects. Human character is such that it takes time to absorb and practice, and eventually able to perform it with ease.
I will then delve into greater details in guiding you in other areas. Such as the training of seeing the nuance and subtlety, to understand how to deal with the lighting, how to make good and creative composition in various ways, and how to incorporate storytelling to the images you make with imaginative & creative ideas.
As for the technical aspects, I’ll guide you from the very basis to in-depth study. Such as how to deal with hand-shake, how to handle situation when the images get too bright or too dark, and understand what is depth of field, shutter speed, lens perspective… and so on. The most essential part is I will guide you in why we need them and how to utilise them in an in-depth explanation.
These are the content of what you will learn :
1. Basic understanding & how to use DSLR cameras, mirrorless or any camera.
Understand the Exposure Triangle – Aperture, Shutter Speed & ISO.
How to use a camera: What’s focusing, metering, white balance, exposure compensation & all the basic needs of using a camera.
Which mode to use? When? How?
Understand what is metering and the reasons behind why we do not get the correct exposure such as images get too bright or too dark.
Understand exposure compensation – How to utilise it to obtain ideal & creative exposure.
The Lenses ~ Why & when do we need different type of lenses.
Understand what camera sees differ from what our eyes see ~ The exposure value.
2. Few effective ways of making good and creative composition.
3. How to shoot in tricky low light situation.
4. What are the common mistakes photographers make and how to avoid them?
4. How to develop & cultivate the seeing eyes.
5. How to incorporate narrative component in an image to evoke the viewer's heart?
6. In addition, I designed a 5 bonus lessons of editing tutorials for the course for you to enhance & improve the aesthetic quality of the images.
My tutorials are designed to make learning a breeze and a pleasure. At the end of the course, you will find what you learn here is not only how to handle a camera, but a combination of art & technical studies in photography.
You will acquire a creative mindset in seeing the aesthetic & telling story with your images.
You will become more observant, more imaginative and able to make good and imaginative images than you could ever imagine.