Capstone Photo Walk

Photography Fundamentals

Course 1 · Chapter 10 · Capstone: A Photo Walk from Plan to Review

The Project

This final chapter has no new theory. You plan a short photo walk, shoot it, and review the results using the nine earlier chapters. The aim is a set of about ten pictures and a short written review of what worked. Facts here are recalled from earlier chapters, which cite their own sources; where I add something new it is marked (check).

Step 1: Plan

Decide	Prompt	From
When	Pick a time near sunrise or sunset if you can, and look up the actual times for your location; golden hour has no fixed length	Chapter 4
What	Choose two or three genres to try, such as landscape, street, portrait or close-up	Chapter 9
Kit	Which lens or focal lengths, and whether you need a support	Chapters 2 and 9
File type	Raw, JPEG or both, depending on card space and editing plans	Chapter 8
Mode	Aperture priority for depth of field, shutter priority for movement, or manual	Chapter 6

People and places

If you photograph strangers, remember Chapter 9: the rules differ by country and change over time, and publishing a picture can be treated differently from taking it. Read the rules where you shoot (check). Also keep to the property owner's rules, which I have not researched here (check).

Step 2: Shoot

Light first. Look at the direction and softness of the light before choosing the frame (Chapter 4).
Frame. Try the rule of thirds, then try breaking it on purpose (Chapter 5).
Check the exposure. Look at the histogram for pile-ups at either end, and use compensation if a snowy or dark scene fools the meter (Chapters 6 and 8).
Set white balance. Pick a preset or use a grey card if the colour looks wrong, or fix it later if you shoot raw (Chapter 7).
Keep a log. Note aperture, shutter speed and ISO for each shot you want to learn from. Many cameras store this automatically as metadata, but I have not checked which fields your camera keeps (check).

Step 3: Review with a Script

To compare shots taken in different light, put them on one scale. The script converts each log entry to EV at ISO 100, using Chapter 1's relation EV(S) = EV(100) + log2(S/100). The four entries are invented examples. I ran it and the output is shown.

from math import log2

shots = [
    ("hillside at sunrise", 11, 1/60, 100),
    ("market stall",         4, 1/250, 800),
    ("window portrait",    2.8, 1/125, 400),
    ("bright street",        8, 1/500, 100),
]

def ev100(n, t, iso):
    """EV at ISO 100: EV at the shot's ISO minus log2(ISO/100)."""
    return log2(n * n / t) - log2(iso / 100)

for name, n, t, iso in shots:
    print(f"{name:<20} f/{n:<4} 1/{round(1 / t):<4} ISO {iso:<4} EV100 {ev100(n, t, iso):5.2f}")

# Output
hillside at sunrise  f/11   1/60   ISO 100  EV100 12.83
market stall         f/4    1/250  ISO 800  EV100  8.97
window portrait      f/2.8  1/125  ISO 400  EV100  7.94
bright street        f/8    1/500  ISO 100  EV100 14.97

What the numbers suggest

The brightest scene is the street (EV100 near 15), which matches Chapter 1's table where full or slightly hazy sunlight is 15. The portrait, at about 8, sits near the table's bright street scenes and a little above home interiors (5 to 7), plausible for window light. The sunrise hillside, at about 13, falls in the range of cloudy-bright scenes. These are the table's rough categories, not exact (check).

Step 4: Write the Review

For each of your best three and worst three pictures, answer in one line each: What was the light? Did exposure match what you wanted? Was the focus where you meant it? Where did the subject sit in the frame? Was the colour right? Which one setting would you change next time? Keeping the review short makes you more likely to do it.

Course complete

You have worked through the whole sequence: exposure, lenses and sensor size, depth of field and focus, light and colour temperature, composition, metering and modes, white balance, files and histograms, genres, and a walk of your own. The best next step is more walks. Keep each log and compare it with the last one.

Not Yet Verified, and Sources

Sources. This chapter relies on the earlier chapters, each of which lists its own Wikipedia sources and caveats. No new sources were read for it.
Not checked. Local legal rules and property rules, which metadata fields your camera stores, and the match between the invented example shots and real scenes.
Not tested. I did not run a real photo walk.

Exercises

Exercise 1

Add a fifth entry to the script: f/5.6, 1/125 s, ISO 200. Work out its EV at ISO 100 by hand first, then check by running it, and say which of Chapter 1's example scenes it is closest to.

→ Solution

Exercise 2

Write a one-page plan for your own walk using the Step 1 table: date and time (with real sunrise or sunset times), two or three genres, lens, file type, mode, and one rule you will test, such as shooting every frame off-centre.

→ Solution

Exercise 3

After the walk, write the Step 4 review for your best three and worst three pictures, and finish with a list of three settings or habits to change next time, each tied to a chapter in this course.

→ Solution

Quick Reference

Plan: time, genres, kit, file type, mode
Shoot: light, frame, histogram, white balance, log
Review: EV100 for comparison; one line per picture
EV(S): EV(100) plus log2(S/100)
Check: local rules, camera metadata