Im 15 and an aspiring photographer. Id be honored to get any tips or advice :)

P

_photochick_

Suspended / Banned
Messages
27
Name
Audreyanna
Edit My Images
Yes
Hello
My name is Audrey, im 15 years old, and I absolutely adore photography! I have the Canon XSi that I use with the Canon 50mm f/1.4 and I love them both (took me FOR-ever to save up for though) Instead of buying the XSi with the kit lens,(which I read was pretty low standard) I bought the body only, and only recently saved up enough money to get the 50mm. Well I would really appreciate some tips and/or advice about photography :)
 
You have a fantastic lens there to accompany the camera.

Best advice I can possible give you is get taking LOADS of photographs, try all the settings see what they do and how they react to your user imputs. If you can't work out how to resolve a problem then come on here and ask a question.

I made the mistake of reading LOADS on here and then not knowing how to put it into practice, so I can definately recommend trying to work some of it all out yourself.

Hope that helps :)

PS: Most of us on here are from the UK (Not all) but when explaining your camera we refer to the Canon XSi as a Canon 450D.
 
Hi Audrey, right age to be starting :)

Hang around here for a while and you will soon be picking it all up. Don't rush it, takes a while to learn the basics but if you learn them now they will be with you for life.

Have a little browse around the tutorials section and just have some fun with it now you have a tidy kit. If you look for Cowasaki's tutorials here is starting his own little course and that would be well worth following. :)
 
AliB,
Thank you! Ill definitely have a look at those tutorials ^_^
 
There's loads of tutorials on here for getting going, but I'd defiantely recommend just playing with the camera first or you may become quite baffled when people use terms that you havn't heard of or used (eg. Different focussing or metering modes)
 
Welcome to the forum Audrey. Sounds like a nice combo there, I have a D200 with 50mm f1.8. I think you can learn a lot about photography with one prime lens. It's an excellent portrait lens and great for getting out onto the streets with for some candid photography.

As has been said the best way is to immerse yourself and get yourself out and learn. A lot of what you'll pick up on here will come from contributing and looking at some of the more accomplished member's posts.

I assume if you've had the smartness to get an f1.4 then you understand the basics of the interaction of Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO? That's the first starting point for most people and you'd be surprised how many still don't quite get that.

Have a look at this thread for candid street shots. http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=100633&highlight=candid

Some thinks to look out for:
- understanding relationship of Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO
- How to use RAW files
- Using flash - fill-in flash and normal flash
- understanding depth of field
- how to sharpen photographs


Good luck and don't be shy to post up your photos.

Gavin
 
Sounds good! I love fidgeting with cameras! Sometimes my friends will bring their point-and-shoots to me and Ill help them figure out their settings. Im only just getting familiar with the metering modes though. Those are a bit tricky. :/
 
Dazzler, (love your username ^_^)
Thanks a bunch for advice! Ill definitely read the link you posted :)
 
:welcome:

if you wish to post some of your shots, you will gain a lot from people saying what is good [and what is not so good...:)]

dont be shy - it's a good way to learn

just change your profile to allow "edits" ..at the moment you do not have it "checked"
 
One of my moms friends is an amazing photographer, her work is just beautiful. [f by any chance youd be interested in seeing it, its called In His Grace Photography, you can see some of her work on facebook] Anyway, she also told me that the best way to improve your skill is to have other people criticize your work. I would love to show some of my photograghy, and I'll try to post some of it as soon as I get the chance.
 
NigelPaul,
I will certainly look at those tutorials on YouTube. Thank you so much for the suggestion :)
 
Hi Audrey. Welcome.

A second here for Bryan Peterson. I highly recommend a book called "Understanding Exposure" by him.
Anything you don't understand about metering should be cleared up after reading this.

Link
 
'Understanding Exposure.' Got it. I will definitely look it up and try to get it. Thanks!
 
My grandfather was a photographer for the newspaper in Washington, DC. He did a really good job at explaining aperature and exposure to me, otherwise I wouldnt of gotten it :/ But sometimes, I still get a little confused from time to time.
 
Last edited:
_photochick_ said:
Well I would really appreciate some tips and/or advice about photography :)
Click to expand...



Let people know what interests you i:e portraits / motorsports / macro / landscapes...!!!

And I am sure you will get alot more pointers..

I would say that having the 1.4 you could be interested in portraits.


There are alot of very good photographers on here that will share there knowledge with you.


