True beginner

[lapensee]

I have just recently decided that I would like to start to get into the photography game. However, I dont know the FIRST thing about it. Is there a link somewhere that lets me know the basics?

 

[photogincollege]

Check this out http://www.ephotozine.com/learn/articles. I just found it online and havent had time to look over it, but they do have some beginners guides.

 

[Digital Matt]

A good online resource can be found here: http://photo.net/learn/

The best thing is to go to your local library. I'm sure you'll find tons of books. John Hedgecoe is a name to look for.

 

[dvduval]

Good luck with your photography. I'm new too, and trying to learn what I can with the free time I have available.

 

[LeftyRodriguez]

The way I learned was organically. I'd always been interested in photography but was never into until somehow I got silently nominated to be my high school yearbook's photo editor in Grade 10. Luckily, I had a great teacher who taught me the technical aspects of the darkroom side of things, but as far as imaging techniques, I kind of just took a lot of pictures and figured out what worked and what didn't. I also paid a lot of attention to the ways pros composed their shots and used lighting, etc. for effect. Of course, since this was for yearbook kinds of things, I took a more "documentary" approach to photography than an artistic approach. In fact, I didn't really develop my artistic sense of photography until I was in college and fell in with a few artistic-type people. The techniques between documentary and artistic are incredibly different, but there is room for a bit of overlap.

I'd say the best way to learn is kind of what I did...take lots of photos and figure out what works and what doesn't (especially easy now that we have digital). Anyone can learn the technical side, but the artistry is either something you have innate or not.

I will say this, though, for film. It did make me think about my shots before clicking the shutter, as the number I could take and process was finite. If you're learning on digital, you may need to stop and at least consider composition, etc. before clicking the shutter.