Learning Photography
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- colin_s0
this doesn't mean to sound (too) condescending, but do you care about real photography or are you just wanting to use manual settings on a DSLR?
the easiest way to do it is to learn how your camera's light meter works, get a propack of tmax 400 and shoot a lot of still life / self portraits / stuff around the house. but take three exposures of every shot at different settings. take notes on what these settings are, and after you have the film processed, scan the negatives (or just look at them) and see the differences between each.
really, though, the best way is just an intro to photography class at a community college. chances are they'll give you access to a darkroom, teach you the basics in 2 weeks and from there you're set.
if you're looking to shoot digital, uh, disregard everything and just set it to manual and fuck with the shutter speed and see how it goes.
- <worst post ever?pinkfloyd
- how socolin_s
- colin_s is right.zarkonite
- :Dpinkfloyd
- Colin_S isn't wrong, but I could never go back to film.CyBrainX
- Thats what they taught us at A-Level Photography as it goes...nylon
- All of that was right but it also applies to shooting digital as well. (minus the darkroom stuff)CyBrainX
- pinkfloyd0
I'm working with a digital dslr.
- pango0
so where are you at with photography?
what do you want to learn?
what camera do you have?
- pinkfloyd0
I watched some videos on lynda.com and youtube on the basics of aperture, shutter speed and iso. It's still new and confusing to me but i'm starting to get a better feel for it. I watched some videos on lenses.
I hate the forums on dpreview (you have to click to see every response).
I want to learn more about the different equipments, recommended lenses, photoshop image effect techniques (instagram look, etc), want to learn about lighting, what kind of equipment I would need.
Which sites do you guys go to?
- pinkfloyd0
It would be helpful to find a link where it shows the different image results from the different aperture, shutterspeed settings.
- pango0
If you want to get in to lighting. or strobe lighting to be more specific.
http://strobist.blogspot.ca
- mg330
I think that for me, "learning" photography was sort of similar to how I learned guitar: lots of time figuring things out, using existing reference points as influence and inspiration. The best thing with both is that you can never know too much, and you should always be learning.
At first with my DSLR, I used P mode all the time. Then a friend and I talked about aperture mode, so I started practicing with that, taking photos around the house, learning about how aperture affects landscape photos, up close photos, etc. As I started to get better at aperture mode, I advanced to Manual mode to have better control of exposure / avoiding shots that were too blown out. I don't use manual mode that often; usually only at night and if I have a tripod.
I think the most fun is figuring out how to emulate the quality in photos by other people. It's easy to look at things like contrast, exposure, shadows, etc. in "good" photos that you like, then go find similar situations and be conscious of how you might achieve the same.
Funny enough, I don't know of that many good instructional sites. I don't really look at photo mags for tips and stuff; I don't know... I'm usually kind of put off by that stuff.
- pango0
For you to check out images of different setting and equipments. http://www.pixel-peeper.com
- BH260
You need to shoot and test things yourself to learn,
if you want the easy way- as in "too many videos to go through"
cheatsheet + photography- Google.
- colin_s0
@pinkfloyd-
i didn't mean to offend you, but "learning" photography is learning mechanics that are best understood not with digital tools.
if you have a DSLR, what i said was true: put it on manual and see what happens. go out and shoot.
i have two courses in photography from undergraduate school, then i spent six years with a camera everywhere i went. i now have a masters in photojournalism.
believe me, teaching yourself is the way to go. you will go through rolls / gigabytes of worthless shit. but the life of photographer is one outside - in the streets and alleys adn on the rooftops, trying and failing. nothing is going to teach you photography the way taking pictures without a care or notion in the world will. it's how i (and any photographer friend of mine worth a damn) got to be where i am.
- pango0
Other than technical stuffs or being too much of a gear head.
here are videos about composition.
- pango0
Don't really know any "go to" book or site to learn as i learn most what i know everywhere.
However i can tell you what i think every photographer should know and you go google it.
How Camera meter reads (center-weight average, spot, evaluative)
what does 18% grey mean to a camera meter.
what's a "ƒ-stop"? and what happens to that 18% grey when you +3 stops.
Relation ship between ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed and what does each of them controls.
- pango0
and think before each shot on "how do you show as much story as possible" whenever you are doing street, life or journalistic style of photo.
- HijoDMaite0
Pinkfloyd,
Just a few things as I was in your shoes about three years ago. I picked up my first camera around the summer of 2010.
1. You must, I repeat, must have in mind that you need to learn Adobe Lightroom 5 at the same time that you are learning photography. This is an essential tool that will help you improve your photos and teach you about composition, color, exposure, etc.. It will be a part of your photography just as much as your gear will be.
2. Do not ever think you are ever done with YouTube. There are sooo many new things to learn and YouTube is usually the best way to learn everything. Especially Light Room tutorials and any questions you have about new gear you are looking at buying.
3. Find a friend who knows photography and hang out with them as much as possible and ask lots of questions and take direction from them. I think this will be your best source to learn the basics and tips and tricks.
4. Shoot everyday and edit everyday. This is practice and practice makes perfect. You have an awesome camera at this point and you will get some awesome photos don't worry it won't be long before you are happy with some results.
As far as websites and forums, here are my recommendations:
Register for a username on this website and post to this forum: http://forums.froknowsphoto.com/…
It is a photo critique site. (Along with forums on everything to do with photography) Post what you think your best shots of that day are and ask for honest and harsh critique. People will help you out and you will start to see what you are doing wrong. I am on there all the time and can help to give you some of my humble critique as well! It's a great source.
Get a Flickr account (great way to back-up your photos)
Get a 500px account a great place to look around at professional work by others. You can actually search all photos by a certain lens, a certain camera, a location etc..
and lastly create new threads on here about anything photo related. while you may sound like a noob and some may give you shitty answers there will certainly always be someone who helps out.
Good luck!
Also check out the CanonRumors website, their forum is pretty good.
- HijoDMaite0
what other gear and lenses do you have besides 5Dmk2?
- boobs0
1) Take photos.
2) Look at them.
3) Figure out what could be improved.
4) Take more photos, implementing what is learned in step 3.
5) Repeat.
- pr20
Lenses:
Every lens has two numbers:
1. how wide it is in "mm"- say 24-70mm - meaning it can be zoomed from wide (24) to mid range (70);
2. f-stop - say 2.8-4 - menaing it can go (depending on your zoom level) from f2.8 to f4F-stops:
the lower the f-stop - the more light the lens passes through - f2.8 passes more light than f4
******************************Exposure:
Exposure is controlled by 3 factors:
1. ISO - camera's sensitivity to light - say 160, 250, 500, 1000, 3200... The lover the number the less sensitive the camera will be BUT also you will see less noise/grain in the image.
2. Shutter - say 1/50, 1/100, 1/500... - the smaller the number the longer the shutter will be open - meaning more light will get in. SO if you are in dark situation you go with low shutter (say 1/50). When you go with very low shutter ( say 1/15) the images get blurry but you need less light to get the image.
3. Len's f-stop (see point 2 in lens section).That's all there is. Now go experiment.
And for theory posts about meaning of photography, you can check out my blog: http://swlthemovie.com/blog