Full truth: This is embarrassing to admit(especially on a site with some amazing photographers)...but here I am with this nice good expensive camera and I don't honestly fully know how to use it. I have two things on my side....1. artistic vision (aka a good eye) and 2. luck. That's why so far I've been able to eek out a few good pics. Either that or you guys have been lying to me to save my feelings. I really desperately want to learn to go manual, because I know for a fact that auto mode and portrait mode can only take me so far. I'm not looking to be a pro and make money off of my pictures, I just want to do it for art's sake and take beautiful photos. So please if you have any links or any advice you are welcome to leave me some comments with links or please email me at arlya56@googlemail.com
I would post this only on the forums but I know some of you don't go/post there.
Honestly Jenn.... dont feel bad! If people say your photos are beautiful, or really like it...they trully mean it. Otherwise they wouldnt comment on it. You trully do have talent, but I agree (because I am in the same boat, not really knowing how the camera works at all)...but I am gonna start taking classes, looking things up on line, and reading books to make myself more familiar with what a good camera really can do :) I wish I could just snap my fingers, and it all be in my brain...but it just doesnt work that way. But I love photography so much, that I am willing to put in some effort :D Good luck with everthing!!
Lauren, I am reading and I am trying to learn. What I'm trying to find out is if someone else has some resources or tips or sites or links that I have yet to find Also, it's hard for me to get a real life class in when I have two little ones and and limited funds. Thanks for your reply. :)
Based on my hairline, I am somewhat old school. I learned how to shoot on full manual camera, a Pentax K1000. I think they used something called film!
The K1000 was the "learning" camera for every Art Student as I can remember. Most old pros will never call the old piece of junk a piece of junk either. Mine is 30 years old, and I still use it occasionally.
I think what I am getting at (as I am in the dark ages) is that to learn manual, you learn after the fact. Digital is so easy to look at the image and then erase. While I still recommend shooting film to REALLY learn it, a more efficient way with your digital is to pay no attention to that little screen on the back of the camera after you shoot. To this day, I never even look at it. Look at it later, remember what you shot, and learn by experience.
Ok, so I do things the hard way. It's easy if "everyone" can do it. So challenge yourself. Put blinders on! (ok, a bit excessive!)
it is hard to really pick tips and tricks in this sort of format because there is soooo much, and it's also hard to explain in words because a lot of the manual part of photography is counter intuitive. it just takes practice, practice, practice and as lauren said there are a ton of great forums out there. another one of my favorites is photographers' blogs; a lot of great photographers share their knowledge (my favorites for knowledge are jasmine star ( http://www.jasminestarblog.com - search her FAQ's, tons of great info) & drew bittel (she has a blog http://www.momtog.com) where she helps moms take better pictures of their kids, it's great). i would say the main things that transformed manual photography for me were 1. understanding aperture/f stops (the lower the number the more shallow your depth of field, meaning crisp subject, blurry background), 2. exposure - there is so much you can do with exposure and by using your light meter and finding that sweet spot will help you capture what you're really seeing. a lot of times the light meter's reading telling you what the exposure should be may not necessarily be what you're going for so that's another thing you just have to play around with. and 3. i would say focus points! on auto focus, you can manually adjust more specific focus points on your camera so for example if you had the aperture set low you could move the focus point to the persons eye and much of the rest of the photo would be blurred... all depends on what style you're going for etc. i would start with your camera manual and just figure out what you're trying to achieve or choose one thing to start with and then practice with that particular thing... etc etc etc... and the internet is such a fantastic resource too. the tutorial videos, the blogs, the forums, this site, it's awesome. i hope that helped at all, that's just my take on it :) good luck!
oh and forgot... shutter speed, duh. i just had a mind dump so forgive me but that's what i meant when i was talking about the light meter, which can be manipulated by both the aperture and shutter speed so i would say put the aperture as low as possible and then mess with the shutter speed to find the light you love :) also, just looked at your pics, you're doing great! :)
At the least, he is a character, the kind of person some love to hate. When he gives good advice, it is good. He also tends to talk out of both sides of his mouth.
