[ret030]

I bought a new camera about a month or so ago. Pretty sweet camera... its a canon s5is... heres my question... I have been taking random pictures here and there,and I want to make it a hobby. I have got a few good pictures, decent I guess, but have never edited or anything. Any idea where I can get the basics to digital photography and editing pictures??? I really enjoy doing this but I don't know a whole lot about it. I was looking on barnesandnoble.com for some books or something, but just don't know where to go and thought maybe someone might be able to help. Just need the basics and need pointed in the right direction if anyone knows any good books or sites to go to... this camera also has soooo many features that I haven't even found out about yet! But definitely something I want to get into. Thanks for any help everyone!

[ret030]

Also... I am completely blown away by HDR images!! I need to learn this ASAP!

[deegee]

As far as learning, practice, practice, practice. There are a lot of online tutorials on DSLR and getting started.

As for HDR, I am still getting the hang of it. I started a thread here:

HDR Hints and Tips

EDIT: Someone once posted this and I found it a bit helpful to start.

Enjoy! Digital SLR camera

[ret030]

thanks for the help! anyone else?

[Parker]

the best information I can give you is to shoot, shoot, and shoot some more! don't just snap a photo and be on your way...take your time to setup a shot. take your camera out of auto mode and try a few things here and there. it's digital so you won't be wasting anything.

as for editing and HDR, don't worry about those at all until you've figured out photography by itself. Those are just facets of photography that are nice when done well but shouldn't be the basis of your hobby.

also, search around on flickr and try look at the composition, their subjects, etc. that should give you an idea of how you should proceed.

[Kit08]

i currently have one of the older versions of your camera which is the canon s2is. Ive had it for 3 years maybe a little more and i have loved it! You should be very happy with your purchase and all of the many new features it has now as opposed to mine.

I dont really know too many photo sites or tutorials. I just one day got really excited about photography, went out and bought the camera and literally just read the entire manual and tried out all the features. Then just started having fun with it.

Take a hell of a lot of pictures and from a few different angles. You'll start getting the hang of lining up your shots and image/object positions. And dont be afraid to crop images in photoshop to get the photo you want, it can be super helpful.

I am no expert photographer but I actually just put my website up a few days ago because i am graduating in 2 weeks. If you would like i have a photography section with a few of my pictures that you are more than welcome to check out. Give it a few seconds because that page takes a little longer to load so it will redirect you to my gallery page at first...

michael solis | graphic designer

[ret030]

Originally Posted by Parker

the best information I can give you is to shoot, shoot, and shoot some more! don't just snap a photo and be on your way...take your time to setup a shot. take your camera out of auto mode and try a few things here and there. it's digital so you won't be wasting anything.

as for editing and HDR, don't worry about those at all until you've figured out photography by itself. Those are just facets of photography that are nice when done well but shouldn't be the basis of your hobby.

also, search around on flickr and try look at the composition, their subjects, etc. that should give you an idea of how you should proceed.

thanks for the help... I really get caught up in all the amazing photos including HDR and I forget that I don't know the basics yet... haha... I will definitely check out that site and I appreciate your time and input! Thanks a lot!

Originally Posted by Kit08

i currently have one of the older versions of your camera which is the canon s2is. Ive had it for 3 years maybe a little more and i have loved it! You should be very happy with your purchase and all of the many new features it has now as opposed to mine.

I dont really know too many photo sites or tutorials. I just one day got really excited about photography, went out and bought the camera and literally just read the entire manual and tried out all the features. Then just started having fun with it.

Take a hell of a lot of pictures and from a few different angles. You'll start getting the hang of lining up your shots and image/object positions. And dont be afraid to crop images in photoshop to get the photo you want, it can be super helpful.

