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01/26/2013 01:03:14 AM · #26 |
The best way to learn photography:
1) Buy a camera that you can control manually like a DSLR or mid-size camera.
2) Learn the basics of photography. You can try reading a book like Photography Fundamentals by Marcos Martinez or one similar to it. You can Google "photography fundamentals ebook"
3) Take what you have learned and practice, practice, practice. Then practice some more. |
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01/26/2013 01:54:02 AM · #27 |
"When you practice the wrong thing, you get really good at doing something badly."
There is no doubt that practice makes you better, IF you are practicing with intent. Just snapping off tons of images will just wear out your shutter leaving you wondering why your shots are not as good as you wish they were.
Read about the basics of composition, then practice those. The goal is to make a photograph, not to take a picture. When you transform what you stumble upon in this world into what you want your viewer to see, then you are on the right track.
Look at some of the old challenges here, especially the composition challenges. leading lines,, rule of thirds ,,Shallow Depth of Field ,Deep depth of Field , Motion blur.
Sure there are lots of pretty pictures, but look at the front page, the middle page, and the last page. Look at how the photographers used the elements of composition, and where they failed. Read the comments and see where you agree or disagree with some of them. understand what you like and dislike in the work of others. Now you are starting to know what you want to shoot. Once you have a grasp of "the rules" practice them. Then find something where you want to shoot something against "the rules" because you think it looks better that way. Now you are shooting with intent.
Now go shoot a lot.
"A single error is a mistake. A group of the same error is a theme. A lifetime of the same error is a style." |
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01/26/2013 01:58:56 AM · #28 |
dpchallenge offers a lot in learning photography. Lots of folks here are very willing to share insights, give feedback, and offer suggestions.
Join a local photography club; sign up for workshops put on by your local camera shop (ours charges $25 for a workshop), college, or club; go to events you love, and try to capture what you love about them in photos; find a shooting buddy - take turns picking a location / subject to shoot, talk about what you want to capture, how you are going to try to do so, then look at the results and evaluate how well you did.
Besides aperture, shutter speed, and lighting, with digital cameras you also need to know about ISO - it is a much bigger factor than it was with film cameras.
Your Nikon D50 is a very good starter camera, and has all the manual control you need for learning. Others have scores in the high 7's with that camera in challenges here.
As others have said, shoot, shoot, shoot, and then shoot some more. Experiment. Try different settings, and see how they affect the result. Try different angles, different perspectives, different moods, etc. - all of the same subject.
On dpc, participate in the side challenges - you are more likely to get feedback on your photos than just entering challenges.
One big, important thing to remember - only what is visible in your picture is what the viewer has to understand the image. For example, I took a picture of my workplace's sign for a challenge - it was in really neat light, making the normally grey sign look peach to pinkish. Also, the light was casting strong shadows of bare branches on the sign - which since we are a recycling company was kind-of neat. Unfortunately, the voters here couldn't tell from the image what the sign's normal color was, or that bare branches' shadows weren't normally on the sign, or even what kind of company we were - all context things I knew, but were not conveyed by the image. Also, the old movie adage - if it ain't in the picture, it doesn't exist!
A camera does not "see" the same way we see. Figuring out how a camera "sees" a scene is key to becoming a good photographer.
On image editing software, you can do anything from free (Gimp) to relatively inexpensive (Paint Shop Pro by Corel can usually be purchased for under $100, and if you catch a sale, under $50), to the quite expensive, but top-of-the-line PhotoShop by Adobe ($699+).
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01/26/2013 03:48:13 AM · #29 |
| It's nice to see your responses Brennan and David, and revive the old interesting thread but beware of a possibility that sanmartinlupe is just trying to sell an ebook. In any case, it is good food for thought. |
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01/26/2013 11:11:25 AM · #30 |
The Snapfactory / Adoramatv photography tutorials on YouTube are really good. I would start there. There are tutorials on all manner of things, composition, exposure, processing, lighting , gear. All presented in a really good way by Mark Wallace. Easy to understand
Above all else though is practice, and entering challenges here and taking the feedback on the chin will really help you improve.
Eta: only just read up to Mnet and realised this is a zombie thread lol. Never mind!
Message edited by author 2013-01-26 11:12:37. |
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