I Just Bought a d-SLR, Now What?

[SchnellFowVay]

Hey All,

I just bought a digital SLR on a whim. Though the tech-aspects of the camera are well within my reach, I have no idea how to take proper photos.

I've never taken a class in photography, I've never owned an SLR camera, and I've used one before.

Is there a good beginner book? Perhaps a website? I need to get the basics down of how to shoot photographs . . .

thanks!

 

[SchnellFowVay]

P.S. It's a refurbed Nikon D40x.

 

[rotchcrocket04]

I recently bought a D40 for my first DSLR. To be honest I've been reading through alot of the links in this thread: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123160

I have learned quite alot in the last month or so from that alone. On top of reading that I've been reading alot of C&C threads (along with beginner threads) to see what was a good choice in basics and advanced techniques. Reading reccommendations from some of the very skilled members on here has also taught me quite a few things.

The final two points I think have been the most helpful to me. I have been taking notes of different techniques/definitions of terminology etc. I continue to reference these while shooting. Finally, practice practice practice!! I have shot about 1100-1300 shots thus far. I've already noticed quite a difference from the first two hundred or so to now. :thumbup:

 

[lukeap69]

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson.

Good for beginners.

Read the manual.

 

[William Petruzzo]

Hey! Congratulations!

Three things that will help your pictures get better almost immediately.

1. Get a handle on the "rule of thirds", then you can start breaking it.
2. Sign up at photo.net and peruse their tutorial and training section. There's tons of great information.
3. Take pictures constantly. Half of learning to take good pictures is learning from experience doesn't really work. You'll hurt your skill if you learn that from someone else.

Somewhere along the way, you should probably pick up a beginners book on exposure and basic photography. But realistically, your skill will come 90% from actually taking the pictures and a supporting 10% from learning the technical stuff. But a lot of the basic stuff you can learn from photo.net and lots of practice.

 

[Juliette]

Hey!
I am new to photography as well but I would recommend books by Henry Horenstein, like "Black and White Photography: A Basic Manual" and don't be fooled by the title. First section of the book explains principals of photography that apply to digital photography too. The rest you can ignore 'cos it has to do with film But at least you'll know what the aperture, shutter speed, iso and DoF are and what they "do" to your pictures

Good luck!

 

[Foques]

READ READ READ READ...

then ASK ASK ASK ASK ASK...

Then READ READ READ READ again

thats what i've done..and AM doing still.

 

[Doug]

Another Good book to get is the Magic Lantern Guide for your model Camera. It's a little easier reading than the manual that comes with the camera.

 

[Overread]

Here is what I would do/did do

1) Read the manual - read it online on the nikon site if you don't have one

2) Read the manual again!

3) Do some shooting with the camera - experiment a little and try to get a good exposure (that is technically a good shot)

4) Have a bite to eat and read the manual again

5) Start making a blog/diary of your photos - listing the good ones and looking at you aperture, ISO and shutter speed for each photo and writing them down - this will help teach you what are good and what are bad settings for different situations and different effects.

6) post a few (3 max) photos online - listing the kit used, shooting conditions and settings (aperture, ISO and shutter speed) and ask for advice - do this on more than one forum (increases chances of getting a good result.

I would recommend reading first Scot Kelby's "The Digital Photography Book" This is good book for beginners looking to find out what settings to use in different situations without the full explanation as to the whys of the settings
Then once you are more familiar with that move on to read Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson which will start to tell you the whys of the settings and how to manipulate them more.
From there look out for publications specific to your areas of interest (avoid most of the digital camera generalist books - there are many out there now and they basically say the same thing as the manual and understanding exposure do - but much more simplified) - try to get books that show the settings that the photographer used or studio setups to get certain effects

Have fun and welcome to the site

 

[ANDS!]

Throw out anything that anyone tells you you MUST have to make a good photograph, including any "rules" "standards" "aspects of a perfect photo", etc.

Definitely read Understand Exposure by Patterson. Reading anything else (including the manual, no offense to poster above). Save the manual though, so that you'll know where to go when you can't quite get something sussed out.

Press your Shutter-Release as often as possible in as many unique situations as possible. Don't get pissed if your photos come out looking like snapshots. The point in the beginning is to get comfortable with the camera and "predicting" how a shot will come out based on the information your D40 is telling you.

 

[ksmattfish]

Though the tech-aspects of the camera are well within my reach, I have no idea how to take proper photos.

Try Drawing 101 and Design class. They are all about learning to see shape, form, tone, color, contrast, and how the three dimensional world renders in 2D.

Here's a page with a bunch of links to articles about composition

http://photoinf.com/

Start taking photos. Look at your photos. Look at other peoples photos. Try to understand what it is that grabs your attention in some, and makes you think snapshot in others. Keep taking a lot of photos. Eventually you will get tired of taking crappy photos, and will begin thinking and applying yourself to creating better photos.

 

[OregonAmy]

I read David Busch's Mastering Digital Photography and liked it so much I bought his "Mastering Digital SLR Photography" and it arrived today. It also arrived with Understanding Exposure which I already started reading and already like.

I also joined a local photography club, which seems promising and helpful (went to my first meeting last week).

Some people have also posted some very helpful links which I've bookmarked for reference, as well as a thread or two from this forum:
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=134130
http://www.dpchallenge.com/tutorial.php?TUTORIAL_ID=1
http://www.shortcourses.com/use/index.html
http://www.all-things-photography.com/advanced-photography-tips.html (use the menu on the left)
http://www.great-landscape-photography.com/hyperfocal.html

have fun! I just got a d40 a little over a week ago (after about 10 years on P&S digital) and am in love. I discovered an entirely new world of digital photography.

 

[manaheim]

Congrats!

Here is how I did it...

1. Put it in program mode and go out and take tons of shots in JPEG fine.
2. Eventually realize the camera is stupid fast and gets most of the shots pretty well, and stop taking so many damned pictures.
3. Eventually get annoyed that the camera didn't do something right and start occasionally shooting in manual.
4. Start looking up terms like fstop and aperature and figure out what the hell it's talking about.
5. Try some more shots, screw them up massively, try to figure out why.
6. Eventually realize that colors get severely boned sometimes when shooting in JPEG and start shooting RAW.



Overall, I'd say just start simple and shoot a lot and see what it does. When the camera starts not giving you the result you want, then start toying with some of the settings and understanding more about the aspect that you think you fell down on.

Learning through failure is an amazingly effective way to learn.

 

[Joves]

I agree with manaheim whole heartedly. It is how we all learned. With digital it is much easier than the good old film days. Now you dont even have to keep a log book to know where you screwed up.

 

[SchnellFowVay]

Thanks for all the advice everyone!

I've been reading the posted links very closely and I ordered the book on Exposure from Amazon.

My camera gets here tomorrow!!!!!!