Newbie hoping to gain some knowledge

[AltayHan]

Hi Annette ...

As you know, there are so many things to learn in digital photography, it's a very big sea ... if you ask me, don't distribute your time for different kind of things at the beginning.

I don't know your level of Photoshop, but if you are not using Camera Raw without any difficulty, pay your attention to Camera Raw firstly. Lightroom has the same raw conversion engine with Camera Raw, so when you master Camera Raw, you also master all the adjustment sliders in the develop module in Lightroom. For the most part, Lightroom is an image management program without the develop module and, in my opinion, you will not need it at this early stage.

After mastering Photoshop, Camera Raw and your camera (of course learning process will continue after the first six months), you may try to learn about lighting, another big and main topic in photography. In my opinion, don't enter into the specific areas of photography in the first year, like macro photography (it requires special gear and without using flashes and some general information about lighting, it is difficult to master or improve it)

You may read a book about the usage of flashes and one or two books about general principles of lighting. You may also read a book about landscape photography, so you may learn more about the daylight and different kind of lights the nature gives us. Let's add them now ... one for flashes, two for lighting and one for landscape photography ... plus a book about the color management ... five books for the second half of year ... and of course, with the continuous practice with Photoshop and all the subjects mentioned in the books you will read ... then, at the end of a year, you will have all the intermediate level knowledge about the digital photography cycle, from exposing the sensor of your camera to printing your own works and all the issues between them.

Later, after one year, you're ready now for choosing the subject of your study ... portrait, landscape, macro, food, tabletop, wedding, etc. or both of them

Nothing enough, if we talk about the photogarphy ... and going from intermediate level to advanced level depends on knowledge with experience and passion with time.

My best wishes ...

[annette71]

Our monitors could be set differently but I prefer the warm version of Boo to the horrible cloride print version ... it might be 'correct' but it lacks the attractiveness of the original. Shame you cut his ear, I did the same with my favourite shot of Smudge my last cat ... and if possible one should watch the background as this one is a little 'hot'.

Thanks, the more I look at it, I like the original, it does look a bit yellowish, but I guess it isnt that bad. I would love to see your shot of Smudge someday.

[annette71]

Hi Annette ...

As you know, there are so many things to learn in digital photography, it's a very big sea ... if you ask me, don't distribute your time for different kind of things at the beginning.

I don't know your level of Photoshop, but if you are not using Camera Raw without any difficulty, pay your attention to Camera Raw firstly. Lightroom has the same raw conversion engine with Camera Raw, so when you master Camera Raw, you also master all the adjustment sliders in the develop module in Lightroom. For the most part, Lightroom is an image management program without the develop module and, in my opinion, you will not need it at this early stage.

After mastering Photoshop, Camera Raw and your camera (of course learning process will continue after the first six months), you may try to learn about lighting, another big and main topic in photography. In my opinion, don't enter into the specific areas of photography in the first year, like macro photography (it requires special gear and without using flashes and some general information about lighting, it is difficult to master or improve it)

You may read a book about the usage of flashes and one or two books about general principles of lighting. You may also read a book about landscape photography, so you may learn more about the daylight and different kind of lights the nature gives us. Let's add them now ... one for flashes, two for lighting and one for landscape photography ... plus a book about the color management ... five books for the second half of year ... and of course, with the continuous practice with Photoshop and all the subjects mentioned in the books you will read ... then, at the end of a year, you will have all the intermediate level knowledge about the digital photography cycle, from exposing the sensor of your camera to printing your own works and all the issues between them.

Later, after one year, you're ready now for choosing the subject of your study ... portrait, landscape, macro, food, tabletop, wedding, etc. or both of them

Nothing enough, if we talk about the photogarphy ... and going from intermediate level to advanced level depends on knowledge with experience and passion with time.

My best wishes ...

Thank you Altay, I hope to put all of this good use and read, read, practice, and shoot! I do have the passion, so with that, I hope to go far!

[Loose Canon]

Hi Annette! Welcome to the Forum!

Boo sure is a pretty kitty!

Manfred has already mentioned the color cast your photo has taken on and that you mentioned you saw yourself. Awesome. One needs to be able to see that and you apparently did. Then you can decide what you prefer as far as a color temp. But if you never see it, you can’t make the choice. Go ahead and make the jump into RAW asap and get going from there for the post production of your shots. Don’t be shy about it! You’ll love what it will open up for you! It’ll only cost you a bit of computer storage space and the rewards are significant!

Annette, I noticed that you shot Boo at 18mm focal length. It’s a great shot, but I would like to mention something to you and see what you think about it.

When you shoot a portrait-type shot, as you have done with Boo, at a wide focal length (18mm) and in very close, you can get some distortion. In other words, the parts that are close to the camera tend to distort rather large. The head looks bigger relative to the rest of the body, the camera right (Boo’s left eye) looks bigger, and Boo’s right paw looks (possibly unusually) bigger.

