Marco Secchi

01/09/2026

The August Red Pen is now live.

This month I examine ten photographs, each offering a different lesson about structure, timing, gesture, light, scale or human behaviour.

The purpose is not to rank the photographs or declare them right or wrong. I look at what already works, what might be strengthened, and how small changes in position, framing, timing or processing could alter the result.

The edition also includes the announcement of a new monthly photography assignment, open to every reader and beginning next week.

Read the complete edition here:

Ten photographs, ten distinct ways of seeing, and a closer look at the choices that give each frame its structure, energy and voice.

01/09/2026

One of the most practical things I published this summer was also one of the easiest to miss.

I collected fifteen photography exercises into a downloadable field guide designed to help you notice more, make stronger decisions and bring home photographs that preserve the feeling of a journey, not simply the places you visited.

It works with a phone or any camera, and finishes with a ten-photograph sequencing challenge.

The complete guide is included for paid subscribers. If you overlooked it the first time, download it before your next trip, or use the exercises closer to home.

Your downloadable field guide is ready, with fifteen practical exercises to help you bring home photographs that still matter years later.

31/08/2026

Auto ISO gets a bad reputation it did not earn.

It is not surrendering control. It is deciding, in advance, exactly how much control you are willing to hand over and where.

The second lesson in my technical series covers the minimum shutter speed that actually protects your subject, why your ISO ceiling is probably too conservative, and why Manual mode with Auto ISO can be the most disciplined way to shoot, not the laziest.

Full lesson here:

How to protect shutter speed and depth of field while allowing the camera to respond to changing light

31/08/2026

Some views become classics for a reason. The Hungarian Parliament glowing above the Danube, Budapest at its most unmistakable.
Shot with Leica M11

29/08/2026

Budapest, waking in gold. 🌅

These four sunrise photographs are a reminder that the best light is worth getting up early for—and that familiar places can always reveal something new.

I offer private 1-to-1 photography workshops and masterclasses in Budapest, tailored to your experience, interests and creative goals. We can explore the city together, work with its beautiful morning light, and develop both your technical skills and personal visual style.

Visiting Budapest, or ready to see your own city differently? Send me a DM for details and availability.

26/08/2026

On Friday morning, the Moon will move deep into Earth’s shadow. Almost all of it, 96.3%, will disappear into darkness and turn some shade of red, copper or dull brown.

Around 3.34 billion people will be able to see part of this. Which means most eclipse photographs this week will look exactly the same. A red Moon floating in a black sky.

I think the more interesting photograph asks a different question. What is the Moon doing inside your frame? Is it measuring a landscape? Held between two towers? Disappearing behind a church roof as the sky lifts?

I wrote the complete practical plan for paid subscribers. Where to stand, which lens to choose, how to handle the huge shift in brightness, focus, and building a sequence without letting the camera take over.

Read it here:

The camera settings are the easy part. The photograph begins with deciding where the Moon belongs in your frame.

24/08/2026

Ever come home from a shoot, open a photo you were excited about, and find it's just a little soft? The focus point was on the person. Everything looked right in the viewfinder. And yet.

It's easy to assume the camera failed. Usually it didn't.

There are three separate reasons a photo can look soft, and they are easy to mix up. The wrong part of the frame was in focus. The camera moved during the exposure. Or your subject did. Each one leaves its own clue once you know where to look.

I walk through how to spot each cause, and how to choose a shutter speed that protects the detail that actually matters, in this week's lesson. First of a new eight-week series of short, focused technical reads.

Read it here:

The difference between missed focus, camera movement and subject movement, and the shutter speeds that prevent each one

23/08/2026

A photograph can be in focus and still look disappointingly soft. Before blaming the camera, you need to know whether the real problem is missed focus, camera movement or subject movement.

Starting Tomorrow Monday, I am introducing a new eight-week series on Through the Lens: shorter technical photography lessons, each built around one clearly defined problem. Some will cover essential fundamentals, while others will go considerably further. Every lesson will stand on its own and take about five minutes to read.

The first lesson is Your Photograph Is in Focus. So Why Is It Still Soft? It explains how to identify the three main causes of softness, how movement should influence your shutter speed and why a little more ISO is often the cheaper price.

Free subscribers can use one of their complimentary monthly reads, and eligible readers can begin a free seven-day trial.

Read Through the Lens:

The craft of seeing and the business of photography. By professional photographer, Getty Images contributor, workshop leader. Every week: the craft of seeing, the business of photography, and what it actually takes to build a career with a camera. Click to read Through the Lens 📷, by Marco Secchi...

21/08/2026

https://substack.com//note/c-318646982

Budapest is not a city you photograph once and understand. It rewards return visits. Different light. Different season. Different mood on the Danube. I run private photography workshops there, just you, one on one, tailored to your level and camera. Sessions from a 4 hour sunrise or twilight shoot u...