But, he offers practical write ups on composition, and how to take great pictures. You just have to ignore his editorials (as you would do with mine, if you are wise, as I have very outspoken opinions, and yes, I admit it).
Check it out! It is a good resource, and a great daily read.
I'm sorry but I just have to comment on the Pentax K1000. I WANT ONE! Years ago when I was camera shopping, that's what the guy at the local camera store told me to get instead of buying new. Couldn't find one. Bummer.
I would say just put your camera in Manual and play around. change a setting (like ISO) to 200 take a pic and see what happens then change it to 3200 and take pic see what that looks like. thats mostly how I learned how to use my camera. that and the manual it came with. I was so excited when i got my camera that i read the WHOLE manual front to back about 6 times..lol. but for me that was all i needed. the best part about DSLRs is that you don't have to pay for film. so fill up your memory card with mistakes... when your done erase 'em.
Ebay! 1,000 of them. I will never sell mine. I remember I dropped it on the hot shoe when my sister got married, and it looks like it was in a car accident, but I will never sell it.
Jenn, maybe deep down, we are all psychologically saying something. That is the way to really learn manual (?) Or, to go really deep, spend $400, go on Ebay, and pick up a used Mamiya 645. Hard to use...great to learn on. Tese teach you how to balance light to determine the right opening. Hate to say it, but if you do that, you will be shocked at how much better the images are vs digital.
If it helps, I've so far gone from Full Auto, to Shutter Priority, and am now using Aperture Priority mostly. Full Manual can wait.
Starting off with figuring out shutter priority made sense to me, due to it... just making more sense. You want more light, leave the shutter open longer. Simple. Once I'd figured this out, and after having depth of field explained, moving on to figuring out aperture priority was easy.
PRACTICE!! don't be scared. get out there. give yourself assignments. do it, who cares if you screw up, that is the ONLY way you learn. and don't give up.
yeah i'm with Steve... i'm mainly Aperture priority because i want certain DoF. The only time i go full manual is in the studio when I have the time to change the lighting, meter and set.
Ya know, I have NEVER used Aperture or Shutter Priority Modes in my 30 years. It has either been program or manual. Maybe I need to experiment more. Weee. More fun.
I found on old Pentax K1000 the other day! I want to give it a go... But the palaver of the whole film thing is making me hesitant!
I can really sympathise with the OP here as well, though... I shoot the majority of my photos on "auto" mode, on the Nikon... Sometimes I get good pictures, and sometimes I get bad pictures - but I don't feel like I have any control over the quality of the pictures, like it's all just down to luck... I can take a picture, look at it, and think "I don't like that" but I won't know what's making it bad, or what I'd need to change in the shot to get it better... Or, I can take a picture and think "I like that" that, but knowing that I think "it looks good" is about as far as it goes - I don't know what actually about it makes it look good!
My first slr was a manual with only led lights when looking in view finder to to let you know of light or speed, other than that, totally manual. It is a Fujica, 40 years old now, but still working quite well. But I still get a kick out of using my
80 plus year old box camera, which I have to order film for. I posted two fireworks shots from that camera a while back. Tagged (fireworks) by rrt. I think when doing just manual it gives more sense of accomplishment. BUT, I have know some people that have very expensive equipment and have difficulty taking a good photo. Another thing that I think help make a good photo is actually the title. You can have a great photo, but a bad title will just turn people off for the most part.
That is (in my opinion) of course. Whatever what we do, just keep on snapping
and posting. THIS IS A GREAT site.
I checked out nearly every photo book in the library and read and read and read until the concepts of aperture and shutter speed were second nature. I know it sounds like Greek at first, but trust me, eventually it will make sense. Once that clicks, using Auto Mode will feel hindering to you.
Like Sarah said, reading Digital Photography School is a great reference. I read that blog regularly! I also highly recommend most any book by Bryan Peterson. He's pretty easy to understand and a lot of his books have been very helpful to me.
