Absolute Beginner

boobar

Folks,

I'm interested in getting started in photography as a hobby.

At the moment, I just have a digital camera, not an SLR or anything fancy like that.

Can you recommend what I should do to get started:

What software to use for photo-editing.
Tips on how to get the most out of your camera.
Beginners magazines or subscriptions etc.

Any advice welcome.

boobar

DotOrg

boobar wrote: »

Can you recommend what I should do to get started:

the best advice is to simply go take lots and lots of photos. shoot things you enjoy, whether that be animals, landscapes, concerts, portraits, close up etc etc....

and then look at your photos critically and decide why the good ones are good and why the bad ones are bad. don't worry about software and all the technical stuff to start with. if you don't love the actual act of taking photos, all the other stuff doesn't matter

AnCatDubh

Take part in the challenges and assignments in the challenges sub forum to this forum (or most other photography fora).

Attend the meetups, photowalks (check expeditions subforum, and photowalk.ie), get yourself a shooting buddy.

In terms of books - try "understanding exposure" by bryan petterson. Not the be all and end all but not a bad place to start. That is usually what will be recommended. Have a read of the magazines in the eason's stand and see what has interest for you - landscapes, portraits, sports, etc...

Become active here and on other photography fora.

Start a pix.ie account. Start a flickr account. Upload. Join and post to groups. Share.

Get onto twitter and start following photographers. Upload some stuff and tweet about it include the #photography tag

Have fun.

Old Perry

DotOrg wrote: »

the best advice is to simply go take lots and lots of photos. shoot things you enjoy, whether that be animals, landscapes, concerts, portraits, close up etc etc....

and then look at your photos critically and decide why the good ones are good and why the bad ones are bad. don't worry about software and all the technical stuff to start with. if you don't love the actual act of taking photos, all the other stuff doesn't matter

+1, practice makes perfect, if its a pocket size point and shoot bring it everywhere with you and you wont miss an opertunity, What camera is it you have? take a look at some beginner tutorials on the net somewhere and then start trying out the different settings (learn about aperture,A, shutter speed,S, and manual mode,M where you control both A and S)

many of the magazines focus on slr users and are filled with reviews and tips on certain techniques so i wouldn go subscribing just yet, if you want to try out some software go for some of the free ones with basic editing and photo viewing like Picasa.

But if its experience you want its all about taken pictures lookin over them and then taken some more pictures, once you grow out of the point and shoot then its time for the SLR and thats where the real fun begins, best of luck and maybe let us see some of the results.........

johnmcdnl

I dunno if you have a camera that allows you to shoot manual but that's the first thing you should play with to learn...

Then just looks through all the photo's here to get inspiration and try and enter the competitions - try to get the different angle, the interesting shot...

a **** load of photos will be no good but when you get that perfect shot it'll be worth it... after a while more and more pictures will be the "perfect shot" but it just is gonna take practice and experimentation...

as for photo editing - personally I'd try to get the shots right first without editing and then after you get better start looking at maybe photoshop or if your not willing to splash the cash something like GIMP but I'd focus on using your camera first of all

shanona

I would say that as a beginner, to go with a camera similar to the Canon EOS 350D. I started with that as my first digital camera on Manual mode and learned a lot.

Once you have that, I say the best place to start is in your owners manual. It is important to know all the settings of your camera first and foremost.

Research online some beginners photography courses or consider taking a class somewhere locally.

good luck! i always love to see people taking up photography as a hobby!

Heebie

First.. what you take photos with as a beginner is not important.. as long as it takes pictures. (for starters)

As someone else said.. you should take pictures..and lots of them. You've got a digital.. so that's easy.

I try & look at things a bit differently than I think most people would see them.. looking at them from a spot most people don't bother going to, or looking from an angle that's weird to get to see.. but you should try & find your own way of looking at things.. and try to capture that in your pictures.
Play with different shooting modes on your camera.. force the flash not to work.. and force the flash to always work, and see what you get.

When you've messed around enough & decide it's something you enjoy, then think about other tools for getting different things on film. (With a point & shoot digital, you're kind of limited by the constraints of the tool (but if you did the above.. you've actually figured out what some of the limits are.. and you've said to yourself "I wish I could do..." many times.. and those things that you wish you could do tell you what you should get for camera kit in order to fill out your "tool kit")

For photo editing.. you'll hear a few names over & over again.. and a few here & there. Photoshop & Lightroom being the ones you'll probably hear the most. You'll also hear GIMP, Irfanview, Picasa, and a whole lot of others. I'd play with as many of those as you can get your hands on Different tools may work well for you than for me or anyone else on here.

The most important things are to 1.> enjoy what you're doing 2.> think about what you're doing & remember what works, so you can do it again. 3.> enjoy what you're doing.

boobar

Brilliant advice,

I'm really pleased so many of you took the time to advise a brand newbie. I appreciate it a lot.

I'm going to take on board your advice and enjoy getting stuck in.

Boobar

FoxT

I have an SLR & a few lenses. I enjoy using it & the photo quality is good. But it is all a bit unwieldy at times. I need a little backpack to carry it around, and it always takes a minute or two to set up. Usually I have to PLAN to go take photos with it. I am going to get a small point-and-shoot so that I can take more photos, more spontaneously.

