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Portrait
Portrait · Golden hour
Wide enough to soften the background. Tight enough to keep both eyes in focus.
Simple Photographer 101Coming soon
Manual mode,in 30 minutes.
85% of camera owners never leave Auto. It's not a confidence problem — it's a teaching problem. Drag a slider, watch the photo change, and learn the exposure triangle in one sitting.
The truth about your camera
85%
of camera owners never leave Auto mode.
Source: Adobe / B&H photography surveys, 2014–2024.
It's not your fault. Camera menus were designed by engineers, not teachers. Most beginners never see what aperture, shutter, and ISO actually do — they just see numbers.
30 minutes. One slider. You're out of Auto.
The simulator
Drag a slider.
Watch what aperture actually does.
Three apertures, same scene. The number on the lens stops being a number — it becomes a feeling.
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Everything sharp
Aperture closed. Foreground and horizon both crisp.
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Subject pops
Background softens, the eye lands on the subject.
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Creamy bokeh
Wide open. Background dissolves into pure light.
Inside the app, this is one slider you drag with your thumb. Same slider for shutter speed and ISO.
The triangle, color-coded
Three settings.
Three colors.
One mental model.
Every screen in the app uses the same code. Aperture is purple. Shutter is gold. ISO is cyan. After ten minutes, you stop reading the labels — you just see the colors.
- Aperture — how wide the lens opens.
- Shutter — how long the sensor sees.
- ISO — how loud the sensor listens.
- Aperturef/2.8
How wide the lens opens.
- Shutter1/250
How long the sensor sees.
- ISO200
How loud the sensor listens.
Steal these settings
Three settings, three vibes.
Recipes are flash cards built for the moment you're standing at the camera. Big numbers, no clutter.
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Travel
Travel · Bright daylight
Sharp from front to back. Postcard-ready depth, no motion blur.
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Night
Night · Handheld
Open the lens, let the photons in. Modern sensors handle ISO 1600 cleanly.
Brand-aware lessons
Built around your camera.
Tutorials reference the dial markings on your camera — not Canon's in general, not Nikon's in general. Yours specifically.
Canon
Rebel · R50 · R10
Nikon
Z30 · D3500 · Z50
Sony
a6000 · ZV-E10 · a6400
Fujifilm
X-T30 · X-S10 · X-T5
No camera yet? The simulator works without one. When you pick one up later, the lessons grow with you.
Two minutes a day
One nudge.
Then go shoot.
A 2-minute prompt that fits between sips of coffee. Skip a day, your streak forgives you. We won't make a fuss.
5-day streak — don't break it.
Today's challenge · 2 min
Find a leading line on your way to coffee.
Sidewalks, fences, escalators — anything that pulls the eye into the photo.
Try itSkip today
How we teach
Built like a tool,
not a textbook.
You do, you learn.
Every concept is a thing you do, not a thing you read. No 40-minute YouTube tutorials.
Speaks your camera.
Lessons reference your Canon, Nikon, Sony, or Fuji dial. Universal guidance for everything else.
One nudge a day.
A 2-minute daily challenge keeps the habit alive. Skip-friendly streaks — no guilt.
Mastery, not points.
No XP, no badges. You learn one thing well, then the next. Progress, quietly.
FAQ
Honest answers.
- I shoot on Auto and feel dumb. Will this actually work?
- That's exactly who we built it for. The simulator teaches the cause and effect first — drag a slider, see what aperture does — and the buttons come last. Most people go from Auto-only to dialing manual in their first 30 minutes.
- Do I need a camera to use it?
- No. The simulator runs entirely in the app, on your phone screen. If you do own a camera, you also get brand-specific button guides for Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Fujifilm.
- Which cameras are supported?
- Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Fujifilm dial markings at launch. If you shoot something else (Pentax, Olympus, Panasonic), you'll get the universal mode-dial guidance — every concept still applies.
- Does it work offline?
- Yes. Lessons and the simulator run offline. The daily challenge needs network for the prompt itself; once you have today's challenge, you can shoot it anywhere.
- Who builds Simple Photographer 101?
- Simple Photographer 101 is built and maintained by SimpleApps, the same team behind Simple Reminder, focused on single-purpose mobile apps at simpleapps.ai.
