Complete photography novice looking for advice.

[TheJoker]

Take what ever camera you bought and find new lighting conditions to work with and shoot shoot shoot.  Get home, open them on some form of photo software and work with what you have.  Nothing will replace practice.

 

If you plan to stick with the format of camera you bought (DSLR, Micro 4/3 or others) buy a few prime fixed low aperture lens as they will make a big difference in low light.  A good friend who is a professional told me, buy glass (lens) not bodies as they will last forever.

 

Joker... 

[likeaking]

Read this years ago, "The best camera is the one you take with you.". So I bought a Canon Powershot S95 and have had it in my pocket ever since. 

[jiz]

Read this years ago, "The best camera is the one you take with you.". So I bought a Canon Powershot S95 and have had it in my pocket ever since. 

I did allot of street photography with a compact camera when digital was new technology & immediately noticed my random photo subjects tensed up when I went from the compact cameras to carrying a DSLR.

To be honest, my new iPhone 7 camera is blowing me away.

[vimto66]

I did allot of street photography with a compact camera when digital was new technology & immediately noticed my random photo subjects tensed up when I went from the compact cameras to carrying a DSLR.

To be honest, my new iPhone 7 camera is blowing me away.

Some of the camera phones produce just as good or better results in my opinion,my iphone takes better pics than my last two digital cameras,admittedly i might not have coaxed the best out of them but im not a camera geek.

[dmxxmc]

don't use it auto mode, learn about what aperture, shutter speed and ISO are for. try to use it in Manual mode always.

you will need a tripod and remote control if you take long exposure shots (low light / at night etc)

take pictures in RAW mode and learn how to use Lightroom or Photoshop

and bring it with you wherever you go.

[Encora]

shoot photos in RAW format, get a copy of adobe photoshop. taking good photos requires knowing when to take a photo and capturing the moment in an interesting way. That can't really be teached

 

Another poster also suggested that, I disagree.

 

RAW, Certainly!

 

Buy a copy of Photoshop Lightroom instead.

 

The original photoshop is a dog, much harder to learn then Lightroom.

 

Lightroom is more intuitive, and will do virtually everything PS can do, but simpler.

 

I do endorse the comment about a fixed focal length fast lens, I'd suggest a 35mm/2.0 or 1.4

 

Lighter then your zoom, sharper and faster.  Go out, put your camera on Aperture preferred, open the lens wide (2.00 or 1.4) Set ISO to auto, And treat it like a point and shoot...

 

I am not saying always, but it is a good place to start. Simply because you reduce the number of variables that you need to worry about while taking a photograph. I like Billy's suggestion about a point and shoot camera, but usually their quality is lousy and now you already have a good machine, use it.

 

After a while, you introduce more variables, like Shutterspeed preferred, self set ISO, etc, experiment. But in the beginning, the simpler the better.

 

When photographing people, especially cute girls, focus on the eyeball closest to you, half depress your shutter button to fix the focus, then hold it it half down, compose your shot and press the button.

 

And once you have used it here in Pattaya, make sure to show us the results...

[Hornet65]

I use a Canon 5DII with a Canon 27-70 f2.8 lens.   I purchased some cheap "Shoot Thru" white Umbrellas (3 in total). A backdrop stand with white backdrop and 3 stands to hold my 3 Canon 430exII Speedlites.

 

This all fits nicely inside 1 case in addition to a few sets of ladies lingerie.

 

A crude set up that gets some fair results.

[Big G]

I use a Canon 5DII with a Canon 27-70 f2.8 lens.   I purchased some cheap "Shoot Thru" white Umbrellas (3 in total). A backdrop stand with white backdrop and 3 stands to hold my 3 Canon 430exII Speedlites.

 

This all fits nicely inside 1 case in addition to a few sets of ladies lingerie.

 

A crude set up that gets some fair results.

Canon 27/70 f2.8, never heard of one, maybe a Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8?

 

G

[Hornet65]

Canon 27/70 f2.8, never heard of one, maybe a Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8?

 

G

 

Yes, you are right.  Sorry, my lack of typing skills!

