How to Photograph Anything: 100 Subject Tutorials

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100 tutorials · Updated 2026-05-08 For practitioners, see our breakdown of ISO and color saturation. For practitioners, see our breakdown of backup workflow off the laptop.

This is the master index of every “How to Photograph X” tutorial published on Shut Your Aperture.
Each tutorial covers a single photographic subject end-to-end: why it is technically challenging,
the gear that actually makes a difference, a printable camera settings cheat sheet, timing and
conditions advice, the five most common mistakes, a step-by-step shoot guide, and a Lightroom plus
Luminar Neo post-processing workflow. All 100 tutorials are organized below by subject category.

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Photo by Design by Matt / source / CC CC0

Use the category navigation to jump to the subjects most relevant to your current work.
Each tutorial is a standalone guide — you can read them in any order. For a complete sequential
learning path, start with the Light and Exposure Techniques category and then move to your primary
shooting genre.

Jump to a category

Night Sky and Astrophotography (11 tutorials)
Weather and Atmospheric Conditions (9 tutorials)
Water and Aquatic Subjects (6 tutorials)
Light and Exposure Techniques (8 tutorials)
People, Pets, Food, and Macro Subjects (19 tutorials)
Motion and Action Photography (10 tutorials)
Abstract and Creative Techniques (5 tutorials)
Indoor and Low-Light Photography (14 tutorials)
Urban and Street Photography (18 tutorials)

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Night Sky and Astrophotography

Night sky photography rewards patience and planning more than any other genre. From the Milky Way galactic core to rare comet appearances, these tutorials cover every astrophotography subject with exact settings, dark-sky location advice, and post-processing workflows for RAW astrophotography files.

Weather and Atmospheric Conditions

Weather conditions are the most powerful natural light modifiers available to photographers. Fog, rain, snow, lightning, and dramatic overcast skies each require specific settings and techniques to capture well. These tutorials cover every major weather scenario with safety notes, gear protection advice, and condition-prediction methods.

Lightroom preset packs for every subject

The ShutYourAperture shop carries subject-specific Lightroom preset packs ($19 each) calibrated for each photography condition covered in these tutorials. Each pack includes 5-8 presets with one-click starting points that match the workflows described in the guides.

Browse Preset Packs →

Water and Aquatic Subjects

Water is the most compositionally versatile natural subject in photography — from 0.5-second silky waterfall exposures to frozen water-droplet macro shots. These tutorials cover every water subject with specific ND filter guidance, shutter speed recommendations, and post-processing for water highlights.

Light and Exposure Techniques

Understanding and controlling light is the foundation of all photography. These tutorials cover the specific techniques for photographing with and against every major natural light condition — from harsh noon sun to the brief magic hour window — with exposure, color, and composition guidance for each.

People, Pets, Food, and Macro Subjects

People, animals, food, and flowers each have specific technical requirements that differ significantly from landscape or architecture photography. These subject-specific tutorials cover autofocus modes, depth of field, natural light setups, and editing approaches for each subject category.

Motion and Action Photography

Freezing fast action or using intentional blur for creative effect requires specific shutter speed knowledge, continuous autofocus mastery, and burst-mode technique. These motion tutorials cover every genre from sports to ICM with specific settings and real-world timing advice.

Lightroom preset packs for every subject

Browse Preset Packs →

Mirrorless camera on tripod demonstrating camera gear setup — Photo by Tim Sullivan / source / CC CC0

Abstract and Creative Techniques

Abstract and creative photography techniques push beyond literal subject capture into intentional optical effects. Bokeh, lens flare, double exposure, zoom burst, and ICM all require deliberate technique that these tutorials explain step by step.

Indoor and Low-Light Photography

Indoor photography presents the combined challenges of low ambient light, mixed color temperatures, and limited space. These tutorials cover every indoor genre — from concert halls to museum galleries — with specific settings for each ambient light type and venue constraint.

