Where to start

Cris_L

Cris_L

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Cris
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I've just bought a Canon 500D with the stock 18 - 55 lens and want to start developing my skills, but where do i start?

I've familiarised myself with the controls a little but so far I've taken nothing more than pictures about the house or my girlfriend and the cats, and these are obviously just looking like snaps so far.

Whats the best place to start to take the first steps to taking decent photographs rather than just snaps? I'll be going for a walk in the woods later today where there is a stream, I was hoping to get a picure where the water looks blurred. (I do have a basic tripod).

thanks, sorry for the dumb question that has probably been covered a million times before!
 
Hey Cris,

Iv just began too .. yesterday infact, same camera also.

Best thing you can do is play about ive taken over 600 photos with me just messing with settings seeing what does what .. i have to say this camera freaking rocks!

Hope you enjoy your walk!
 
Yep, I'm very impressed with it too...although all i have to compare it to is run of the mill digital cameras.

I've found a very useful I phone app if you have one, its dslr toolkit for dummies. It gives suggested camera settings for certain scenaios..eg waterfall with blurred water and loads of other bits.
 
Yeah i got that earlier =] theres also a nice guide app by O'reiley specificaly aimed at our 500d
 
Everyone learns differently. Tutorials section on here is very helpful.

I bought understand Exposure by Bryan Peterson and worked on the examples on there, worked for me for the basics.

Most important things to conventrate on are AV mode (to select the Aperture = f number) or TV to select the Shutter speed.

Take the same shot in AV mode and just change the Aperture value eg from f3.5 to f8 and see the difference between what is in focus and what is not. Do and redo until you understand that a large f number mean s more in focus, and a small f number means more subject isolation.

Then go to TV mode and take something moving with a fast shutter speed eg 1/1000 and then a slow shutter speed eg 1/20. This should get you frozen action \ blurred etc. You can then try panning etc.

A relatively cheap Canon 50mm f1.8 if you have the cash is a great value lens that let's you experiment will with Depth of Field (DOF) which you change in AV mode.

Main thing, practise, practise, practise, but think about what you are doing.

Good luck!

Al
 
Chris,

I’m new to this too.

One of things that is helping me, is understanding the link between aperture, shutter speed and ISO. They all play apart in getting the correct exposure, amongst other things.

I’m staying with aperture priority at the moment, considering what scenes should have what setting, i.e. small aperture (large F number) for landscape and large aperture (small F number) for portrait. The aperture plays a part in depth of field (blurry backgrounds), so you’d generally want your landscapes to be in focus and then portraits with a blurred background, all these are rules which I guess are for breaking!!

Consider the arrangement of your pictures, such as leading lines and the rule of thirds etc.

Then, once you’ve taken a few, post them here for peoples feed back.

Enjoy your walk.
 
cheers for the replies guys. I took the camera with me on the walk and found a nice bit of stream. I wanted to have the water looking blurred but it really wasnt flowing fast enough...in fact its barely a trickle!

I tried bags of different settings. i noticed that if i had a slower shutter speed (to try and blue the water) I would need to increase the f number otherwise there was too much light.

One of the better shots I took was a 1.3" exposure with f13 - i had to use the tripod too. The water looked quite good in this one.

Its just figuring out how to make them look more like a quality image rather than a snap taken with standard camera.
 
I found scanning through the photos here, finding a style I liked and trying to replicate it helped me learn how to use everything. Reading all the guides and trying it all out a bit at a time helps. Getting a decent flash (430EX for example) really opens up the possibilities for shooting too.
 
That is another question I have, what extra bits and bobs is it worth investing it at this stage...bearing in mind that money isnt an endless supply!

All I have at the moment is the standard 18 - 55 lens, is it worth getting the canon 75 - 250 (i think) lens - I think it retails at around £170 ish, what about a flash, a macro lens etc?
 
Depends what you want to shoot. I started off with the same kit as you, can have tailored it to suit what I enjoyed shooting. To save buying and then selling, spend some time with your current lens and try a bit of everything and see what you enjoy most. Then you can upgrade your kit to suit. I bought a few cheaper lenses too early, and they all went again pretty quickly. And in case you ever come to the stage where you are weighing up saving money on cheaper lenses compared to some Canon L lenses - the differences really are that huge. I'd rather have one decent L lens than a few lesser lenses. Other people may disagree, but I am just speaking from my experiences. Your 500d is a bloody good camera, and L lenses will make a huge difference.
 
