Top 18 'Dial-Demystifying' Photo Challenges to try for beginners ready to finally leave 'Auto' mode behind - Goh Ling Yong
So, you’ve got a fantastic camera. It’s got buttons, it’s got dials, and it has that one big, comforting setting that has served you well so far: 'Auto'. It’s the trusty safety net that guarantees a decent shot every time. But let's be honest, "decent" isn't why you bought that camera, is it? You've seen those stunning photos with creamy, blurred backgrounds, tack-sharp subjects, and dramatic light trails, and you know your camera can do that too. The secret isn't a more expensive lens (though that helps!); it's taking control and leaving 'Auto' mode behind.
The jump from 'Auto' to Manual or a semi-automatic mode like Aperture or Shutter Priority can feel like leaping across a canyon. The exposure triangle—Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO—sounds like a complex geometry problem. But I promise you, it's more like learning to ride a bike. You'll wobble, you might get some blurry or dark photos at first, but once it clicks, you'll never want to go back. As my mentor Goh Ling Yong always says, "The camera is a tool; your vision is the art. Learning the tool is the first step to creating that art."
To help you cross that canyon, we’re not going to read a dense textbook. Instead, we're going to play. These 18 'Dial-Demystifying' challenges are designed to be fun, hands-on exercises. Each one isolates a specific skill or setting, letting you see the direct impact of your choices. Grab your camera, switch that dial to 'M' (Manual) or 'Av'/'A' (Aperture Priority), and let's start making the photos you want to make.
The Aperture Challenges: Mastering Depth of Field
Aperture (the f-stop number) controls how much of your scene is in focus. A wide aperture (small f-number like f/1.8) creates a shallow depth of field, blurring the background. A narrow aperture (large f-number like f/16) creates a deep depth of field, keeping everything sharp. Let's practice.
1. The Portrait Blur Challenge
The goal here is to create that professional-looking portrait where the subject is sharp and the background is a beautiful, creamy blur (this is called 'bokeh'). This effect makes your subject pop and eliminates distracting backgrounds.
Set your camera to Aperture Priority mode ('A' or 'Av'). Dial your aperture to the lowest f-number your lens allows (e.g., f/1.8, f/2.8, f/4). Place your subject (a person, a pet, even a coffee mug) a good distance away from their background. Get relatively close to your subject, focus on their eyes, and take the shot. You'll be amazed at how the background melts away, giving you a photo that looks instantly more professional.
Tip: The more distance between your subject and the background, the blurrier the background will be.
2. The Sweeping Landscape Challenge
Now, let's do the exact opposite. For landscape photography, you often want everything from the flowers in the foreground to the mountains in the distance to be tack sharp. This requires a deep depth of field.
Find a great landscape or cityscape view. Staying in Aperture Priority mode, dial your aperture to a high f-number, like f/11, f/16, or even f/22. Because a narrow aperture lets in less light, your camera will choose a slower shutter speed, so it's best to use a tripod or rest your camera on a stable surface to avoid blur from camera shake. Focus about one-third of the way into the scene for the best overall sharpness.
Tip: Be aware that very high f-stops (like f/22) can sometimes make an image slightly less sharp due to an effect called diffraction. F/11 to f/16 is often the sweet spot for many lenses.
3. The Bokeh Balls Challenge
This is a purely fun and creative challenge to master wide apertures. Bokeh "balls" are the soft, out-of-focus orbs of light you see in photos, often from streetlights or holiday lights in the background of a shot.
Find a source of small, distant lights at night—city lights, string lights, or car headlights work perfectly. Set your camera to Aperture Priority and use the widest aperture you have (lowest f-number). Now, find a subject to place in the foreground. Focus on your subject, ensuring the lights are far in the background. The lights will transform into beautiful, glowing circles, adding a magical quality to your image.
Tip: You can even try this without a foreground subject. Just manually set your focus to its closest setting and point at the distant lights to turn the entire frame into a beautiful abstract pattern.
4. The Product Shot Challenge
This challenge helps you understand how aperture affects focus on a smaller scale. It’s perfect for food photography, macro, or anyone wanting to sell items online.
Place a small object, like a piece of fruit, a watch, or a flower, on a table. Using Aperture Priority mode and a tripod, take a series of photos of the object. Start at your widest aperture (e.g., f/1.8) and take a shot. Then, change the aperture to f/4, then f/8, then f/16, taking a photo at each step. When you review the images, you'll see exactly how the plane of focus changes, with more and more of the object becoming sharp as you use a narrower aperture.
