Is this cheating?

[DScience]

lol you called Canon about this?

Next time, ask them advice about the "rule of thirds". :lmao:

 

[Dao]

Go here
Digital Rebel XT Lessons

Read Section 3, 4, 5 & 6.

Although it said XT lessons, but the concept is the same. I am sure after go through those sections, you should have some idea.

 

[mostly sunny]

lol you called Canon about this?

Next time, ask them advice about the "rule of thirds". :lmao:

:blushing: I did.. I have called them a few times.

When you all say "manual" do you mean this.. well, I was going to take a picture of this book I have kept with the camera, and from time to time I do look at it.. But I get when I look at it. It CLEARLY says it's an instruction Manual.:blushing:

I am learning more with the Canon EOS 7D Digital Field Guide.

 

[gsgary]

lol you called Canon about this?

Next time, ask them advice about the "rule of thirds". :lmao:

:blushing: I did.. I have called them a few times.

When you all say "manual" do you mean this.. well, I was going to take a picture of this book I have kept with the camera, and from time to time I do look at it.. But I get when I look at it. It CLEARLY says it's an instruction Manual.:blushing:

I am learning more with the Canon EOS 7D Digital Field Guide.

Have you found the light meter in your viewfinder yet

 

[Pugs]

Danielle, instruction manuals are written by technical writers. Some are good and understand how to reach non-technical people. Others... not so good at it, which is why those "for Dummies" and "for Idiots" books are so popular!

Many of the folks who espouse the whole "read the manual" type of mentality are either people who are naturally technically inclined and/or people who are very familiar with photography and photographic lexicon to begin with. For new people to the field should do EXACTLY what you are doing. Get a book that works for you (the Digital Field Guide in your case) and when you hit something that you still don't get, ASK QUESTIONS. If you learn something from the answer, it wasn't a stupid question.

Oh, and READ THE MANUAL!! :lmao: (it really does help even if you don't understand it your first few times through and you can always ask questions here)

 

[Goontz]

Danielle, instruction manuals are written by technical writers. Some are good and understand how to reach non-technical people. Others... not so good at it, which is why those "for Dummies" and "for Idiots" books are so popular!

Many of the folks who espouse the whole "read the manual" type of mentality are either people who are naturally technically inclined and/or people who are very familiar with photography and photographic lexicon to begin with. For new people to the field should do EXACTLY what you are doing. Get a book that works for you (the Digital Field Guide in your case) and when you hit something that you still don't get, ASK QUESTIONS. If you learn something from the answer, it wasn't a stupid question.

Well said, Pugs. I'm definitely one of those technically-minded people. While I think "read your manual" is the best advice for many people, a book like you have, Danielle, works better for many others.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Yes, yes. The manual. The best clinical guide with very little explanation to photography there is.

It is funny reading the replies of people who have not completely been following along with Mostly Sunny's Quest for Photos.

*yawn*

 

[Mulewings~]

Look at all the ale: you are going through because you haven't read the manual.
Just do it..sit down with your camera and go through the manual and read about all the features and how they work and what they do and play with the camera as you come to each item.
That is the best thing you can do to eliminate some of the frustration.

The first thing I did when I got my Nikon D40 was sit down with the camera and the manual side by side and work through the book. Being my first DSLR, but not my first digital camera, it took me a while.
But it sure helped.

I took notes about certain things I wanted to try and took those notes with me while hiking.
It certainly helped.
And yes, I've use Auto when all else seems to fail.

It is about getting the 'shot'!!!

 

[mostly sunny]

lol you called Canon about this?

Next time, ask them advice about the "rule of thirds". :lmao:

:blushing: I did.. I have called them a few times.

When you all say "manual" do you mean this.. well, I was going to take a picture of this book I have kept with the camera, and from time to time I do look at it.. But I get when I look at it. It CLEARLY says it's an instruction Manual.:blushing:

I am learning more with the Canon EOS 7D Digital Field Guide.

Have you found the light meter in your viewfinder yet

I DID I DID!! I had seen it before.. Gesh, you all have me pegged as the a dummy. :blushing:

I just looked at that little book... the one I kinda get angry at when I look through it.. Not written for my "type" of person.

 

[Mulewings~]

Have fun. Enjoy the camera and play with it. Take notes as to what happens when you do certain things maybe??

 

[Derrel]

Have you found the light meter in your viewfinder yet

Excellent friendly jibe from across the pond:thumbup:. Touche! When I read the thread topic, I was afraid it was going to be asking if it was cheating to "buy" a camera from a large store, have it fulfill the role of backup for a wedding, and then return the camera for a full,complete refund...but instead it was this thread.

 

[icassell]

Starting with a 7D makes manual control of your camera a bit more difficult to learn as there are so many more options than some of the lower-end bodies. You're approaching it the right way, though. Taking it bit by bit and learning what the camera does automatically and trying to do that manually is actually a good beginning to getting a handle on things. As you get more comfortable with that, then you can change one variable while leaving the others the same and see what it does to your image. I might recommend that you do this on a tripod with some sort of still-life on the table, so you are sure you are keeping things the same. You might even consider shooting tethered (the Canon EOS utility that comes with the camera does that very nicely) to your computer so you can see the images on the big screen as you acquire them. I did that with my kids and they picked things up very fast.

 

[bigtwinky]

well, saying that its not cheating and whatever gets you the picture sounds all nice and dandy, but you sound like you are trying to learn how the camera works, and thus throwing it in auto is a sign that you are getting frustrated and you then "cheat" to get some results.

I would suggest getting a good book and reading through it. One that helped me ALOT was Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. He does not write in technical terms and is easy to understand.

So I think what you are doing, based on my assumption of what I am reading, that you are cheating.

 

[Annamas]

I was wondering why it took so long for an "Understanding Exposure" plug to pop up.

Bigtwinky is right. Check out that book. Do not put it off. Trust us, I think everyone on this board has read it, learned it and loved it. It will help you understand soooo much it is not even funny.

Seriously. Get off your computer, drive down to the local Chapters / Barnes & Noble / Whatever you have where you are and pick it up. It will change your photo taking experiance 100%

 

[Bambi]

IMO it's not cheating. I hear you on reading the manual. I have trouble reading it and translating it into what I want to do. what I have done is downloaded my manual and then I do a search for what I want to know about. I sit there with my camera and the manual on my laptop and play. It's helped loads to do that!