Hi Cris, I think you might mean the 55-250mm lens, it is an excellent quality budget telephoto zoom.
 
Thanks Andy, man this forum is a helpful place! A few people have said cheap lenses don't do the camera justice so I'll take your advise and stick with what i have for the time being.

Just trying to get to grips with photoshop elements 7 at the minute, never really used any image processing software before so its very alien to me.
 
Chris.

Looks like you have started a good thread, could all learn together with the same kit. How abouyt we all post our discoveries and words of wisdom/lessons learned on here?

Andy.
 
Cris_L said:
That is another question I have, what extra bits and bobs is it worth investing it at this stage...bearing in mind that money isnt an endless supply!

All I have at the moment is the standard 18 - 55 lens, is it worth getting the canon 75 - 250 (i think) lens - I think it retails at around £170 ish, what about a flash, a macro lens etc?
Click to expand...

Welocome, enjoy the wonders of photography. I would suggest resisting the urge to spend until you know what your photographic preferences are :thinking:
 
Hey Chris, I'm new to Talk Photography but have been photographing for years. I'd recommend choosing a subject that interests you and perfecting your art with that subject first... for example my passion 5 years ago was Butterflies and Flowers as I had studied them as a painter too. So my first decent lens was a 100mm Macro and I took literally thousands of Macro images of plants and insects, really learning how to make the lens perform at it's best. The 100mm also happens to work quite well as a Portrait lens so there's some flexibility in there too... but if landscapes are your thing start with a Wide Angle lens. You can't learn it all at once so it helps to choose what interests you most first and work from there.
 
andyroo1986 said:
Other people may disagree, but I am just speaking from my experiences.
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I'm sure no-one will disagree with the logic of not buying a lens longer than 55mm until you can afford one with an L on the side. That sounds entirely 100% reasonable to me.
 
RevOnline said:
I'm sure no-one will disagree with the logic of not buying a lens longer than 55mm until you can afford one with an L on the side. That sounds entirely 100% reasonable to me.
Click to expand...

Well, it does depend on what you can afford. If an L lens is achievable, but not justifiable, it might be wiser, when you discover your preference is to take pictures of things that are too far away for your current lens, to buy what you really want right away. If an L lens is not affordable, then it won't be an L lens. the point I'm making is that money can be wasted by buying cheaper and regretting it later.
 
Well I guess I need to find what subjects interest me the most, at the moment what i enjoy to look at is waterfalls, rivers etc, close ups of insects, close ups of colored dye in water (like in the last months practicle photography) and i should imagine I'll be doing a fair bit of astrophotography.

and photographing my cats - note my first ever attempt at cloning in the top right...dodgey!

kittenontherug.jpg
 
Cris_L said:
Thanks Andy, man this forum is a helpful place! A few people have said cheap lenses don't do the camera justice so I'll take your advise and stick with what i have for the time being.

Just trying to get to grips with photoshop elements 7 at the minute, never really used any image processing software before so its very alien to me.
Click to expand...

Another thing that will boost your flexibility is shooting in RAW and using the excellent RAW processing in Elements. Have fun!
 
Cris_L said:
Yes i must start using RAW, only problem is I only have a 1gb card at the minute, will pick up a new one soon.
Click to expand...

Obviously, RAW is not compulsory, but it does give a lot more options afterwards without sacrificing quality.
 
Don't forget you cannot buy an EF-S lens in the L range so don't be put off by the lack of a letter
Something like the Canon 17-55 IS would be more suitable for your camera than the Canon 17-40L
 
"Loaded"....:lol:

Not sure really, but you need to be loaded to get one....

:thumbs:
 
Cris_L said:
That is another question I have, what extra bits and bobs is it worth investing it at this stage...bearing in mind that money isnt an endless supply!
Click to expand...

I would suggest filters.

I loved the skies I got from my polarizing filter.
My Neutral Density filter helps blur the water and control the exposure too.
Consider if you want screw in or cradle type filters.
The cradle will let you slid a graduated filter up and down, a screw fitting filter cannot.
 
markw08 said:
"Loaded"....:lol:

Not sure really, but you need to be loaded to get one....

:thumbs:
Click to expand...


I'm on a 'bridge' DLSR at the moment while I sample the hobby.
It's saved me getting into to debt as I cannot buy extra lenses!

I know I like photography now, so saving for a more pro SLR - Lookout for the 'What Camera?' thread towards the of the year!!
 
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