Which Course

[colhot]

Hi all

Now I have my D90 I want to go from Programme Mode to using the camera to its full potential.

Does anyone know of any couses, maybe one to one (maybe someone here would like to earn a bit of extra cash for that new lens you are after) who can take me to the next stage of using and photography, more then just point and click.

I have been using a camera for years but I really want to learn more. I would like instruction using the camera properly, on landscapes and close up ie flowers etc.

Look forward to your answers.

Thanks

Colin

Cottenham

[ktuli]

Colin,

Not sure if you need to shell out any money just yet. Perhaps an adult learning center (here we have community colleges) has a photography course that would teach what you're after for a low fee.

But really, there is a wealth of information on these forums alone. Follow the threads, ask questions, post your own photos and you'll get critiques and suggestions for ways you could have improved (particularly if you post with a specific question). There are a number of great tutorials on the site.

And the biggest piece - get out there and try it. I find the easiest way to learn this stuff is to do it. Sometimes you do it wrong and from that someone can show you the right way, or even you figure out the right way, and sometimes you get lucky and do it right and then have to figure out what you did so you can do it again.

You're on the right path... just keep going with it.

- Bill

PS: Welcome to CiC. I know you put your name in the post, but you may want to also edit your profile to put your name in the 'realname' field so in case you forget to sign a message, folks will still know how to address you. We're very informal here and generally go on first names.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Colin,

Welcome to the CIC forums from me too, great to have you join us.

Well, if you're the Cottenham just north of Cambridge UK, we're a bit far apart to entertain meeting really (also I am no teacher, nor a pro, just a hobby amateur).

I would go with Bill's suggestions; there's likely to be some courses starting in September, or if you're lucky, maybe a summer course somewhere.

Reading the forum tutorials (link above) is recommended, but if you prefer to see rather than read, how about you tube/vimeo video tutorials?

Beyond that, you can get the sort of tution you want, but it can be expensive; upto £300/day for about 6-7 hours, look in the back of a photo magazine for the ads.

Finally, possibly the best and cheapest, but not quickest, way is to go out shoot something on say aperture priority, post a picture here, say what problems you had when taking it and how far it met your expectations (or not) and see what replies comes back - we're very good on constructive advice here. Just like 1:1 tuition, the advice is tailored to your experiences, so less theoretical.

All the best,

[RockNGoalStar]

Hi Colin,

I found this book to be a good starting point - Mastering the nikon D90.

It's like a much more comprehensive version of the user manual but with more explanations and commentary.

Dave's suggestion of using Aperture mode is a good one. Experiment with different apertures in different scenarios.

Larger aperture (smaller f-number) = More light, therefore faster shutter speed to freeze action, but a narrower depth of focus.
Smaller aperture (larger f-number) = Less light, therefore slower shutter speed to blur motion, but a longer depth of focus.

That's the basics. If it's over or under exposing then you can dial in some exposure compensation. Refer to your manual (or the book above) on how to do that (or indeed Google / Youtube / Vimeo).

Good luck!

[Dizzy]

Hi Colin,

FWIW Colin, I just ordered my first DSLR, and it too is the Nikon D90. Did plenty of homework before ordering, and since I ordered it (due to arrive tomorrow) I've been "hitting the books" and studying everything I can find on-line about how to best operate the multitude of functions the camera has.

That is how I found this site, CiC, as they have a huge library of tutorials here that are there to help us new kids understand how to use our gear.

Have you read these pages yet? I've been reading/studying these (and RE-reading when I didn't get it the first time..) for a couple weeks now, and they are a gold mine of information to help us in understanding the capabilities of our cameras :

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm

Nikon has also provided a superb resource for us D90 users, and they call it "Digitutor"; dozens of well prepared video's about nearly every function on the D90, and how to make best use of it in the field:

http://www.nikondigitutor.com/eng/d90/index.shtml

There's a number of good books out, also, and many are free e-books offered on the web, such as D90 for Dummies:

http://docs.rapidlibrary.com/index.p...90+for+dummies

Hope those help you get a good start ...

Mike