Help a beginner?

[LamaSabachthani]

Hey guys,

I'm a curious individual who wants to get more involved in photography and to capture some of the world around me and express myself through this medium.

I do not however have any photographer friends or any photographers in the family.

Perhaps you guys with far greater expertise than I can give me a few hints of what sort of equipment, books, and resources a beginner might investigate and look into to start exploring the world of photography?

Thanks gents!

 

[LamaSabachthani]

come on chaps, 34 views and not a single response? Surely someone out there can reach down like the Hand of Providence and help me out?

 

[JeffFromMtl]

This was posted in the Photography thread, and is a good reference point for what values you'll want to monitor and adjust while you shoot:

Pixtus Photography Cheat Sheet

If you have any queries, you could probably PM ThePhilosopher, as he's the one who posted this, and really knows what he's talking about. I believe I may have read that he teaches a photography course as well.

 

[MFB]

I took an Intro to Photography course at my community college, and to be perfectly honest, I feel like photography is one of those things that in the beginning you've just got to go out there and start doing it. Biggest question is: are you interested in doing digital photography with just a point and shoot camera, then editing later, or perhaps you want to do a 35mm camera and work with film and negatives etc?

Me personally, I love LOVE working with film and it's just an experience in itself. I gave a shit about what I shot and strived to do interesting compositions with my guitars when I used them for class; but taking those rolls and working in the darkroom at night all alone, just me, my iPod and the film chemicals was so surreal and it's hard to explain unless you've had something like it. Going from this what-appears-to-be-blank roll of film, and being careful not to expose it and ruin all those shots, then to look at your negatives and say "I did this" is unbelievable.

If that's the route you choose, good starter cameras are old Pentax models, as well as Nikons/Nikkormats (subdivision of Nikon at the time). I used a Nikkormat for my year of film, and it treated me well. I ended up getting a Nikon body and dozens of lens from my dad for Advanced Photography and I'll never get rid of them since they were his during his time in the Army during the late 70's/early 80's which were just as good. I loved the light meter on the Nikkormat but the body of the Nikon was so much lighter and was slightly easier to change lenses with so I just learned how to read lighting without the meter and made due.

I'd say do some reading on f-stops and using them in conjuncture with the exposure times like 1/100th of a second and etc... then pick up one of those cameras I mentioned, learn how to put the film in and how to take it out, then just shoot and see what happens. Film is dirt cheap so total it'd cost you like, $20 for the camera + $X for the film then have it developed wherever you want and yeah?

 

[LamaSabachthani]

Awesome man. Thank you very much. Truth be told, I'm not sure what I want. I think I do like the idea of working with that physical, tangible object which you would get with traditional film, but I suspect that the digital medium might be a bit more versatile, given that I don't have immediate access to a photography laboratory or indeed, even anyone to teach me how to develop and so on.

Thanks for the help and advice though!

 

[rahul_mukerji]

So there's a couple of things to do

1. Remember 95% of all photographers DO NOT need anything more than an 8.0 megapixel camera. So if someone's trying to sell you a 15 MP camera and bragging about it, WALK AWAY. They do not know what they are talking about. If you buy a 15MP or more (or even more than 12, buy an external HDD since the pics are gonna eat space like crazy).

2. Walk down to your local camera store (not BestBuy) and walk up to the counter and say "Hi, I want to take up photography as a hobby, can you help me pick a camera". If the store is genuine, the person will probably walk you through what camera's are suited for beginners and will offer you some kind of store class. Penn Camera / Ritz Camera all have these classes. And some are free if you purchase a camera from there. Pick their card and walk out.

3. Now walk into 3 other stores and do the same. This will give you an idea of what most people think is a good camera for you and you will have a decent idea of what works best.

4. The MOST important decision you're gonna have to make is BUDGET. Everything else is decided by that. Once you have a budget it will narrow down what you can buy.