[fusionx]

Others have said to shoot in RAW format. I'd suggest that you do NOT do this until you learn how to use Lightroom, or the RAW conversion software that comes with your camera. 

 

RAW formats REQUIRE editing. JPG from the camera has been adjusted by the camera's processor, according to whatever scene mode you have set. RAW images look dull and flat straight out of the camera (SOOC). You will hate you photos until you learn to post process.

 

Lightroom is likely the best available tool to use for RAW or JPG images. Someone above said it does anything Photoshop can do only easier. That is patently false. Lightroom can do everything Adobe RAW can do, and Adobe RAW is part of Photoshop. Photoshop itself can do FAR more. That said, he's right in that Lightroom is much easier to learn and use. Lightroom also gives you a complete catalog system that makes it so much easier to organize your photos. 

 

There are two key processes to learning to take great photographs. One is technical: learn your camera inside and out. Learn the exposure triangle, and learn how aperture affects exposure, and depth of field. Depth of field is critical. The other is learning composition - the Art side of the equation. Learn to see. Learn to see a great photograph waiting for you. Learn the basic "rule of thirds". You don't always have to obey that rule, but it's very good to know, and to know when to break it.

 

A great way to learn is to set your lens at 50mm and leave it there. Move and look, then move some more. Take lots of photos, make notes (written or mental if you have a good memory) and compare the resulting photos later. Take a photo standing up, then crouch down and do it again. Move three feet to the right, or back, or closer. Rinse and repeat. Perspective is everything. 

 

One more tip - compose your photos with a little extra room around the edges, so you can crop later. You'll often want to crop for artistic appeal, and you will NEED to crop to get different print sizes and rations, E.G. 8x10, 5x7, and so on. 

Read everything you can - there is a vast amount of excellent information on the web for free. Practice, then practice some more. 

Eventually you will be able to look at a given scene, set your camera efficiently and quickly, and compose a good shot. 

 

Learn to post-process your photos, and (very important!) learn when to stop post-processing. My number one sin is over-processing photos. I have to force myself to "keep it real". I'm partial to vibrant colors and critical sharpness, and while my photos can look great, they don't always look natural. Natural with attitude is what I go for now. 

 

Most of all, have fun

[Scumbag]

Others have said to shoot in RAW format. I'd suggest that you do NOT do this until you learn how to use Lightroom, or the RAW conversion software that comes with your camera.

While I see your point about people not knowing how to treat RAW files that doesn't mean they shouldn't store them while shooting. If they have them they can always return at a later point to edit a favourite photo to improve it. They would just need to store the files as a jpeg as well as a RAW file. Learning to do basic processing of RAW files is not difficult (at least in Photoshop it isn't).

[Wolf Cat]

All the above suggestions are good, another thing is to practice with the same objects near and far but use different settings and write down the settings so you will know what works best at what distances and lighting conditions.  

[bungee]

Lots of advice but no one seems to have asked what you want to photograph? Are you thinking of indoor photography? are you thinking of close ups (macro)? or landscaped? or all of these?

 

For indoor you will need a flash and possibly some lights. For both a tripod will help and a remote shutter really helps as it eliminates camera wobble. ebay is often the best place to pick photograophy stuff up unless you're happy paying high street prices.

 

As people have said above there are lots of photography courses online. You can pay or download and watch at your own pace. https://torrentproject.se/?t=photography.

[jiz]

A short tutorial on lighting gear.

[Wolf Cat]

. You can pay or download and watch at your own pace. https://torrentproject.se/?t=photography.

Pay? Piratebay is on your side;

 

https://thepiratebay.org/search/photography%20101/0/99/0

[Hornet65]

While I see your point about people not knowing how to treat RAW files that doesn't mean they shouldn't store them while shooting. If they have them they can always return at a later point to edit a favourite photo to improve it. They would just need to store the files as a jpeg as well as a RAW file. Learning to do basic processing of RAW files is not difficult (at least in Photoshop it isn't).

 

Great advice!!

 

I only started shooting RAW as recently as 4 years ago, and am kicking myself.  All that great data for processing lost forever!   Better to have too much than not enough.