The Shutter Speed Challenges: Mastering Motion
Shutter speed controls time. A fast shutter speed (like 1/1000s) freezes motion, while a slow shutter speed (like 10s) blurs it. This is where you can get incredibly creative. For these, use Shutter Priority mode ('S' or 'Tv').
5. The Frozen Action Challenge
The goal is to freeze a moment in time so perfectly that it looks suspended. This is the key to incredible sports, wildlife, and action photography.
Find something that moves fast: a person jumping, a dog catching a ball, or water splashing from a tap. Set your camera to Shutter Priority and dial in a fast shutter speed, starting with 1/1000s. If it’s a bright day, you can go even faster. Use your camera's burst mode (continuous shooting) to fire off a series of shots as the action happens. You'll be able to capture the peak of the action with stunning clarity.
Tip: A faster shutter speed needs more light, so this challenge works best outdoors on a sunny day.
6. The Silky Water Challenge
This is the classic long-exposure effect that turns waterfalls, rivers, or ocean waves into a smooth, ethereal mist. It’s a guaranteed "wow" shot for any beginner.
You absolutely need a tripod for this. Find a source of moving water. Set your camera to Shutter Priority and choose a slow shutter speed, like 1 second or longer. To avoid overexposing the shot in daylight, you'll need to use your lowest ISO (e.g., 100) and a narrow aperture. If it's still too bright, you may need a Neutral Density (ND) filter, which acts like sunglasses for your lens. Use your camera's 2-second timer to avoid shaking the camera when you press the shutter button.
7. The Light Trails Challenge
Ready to paint with light? This challenge involves capturing the streaks of light from moving car headlights and taillights at night, turning a regular street scene into a vibrant, dynamic image.
Again, a tripod is essential. Find a spot overlooking a busy road at dusk or at night. Set your camera to Shutter Priority and select a very slow shutter speed—try starting at 15 seconds. Let the camera do its thing as cars drive by. You will see the headlights and taillights rendered as beautiful red and white ribbons of light. Experiment with different shutter speeds to see how it changes the length of the trails.
8. The Panning Challenge
Panning is an exciting technique that creates a sense of speed. The goal is to keep your moving subject sharp while the background blurs into motion-filled streaks.
Find a subject moving horizontally across your frame, like a cyclist, a runner, or a car. Set your camera to Shutter Priority and start with a shutter speed around 1/30s or 1/60s. As the subject approaches, track it smoothly with your camera, keeping it in the same spot in your viewfinder. Press the shutter button while you continue to follow through with the motion. This one takes practice! Most of your shots will be blurry at first, but when you nail it, the result is spectacular.
The ISO Challenges: Mastering Light Sensitivity
ISO determines how sensitive your camera's sensor is to light. Low ISO (100, 200) is for bright light and gives you the cleanest image. High ISO (1600, 3200, and up) is for low light, but it comes at the cost of introducing digital noise or "grain."
9. The Clean & Crisp Challenge
This is a simple challenge to see your camera’s best possible image quality. The goal is to understand the baseline—the cleanest, most detailed image your camera can produce.
On a bright, sunny day, set your camera to Aperture Priority. Set your ISO to its lowest native setting (usually ISO 100 or 200). Now, just go take pictures of anything—buildings, people, flowers. When you look at these images on your computer, zoom in and notice the incredible detail and the complete lack of grainy noise. This is your camera at its best.
10. The Low-Light Rescue Challenge
This challenge teaches you the trade-offs of using high ISO. You’ll learn how to get a usable shot in dark conditions when a tripod or flash isn't an option.
Go into a dimly lit room in your house. Set your camera to Aperture Priority and your aperture wide open (lowest f-number). Start with a low ISO, like ISO 400, and take a shot. The shutter speed will likely be too slow to hand-hold. Now, double your ISO to 800 and take another shot. Keep doubling it—1600, 3200, 6400—taking a picture at each step. Notice how the shutter speed gets faster, making the shot possible, but also how the grain/noise in the image increases. This helps you find your personal tolerance for noise.
11. The Starry Night Challenge (Ambitious)
This is an advanced challenge but a fantastic way to push your camera's ISO limits. Capturing the stars requires gathering as much light as physically possible.
You'll need a tripod, a wide-angle lens with a wide aperture (f/2.8 or lower is ideal), and a clear night sky away from city lights. Switch to full Manual (M) mode. Set your aperture to its widest setting. Set your shutter speed to about 20 seconds. Now, start with an ISO of 1600 and take a shot. Is it too dark? Push your ISO to 3200 or 6400. This is the ultimate balancing act of the exposure triangle.
The "All Together Now" & Composition Challenges
Now that you've experimented with each setting individually, let's put it all together and start thinking more about the art of the photo.