Oh and second, practice, practice, practice! Honestly doing the 365 project has been the best learning experience for me (next to learning the concepts of course). It's one thing to intellectually understand something, but to put it into practice really helps.
Getting a manual camera is definitely a good way to go - don't pay much for your processing because your first few rolls of film will turn out utterly pants, use the Truprint send-it-away envelopes or take it to your local supermarket and use their 3 day cheapo service for processing, it'll work out at about £3 a film. Boots is a great place to go to bulk buy film - get a mix of the Fuji 200 speed x5 and Kodak 400 x4 (Klick Photopoint/Max Spielmann are even better but I think they really have gone bust now!) And just go find some subjects - but make sure you go outdoors to practice, because anything you shoot inside will be pretty yellow 'cause they're designed for daylight and not tungsten (or at least, that's what I found with my OM-10 shooting with that film). Also a non-film wasting technique is to find something static with a couple of different things at different distances, and just stand there and practice getting each object into focus - that'll help with finding the crisp focal point (which really does come with practice) and save you some blurred shots.
I didn't find books that helpful, but the aperture preview button on my camera definitely was! In actual fact, you'll have one on your dSLR somewhere too - stick your camera on manual mode and put your stop number down to the lowest it'll go. Press your aperture preview button, and you should notice... no change at all, because the lower you go, the wider your aperture, and there'll be no change to the amount of light entering the camera. Now whack it up super high and do aperture preview again. Tada, your shot will darken down a lot while you've got the button depressed! That'll show you how dark your shot would be at that aperture, and at that point you need to fiddle the shutter speed. But to what number?
That is something that comes with practice, buuuut you can cheat by whopping your mode wheel onto aperture priority. Tadaaa, the shutter speed reading you need will come up on the camera! Use that until you've got a feel for how it all comes about, and then you can try setting your own speeds. At first I found it easiest shooting wide open at 4.5 or however low you can go, and once you've gotten used to manipulating shutter speed with that, (because it seems to me that you can shoot just about anything wide open as long as you've got a steady hand or a tripod for the lower speeds), you can try stopping down and having a play around with that, like stopping down to darken a foreground and so on. But I'm still learning too, so there may be better techniques out there.
Certainly having a manual dSLR before moving onto digital helped a lot with getting the hang of using my Pentax on manual mode. And hey, if you're using a film camera blow a few quid on some Ilford Black and White C41 process film and have a shot at shooting with that! 8D
Ahh I trained 16 years ago on a Pentax K1000 too! It was my first real camera and I loved it, I worked many weekends to afford that and it was my pride & joy. :D Ilford was my film of choice, we had a lovely local camera shop and they gave great deals on Iforld (film & paper) for art students so it was ideal.
I had a few years where I didnt take any photos at all and a few years ago my partner bought me a Canon 450D (Is that a Rebel in the US?) as a gift and Im right back into phtography again. I bought a book which was speicifc to my camera and refreshed myself with that. It goes through different styles of photography so aswell as teaching you to use the manual settings, it also shows you how best to use it in various situations. Maybe you could fin something similar and get to work on it?
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The K1000 was the "learning" camera for every Art Student as I can remember. Most old pros will never call the old piece of junk a piece of junk either. Mine is 30 years old, and I still use it occasionally.
I think what I am getting at (as I am in the dark ages) is that to learn manual, you learn after the fact. Digital is so easy to look at the image and then erase. While I still recommend shooting film to REALLY learn it, a more efficient way with your digital is to pay no attention to that little screen on the back of the camera after you shoot. To this day, I never even look at it. Look at it later, remember what you shot, and learn by experience.
Ok, so I do things the hard way. It's easy if "everyone" can do it. So challenge yourself. Put blinders on! (ok, a bit excessive!)
www.kenrockwell.com
At the least, he is a character, the kind of person some love to hate. When he gives good advice, it is good. He also tends to talk out of both sides of his mouth.
But, he offers practical write ups on composition, and how to take great pictures. You just have to ignore his editorials (as you would do with mine, if you are wise, as I have very outspoken opinions, and yes, I admit it).
Check it out! It is a good resource, and a great daily read.
