Recommendations for a beginner.

chris954

chris954

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My Oh wants to progress from a compact to a dslr and I’ve tried many times to explain shutter speeds, aperture and iso to no avail. We decided her best chance is a book explaining it. Can anybody recommend a good simple book that will explain the basics without too much waffle.
 
chris954 said:
My Oh wants to progress from a compact to a dslr and I’ve tried many times to explain shutter speeds, aperture and iso to no avail. We decided her best chance is a book explaining it. Can anybody recommend a good simple book that will explain the basics without too much waffle.
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Understanding exposure by Bryan Peterson
 
Books are ok but youtube is so interactive. I found the froknowsphotos tutorials worked for me and also Mike Brown. between these 2 i got it having tried to learn it several times from read books
 
I think that one or other of you is probably over-thinking things here.
Most entry level DSLR's have a green box 'point and shoot' mode that needs no more know-how than a camera-phone or compact.
Start there, your O/H don't need know about apertures and shutter-speeds and the exposure triangle, and 'settings' don't make the photo... And when she does, and has git the buffers where knowing what alternative settings may be more or less helpful..it'll be in the 'Hand-Book' that comes with the camera.
In short, just get camera and get on with it... as and when a question arrises, THEN is the time to start reading.. and first port of call should just be RTFM.
 
Teflon-Mike said:
I think that one or other of you is probably over-thinking things here.
Most entry level DSLR's have a green box 'point and shoot' mode that needs no more know-how than a camera-phone or compact.
Start there, your O/H don't need know about apertures and shutter-speeds and the exposure triangle, and 'settings' don't make the photo... And when she does, and has git the buffers where knowing what alternative settings may be more or less helpful..it'll be in the 'Hand-Book' that comes with the camera.
In short, just get camera and get on with it... as and when a question arrises, THEN is the time to start reading.. and first port of call should just be RTFM.
Click to expand...
What....only 5 lines??? :thinking: :LOL: :agree:
 
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Teflon-Mike said:
I think that one or other of you is probably over-thinking things here.
Most entry level DSLR's have a green box 'point and shoot' mode that needs no more know-how than a camera-phone or compact.
Start there, your O/H don't need know about apertures and shutter-speeds and the exposure triangle, and 'settings' don't make the photo... And when she does, and has git the buffers where knowing what alternative settings may be more or less helpful..it'll be in the 'Hand-Book' that comes with the camera.
In short, just get camera and get on with it... as and when a question arrises, THEN is the time to start reading.. and first port of call should just be RTFM.
Click to expand...
I agree with the above.

I bet if you asked your OH why they want a dslr it won’t be so they can master fine aperture control. Chances are it’s for a perceived image quality boost and/or user experience.

As above let them use one in auto mode until they wish to take the stabilisers off.
 
Teflon-Mike said:
I think that one or other of you is probably over-thinking things here.
Most entry level DSLR's have a green box 'point and shoot' mode that needs no more know-how than a camera-phone or compact.
Start there, your O/H don't need know about apertures and shutter-speeds and the exposure triangle, and 'settings' don't make the photo... And when she does, and has git the buffers where knowing what alternative settings may be more or less helpful..it'll be in the 'Hand-Book' that comes with the camera.
In short, just get camera and get on with it... as and when a question arrises, THEN is the time to start reading.. and first port of call should just be RTFM.
Click to expand...

I agree with the above. Let her(?) get used to handling the camera on auto setting and give her help with composition etc. till she is really comfortable with the DSLR then introduce her to a subject the required a fast shutter or wide angle maybe using shutter or aperture priority mode. Small steps each time and she will learn quickly.

I once taught a friend how to build a database by showing him exactly how to do 1 small sequence (5 mins) follow by 'it can also do this' and showed him another but did it in 10 seconds. After about 8 weeks he said ' I wish you would teach me properly' so I explained what he did in the few days after (trial & error) had how he had actually learned thing I had not even shown him. Same guy had 'no need for spreadsheets' simply because he didn't know what they did so one day I gave him a little demo of what they could do and how to do it knowing that what I had demo'ed would help his business. 3 weeks later his business were using 4 spreadsheets he had set up and he was working on another 3 for his mates who 'didn't have a need for a spreadsheet'. All I did was show him he needed to learn database & spreadsheet building and the 'I want to do that' took over and he learned.

My daughter didn't want to learn about computers and if it didn't do what she wanted first time she gave up as she had no real 'want' to learn. Now self taught, she produces a magazine that sell world wide & has created their website.

Create the need to learn and the learning will follow.
 