My point -dont worry about getting the camera you think you would love - love the camera you've got! Take lots of photos. Read your camera handbook so you can get the best out of it. Over time you may identify particular shortcomings with it that are important to you. Then, consider investing in an upgrade.

For processing - there is loads of free software out there to help you get started. I like Picasa , but it will pay off for you to try a few different ones then use the one you like best.
Enjoy!

- FoxT

Mountainsandh

Hi Boobar, still learning loads myself... but have learned a lot from the internet.
Start by researching : beginner's photography or photography basics.
Once you've spotted the basic vocab (composition, exposure, iso...), make it your business to find out about each essential word/term you've encountered. Say, you could start by finding out and figuring out the term : "exposure", or "composition", and stick to it for a while.
I find it much easier to just focus on one thing at a time.

Don't rely on just one site, read loads about the one thing, with different explanations and different points of view.

I would say not only upload your own pics to Flickr or other photography site, but also, it might sound obvious but... look at others' pics.
Look at hundreds of pics !
Try and figure for yourself if you think they achieved good composition, or good exposure, etc.... It's very hard at the start.

Enjoy !

dazftw

If you really want to learn. Learn the history of photography as well as actually shooting. You will learn a lot from learning the history. Where we are now and where we have come from.

You can pick up a dvd called "the genius of photography" for about €20 on ebay. You will learn and gain so much inspiration from that series of 6 programmes.

Also get a film camera if your on a budget.

johnmcdnl

dazftw wrote: »

Also get a film camera if your on a budget.

As a beginner I know that film isn't what you want to get - I'd recommend maybe a decent bridge camera so you can get used to using the manual controls without having to buy a bag full of lenses...

when your starting out you want to be able to learn how to use the manual controls mainly and take as many shots as possible but instead of taking 100 shots of everything take 1-2 but think before you shoot... then you can see immediately whether it was good or bad on the camera itself without paying to get them developed..

thinking what effect etc etc your going for is the most important thing and just look online etc etc for inspiration to get ideas for shots..

and having the ability to use manual controls is the most important thing basically..

when you get good with the bridge then start considering buying a good dslr...

Personally I'm happy I didn't start on a dslr because I know I wouldn't have been able to afford a wide range of lenses but the bridge I use packs the whole lot into 1 for the same price as 1 good lens basically...

I know the pros here will disagree but bridge cameras are very very very good for learning to use cameras

Freddie59

johnmcdnl wrote: »

As a beginner I know that film isn't what you shouldn't get - I'd recommend maybe a decent bridge camera so you can get used to using the manual controls without having to buy a bag full of lenses...

when your starting out you want to be able to learn how to use the manual controls mainly and take as many shots as possible but instead of taking 100 shots of everything take 1-2 but think before you shoot... then you can see immediately whether it was good or bad on the camera itself without paying to get them developed..

thinking what effect etc etc your going for is the most important thing and just look online etc etc for inspiration to get ideas for shots..

and having the ability to use manual controls is the most important thing basically..

when you get good with the bridge then start considering buying a good dslr...

Personally I'm happy I didn't start on a dslr because I know I wouldn't have been able to afford a wide range of lenses but the bridge I use packs the whole lot into 1 for the same price as 1 good lens basically...

I know the pros here will disagree but bridge cameras are very very very good for learning to use cameras

I had a Fuji s5000 bridge camera for four years. Wonderful piece of equipment. Now have a Canon Eos 40D.

The bridge camera - at first glance - matches it. No question about it. But try viewing the pictures in large size and you will see the definition deteriorate.

I can't post pictures here - for some reason the feature is locked out on my account - but if you check my Flickr page (the set is called europe/USA - New York set only) you will see some photos taken with the s5000.

Compare them to the ones taken with the Canon.

You'll see what I mean.

Cheers,

Freddie.

magicbastarder

johnmcdnl wrote: »

As a beginner I know that film isn't what you shouldn't get

should or shouldn't?

johnmcdnl

Freddie59 wrote: »

I had a Fuji s5000 bridge camera for four years. Wonderful piece of equipment. Now have a Canon Eos 40D.

The bridge camera - at first glance - matches it. No question about it. But try viewing the pictures in large size and you will see the definition deteriorate.

I can't post pictures here - for some reason the feature is locked out on my account - but if you check my Flickr page (the set is called europe/USA - New York set only) you will see some photos taken with the s5000.

Compare them to the ones taken with the Canon.

You'll see what I mean.

Cheers,

Freddie.

definitely not arguing that the picture quality isn't far superior in a dslr - but if your only learning having to cough up the money for the kit of lens and the body is going to be a lot of commitment unless you have the money to splash out...

just a bridge is a very very good option if your still learning and don't have the money to go dslr...

Freddie59

johnmcdnl wrote: »

definitely not arguing that the picture quality isn't far superior in a dslr - but if your only learning having to cough up the money for the kit of lens and the body is going to be a lot of commitment unless you have the money to splash out...

just a bridge is a very very good option if your still learning and don't have the money to go dslr...

True, but just so's he/she won't be expecting too much. I really loved that Fuji (daughter still has it). Great, vibrant colours, and very sharp images.