Anyone in Erie,PA willing to...?

[dukeboy1977]

Ok, so I have a little dilemma. I wanna do photography more than anything but I don't seem to be picking it up very well on my own by reading books. I'm looking for someone who might live in or nearby to Erie,PA who might be willing to come show me personally, the more advanced features of my camera, and explain to me the proper times to use them. I've tried and tried but haven't gotten any GOOD exposures in MY opinion. In exchange for being taught, I'd be willing to help you on an important photo shoot you might have in the future. I've got a good eye for photos, and definitely the desire to be one of the best...I just don't get alot of free-time through the week due to work and two little boys, and really don't have alot of $ to be throwing around on new equipment. I'm available on weekends mostly if someone would be willing to help me become the photographer I want to become. My current equipment is a Nikon D40, an 18mm-55mm kit lens, a 55mm-200mm zoom lens, and a 35mm 1.8 lens. I have a Nikon SB600 flash w/ diffuser. All my lenses have UV filters and I have an 8 point star filter which creates a nice effect on lights at night. Anyone willing to help me?? Thanks in advance, Jeff

p.s. After all the reading I've done here, I have figured it's not my camera as it has been said that my D40 is a great camera for the money. I guess I made a good choice back when I got it! :thumbup:

 

[misstwinklytoes]

I couldn't help you! But my sis lives in PA. I often wish I was in or around Erie.

 

[Taylor510ce]

Did you read the most important book..the manual? What is the biggest problem you cant seem to overcome? Are you shooting in Raw or jpeg? How long have you been shooting?

 

[Wraith72]

Why don't you post up some of your work to this thread to get some useful feedback?

This forum is an awesome resource for troubleshooting any problems you might be having with photography. If you share some of your work, you might be surprised by how much help you get.

 

[Flash Harry]

Fly me in its the pits over here. H

 

[MohaimenK]

Ok, let me get this straight,
1. you have all these equipments you bought which, you have no idea of all their features
2. you're now available so you want people to work around your schedule
and............
3. you want them to COME TO YOU to show you how to use the products and give you personal training??? :er:

Good luck! :thumbup:

 

[dukeboy1977]

Did you read the most important book..the manual? What is the biggest problem you cant seem to overcome? Are you shooting in Raw or jpeg? How long have you been shooting?

I have and found it confusing so I bought the "dummies" book. It seems more informative but I am a "hands on" learner rather than a reading learner I guess. I can't seem to get alot of the manual settings right, and I shoot in jpeg. Raw photos are a little more complicated, though I do have elements to do it. I've been "shooting" for about a year

 

[dukeboy1977]

Why don't you post up some of your work to this thread to get some useful feedback?

This forum is an awesome resource for troubleshooting any problems you might be having with photography. If you share some of your work, you might be surprised by how much help you get.

I have posted pics before and got no help then...my pics have been usually in the "sports" mode because of the fast shutter speed to "freeze" motion, but I want more control over my pics. I could try fumbling through the books more I guess, and will do so tonight, but it may only confuse me more again. I have a big problem with ISO, and lighting...and I'd LOVE to get away from fixed settings totally, I'm just not "there" yet

 

[MohaimenK]

i see where you're coming from........ do what I do, use youtube. I can't read books and learn, forgot what they call it but yeah, I got it. But I'll watch vid son youtube and they help more. That's your best bet rather than to ask someone to come over and teach you. Unless you're willing to pay someone for lessons.

 

[dukeboy1977]

Why don't you post up some of your work to this thread to get some useful feedback?

This forum is an awesome resource for troubleshooting any problems you might be having with photography. If you share some of your work, you might be surprised by how much help you get.

I have my work, or some of it anyways, at my website...Home - JDuke Photography Feel free to look and critique plz...I feel like I need help! lol I feel like some of my photos are pretty good though, but improvement is always possible

 

[astroskeptic]

I'm in central PA so I can't be of any direct help but I recommend looking for photo clubs in your area. Face-to-face mentoring is the kind of benefit I would expect from participation in a club but I don't participate in one so I don't know. I just did a google search and I think there's at least one ...

 

[MohaimenK]

yeah duke, what astro said. take pix and post them here for us to see and we can tell you what can be done

 

[Vinny]

I'm pretty much self taught with a little reading on the side, here's a suggestion ...

Get a subject that won't move in good lighting, set your camera to an ISO, set your aperture and then get you light meter to get to center or 0 (or whatever) then take an exposure. Change your aperture up and down and take exposures - what happens? Put the original aperture back, change shutter speeds up or down - what happens? Do the same with the ISO. Now, change the ISO, shutter speed and use the aperture control to get the light meter to center. Change ISO and aperture and use shutter speed to center the light meter. Then change aperture and shutter speed and use the ISO to center the light meter. Exposure = ISO + Aperture + Shutter speed. The ONLY thing you need to be aware of is to get sharp photos when hand held - the shutter speed has to be 1/focal length (50mm, 135mm or whatever). so if you are using a 150mm lens - the shutter speed should be 1/150 or faster.

If you want to learn how to focus - put a couple of subjects in a well lit area and try to focus on each one - how close are you? Try to get pin point focusing accuracy. Get a big stuffed animal and focus on the nose, eyes or tail. Now since you learned about exposure (above paragraph) what happens when you change aperture settings and keep the light meter centered? the amount of area in focus should change - did it?

I've said it before - once you have a digital camera, taking photos is free unlike in the film days. Experiment and have fun!

At this point forget advanced photo techniques - keep it simple.

Did you read the most important book..the manual? What is the biggest problem you cant seem to overcome? Are you shooting in Raw or jpeg? How long have you been shooting?

I have and found it confusing so I bought the "dummies" book. It seems more informative but I am a "hands on" learner rather than a reading learner I guess. I can't seem to get alot of the manual settings right, and I shoot in jpeg. Raw photos are a little more complicated, though I do have elements to do it. I've been "shooting" for about a year

 

[rusty9]

learn how to use a light meter, and you'll be pretty much set.

 

[Taylor510ce]

All ISO does is boost the sensativity of your sensor at the cost of usually adding slightly more noise. Unless you cannot get the speed you need or the aperture you need ( for depth of field purposes ) leave the ISO at 100. Other than that, its shutter speed and aperture that effect your exposure. Aperture will make the background blur more ( shallow depth of field ) the smaller the number and will let a long area stay in focus at higher numbers (f-stops ) which is useful in landscapes where you want everything in focus, but the higher the number the less light is getting into the camera. Shutter speed only really matters if you want to freeze motion or purposely let it blur. It also matters for night shooting if you need to get way more light into the camera, you can leave the shutter open for long periods ( like 10 or 20 seconds or even way longer ) Conversely, in a VERY bright setting, you would have to use a fast shutter speed so that you are not letting too much light in ( or use a really high Fnumber but then you have a longer depth of field as stated above ) You have been shooting for a year and don't even have a grasp on the basic functions of exposure? I don't mean this as a dig, I am just baffled. Its not rocket science. I can understand not knowing how to manually set an exposure correctly without metering and just getting it right the first time, but to not even understand ISO. I know plenty of people that have trouble reading complicated stuff, but ISO isn't very complicated to understand the basics of it.

As for your photos on your website. While I don't think they are anything to write home about, they aren't terrible. I think your biggest problem is composition and framing of your shots. Way too many centered subjects and way too many shots with pieces of the subject cropped off etc. I think you DEFINATELY need to get out your Elements and learn some very basic post processing so that you can begin shooting in RAW as well.