Urban and Street Photography

Urban and street photography spans everything from blue-hour cityscapes to candid market scenes. These tutorials cover architecture, night streets, reflections, and people-in-place compositions with city-specific light and timing advice.

How to use this hub

Each tutorial in this index follows the same structure so you can navigate directly to the
section you need without reading the entire guide:

Why this is hard — the specific technical challenges of the subject
Gear you actually need — priority-ordered gear list with explanations
Camera settings cheat sheet — printable table of recommended starting settings
Timing and conditions — when to shoot and how to predict optimal conditions
Composition and location — where to position yourself and how to frame the subject
5 common mistakes — the specific errors that ruin most attempts at this subject
Step-by-step shoot guide — a sequential field workflow
Post-processing — Lightroom workflow and Luminar Neo AI tools for this subject
FAQ — the four questions photographers ask most about this subject

All tutorials include affiliate links to relevant gear on B&H Photo and to the
Skylum Luminar Neo editing tools referenced in the
post-processing sections. ShutYourAperture earns a small commission on purchases made through
these links at no extra cost to you. All gear and software recommendations are based on what
the ShutYourAperture editorial team and contributors actually use in the field.

Where to start

If you are new to ShutYourAperture, here are the three tutorials most photographers find most
immediately useful regardless of experience level:

How to Photograph Sunsets — covers exposure, timing, and graduated ND filters
How to Photograph Fireworks — covers Bulb mode and remote trigger technique
How to Photograph the Milky Way — covers dark sky planning and astrophotography settings

Field guide PDFs for location and subject shoots

Every major subject category on this hub has a companion field guide PDF ($47) with printable settings cheat sheets, location maps, gear lists, and Lightroom workflows — everything from the online tutorial in a form you can take into the field without a data connection.

Browse Field Guide PDFs in the shop →

About this tutorial series

The How to Photograph series on Shut Your Aperture launched in 2026 as a companion to the
Aperture Academy. Each tutorial is written and fact-checked by photographers
who have shot the specific subject in real field conditions. Settings recommendations are tested
across multiple camera systems (Sony FE, Canon RF, Nikon Z, and Fujifilm X) before publication.

Tutorials are published on a rolling schedule — check back weekly for new subjects from the
index above. If a tutorial link is not yet active, the guide is in the publishing queue and will
be live within weeks.

For questions, corrections, or subject requests, use the Contact page.

Find guided experiences & locations for this subject

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The Working Photographer's Kit

What to Pack

A focused landscape kit handles every shot at Anything without breaking your back. Here is the working photographer's pack list — every link goes to B&H Photo Video (our primary supplier) or Amazon (for accessories and same-day delivery in the US).

What & Why	B&H	Amazon
Wide-angle zoom (14-35mm range) The single most important lens for sweeping vistas. Pair with a circular polarizer for skies and water.	Shop B&H →	Shop Amazon →
Sturdy travel tripod Carbon fiber, packs to 15 inches, holds steady in wind off the coast. Essential for blue-hour and long-exposure work.	Shop B&H →	Shop Amazon →
Circular polarizer (77mm or 82mm) Cuts haze, deepens sky, reveals texture in water. Non-negotiable for landscape work.	Shop B&H →	Shop Amazon →
10-stop ND filter For 30-second exposures that turn moving water and clouds into silk.	Shop B&H →	Shop Amazon →
Extra batteries (3 minimum) Cold weather and long exposures eat batteries. Carry triple what you think you need.	Shop B&H →	Shop Amazon →
Fast SD/CFexpress cards V90 or CFexpress depending on your body. Two cards minimum so a failure mid-trip is recoverable.	Shop B&H →	Shop Amazon →
Microfiber lens cloths Salt spray, mist, and dust will ruin every shot if you don't carry a cloth.	Shop B&H →	Shop Amazon →

B&H and Amazon links are affiliate links. We earn a small commission on purchases at no extra cost to you. We only recommend gear we use or would buy ourselves.