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Smartphone Photography & Videography

Name: Smartphone Photography & Videography
Availability: InStock

Learn to shoot and edit professional-quality photos and videos using only your smartphone. Covers camera controls, composition, stabilization, lighting, and editing in Lightroom Mobile and CapCut.

Anyone with a modern smartphone who wants to create professional-quality visual content without investing in a camera body.

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Course content

How Your Phone Camera Actually Works45m

Manual Exposure: ISO, Shutter Speed, and White Balance45m

RAW Capture and File Format Strategy45m

Compositional Frameworks: Rule of Thirds to Gestalt45m

Lighting a Subject with What You Have45m

Stabilization: Handheld, Gimbal, and Post45m

Tonal Editing: Exposure, Contrast, and Curves45m

Colour Grading: HSL, Colour Mixer, and Calibration45m

Presets, Batch Editing, and Export Settings45m

Workbook & downloads

Put the course into practice — a printable workbook plus editable templates you can fill in and reuse.

Download workbook (PDF)17 KB Download (XLSX)8 KB Download (XLSX)8 KB Download (XLSX)7 KB

Preview the workbook

This workbook turns every module into hands-on practice. Complete each exercise directly after the corresponding lesson while the concepts are fresh. The action plan at the end gives you a sequenced 30-day challenge to take you from first manual shot to published reel.

Camera Controls & Exposure Fundamentals

Practice identifying and controlling the core variables — sensor, ISO, shutter, white balance, RAW — by shooting the same scene under different settings and comparing results.

Exercise: The Exposure Control Comparison Shoot

Choose a single fixed scene (a mug on a desk, a plant by a window, or a face). Open Pro/Manual mode. Shoot the same scene six times using the settings below. Import all six into Lightroom Mobile and compare side-by-side. Do not edit any of them.

Set ISO 100, shutter 1/100s. Write what you observe about noise and motion rendering.
Set ISO 1600, shutter 1/100s. Describe the noise character — is it luminance grain, colour blotching, or both?
Set ISO 100, shutter 1/15s (handheld). What happened to any moving elements in the frame?
Set white balance to 2700 K (tungsten) under daylight. Describe the colour cast. Repeat at 7000 K. Which matches your scene?

Worksheet: Camera Setting Decision Log

For each of your next five shoots, record the conditions and settings chosen. After reviewing the exported images, write what you would change and why. This log becomes your personalised reference sheet.

Shoot date and location
Lighting conditions (natural / artificial / mixed)
ISO chosen
Shutter speed chosen
White balance (Kelvin or preset)
File format (RAW / JPEG / RAW+JPEG)
Lens used (main / ultrawide / telephoto)
Result rating 1–5
What you would change next time

Checklist: Pre-Shoot Camera Setup Checklist

Enable Pro / Manual / Expert mode in camera app
Set file format to RAW or RAW+JPEG
Enable 3x3 grid overlay
Check available storage — minimum 2 GB free before starting
Set white balance manually based on light source Kelvin
Disable AI scene detection / Auto HDR (shoot your own exposure)
Enable OIS and EIS if shooting video
Set frame rate before recording — do not change mid-shoot
Confirm battery above 40% or external battery connected

Composition, Lighting, and Stabilization

Practice compositional principles through deliberate daily shooting constraints, build a portable lighting kit, and verify stabilization technique against measurable benchmarks.

Exercise: Six-Day Composition Challenge

Shoot one intentional photo each day for six days, applying one composition principle per day. Review all six at the end of day six. For each image, identify one element you would reposition and how.

Day 1 — Rule of thirds: place your subject's eye or primary element exactly on a grid intersection. Did the grid overlay help or feel constraining?
Day 2 — Leading lines: find a real-world line (road, fence, shadow) and position it to guide the eye to your subject. Where does the line exit the frame?
Day 3 — Negative space: leave at least 60% of the frame empty. What emotion does the emptiness create?
Day 4 — Natural framing: shoot your subject through something (a doorway, leaves, a gap in a fence). Does the frame add depth or distract?

Worksheet: Lighting Setup Planner

Plan three different lighting setups for an upcoming portrait or product shoot. For each setup, identify the key, fill, and back light source, their distances, and the mood you expect. After the shoot, record what the actual result was.

Subject type (portrait / product / food / other)
Key light source (window / LED panel / reflector / other)
Key light distance from subject (metres)
Key light angle (degrees from front: 0 = front, 45 = side, 90 = side, 135 = rim)
Fill light source
Fill light intensity relative to key (same / half / quarter)
Back / rim light source
Expected mood
Actual result — what matched, what surprised you
Kelvin temperature used

Checklist: Stabilization Verification Checklist

Elbows tucked to ribcage before pressing record
Shot at bottom of exhaled breath for still photos
OIS enabled in camera settings
EIS enabled if recording video
Gimbal balanced before powering on (if using gimbal)
Gimbal mode selected appropriate to shot type (Follow / Pan Follow / FPV)
Walking shots use heel-to-toe ninja walk
Physical support (wall / doorframe / surface) used when available
CapCut Stabilize applied in post as final insurance

Photo Editing in Lightroom Mobile

Build an end-to-end editing workflow: correct a raw portrait, create a reusable preset, and batch-edit a ten-image series in under 20 minutes.

