New to photography. Here are some of my questions..

[kielmaru]

So I just got a Canon 450D with standard lens 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
I already read the manual. Read a lot about aperture, shutter speed, camera terms and all the basics. But I still have my questions..

1. I have read ISO over and over again but I'm still confused by it. It's basically how sensitive light it right? The higher the ISO, the more sensitive light is making the photo overexposed? But what do you mean by ISO speed? Is it just the same?

2. Is it possible to still have a blurred background on a portrait even though I only use my standard lens? And I also want to try that "bokeh" effect which I can't get. Is it because I only have f/3.5-5.6 and 18-55mm lens?

3. About those 18-55mm numbers.. what do you mean by those? Those are focal length right? I know that the smaller the number, the wider the angle is. How about the 55mm? It means that it has a longer zoom right?

4. What are some secrets on photography or using the camera you can share that I may not know? Like, there's hidden awesome button on my camera or something.

5. Any interesting reads for beginners? I already read some of the tutorials in the sticky of this forum. Those are great by the way. I learned a lot. Anymore sites to read?

6. Is there a site that exist that compares photos that are took from different settings which you can edit? There's one in the sticky but the site is already dead.

7. Where should I start shooting? Or I can just do anything?

8. Is it necessary to have Photoshop and edit your pictures there?

9. I don't want to make another thread for this.. but.. What are some do's and dont's of photography and using the camera?

THANKS.

 

[dxqcanada]

Higher ISO ... increase the sensitivity of the Sensor to light.
Higher ISO induces noise.

Depth of Field depends on lens aperture, lens focal length, and focus distance.

Zoom refers to a lens that has variable focal length.

Read C&C posts.

Shoot everything ... eventually you will only shoot preferred subjects.

No, PS is not a required accessory for photographers

Do shoot ... Don't sell your first born for a lens (hey Overread did you like my last offer?)

The Awesome button is in your head (your brain).

 

[kielmaru]

The Awesome button is in your head (your brain).

Best quote of the day. :thumbup:
Thanks for answering. Okay, I'll check out those CC posts. Thanks again!

 

[o hey tyler]

If you'd like to see an example of "bokeh", what I suggest you do is zoom your lens in to 55mm. Your maximum aperture at that focal length will be f/5.6, but if you turn your lens to manual focus and make it so that the lightsources are out of focus, you will get good background blur. Background blur is more pronounced at longer focal lengths and larger apertures.

And thank you for reading the manual first! You have no idea how many people get on this forum and say "I just got X camera, how do I use it?" and don't even take the time to open the manual. For that, I applaud you. :thumbup:

 

[kielmaru]

Thanks!
The first thing I went for to read is the manual. Not just in cameras but also in ANY electronic devices too. It's very helpful.
I'll try it later what you said on the bokeh effect. I hope it works.


Another question, I just noticed after playing with my camera a while ago, that I cant achieve the blurred background when I shoot people. I can only do it on objects and if it's close to the lens. Am I right that you can't achieve a blurred background on a portrait using just a standard lens?

 

[o hey tyler]

Well, that's what I was trying to explain, but evidently I didn't do a good job. You can get background blur with your lens, however the out of focus areas are dependent on your aperture and focal length. You can shoot a person's face at 55mm, and the background should be quite out of focus. Full length shots are a different story, as you would be closer to focusing to infinity on your lens.

If you have an extra 90 bucks in your budget, I suggest you pick up a Canon 50mm f/1.8. It's a great lens to learn with, and play with aperture. It also forces you to get off your tookus and move around since it's not a zoom lens. Here's a shot I took with a Canon 50mm f/1.4 wide open. (Meaning I shot with the largest aperture f/1.4)

As you can see, most of the image is out of focus, and my subject is very large in the frame.

 

[kielmaru]

Great shot! That's what I want to achieve!
Too bad I have absolutely no money to afford a new lens. ;_;
To be honest, I don't own the camera I mentioned. It's my sister's but I can use it often.

So what you're saying is I should zoom it way in to get that shot? So I have to be far away from the subject obviously. And the quality wouldn't be as good as when zoomed out right?

 

[WesternGuy]

You might want to take a look at this Canon site - it is sort of an introduction to Digital Rebels and their Consumer DSLRs and a number of follow-on articles.

