Tips For a beginner?

[NewHampshireMan]

Does anyone have any tips for a young photographer? I just recently took interest in photography and quite honestly I have no clue what I'm doing! This past summer I picked up my parents Nikon D70 camera and went out to take pictures with no idea on what I was doing, and needless to say I took an interest in photography. At this point I know very little besides the fact that I'm just "taking pictures." If anyone has any tips on want to look for when I go out and shoot, please let me know. It's a vague thread, I know, but I just need help on where to even start! Anything is helpful at this point.

 

[480sparky]

Step 1: Read the manual that came with your camera.

Step 2: Ask any questions you have here on the forum. We're all here to help.

 

[TwilitLens]

Welcome to the forums, NHM! In my opinion, the best things to concentrate on as soon as you can would be composition and exposure.

Composition is the artsy part of photography where you find out what is pleasing to the eye. Research the "Rule of Thirds" and you'll be off to a great start.

Exposure is a bit more mechanical, and for that you'll want to learn as much as you can about your camera's modes. Try to get your camera into "manual mode" as soon as you can and learn about ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed (the holy trinity, as it were).

Best of success to you! And please, continue to ask questions. There's a lot of knowledgable people here to help you learn.

 

[jsecordphoto]

Where in NH are you from?

 

[JoeW]

Welcome to the addiction, er, uh, fun--yeah, that's it--fun... of photography. And welcome to the Forums.

1. Read the manual. It will be dull, bore you to tears, but read it anyway.

2. Buy a book made by someone other than Nikon talking about your camera. A D70 is very old so you should be able to get a good used book. It's not that Nikon manuals are crap (they're actually quite good, it's just that most technical manuals are boring and dull), it's that another book written by someone not being paid by Nikon will offer judgments and recommendations and talk about how they use the camera. You'll learn a lot from that.

3. Go shoot. Shoot a lot. And then review your photos. And then go shoot some more. And review some more. And keep shooting. Never conclude "oh this is crap" and then delete. Instead, at every photo look at it and ask "why did it turn out this way?" and look at what you can learn from that shot (whether it was good or not). Do not look for popular appeal...people may like your work, they may vomit at your work and none of it matters at this stage. There is a great line from the great photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson...."Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." So start a shooting so you can get to 10,001. And then 10,002. Oh, and when you hit photo 1,000, go back and read that dull, boring manual again--there was stuff that made no sense or that you passed by when you first read it that will now be critical once you have a couple of thousands exposures to your name.

4. Go get a book by someone like Bryan Peterson that will explain more about composition and seeing photographs before you ever pull the camera up. I recommend Peterson b/c he writes for all levels (so you can read him as a beginner and then get more of his stuff as you improve). Also, he's prolific so if you like his writing style and it's clear to you, you can buy other books by him and you won't feel like you got ripped off. Finally, he also does videos for Adorama TV so if you like the book a lot, you'll know you can turn to his short videos and they'll work for you as well. Michael Freeman is another good guy who is prolific and covers topics that won't be in the manual (b/c they're less about how to use the camera and more about composition, creating a photo vs. taking a picture).

5. Ask questions here on the Forums. And share your work asking for C&C. Most of the time we're extremely friendly. And when someone is an a-hole to a newbie, the rest of us usually shoot him down.

Just a couple of other things. Some people who don't know sh*t will laugh that you're using a D70. It is an old camera. I still have one (as a backup). Big, a bit clunky, technology has improved since it came out and low light performance is mediocre. That said.....D70's have a rep as being very reliable beasts (I never had an issue with mine.) They came out when Nikon was trying to get back in the game with the prosumer market. As a result, they have unlimited sync speeds for speed lights (which will mean nothing to you now but as you progress will be a nice plus). And frankly, 90% of what a good DSLR can do (in terms of technology) is stuff that most serious photographers rarely or never use. The best camera isn't the one with the most bells and whistles, it's the camera who have with you that you can use effectively. A D70 is a heckuva great camera to start with. My favorite all-time quote about photography is by the great Dorothea Lange. She once said: "A camera is a device to teach you how to see without a camera." Folks who don't know what they're talking about will claim that good cameras take good photos (as if a restaurant produces great meals b/c it has a great oven). No, you get great photos b/c you have a great eye and then you learn how to manipulate your tool (the camera) to produce what you want to create. So what you're looking to do at this stage is to:
--have fun
--learn how the camera works (i.e. become competent)
--learn about photography (like composition and color and light and exposure speeds and a bunch of other things that are fun to manipulate, that are the difference between taking a snapshot vs. creating a picture).
--discover what aspects of photography you enjoy the most
After you do those things, you'll be in a position to say what you want to upgrade to and what you're trying to shoot. Until then, your D70 will do you just fine

 

[NewHampshireMan]

Where in NH are you from?