I am no expert photographer but I actually just put my website up a few days ago because i am graduating in 2 weeks. If you would like i have a photography section with a few of my pictures that you are more than welcome to check out. Give it a few seconds because that page takes a little longer to load so it will redirect you to my gallery page at first...

michael solis | graphic designer

I am so excited about starting this as a hobby... I really enjoy looking at cool pictures and my friend just showed me this site called devaintart.com... its pretty cool and has TONS of photos... so I guess I have to start somewhere and can't expect to jump right into complicated shots and know how to do stuff like HDR photos for example. I looked at your site and I am really impressed... I really like the train track photo in particular. Good luck in the future with that... you seem to know what you are doing and thanks for your help! Much appreciated!!

[Draklen]

I am also getting started in photography but I don't have a DSLR camera yet. Just a Kodak Z712 IS, P&S with decent manual controls, and was wondering what setting would be suggested for zoomed and lower light?

These examples I took at a Clippers Game. I had to resize them so I can upload to photobucket.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...hotos/Test.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...otos/Test3.jpg

These were on Action Mode, no tripod, no flash. I was in one of the Suites.

This is an unzoomed shot with all the lights on.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/Unzoomed.jpg


Another question do most of you just bring your camera's around as much as possible?

[UltimateLurker]

My recommendation: don't forget about post-processing. If you don't know anything about Photoshop, start fiddling with it now.

[Draklen]

I have Photoshop 7.0. I just have no idea where to start heh.

[Parker]

Originally Posted by UltimateLurker

My recommendation: don't forget about post-processing. If you don't know anything about Photoshop, start fiddling with it now.

while I agree...I will also disagree. eventually, you should definitely know how to use photoshop, lightroom or aperture to edit your photos but you really should work on photo taking skills first. Once you start getting your composition, subject, etc., skills down, you can then dive into post processing to make your shots better.

My rule of thumb is to try and get the "perfect" shot straight from the camera and post process as little as necessary instead of getting the "so-so" shot and relying on photoshop to fix it.

[UltimateLurker]

Originally Posted by Parker

while I agree...I will also disagree. eventually, you should definitely know how to use photoshop, lightroom or aperture to edit your photos but you really should work on photo taking skills first. Once you start getting your composition, subject, etc., skills down, you can then dive into post processing to make your shots better.

My rule of thumb is to try and get the "perfect" shot straight from the camera and post process as little as necessary instead of getting the "so-so" shot and relying on photoshop to fix it.

And I respectfully disagree.

How many otherwise perfect shots have we seen ruined by some small detail that could have been eliminated in post-processing? How many more were never even presented because of such? Countless.

Learning Photoshop is learning how to manipulate things, and that's what you need for presentation. Picture taking, however, is a numbers game; take enough pictures and you will get some good ones.

I'll agree that knowing how to take a good picture is where everything starts, but I spent years making beautiful pictures with no knowledge of photography, and I did it with the help of Photoshop. Now when I get a good shot, and post process it, it's money.

[Parker]

I think we agree and disagree about the same aspects except im more for in-camera and you're more for out-of-camera. I agree that every photographer should post process but if they can't take a photo composition, level and settings wise, there is no need to rely on photoshop to "make it better".

[UltimateLurker]

Definitely. I probably feel the way I do because I'm better at Photoshop than taking pictures...lol. Once I get as good as you at taking pictures I'll probably change my opinion .

[Parker]

but I think you have a great handle on taking the photo so after you throw them through PS, they turn out great. I have some photoshop skills but I definitely know they can be improved. sometimes I get it just right and other times I just can't quite get it.

Here is one example where I messed up the initial shot but was able to save it ok (excluding some minor details I missed...)

Before

After


It was just supposed to be a quick shoot for a class project, with my new Tamron 17-50 but I forgot a couple things like what ISO I was shooting on, WB settings, forcing f/2.8 when I should have set it to f/4.0 or f/5.6, parking pass on rear view mirror, and front license plate.

Oh well, I usually forget about some of the minor details so I try to fix those in photoshop! (IB4takeyourownadvicenoob!)