Canon Digital Learning Center - EOS Digital Rebel Tutorials

May not answer all your questions, but it would be a start. The other thing you might want to consider is picking up a copy of the latest edition of "Digital Photography for Dummies" - don't laugh folks, when I first started in digital photography about 6 + years ago, my wife bought me a copy and it was the best introduction to the subject I could find, because, even though I had been using film for many, many years, I soon discovered that digital is different - there are a lot more things to understand about the technology alone, before you even get to the "creative and artistic" aspect of photography. As well, I would recommend "Understanding Exposure" 3rd Edition/Revised and Updated, by Bryan Peterson there is a wealth of great ideas and knowledge in this one (my opinion).

You will also find another set of tutorials here...Digital Photography Tutorials some of which maybe a bit advanced for where you are, but may prove useful for future considerations.

As for a couple of your questions, my thoughts...

Where should I start shooting? Or I can just do anything?

You can shoot just about anything, the key is to pick things that might interest you, e.g., if you are interested in landscapes, then go for a drive in the country (not sure where you live, so there may not be "country" to drive in, but I think you get the idea) - go shoot some landscapes, or whatever you are interested in - old buildings, churches, trees...just something that interests you. Try different angles, different focuses, etc., anything that will give you experience in using the various settings of your camera.

Is it necessary to have Photoshop and edit your pictures there?

No it is not necessary to have Photoshop, in fact, if you have never used Photoshop, you will find it a bit overwhelming and expensive - the latest version has over 500 menu commands alone. If you want to use an Adobe product, then think about Photoshop Elements and be prepared to take a short introductory course in it, if possible. Alternatively, your Canon should have come with some editing software which will probably do to get you started.

I don't want to make another thread for this.. but.. What are some do's and dont's of photography and using the camera?

Dos and don'ts are tricky. I am not sure of any don'ts - well don't drop it (smile), but do practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. Some people would like you to believe that you should be able to set most of your camera settings in the dark with your eyes closed, but I am not sure I would agree with that extreme position, nevertheless, you should make every attempt to familiarize yourself with all the controls, what they do and don't do, where they are on the camera and so forth. One of the nice things about digital photography is that you can shoot away to your heart's content and try all kind of things - if something doesn't work, you can simply delete it after you look at it on the computer and then delete it if you really don't like it, or it wasn't the effect you were hoping for. I would suggest that you not delete things in your camera, unless they were unintentional images, e.g., you accidentally set off the shutter and took a great picture of the lens cap, or your shoe. I found that when I first started digital photography, I was probably happy with about ten per cent of the images I took, because, most of the time I was experimenting and if something didn't work, then I didn't keep it - learn from these "mistakes" or experiments that didn't give you the results that you expected.

Do shoot RAW - gives you much more latitude in editing your images than shooting jpgs. You can also shoot RAW plus jpg for a while if you want - read up on these "formats". You can read about RAW here...Tutorials - The RAW File Format and here Why use your camera's raw format? . Any questions, post another thread, or search this one for more postings on image formats and pros and cons.

I may not have answered all your questions, but, hopefully, I have given you some things to think about and pursue, and remember - read the manual - carefully, and then read it again a week later. Hope this helps a bit.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[Lucky.charm]

I love this shot. Good job. I like comosition and light on the right.

 

[o hey tyler]

I love this shot. Good job. I like comosition and light on the right.

Thanks, but practice reading posts too. I was posting that as an example for the OP (Original poster). It's not even that good of a shot, I was just showing him the effects of depth of field. There's no image in this thread for actual C&C.

 

[kielmaru]

Thanks WesternGuy! That really helped me a lot.
About the raw file.. I read that it's not recommended for a newbie to shoot in raw. So probably I'd shoot in raw in the future.

 

[DxAxN]

at least try it out... shoot RAW and JPEG and see what the difference is between the two...

 

[WesternGuy]

Thanks WesternGuy! That really helped me a lot.
About the raw file.. I read that it's not recommended for a newbie to shoot in raw. So probably I'd shoot in raw in the future.

Glad I could be of help. I had to smile a bit when I read your comments - like people say - "don't believe everything you read"...when I started out I shot only jpgs and did so for about a year, moved on to shooting jpg+RAW, I have shot RAW only for the past 2-3 years and now I wish I had shot RAW from the beginning, so if you must shoot jpegs, shoot RAW together as DxAxN has suggested - you may not use them (the RAW images) for a while but in a couple of years you will wish you had, but it is your choice, By the way, who said that for newbies it is not recommended to shoot RAW? Just curious?

Regards,

WesternGuy