One mug, two photos: a simple window-light photography exercise

You do not need an impressive location to practise photography. Put one mug beside a window, take two photos, and pay attention to the light. This simple exercise gives you one clear choice to make: which picture shows the mug's shape in a way you like?

Use your phone or camera and a mug you already own. The aim is to make your own comparison, rather than copy a finished example.

Watch the 25-second exercise

Watch the captioned lesson on YouTube.

Keep a printable practice sheet

Open the free one-page window-light practice sheet (PDF). Use it to record which of your two photos you prefer and why. No sign-in is required to view the sheet.

1. Choose one subject and a quiet background

Start with one mug on a table or another stable surface near a window. Leave enough space around the handle and rim so the outline is easy to read. Before taking the first photo, check the corners of your frame. A bright packet or a crowded shelf might draw your eye away from the mug.

Keep the setup simple. You can experiment with props later; for these first two pictures, one subject is enough.

2. Take your first photo

Notice which side of the mug is brighter and where its shadow falls. Take a photo from a comfortable, repeatable position. Remember your camera height and distance so you can make the next frame reasonably similar.

On an iPhone, tap the mug on screen to choose the focus area, then adjust the exposure control beside it if you want a brighter or darker picture. Apple explains these controls in its official camera-tools guide. Other phones may use different controls; check your model's camera help.

3. Try another position in the window light

Move the mug to another spot beside the window. Look again at the bright side, the darker side and the shadow on the table. Keep your camera height and distance as similar as practical, then take a second photo. Avoid changing lots of things at once: if you add props, change lenses and move the camera too, it becomes harder to notice what the light contributed.

There is no universal winning direction. In Nikon's natural-light food photography tutorial, Donna Crous discusses light direction, side shadows and trying different arrangements to find the look you prefer. You can apply that habit of looking and comparing to an ordinary mug.

4. Compare your own pictures

Look at the two photos together. Ask three questions:

• Can I see the rim, handle and outline clearly?
• Does the light help me notice the shape?
• Do the shadows and background support the picture I want?

Keep the frame you prefer and give yourself one reason. It might be the gentler shadow, a clearer handle, or simply the mood. You do not have to call one photo objectively better to learn from the difference.

If the result is not what you hoped

If the mug looks lost in the frame, try a simpler background. If the photo is soft, hold the phone more steadily and check focus. If the bright side loses detail, try a darker exposure and review the result. Take one extra picture after one small change.

A cloudy day, a different window or another time of day can give you another exercise with the same subject. Treat each result as something to inspect, rather than a promise that one setting will work everywhere.

Use a prompt to keep practising

Beat AI offers photography themes to try with a phone or camera. Practice is separate from entering a challenge. If you want to enter, choose an open theme, take your own original non-AI photo and sign in. Entered photos and scores are public. Check the current entry and upload rules and parent information before uploading.

For the app steps, read how to enter your first Beat AI photo. For another simple camera exercise, try two distances for a leaf close-up.

The accompanying mug lesson uses generated teaching illustrations, digital American narration and original instrumental music. Its examples are practice prompts, not participant photographs or a controlled camera comparison. Your own two photos are the comparison to make.