Top 8 'Capture-not-Correct' In-Camera Effects to try for photographers ditching the editing suite in 2025 - Goh Ling Yong
In a world of one-click presets and AI-powered editing suites, it's easy to forget the raw, creative power we hold in our hands. We spend hours in front of a screen, tweaking sliders and correcting "mistakes," often striving for a polished perfection that can feel a little... soulless. The mantra has become "fix it in post," a safety net that, while useful, can sometimes stifle the very act of creative seeing.
But what if we flipped the script in 2025? What if we embraced a different philosophy: Capture, not Correct? This isn't about shunning post-processing entirely, but about rediscovering the joy of creating a finished image directly in the camera. It’s about treating your camera not just as a recording device, but as an instrument for artistic expression. This approach forces you to be more present, more intentional, and ultimately, a more resourceful photographer.
Ready to leave the editing suite behind (at least for a little while) and make some magic in the field? Here are eight of my favorite in-camera effects that celebrate happy accidents, intentional imperfections, and the pure, unadulterated fun of photography.
1. The Dream Weaver: Multiple Exposure
Long before Photoshop had layers, photographers were blending worlds using multiple exposures. This classic technique involves exposing the same frame of film (or sensor) more than once, layering images on top of each other to create a single, surreal, and often deeply symbolic photograph. Thankfully, most modern digital cameras now have a built-in multiple exposure mode, making this effect more accessible than ever.
The key to a great multiple exposure is contrast and planning. Think in terms of silhouettes and textures. A popular method is to first shoot a well-defined silhouette of a person against a bright, plain background (like the sky). For your second exposure, fill that silhouette with a contrasting texture—tree branches, a cityscape, a field of flowers. The camera will typically only record the new image in the dark areas of the first one, creating a stunning visual blend.
Pro-Tip: Set your camera to "Additive" mode if it has it; this mimics how film works by adding light with each exposure, often requiring you to underexpose each shot by one or two stops to get a balanced final image. If your camera has an "Average" mode, it will handle the exposure compensation for you. Experiment with both!
2. The Abstract Painter: Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)
Who says a photo has to be sharp? Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) is the art of moving your camera during a slow shutter exposure to transform a scene into a beautiful, abstract blur of color and light. It’s a technique that’s less about documenting a subject and more about capturing its energy and essence. Trees become painterly streaks, ocean waves become soft color fields, and city lights become vibrant ribbons of neon.
To get started, you’ll need to set your camera to a slow shutter speed—anything from 1/15s to a full 2-3 seconds can work, depending on the light and the effect you want. During the day, you'll likely need a Neutral Density (ND) filter to achieve these slow speeds without overexposing your shot. Once the shutter is open, move your camera! A smooth vertical pan on a forest of trees creates a classic ICM look. A horizontal pan can follow a moving subject, blurring the background. Or, just get chaotic with it—twist, shake, and wiggle the camera to see what you create.
Pro-Tip: The speed and type of your movement are your "brushstrokes." A fast, jerky motion creates sharp, energetic lines, while a slow, smooth pan creates a soft, ethereal blend. There’s no right or wrong way, so spend an afternoon just playing with different movements.
3. The Light Bender: Lens Flare & Sun Stars
Lens flare—that hazy, geometric pattern of light that appears when you point your camera toward a bright light source—was once considered a technical flaw. Now, it's a sought-after creative tool used to inject warmth, drama, and a sense of dreamy nostalgia into an image. It’s a perfect example of the "Capture-not-Correct" philosophy; instead of removing it, we're intentionally creating it.
Creating lens flare is simple: shoot into the sun (or another bright light). The magic lies in how you control it. A wide-open aperture (like f/1.8 or f/2.8) will generally produce a large, soft, hazy flare. To create sharp, defined "sun stars," you need to do the opposite: stop down your aperture to a small opening like f/16 or f/22. The number of points on your star is determined by the number of aperture blades in your lens!
Pro-Tip: To have more control over the intensity of the flare, try partially obscuring the sun behind an object like a tree, a building, or your subject's head. This allows just a sliver of light to hit the lens, creating beautiful rays and flares without completely washing out your image.
4. The Rainbow Maker: Prism & Crystal Photography
Ready to literally bend light to your will? Using a simple glass prism or crystal in front of your lens is one of the most fun and unpredictable ways to create stunning, unique effects in-camera. It allows you to splash rainbows across your subject, create ghost-like reflections, and warp reality in ways that look like complex Photoshop work but are 100% authentic.
Get a triangular prism for classic rainbow light streaks or a crystal ball (lensball) to capture an inverted, wide-angle scene within your frame. The technique is all about experimentation. Hold the prism close to your lens and use your camera’s live view screen. Rotate the prism and change its angle to the light source to see how it refracts the light. Move it around the edges of your frame to create subtle light leaks or place it directly in the center for a wild, kaleidoscopic effect.
Pro-Tip: This technique works best with a lens that has a fairly wide aperture (f/2.8 or wider) and a longer focal length (50mm or 85mm are great). The wide aperture will help blur the edges of the prism, making the effect look more seamless and integrated into the scene.
