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You have to start somewhere, dont ya?
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Hi guys,
Firstly, very nice site, just fell upon it. Some great pics about and some really useful info. Looking forward to chatting to you all.Right to my point / question.
Im an absolute beginner who’s had a an interest in photography for a long while. Im constantly taking photos on my phone and seeing what i can come up with and i have a canon powershot compact, which i one in work so ive been playing with the manual settings and seeing whats best. But now ive bit the bullet and bought an Canon EOS 350, I say if i have it ill use it!! It’ll just be a hobby for a while but it could (hopefully) develop, no pun intended :wink: into more.
So my question is. Where do I start? Do i go to the beech and just start experimenting with settings? Do i sit in my room taking different pics, on different settings, of that red candle. What did you do first?
Any advice is very welcome.Thanks
MunkyMunky,
Congrats on the purchase of the DSLR. You should do everything you said about going to the beach (watch out for sand getting into your camera though!) and taking pics in your room trying out all the different settings and getting to know and understand your camera alot better.
One thing you will need is some sort of photo editing software. Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Elements are probably the main ones that people use but there is free software out there like GIMP that you can download and use straight away.
It might seem boring or tedious but buying a book or two on photography about exposure and composition will really pay off. You’ll understand more how to get the image you see in your head into your camera and onto the computer. As you already mentioned, this site will more than answer any questions that you could ever think of. The knowledge base of the members of this forum are almost limitless I’d say. Just get the camera, get shooting, editing and posting on here for some feedback and in no time you’ll be seeing huge improvements with your photography.
People regularly meet up from this forum so they are great opportunities to get out and meet like minded people and enjoy your photography.
Looking forward to seeing you posting!Pete.
Welcome to Photography Ireland – you’ve done one of the things that I advise at the front end – see which one
My advice is:
- Read everything you can on the subject, magazine articles, postings in PhotoIreland, join a club (you don’t say where you are)
Look at images, go to galleries and think about what you are seeing – what do you like and why, what don’t you like and why. Can you emulate what you are seeking when looking at images – from this you will start to develop you style.
Talk to others and pick up tips and hints.
Go out and take photos – lots of them then go back to step 2 i.e. think about what you like and do not like
At this stage do not worry too much about photoshop – in my opinion you want to concentrate on capturing the image
Post images to this site for criticsm and comment – you will learn lots and fast
Most importantly enjoyMay you have lots of fun and develop a lifelong passion like many of the members here.
Thanks guys.
Puckpics, you say to read everything, do you mean general magazines, if so can you recommend any. The posts here? ive been sifting through and have been looking at the pics. I see what you are saying about a style. Some definite themes running through some of the galleries. I live in glasnevin, any clubs near by?
At the moment i am waiting for the camera to be delivered, so im hoping on the easter weekend i might get out and about. Will try post a few, see what youse think.Munky
Read the manual. When you think you understand it, read it again. Try to get onto TV and AV modes as quickly as possible. Keep going back to the manual over and over. A book that is commonly recommended is “Understanding Exposure”. Oh, yeah, re-read the manual.
When I bought my camera, I was a little scared to take it out. It sat in my room for a couple of weeks (unopened).
I woke up one morning and decided to take my first roll of film. I went on a little trip to collect my car from Bray .. i got the the bus, walked up bray (stopping on the way) got the car and then went to Brittas. I filled the roll pretty quickly and I liked the results.
To be honest I didn’t read the manual ’till after but I had to shoot manually anyway.Photograph your foot. Photograph the beach. Photograph the candle. You’ll eventually find what style you like best. You may decide that you never want to take photo’s of feet again, but love beach photos.
Hope this helps and do post some pics when you start.
Thanks Joe and Aimee. Ill be snapping everything….but will have to wait a while, checked my order and the EOS is out of stock till 20/04…. so a big fat doh to that.
Suppose ill start reading up on things in the meantime.
Cheers
MMunky wrote:
Thanks guys.
Puckpics, you say to read everything, do you mean general magazines, if so can you recommend any. ….
Munky
Last year I was subscribing to UK publication ‘Photography Monthly’ – lots of inspirational images and good photoshop guidance
This year – Professional PhotographerAlso – don’t forget your local library for borrowing photo text books.
And take lots of images – you’ll soon realise what you like to take images of….
Welcome to PI. You made a good purchase for a “first time” buyer and you’ll get plenty of help here. Best advice is go out and shoot……..its costing nothing nowadays ……….. and then you’ll see the obvious mistakes. Experiment with the equipment …….. its the best way to learn. Dont be afraid or ashamed to ask questions here. You’ll get good advice.
Great first camera, I’m using the same myself.
You are on the right track with your ideas as well,
the way i did it was just to go out at the weekends or spend time in the evenings
with one setting. Get the manual and go through each of the functions until you get
a basic understanding of what they are. That obviously is the beauty of digital.
You can experiment without having tonnes of crap shots printed.
Learn how to read the exif data as well, this can help you learn where some shots may be
tweaked to get them just right.
Also don’t be afraid to post shots here and ask for help. I’ve posted loads of shots that i know are
bad but i don’t know why. I’ve takent he comments and suggestions and revisted some locations and
actually came away with the shot i originally wanted to take.edit – use the 50 picture technique, I did this and it actually works.
Go out your back garden and take 50 unique pictures
go into your kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, your car, your local park,
your driveway. Doing this forces you to develop an eye for a shot.
It forces you to seek the shots out.
You may be surprised with some of the shots as wellHi guys.
Thanks again for the help. Camera arrived a few days back.
Went a bit nuts trying to figure out the settings and that….looks like ill busy for a while!!!Cheers
MunkyEDIT: Deleted the links and posted in the right place (I hope)
Thanks DaveMunky,
Best if you embed the images as people aren’t inclined to both click on the post and then into each image.
If you want the folks to review/critique then best to put the images in the critique forum.
Limit them to a max of 3 photos per post otherwise you mightn’t comments on each of them.Just some tips.
thanks
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