Exercise: The Full-Stack Portrait Edit

Select one RAW portrait photo with at least two problems (e.g., slightly underexposed and warm-tinted). Edit it using the full sequence: Tone → Colour Mixer → Calibration → Detail → Geometry. Export at both web and print specs.

Before editing, write down the three most obvious problems with the image (tone, colour, detail, geometry).
After applying Light sliders, does the histogram sit cleanly within bounds? Where did highlights or shadows clip?
In the Colour Mixer, which colour range contains the skin tone? How many stops did you move Luminance?
After the full edit, name this preset and apply it to two other images. What adjustments were still needed per-image?

Worksheet: Edit Decision Record

For each significant edit session, record your slider values so you can reverse-engineer your own aesthetic over time. After 20 edits, look for patterns — they reveal your natural style.

Image filename
Shoot date
Subject type
Exposure adjustment (stops)
Highlights adjustment
Shadows adjustment
Whites adjustment
Blacks adjustment
Temperature (Kelvin shift from as-shot)
Tint adjustment
Key Colour Mixer moves (which channels, which sliders)
Calibration changes (yes / no — describe)
Preset applied (name or none)
Export destination (Instagram / web / print)

Checklist: Preset Creation and Batch Edit Checklist

Complete a full edit on the hero image before creating a preset
Name the preset descriptively (Subject + Lighting + Version, e.g. Outdoor Portrait Warm v2)
Deselect Geometry and Crop from the preset before saving
Deselect Spot Removal from the preset before saving
Include Light, Color, Detail, Calibration, and Effects in the preset
Apply preset to 3 test images from the same shoot to verify it holds
In batch sync: select hero → select all → deselect hero → Sync
Review every synced image individually and trim Exposure ±0.3 as needed
Export batch as queue rather than individually

Video Production and Editing in CapCut

Plan and execute a 60-second reel from script to published post, tracking every production decision and the resulting engagement outcomes.

Exercise: 60-Second Reel Production Sprint

Plan, shoot, and publish one 60-second vertical reel this week. Use the three-act structure: hook (0–10s), value delivery (10–50s), payoff and CTA (50–60s). Track engagement for 48 hours after publishing.

Write the hook before you shoot a single frame. What is the single most arresting visual or audio moment in this reel? Does the first three seconds demand that the viewer stay?
List the five visual beats in act two. What information or emotion does each beat deliver? What footage supports each beat?
After editing, play the reel with the sound off. Does the story still communicate? If not, which beat is carrying the load entirely on audio?
Record the 48-hour engagement data: views, average watch time percentage, shares, saves. What does the drop-off point tell you about the weakest edit cut?

Worksheet: Reel Pre-Production Brief

Complete this brief before picking up your phone. Shooting without a brief produces footage that looks good in isolation but does not cut into a coherent story.

Reel title / working concept
Platform (Instagram / TikTok / YouTube Shorts / all three)
Target audience
Hook (first 3 seconds — describe the opening frame and audio)
Act 2 beat 1 — visual and information
Act 2 beat 2 — visual and information
Act 2 beat 3 — visual and information
Act 2 beat 4 — visual and information (optional)
Act 2 beat 5 — visual and information (optional)
Payoff / CTA (final 10 seconds)
Background music track name and source
Filming locations
Equipment needed (gimbal / LED panel / external mic / tripod)
Posting date and time
48-hour goal metric (views / saves / comments)

Checklist: Reel Publishing Checklist

Reel exported at 1080x1920, H.264, 30fps
Audio peaks verified — no clips above 0 dBFS
Captions added via CapCut Auto Captions and reviewed for accuracy
LUT applied at 70–80% opacity (not 100%)
Vignette added at 15–20% opacity
Film grain overlay added at 5–10% opacity for lens consistency
Hook confirmed: first 3 seconds do not show a logo or title card
CTA delivered in final 10 seconds
Cover frame selected (not auto-selected by platform algorithm)
Hashtags prepared (3–5 niche + 2–3 broad)
Caption written and reviewed before pasting into platform
Post scheduled or published at optimal audience time window

Your Action Plan

Day 1–2: Enable Pro/Manual mode, shoot the Exposure Control Comparison exercise (ISO 100 vs 1600 vs 1/15s), import into Lightroom Mobile
Day 3–4: Complete the Six-Day Composition Challenge days 1 and 2 (rule of thirds, leading lines)
Day 5–6: Complete composition challenge days 3–6 (negative space, natural framing, symmetry, depth layers)
Day 7: Build a three-point lighting setup at home using a window, white board reflector, and one LED panel; shoot ten portraits
Day 8–10: Complete the Full-Stack Portrait Edit exercise on your best shot from day 7; create your first custom preset
Day 11–12: Batch edit the remaining nine portraits from day 7 using your new preset; fill in the Edit Decision Record for all ten
Day 13–14: Shoot B-roll for your first reel using gimbal and 180-degree shutter rule; shoot at 24fps and 60fps for comparison
Day 15–17: Complete the Reel Pre-Production Brief, edit the 60-second reel in CapCut using L-cuts, J-cuts, and a LUT grade
Day 18: Publish the reel on at least one platform; add captions via Auto Captions; post at optimal audience time
Day 19–20: Track 48-hour engagement metrics; record watch-time drop-off point; identify the weakest edit cut for the next reel