5. The Dreamscaper: Freelensing
This one is for the adventurous! Freelensing (also known as "lens whacking") is the technique of detaching your lens from the camera body and holding it in place, allowing you to manually tilt the plane of focus. The result is a dreamy, ethereal image with a very selective slice of focus and beautiful, unpredictable light leaks. It perfectly mimics the look of an expensive tilt-shift lens for the price of a little courage.
Disclaimer: This technique exposes your camera's sensor to dust and the elements. It’s best to try this in a clean environment and with a cheap, manual prime lens (like a nifty-fifty) that you don't mind getting a little roughed up. To do it, set your lens focus to infinity, then carefully detach it from the camera body. While holding it against the mount, you can tilt it in different directions to move the sliver of focus around your scene.
Pro-Tip: Use your live view screen with focus peaking enabled. This will highlight the areas that are in focus, making it much easier to control the effect and nail your shot. The slight gap between the lens and the body will also let in light, creating organic, hazy light leaks that add to the charm.
6. The Mood Setter: Creative White Balance
We’re so used to using white balance to achieve "correct" colors, but what if we used it as a powerful creative tool to create a mood? By intentionally setting a custom white balance, you can bathe your entire scene in a specific color cast, creating a powerful emotional tone right in the camera. This is a subtle yet profound technique that a lot of photographers I admire, including Goh Ling Yong, utilize to give their work a signature feel without heavy-handed grading in post.
Here’s how it works: instead of pointing your camera at a white or grey card to set your white balance, point it at a colored object. For example, if you fill your frame with a blue piece of paper and set your custom white balance to that, your camera will think, "This is neutral." It will then add the opposite color—yellow and orange—to every subsequent photo you take to "correct" for the blue. The result? A beautiful, warm, golden-hour look, even in the middle of a cloudy day.
Pro-Tip: Experiment with a palette of colors. Setting your WB to a pink or magenta surface can give your images a cool, sci-fi, cyan-and-magenta feel. Setting it to a green leaf can add a moody magenta cast to your shadows. It’s like having a full set of creative color filters built right into your camera menu.
7. The Light Painter: Long Exposure & Light Sources
This is where photography feels most like magic. By using a long exposure on a tripod, you can literally paint with light. The camera's sensor acts as a canvas, recording any light source that moves through the frame while the shutter is open. This can be used for anything from writing your name with a flashlight to creating abstract light trails or illuminating a subject in a unique and dramatic way.
The setup is simple: put your camera on a sturdy tripod, set your shutter speed to anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds (or use bulb mode), and set your aperture and ISO to get a proper exposure of the ambient background. Then, once the shutter is open, step into the frame with a light source (a flashlight, your phone screen, a glow stick) and start "painting." The light will be recorded as a bright streak, while you—if you keep moving and wear dark clothes—will likely remain invisible.
Pro-Tip: You don't have to limit yourself to flashlights. Try attaching colored gels to your light source for different hues. For the very brave (and with extreme safety precautions), steel wool spinning is a popular technique for creating a shower of fiery sparks. On a simpler note, you can even use a simple, controlled flashlight beam to "paint" light onto a stationary object in a dark scene, selectively illuminating parts of it for a dramatic effect.
8. The Frame Maker: Shooting Through Objects
A great photograph often has a sense of depth—a foreground, a mid-ground, and a background. An easy and incredibly effective way to create this depth is by "shooting through" foreground elements. By placing an object very close to your lens, you can create a soft, out-of-focus frame that adds context, texture, and a sense of voyeurism to your images. It’s a technique I’ve seen Goh Ling Yong use to create beautifully layered compositions.
This is all about seeing the world differently. Instead of looking for a clear shot, look for an obscured one. Shoot through a leafy bush to frame a portrait, press your lens against a chain-link fence to add a gritty pattern, or hold a piece of sheer fabric over the lens for a soft, hazy effect. Even a simple plastic sandwich bag, crumpled and held over the edge of your lens, can create a beautifully dreamy vignette.
Pro-Tip: Use a wide aperture (f/1.4 - f/4) to ensure your foreground element becomes a soft, unrecognizable blur rather than a distracting object. The closer the object is to your lens, and the farther your subject is from it, the more pronounced and creamy the blur will be.
Embrace the Process
The beauty of these "Capture-not-Correct" techniques is that they bring an element of surprise and serendipity back into our photography. They force us to slow down, to engage with our environment, and to be active creators in the moment, not just passive recorders.
The next time you go out to shoot, I challenge you to leave your laptop at home and your editing suite closed. Pick one of these eight techniques and dedicate your entire shoot to mastering it. You might not get a "perfect" photo every time, but you will create something that is uniquely yours—an image born from intention, creativity, and the pure joy of the photographic process.
Which of these techniques are you most excited to try? Have you experimented with any other in-camera effects? Share your thoughts and your own amazing creations in the comments below or tag us on social media. We can't wait to see what you capture!
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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