New to photography; some pro-tips or good books?

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New to photography; some pro-tips or good books?

Postby Aadje » Sun Aug 14, 2011 8:40 pm

Well, about a year ago my gf obtained her brother's Canon EOS 350D, which he barely used. And for a whole year I managed to steer clear of it (is that an actual English proverb?), but I finally gave it a try. I read some beginner's guides on internet and believe it or not, I am shooting nice pictures. At least, I imho. Result: I found myself an extra hobby.

And I know, for a fact, I am not the only one here on TMC. So, does anyone has some pro-tips for a poor old photography noob? Or some decent books worth reading?

Thanks!
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RE: New to photography; some pro-tips or good books?

Postby motoman » Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:46 am

When I started to train as a photographer we had big heavy sheet film cameras. This was to teach us to look and compose before we pressed the tit. Even with press work you had to roll the film on for the next shot so focus and composition were vital. There was no instant check so only the darkroom could tell you how well you had done.

With digital you have time to play. See a good shot and take a quick shot, then relook at the scene with a more critical eye. Note the balance and the things you want to see in the shot. Set the camera to auto, once you begin to see how the scene can be improved you can then learn to use metering to clean up the contrast and lighting. The Canon is a fair camera and will give satisfactory results however you use it. To get better results your own eye is your best critic, this is then the time to practice with exposure control, different metering and aperture settings.
I am too far out of date to suggest books to read as my Linhof guide to field photography and my Ilforf manual (My Bible) went out of print 50 years ago.
A good way to see how well you can do is to try ultra macro work, stick it on a tripod and shoot close ups of flowers, even better if a bee is feeding. Find old buildings and get shots of ancient wood and stone. Above all, enjoy it.
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RE: New to photography; some pro-tips or good books?

Postby lukas » Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:10 pm

Wow, you've got yourself a potentially expensive new hobby there. Have you already PIDed it? Oh, er, wrong context ;)

Have fun! I love photographing but have really no clue how it works, and am really not willing to start a new hobby right now. Am quite satisfied with the camera on the N8 ;)
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RE: New to photography; some pro-tips or good books?

Postby Aadje » Mon Aug 15, 2011 2:49 pm

Have you already PIDed it?

It already has a LCD display and computer interface, so there is nothing I can do to improve it . . . :D

Thanks Motoman for the advice!
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Re: RE: New to photography; some pro-tips or good books?

Postby Dahtac » Mon Aug 15, 2011 3:00 pm

Aadje wrote:
Have you already PIDed it?

It already has a LCD display and computer interface, so there is nothing I can do to improve it . . . :D

Thanks Motoman for the advice!


Moar lenses & filters, closest to modding you shall get.

Although that said far pricier than adding a PID :)
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RE: Re: RE: New to photography; some pro-tips or good books?

Postby Aadje » Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:25 pm

Indeed . . . :(

I added the EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens to my list of stuff I want. It's 'only' 100 euros. But first I think I need to concentrate on getting nice pictures in the first place and getting the hang of it.
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Postby Dahtac » Mon Aug 15, 2011 6:48 pm

The 50mm 1.8 is a great lens, I opted to drop the kit lens and pick it up instead when I purchased my 500d. Many happy pictures.

I have my eye on another 2 lenses before I am done for the moment. Next upgrades after that will be if I ever decide I want more than a hobby quality lens
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Postby EspressoSquirrel » Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:52 pm

some people get a bit funny, when i suggest this, but you shouldn't spend all your time taking photos, give yourself a good bit of time to process, crop and dare i say it manipulate your photos. Shoot only in RAW and don't be afraid of going crazy with altering it. Adobe lightroom or iPhoto/apature are digital darkrooms, and when i did black and white photography I learned how to use all the tricks first, sometimes way over the top but at least I learnt all the tools i needed.

when I start putting gradients and colour shifts all over my photos sometimes people get very worked up as if I am changing reality somehow. But most of the time its all about showing in the image what I could see being there.

in the darkroom i would always burn in the tops of my images to stop the sky from going to white, but i put a gradient on in lightroom people think i'm cheating.

a well cropped photo is very important too, don't be restricted to 6:4 images either.

The other benefit is you spend a lot longer looking at your photos, its easy now to take hundreds of photos and often you just skip through and throw so much away . But you are throwing away learning material, carefully assess what is good and bad about each image, sometimes you find a keeper in something you first thought was a mistake.
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Postby motoman » Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:50 am

Never make the mistake of letting your family give their opinion. All they see is a picture you took and will tell you how good you are. Show me and I'll have you crying.

PM me if you need photoshop.
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Postby Aadje » Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:42 am

Well, you can find my ever increasing collection on my flickr, I'm quite curious now if you really can make me cry ;) http://www.flickr.com/photos/varttaanen/

I've used photoshop as part of my study, but am now trying out lightroom. I quite like it, it has more/better organising features (including uploading to flickr), at the expense of not being able to do truly everything. But it seems to me lightroom has enough options to enhance/edit photos.
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Postby Chris » Tue Aug 16, 2011 1:26 pm

Nice Aadje, I assume you are using the Canon you mentioned above, what lenses are you using for the pix on flickr?
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Postby Aadje » Tue Aug 16, 2011 1:37 pm

Yes, I use the Canon indeed, except the first pic, it was taken with my HTC Desire.
I mostly use the kit lens EFS 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, and sometimes the EF 75-300 III that we have also. But the latter is a bit useless indoors . . .
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Postby Chris » Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:51 pm

Wow, I have pretty much the same kit as you then but have never managed to take such nice photographs... inspires me to do better. I love the one with your cat's eyes peeking from the shadows... and the speedster photo is great!
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Postby Aadje » Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:33 pm

Thanks! But the cat's eyes from the shadows was taken with my smartphone . . . so no fancy kit :) and the blur/vignetting thingy was produced by photoshop app for android.

And be sure to share your pics when you shoot some nice ones.
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Postby Aadje » Tue Aug 23, 2011 8:44 am

Well, I bought The Photographer's Mind: Creative Thinking for Better Digital Photos by Micheal Freeman. A great read with many pictures and explanations. He discusses creativity, composition and such, and does not imply to buy more and expensive lenses.

And it's part of a series so when I'm finished with this one, there's more :)

Oh and I got myself an 8GB compact flash card, better than the 512 MB we've had.
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