5. Once you're down to 3-5 camera models [D-SLR or point 'n shoot] try each of them and read about their pros and cons. this will help narrow down the list even more.

6. Remember, what is a pro for someone MAY not necessarily translate into a pro for you. Same for con.

7. Once you get a camera, just run wild with it. Even a sloppy camera can bring great results if you know what you're doing.

8. Remember the golden rule: the most important part of the camera is the 6 inches behind the viewfinder ... which sounds kinda crass, but its really the person behind the lens that makes ALL the difference. The camera is eventually just an instrument like the guitar. Its the person that makes the photographs.


Just as a reference: Here are my pics I've taken with a 5 MP point and shoot camera last year. The camera was ~ $100 and I bought it a few years back. Results are still great. And I've done better wedding photography with that camera than some of the "Wedding Photographers" that people have hired ... true story !!

Pictures from Brugge

Pictures from Europe

 

[LamaSabachthani]

Ah, excellent. Thank you again. Ironically, I'm actually purchasing one because I'm going to Germany myself to visit my girlfriend and it seems that it is quite an interesting-looking country, so I wanted to be sure to take some memories back with me.

Just out of interest, were you using any programs to edit the photographs posted above once you had uploaded them to your computer?

I had been looking at a Canon ELPH 300, which I think was maybe 8.x megapixels but which seemed to have much greater clarity and focus than many competitors with higher pixel count. I think at first I want to just get a point-and-shoot so I can figure out whether I have the eye for this sort of thing and whether it's something I might be good at (also because I don't want to drop a few hundred or thousand dollars on gear if I turn out to be devoid of creativity behind the lens). I do want them to look good however

 

[LamaSabachthani]

the pictures - that is.

 

[rahul_mukerji]

Yes, I use Photoshop. I do a lot of "filter play" on my pictures to make them look interesting (to me, at least).

I play round with layers / hue / saturation / color and I also download a bunch of free filters off the net (just look for photoshop + action + photography). There's a lot of HDR / Sepia / other filters that people have put up (mainly on DeviantArt) which can provide some fascinating results. Then once you get familiar with those and understand what they do, you can make your own variations and filters to get the results you're looking for.

 

[iRaiseTheDead]

Rahul, those pictures look amazing.

I never wanted to get into photography until I started learning about it more. Yeah I always thought it was cool, but I never saw it as something I could enjoy doing. I love the thought of being able to take something that might look mediocre to some and making it a real masterpiece.

I guess what I'm trying to say is make sure its something you know you'd like to do, it can become quite expensive.

 

[rahul_mukerji]

Thanks iRaiseTheDead !!

Well, photography has always been an expensive hobby. Right from when the original SLRs existed, the polarizers, filters, UV-filters were pretty expensive. Even now if you walk into a store and look at them, they aren't cheap at all. Then the chemicals and the photo paper and the dark room were quite the investment. Not to mention you stood a chance of ruining your pics. Plus Polaroid cameras and Lo-Pro's were more instruments that u ended up buying.

By that yard stick, an older version of Ps on e-bay is a bargain. You can manipulate a pic in EVERY possible way and still retain the original and in a matter of mins instead of hours !! And you don't need to buy anything but a SD card and a camera !!

Love Ps ....

 

[iRaiseTheDead]

^Exactly what he said.
Cameras aren't going to be relatively cheap nowadays but if photography/photo editing is something you REALLY want to get into, money should be no object! Photoshop has a 30 day free trial period I believe, so you can fool around with it a little and see if it something you'd like to use/toy with.

 

[Bevo]

Look at your local craigslist for a Nikon D-40, a solid older camera that will really give you a good start.
Most used ones will sell along with lenses and what not that will give you all you need to take great pictures and learn.

Don't sweat the gear to much but get started, the D-40 will be able to teach you the way the camera works and as you know more you can get better gear and move up.

Lots of good advice but the best one is to start taking pictures..simple as that.