You know how to work your camera. Learn what to set, and why.
Catchlight is a self-paced, shoot-along course for people who own a DSLR or mirrorless camera and want genuinely good photos out of it. Fourteen lessons, brand-agnostic settings, and a practice drill at the end of every one.
$59 one-time, plus applicable taxes · Full access
Read 2 lessons free first — no account neededpractice drills — you learn with the camera in your hands, not on the page.
symptom-to-fix answers, for every way a photo can come out wrong.
ready-to-use settings recipes — a starting point for every situation you will meet.
What you'll learn
Enough theory to make your own decisions, then one photo type per lesson until they are all second nature.
One simple price
Buy it once. Every lesson, every reference, and every update.
Frequently asked questions
Does it work for both DSLR and mirrorless cameras?
Yes, equally. Every lesson is written for both, and wherever a mirrorless body changes the workflow — Eye-AF, the live EVF exposure preview, focus peaking, the silent shutter — a Mirrorless note says how. Nothing here is brand-specific — we name the setting, not your camera's menu path.
Do I have to buy any gear?
No. Every lesson opens with a kit-lens path that gets you the shot on the kit zoom that came with your camera — typically an 18–55mm, 16–50mm or 15–45mm. Upgrades are named one at a time, cheapest and most useful first — a 50mm f/1.8, a basic tripod, a small flash, a remote release — and each one is optional. Reflectors, softboxes, and studio strobes are deliberately out of scope.
I do not know any theory. Is that a problem?
That is what Module 1 is for. Five lessons take you from what exposure actually is through aperture, shutter, ISO, metering, and reading light — with drills at a kitchen table. Everything after that assumes only what Module 1 taught you.
Can I test what I have learned?
Yes — the course ends with a self-graded final test: twenty-eight questions, two from each lesson. It is not trivia, since each question is a decision you would make with a camera in your hands. It checks itself the moment you submit, and nobody else sees your answers. A right answer gets a check mark, while a wrong one names the correct answer, explains why, and links to the exact section of the lesson that covers it. Nothing is timed or recorded, and you can retake it as often as you like.
How long does it take?
About 18 hours in total, but that figure includes the shooting. Each lesson is a 20-minute read plus a practice session of 30 to 90 minutes, and it is entirely self-paced. We suggest about one lesson a week for a typical learner, so there is time to shoot between lessons, but the pace is yours to set — go as fast or as slow as you like.
Is my camera too old?
Almost certainly not. Nothing in the course needs a recent body or a fast lens; the physics of aperture, shutter, and ISO has not changed. Where a modern feature genuinely helps — subject-detection autofocus, in-body stabilization — it is flagged as a convenience, with the manual method taught alongside it.
How do payment and access work?
A single one-time payment, handled by Stripe. There is no subscription and nothing to cancel. You get every lesson, all nine printable references, and free updates as the course is revised, on any device, for as long as the course is offered.
Start taking better photos with the camera you already own
$59 one-time, plus applicable taxes, no subscription, and 2 lessons you can read before you decide.