12. The Full Manual Mode Challenge
It's time. Switch your camera dial to 'M'. The goal here is to get comfortable with balancing all three elements of the exposure triangle yourself, using your camera's built-in light meter as your guide.
Pick a stationary subject in consistent lighting (not a person moving in and out of shadows). Look through your viewfinder and find the light meter (it's a scale with a 0 in the middle). Your goal is to adjust aperture, shutter speed, and ISO until the indicator is at 0, which means the camera thinks the exposure is correct. Try achieving that '0' with different combinations of settings to see how it affects the final look of the photo (e.g., a wide aperture and fast shutter vs. a narrow aperture and slow shutter).
13. The Silhouette Challenge
A silhouette is a powerful compositional tool that tells a story through shape alone. This challenge is a fantastic exercise in learning to expose for the background instead of the subject.
Find a subject with a recognizable shape and place them in front of a very bright background, like a colorful sunset or a bright window. In Manual or Aperture Priority mode, point your camera at the brightest part of the sky (not the sun itself) and check your settings. Now, recompose with your subject in the frame and take the shot using those settings. Your camera, exposing for the bright background, will render your subject as a deep, dark silhouette.
14. The Window Light Portrait Challenge
This is a classic for a reason. Window light is a beautiful, soft, and free light source for stunning portraits. This challenge teaches you to balance your settings for perfect indoor portraits without a flash.
Have a person sit or stand near a large window (but not in direct sunlight). The light should fall across one side of their face. In Aperture Priority or Manual mode, set a wide aperture (like f/2.8) to soften the background. Now, adjust your ISO until your shutter speed is at least 1/125s to avoid motion blur. The key is finding the ISO that gives you a fast enough shutter speed without being unnecessarily grainy. This is a practical balancing act you'll use constantly. As Goh Ling Yong often demonstrates in his workshops, mastering natural light is a true game-changer.
15. The "One Subject, Ten Ways" Challenge
This is a pure creativity and composition challenge. It forces you to break out of your comfort zone and see the world from different perspectives.
Choose a very simple, everyday object. A coffee cup, a pair of shoes, a single apple. Your mission is to take at least ten completely different photographs of it. Don't just walk around it. Get down on the floor and shoot up at it. Stand on a chair and shoot straight down. Shoot through something else (like a plant) to frame it. Focus on a tiny detail. This exercise trains your eye to find interesting compositions everywhere.
16. The Rule of Thirds Challenge
The Rule of Thirds is the first and most important compositional guideline you should learn. It involves placing key elements of your scene along lines that divide the image into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, or at their intersections.
Most cameras have an option to display a 3x3 grid on the screen or in the viewfinder. Turn it on. For one entire photo session, your challenge is to compose every single shot by placing your subject or a key element (like the horizon) on one of those lines or intersections. No centered subjects allowed! You will quickly see how this simple shift creates more balanced and visually interesting photos.
17. The Leading Lines Challenge
Leading lines are elements in a photo—like roads, fences, rivers, or pathways—that draw the viewer's eye through the image, usually toward the main subject. They add depth and guide the narrative of your photo.
Go for a walk specifically to find leading lines. Don't worry about a perfect subject at first; just focus on finding the lines. A winding road, the lines of a railway track (be safe!), a long pier, or the edge of a building. Compose your shot to emphasize these lines. How does placing them in a corner versus the center change the feel of the photo? This will make you actively scan your environment for compositional elements.
18. The Frame Within a Frame Challenge
This is another powerful compositional technique. It involves using elements in the foreground to create a natural "frame" around your main subject, which adds depth and context to the image.
Look for natural frames everywhere: a doorway, an archway, a window, the overhanging branches of a tree, or even the space between two people's shoulders. Your challenge is to compose your photo so that your main subject is viewed through this frame. This technique immediately makes a photo feel more deliberate and thoughtfully constructed.
Your Journey Starts Now
There you have it—18 practical challenges to take you from a nervous 'Auto' shooter to a confident, creative photographer. Don't try to do them all in one day. Pick one or two that sound exciting and give them a try. The goal isn't to get a perfect shot every time; the goal is to learn what happens when you turn the dials.
Mistakes are not just okay; they are required. Every blurry, dark, or grainy photo teaches you something. The key is to practice, experiment, and most importantly, have fun. This is the start of your true photography journey.
Now, go out and start shooting! We would absolutely love to see what you create. Share your favorite photo from one of these challenges on Instagram and tag us—let us know which challenge it was! What was the biggest "Aha!" moment you had? Let us know in the comments below.
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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