Canon 7d mark 2

Rambojonil303 · Apr 25, 2017

I got rid of my point and shoot camera and got 7d mark 2 that I will be unboxing. Any tips for shooting in doors ?

ronlane · Apr 25, 2017

watch for ricochets, lol.

What will you be shooting indoors? For shooting indoors either get a really good tripod so that you can use longer exposures or get some lighting to help with the exposure.

Rambojonil303 · Apr 25, 2017

ronlane said:
watch for ricochets, lol.

What will you be shooting indoors? For shooting indoors either get a really good tripod so that you can use longer exposures or get some lighting to help with the exposure.

Ha ! I wanna start photographing my baby and my pet dog. Maybe something's around the house so that I can get familiar with my new camera.

TCampbell · Apr 25, 2017

Any particular type of subject you plan to shoot? E.g. are you shooting people (family, etc.)?

Usually it's the "light" that makes the biggest difference in how an image looks... it's not about just having enough light, it's about the shape and character of the light (Does it come from straight-on? Does it come from the side? Does it create shadows with hard-edges or do the highlight-to-shadow transitions happen gradually? etc.)

If you're not familiar with how to manually adjust exposure settings, you'll want to learn to do that. A point & shoot typically just uses an "automatic" exposure... and your 7D II can do that too... it just won't give you the most pleasing results.

To get good looking results, sometimes you want a sharp subject and blurry background. Sometimes you want to freeze action... and sometimes you want to let the action blur to suggest the motion. This is all possible based on how you adjust exposure settings.

There are a few good books... one popular book is Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure" but there's also the Scott Kelby Digital Photography series (I think it's up to 5 volumes by now). Anyway, these books will use plain language to explain the concepts of how and why you adjust exposure.

These books will teach you how to shoot in "manual" mode and a lot of photographers do shoot in "manual" mode (I did that for decades before cameras even had automatic features). HOWEVER... while I do suggest every photographer LEARN to shoot in manual mode, I do not necessarily suggest you try to use manual mode for everything. (I actually spend most of my time in Av mode (aka "Aperture value" aka "Aperture priority") because more often then not... it's the depth of field that I want to control and I could use almost any shutter speed (I'm not shooting sports or action photography most of the time.)

But the important bit is that you understand how exposure changes will affect the image. Learning to shoot in manual mode is the best way to force your head to grasp those concepts to the point that it becomes second-nature.

Gary A. · Apr 25, 2017

Understanding exposure and ISO would be very helpful when shooting in low light environments. Understanding these isn't trivial, I suggest a book or a photo class.

Don't get me wrong ... shoot the wheels off the camera ... hands-on training is great ... but hands-on combined with a more formal education will get you higher on the learning curve faster, than a singular approach.

Rambojonil303 · Apr 25, 2017

TCampbell said:
Any particular type of subject you plan to shoot? E.g. are you shooting people (family, etc.)?

Usually it's the "light" that makes the biggest difference in how an image looks... it's not about just having enough light, it's about the shape and character of the light (Does it come from straight-on? Does it come from the side? Does it create shadows with hard-edges or do the highlight-to-shadow transitions happen gradually? etc.)

If you're not familiar with how to manually adjust exposure settings, you'll want to learn to do that. A point & shoot typically just uses an "automatic" exposure... and your 7D II can do that too... it just won't give you the most pleasing results.

To get good looking results, sometimes you want a sharp subject and blurry background. Sometimes you want to freeze action... and sometimes you want to let the action blur to suggest the motion. This is all possible based on how you adjust exposure settings.

There are a few good books... one popular book is Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure" but there's also the Scott Kelby Digital Photography series (I think it's up to 5 volumes by now). Anyway, these books will use plain language to explain the concepts of how and why you adjust exposure.

These books will teach you how to shoot in "manual" mode and a lot of photographers do shoot in "manual" mode (I did that for decades before cameras even had automatic features). HOWEVER... while I do suggest every photographer LEARN to shoot in manual mode, I do not necessarily suggest you try to use manual mode for everything. (I actually spend most of my time in Av mode (aka "Aperture value" aka "Aperture priority") because more often then not... it's the depth of field that I want to control and I could use almost any shutter speed (I'm not shooting sports or action photography most of the time.)

Thank you so much for this great advice. I will be taking pics of my kids and family. I also would like to work on portraits and blurred background, it calls my attention. My Dog running around and my baby walking and running around. In doors for now just to get the feel of the new camera but ofcourse in a few weeks taking the camera and taking pictures of still objects like flowers etc. I will be unboxing soon and will shoot some on auto just to see the difference with manual which I know that will take me a while to learn. Will shoot some in av today as well.

Rambojonil303 · Apr 25, 2017

Gary A. said:
Understanding exposure and ISO would be very helpful when shooting in low light environments. Understanding these isn't trivial, I suggest a book or a photo class.

Don't get me wrong ... shoot the wheels off the camera ... hands-on training is great ... but hands-on combined with a more formal education will get you higher on the learning curve faster, than a singular approach.

I do agree , I will read up on ISO being that I wanna shoot in doors for now so I do need to work on my lighting and exposure. Coming from a point and shoot I know these are two different worlds.