I'm from the White Mountains National Forest area. A beautiful area to learn photography and lots of opportunities to take some great pictures!

 

[jsecordphoto]

Where in NH are you from?

I'm from the White Mountains National Forest area. A beautiful area to learn photography and lots of opportunities to take some great pictures!

Lucky you! I live down in the lakes region area but spend a bunch of time up around you.

 

[Overread]

A few thoughts:

1) Most photography books that are "how to" do exposure. In fact its pretty hard to find those that don't have a large chunk talking about basic exposure. Some, like Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson go into more detail and focus upon the subject entirely. Buy or borrow (library) a copy and go through it. The case studies should help and it should start to help you get an idea how to control the camera.

2) Whilst your starting out try and be in aperture priority mode. It's a good mode to start with as it lets you have some control (over aperture and ISO) whilst letting the camera deal with metering and shutter-speed selection. As time goes on though practice more in manual mode and get a real feel for how to control the camera and how each of the 3 settings (shutterspeed, ISO and aperture) affect your shots and how to balance them from a meter reading.

3) Many will say "only shoot manual" whilst others will say "manual is overrated I do great in 'insert mode' you don't need manual".
I tend to ignore both groups.
The key is to learn how the three core settings work; how they balance together and how to meter a shot (basically points 1 and 2 above). From there the modes such as aperture priority; shutter priority; manual mode; Program and auto are all just different ways to control those 3 settings. Each has its bonuses and downsides. Learn how they work; learn the differences and then make a choice for yourself as to what you want to shoot in (hint - chances are you won't ever have 1 mode - you will vary and the more different situations and shots you go for the more you will vary how you will shoot).

4) Oft quoted advice is to "keep the ISO low". My take on that is to ignore it.
YES it is true a lower ISO gives less noise; but it is also true that if you underexpose a shot and then brighten it up in editing you will get even MORE noise than if you'd have used a higher ISO for the shot and thus correctly exposed it (for correct/incorrect exposure theory look up the "expose to the right" theory as well as "histograms". Note Expose to the Right is an ideal theory, which is to say it presents an ideal theory to use when the situation (light, creativity, scene) allows you to but should not dominate over other ideas such as situation or creative choice).
You must learn not to fear higher ISOs otherwise you'll cripple your learning somewhat. Blur from a too slow shutter speed you can't fix in editing; high ISO noise you can fix in editing (there are legions of guides on that subject).




Photography is a fun and rewarding hobby and the more core theories and ideas you learn the better. At an early stage I would focus on the technical (which is why my advice above deals with it). Yes artistic aspects are very important; critical in fact to your development in the hobby. But first step first learn to control the tools. You can't be creative (in a deliberate sense) if you can't control your camera nor have the ability to predict (at least in part) how different settings will affect your shots.
Plus as you learn you will pick up some artistic advice and ideas as you go so you won't learn technical in total isolation of artistic ideas.

 

[The_Traveler]

there are no tips, no shortcuts, no magic buttons - there is only learning and practicing and work.

 

[rudimaes]

In this free online e-book, the basics are explained:
Creative Photography A Complete Online Book - Book Contents
Rudi

 

[DarkShadow]

If you have problems with exposures, the Sunny 16 rule is always a good starting point.Many new shooters struggle with exposures.There is a lot of articles on this but you can start here.The Sunny f 16 Rule for Digital Exposure - For Dummies

 

[kovhanperl]

Where in NH are you from?

 

[weepete]

Read, read some more. Then shoot and put it into practice and repeat.

 

[Trangela]

it's simple and efective. It might be useful to a beginner

I think it is what you want