Oh and welcome.. " Just wish I was into this when I was 15..!!!!!"


MD
 
Thank you for the tip. And im sure what im asking for is definitely a bit broad :/
Well someday I want to do wedding photography, it looks like so much fun, and ive always loved weddings. My aunt is getting married soon, so that will be a bit of an oppertunity there. I do like doing portraits. I have 5 younger siblings, so I have tons of little models to be my guinea pigs ^_^ In a nutshell, I like photographing people. I also like to photograph random things. Like bikes, flowers, cars, etc. So that would be considered landscape.....?
 
I covered my first wedding at 14 for an auntie, that was 35 years and about 990 odd weddings ago :D:D

Go for it.......

stew
 
There are some great wedding togs on here. Also there are the big names in the industry, like Yervant et al. All brilliant, but my fave is this guy............. http://meninenuotrauka.lt/
 
and if you do put pictures on here ,you may get people saying things you dont like or want to hear ,,but dont let that put you off , just keep plugging away,never give up
( wish id started earlier too , i might have learnt something by now :) )
 
Thank you for the reasurrance. Im prepared to let peopl tell me their honest opinions.
 
Hi Audrey

Welcome!

Another tip I'd give you is; try to learn about PP - which is post processing, and shooting in RAW rather than jpg. Your 450D will allow you to shoot in RAW. You can consider a jpg file as a processed RAW file - the difference is that you - instead of the camera - get to process the RAW image into however you want it to look.

A great application for photographers is called Lightroom3 - which serves as both an image processing suite and an image keyworder and librarian.

In varying degrees, I consider any final image/photo a triumvirate of (1) the camera, (2) the photographer and (3) the post processing applied to the pic.

Looking forward to seeing your development (excuse the pun!!)
 
Good luck! My advice is to take your camera everywhere. You might even want to try something like a 365 project where you have to take a photo every day for a year. It really forces you to think about different aspects of photography, as after a couple of months it's really quite difficult to think of something new to photograph each day.
 
shoot lots :D

then start working out how the camera works - shoot manual and do it so much that it becomes instinctive, at this point you never need to worry about how the tech side works because you just kinda do it - its the point I'm reaching a few years in (too much time spent on auto/Av not understanding why my pictures weren't like I wanted them to be). It's just so liberating to know your exposure is fine so you can focus on the important stuff which is focussing composition and interaction
 
theMusicMan,
Thank you for the heads up. I must say, I never really took shooting in RAW very seriously, but now I will definitely try to learn about that, and try to figure it out. Lightroom3. Ill look it up and try to get my hands on it. Thanks again!
 
Lazlo Woodbine,
Thanks for the tip! At first Ive been a bit hesistant to bring my camera along, but I realized that I could be missing quite a few good shots. From now on, where I go, it follows. :) And I like that 365/shot-a-day thing. Definititely gonna try that out.
 
Lazlo Woodbine,
Thanks for the tip! At first Ive been a bit hesistant to bring my camera along, but I realized that I could be missing quite a few good shots. From now on, where I go, it follows. :) And I like that 365/shot-a-day thing. Definititely gonna try that out.
 
Hi photochick,

Constuctive criticism is always helpful, but doesnt necessarily mean to say anothers opinion is correct and yours isn't.

Is there a special branch of photography that interests you more than others? I.e. Landscape / Portrait etc........

i.e. for eacxh category there are certain things that should be there - things such as horizontal horizons are good - i have yet to see the sea or a lake sloping... and the rule of thirds is a good principle to think about but is not the be all and end of lanscape photography..........


But have a practice, a play and enjoy................thats the main thing..........

Have a browse around the different sections and don't be afraid to comment on other peoples pictures just because "oh you're a 'newbie' - there was always a day when everyone on here was new, and probably afraid to upset the status quo............
 
Good to know, about the whole criticism thing. I know that sometimes, Ill take what other people say to heart, maybe a little to much to heart.
I love photograghing people. Someday, I would like to do weddings, protraits, etc.
And thank you very much for the advice. I really do appreciate it :)
 
A useful feature on forums is an EXIF viewer. Every time you take a photo the settings are saved with it, aperture, shutter, focal length, ISO etc. You can download EXIF viewers for your browser so that when you hover over most images it will show you the camera settings.
 
Last edited:
That sounds so cool! (and useful) Ill take a look at it. Thank you!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top