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Definateley Mike Browne on youtube. An amazing teacher with dozens of video's. Some of them are old but of course still relevant. Very easy to understand tutorials and he does not do 'tech'! You must check him out.
 
f/2.8 said:
Understanding exposure by Bryan Peterson
Click to expand...
This is the book I always recommend but I was flamed recently. I found it very useful, taught me the basics and was an easy read.

OP, these might be useful

Understanding ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture - A Beginner's Guide

Understanding ISO - A Beginner's Guide

Understanding Aperture - A Beginner's Guide

Understanding Shutter Speed - A Beginner's Guide

Understanding Metering and Metering Modes

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com
 
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snerkler said:
This is the book I always recommend but I was flamed recently. I found it very useful, taught me the basics and was an easy read.

OP, these might be useful

Understanding ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture - A Beginner's Guide

Understanding ISO - A Beginner's Guide

Understanding Aperture - A Beginner's Guide

Understanding Shutter Speed - A Beginner's Guide

Understanding Metering and Metering Modes

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com
Click to expand...

I mentioned it on another thread recently and had some comments above how books are useless and YouTube is free.

I also found it very useful way back in the day and purchased the updated version for my daughter and my brother who both found it useful as well. While there is lots of free content on YouTube etc I found the book more useful and a good resource to fall back on.

Each to there own and all that. People don’t like to pay for anything these days. Personally I find learning anything from YouTubers who are always trying to push some sort of product or service not that helpful.
 
I'd be tempted to say that all that matters at this sort of stage (I'm guessing a lot here) is learning to look at the pictures she takes and seeing what needs improving.
Like so many I love fancy gear but for me learning what little I know about the technical side actually held me back to some extent as I was always thinking of that side, rather than capturing the moment.
Obviously it depends on what kind of photography is of interest, but I learnt more by looking and criticising my own pictures, often with family guidance and then applying some basic technical understanding.
Chris, you come across as someone who knows a little more about it all than she so why not go out together, get snapping and then go through the results together to see what works and why other things maybe don't..
 
f/2.8 said:
I mentioned it on another thread recently and had some comments above how books are useless and YouTube is free.

I also found it very useful way back in the day and purchased the updated version for my daughter and my brother who both found it useful as well. While there is lots of free content on YouTube etc I found the book more useful and a good resource to fall back on.

Each to there own and all that. People don’t like to pay for anything these days. Personally I find learning anything from YouTubers who are always trying to push some sort of product or service not that helpful.
Click to expand...
Watching videos isn’t always an option either. I’ve leant it to a couple of people and they’ve loved it.
stevewestern said:
I'd be tempted to say that all that matters at this sort of stage (I'm guessing a lot here) is learning to look at the pictures she takes and seeing what needs improving.
Like so many I love fancy gear but for me learning what little I know about the technical side actually held me back to some extent as I was always thinking of that side, rather than capturing the moment.
Obviously it depends on what kind of photography is of interest, but I learnt more by looking and criticising my own pictures, often with family guidance and then applying some basic technical understanding.
Chris, you come across as someone who knows a little more about it all than she so why not go out together, get snapping and then go through the results together to see what works and why other things maybe don't..
Click to expand...
The trouble is if you don’t understand the basics you probably can’t figure out why your photos aren’t how you want. I can’t tell me how many times I’ve heard people complain that their indoor photos are blurry, or their photos are always ‘grainy’ etc etc.

Reading that book would solve all those woes (y)
 
Tilerman said:
Definateley Mike Browne on youtube. An amazing teacher with dozens of video's. Some of them are old but of course still relevant. Very easy to understand tutorials and he does not do 'tech'! You must check him out.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the recommendation.I have watched several videos yesterday & today. Some of the topics I already knew & understand, some I've been learning and some that are new to me. All of them have given me a better understanding and/or have made me realise that while I may have known about them I never really thought too much about using them. When I get back out I will be putting it in to practice. In the meantime there's another 250+ to watch. lol
 
chris954 said:
My Oh wants to progress from a compact to a dslr and I’ve tried many times to explain shutter speeds, aperture and iso to no avail. We decided her best chance is a book explaining it. Can anybody recommend a good simple book that will explain the basics without too much waffle.
Click to expand...

Henry Carroll - 'Read This if You Want to Take Great Photographs'

https://www.laurenceking.com/product/read-this-if-you-want-to-take-great-photographs/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Read-This-Want-Great-Photographs/dp/1780673353

And suggest having a play with this:

http://www.canonoutsideofauto.ca/play/
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I bought a copy of understanding exposure off ebay and I can already see that she is starting to get it after only a couple of hours. She didn’t really want to use youtube as she much prefers a physical book and finds it much easier.
 
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