Ebay! 1,000 of them. I will never sell mine. I remember I dropped it on the hot shoe when my sister got married, and it looks like it was in a car accident, but I will never sell it.
Jenn, maybe deep down, we are all psychologically saying something. That is the way to really learn manual (?) Or, to go really deep, spend $400, go on Ebay, and pick up a used Mamiya 645. Hard to use...great to learn on. Tese teach you how to balance light to determine the right opening. Hate to say it, but if you do that, you will be shocked at how much better the images are vs digital.
P.S. Your photos ARE beautiful
Starting off with figuring out shutter priority made sense to me, due to it... just making more sense. You want more light, leave the shutter open longer. Simple. Once I'd figured this out, and after having depth of field explained, moving on to figuring out aperture priority was easy.
PRACTICE!! don't be scared. get out there. give yourself assignments. do it, who cares if you screw up, that is the ONLY way you learn. and don't give up.
become one with your camera.
Ya know, I have NEVER used Aperture or Shutter Priority Modes in my 30 years. It has either been program or manual. Maybe I need to experiment more. Weee. More fun.
I can really sympathise with the OP here as well, though... I shoot the majority of my photos on "auto" mode, on the Nikon... Sometimes I get good pictures, and sometimes I get bad pictures - but I don't feel like I have any control over the quality of the pictures, like it's all just down to luck... I can take a picture, look at it, and think "I don't like that" but I won't know what's making it bad, or what I'd need to change in the shot to get it better... Or, I can take a picture and think "I like that" that, but knowing that I think "it looks good" is about as far as it goes - I don't know what actually about it makes it look good!
80 plus year old box camera, which I have to order film for. I posted two fireworks shots from that camera a while back. Tagged (fireworks) by rrt. I think when doing just manual it gives more sense of accomplishment. BUT, I have know some people that have very expensive equipment and have difficulty taking a good photo. Another thing that I think help make a good photo is actually the title. You can have a great photo, but a bad title will just turn people off for the most part.
That is (in my opinion) of course. Whatever what we do, just keep on snapping
and posting. THIS IS A GREAT site.
Like Sarah said, reading Digital Photography School is a great reference. I read that blog regularly! I also highly recommend most any book by Bryan Peterson. He's pretty easy to understand and a lot of his books have been very helpful to me.
I didn't find books that helpful, but the aperture preview button on my camera definitely was! In actual fact, you'll have one on your dSLR somewhere too - stick your camera on manual mode and put your stop number down to the lowest it'll go. Press your aperture preview button, and you should notice... no change at all, because the lower you go, the wider your aperture, and there'll be no change to the amount of light entering the camera. Now whack it up super high and do aperture preview again. Tada, your shot will darken down a lot while you've got the button depressed! That'll show you how dark your shot would be at that aperture, and at that point you need to fiddle the shutter speed. But to what number?
That is something that comes with practice, buuuut you can cheat by whopping your mode wheel onto aperture priority. Tadaaa, the shutter speed reading you need will come up on the camera! Use that until you've got a feel for how it all comes about, and then you can try setting your own speeds. At first I found it easiest shooting wide open at 4.5 or however low you can go, and once you've gotten used to manipulating shutter speed with that, (because it seems to me that you can shoot just about anything wide open as long as you've got a steady hand or a tripod for the lower speeds), you can try stopping down and having a play around with that, like stopping down to darken a foreground and so on. But I'm still learning too, so there may be better techniques out there.
Certainly having a manual dSLR before moving onto digital helped a lot with getting the hang of using my Pentax on manual mode. And hey, if you're using a film camera blow a few quid on some Ilford Black and White C41 process film and have a shot at shooting with that! 8D
I had a few years where I didnt take any photos at all and a few years ago my partner bought me a Canon 450D (Is that a Rebel in the US?) as a gift and Im right back into phtography again. I bought a book which was speicifc to my camera and refreshed myself with that. It goes through different styles of photography so aswell as teaching you to use the manual settings, it also shows you how best to use it in various situations. Maybe you could fin something similar and get to work on it?