Just something fun to try, maybe next time you shoot Boo, try backing off (distance) and zoom your 18-55 in to Boo and see how that goes. This technique will help alleviate the distortion and help with background separation.

Just a Theory Annette and never hurts to try!

I can already tell you are going to be a very welcome contributor to this Forum and I’m looking forward to that!

[annette71]

Hi Annette! Welcome to the Forum!

Boo sure is a pretty kitty!

Manfred has already mentioned the color cast your photo has taken on and that you mentioned you saw yourself. Awesome. One needs to be able to see that and you apparently did. Then you can decide what you prefer as far as a color temp. But if you never see it, you can’t make the choice. Go ahead and make the jump into RAW asap and get going from there for the post production of your shots. Don’t be shy about it! You’ll love what it will open up for you! It’ll only cost you a bit of computer storage space and the rewards are significant!

Annette, I noticed that you shot Boo at 18mm focal length. It’s a great shot, but I would like to mention something to you and see what you think about it.

When you shoot a portrait-type shot, as you have done with Boo, at a wide focal length (18mm) and in very close, you can get some distortion. In other words, the parts that are close to the camera tend to distort rather large. The head looks bigger relative to the rest of the body, the camera right (Boo’s left eye) looks bigger, and Boo’s right paw looks (possibly unusually) bigger.

Just something fun to try, maybe next time you shoot Boo, try backing off (distance) and zoom your 18-55 in to Boo and see how that goes. This technique will help alleviate the distortion and help with background separation.

Just a Theory Annette and never hurts to try!

I can already tell you are going to be a very welcome contributor to this Forum and I’m looking forward to that!

Thank you Terry, he is a handsome guy for sure, now if we can only improve his attitude!

Ya know, my boyfriend mentioned the eye and I saw it after the fact and just kept it as is. The paw and head in general, I guess I really didnt pay attention to. But now that you mention it, I see it. Its like everything else, something new and "trial and error" will be my new thing! I will be working on some shots this weekend and will give it another try. This time I will play with the lens a bit more. I also have a lot of reading to do, as suggested. I have been reading tutorials everywhere I can find them and I got through my camera manual today!

And I can already tell this is a great group of talented people and I am happy to be here.

[nimitzbenedicto]

Hi Annette,

Just to add to all those informative posts above. I figure you may be familiar with some of these, but I included them as as well. Check your pix on your LCD before/after taking it. Get to know your cam's auto-focus/WB/custom settings/video options. Also, familiarize yourself with your cam's exposure compensation. ex: after taking the pix and you find your image underexposed, see if you can lighten it by increasing your exp. compensation. invert if overexposed. get spare batteries/SD cards. yep, those 32G biggies and additional terrabytes HD for your 24.7MP sensor. good lens/tripod for wildlife. Read CiC tutorials and forum for info.

Good luck, and most of all, have fun..........

[Digital]

Annette: another good resource in learning about your DSLR are photography clubs, if one is in your area. Also, a good camera store is another source of valuable information. In this regard, you may want to start where you purchased your DSLR. Bruce

[jcuknz]

Smudge was very beautiful in her younger days .... and she knew it

[annette71]

Smudge was very beautiful in her younger days .... and she knew it

She is beautiful indeed! I wanted a long hair, but my boyfriend is allergic to cats, believe it or not. He does okay with Boo, for one, the short hair and Boo is not a super affectionate cat, so it's a rare day that he snuggles too close to anyone.

[annette71]

Annette: another good resource in learning about your DSLR are photography clubs, if one is in your area. Also, a good camera store is another source of valuable information. In this regard, you may want to start where you purchased your DSLR. Bruce

Thanks Bruce, I have been considering a club. Sounds like a good idea.

[annette71]

So, I have taken some advice and visited the library yesterday. I took out 4 books and will read them front to back in the order below. They seem good choices, so I have plenty of homework!

1. Digital Pgotography for Dummies
2. Mastering Digital SLR Photography - David D Busch
3. Mastering the basics of Photography - Susan McCartney
4. David Petersons Understanding Photography - Field Guide

[GrahamS]

Ok cool. I posted this one of my son in the forum Robert mentioned.

http://i48.tinypic.com/2cok70h.jpg

Bravo.

[AltayHan]

So, I have taken some advice and visited the library yesterday. I took out 4 books and will read them front to back in the order below. They seem good choices, so I have plenty of homework!

1. Digital Pgotography for Dummies
2. Mastering Digital SLR Photography - David D Busch
3. Mastering the basics of Photography - Susan McCartney
4. David Petersons Understanding Photography - Field Guide

It seems that they are very nice choices ... but, in my opinion, they are all the same kind of books, so reading all of them unnecessary.

If I were you, I would choose one among them and read it ... and would read a book about basic compositional concepts. You have to have some compositional background for your photograhps before entering the vast world of post processing.

By the way, you may find many photography books online in pdf.

[annette71]

It seems that they are very nice choices ... but, in my opinion, they are all the same kind of books, so reading all of them unnecessary.

If I were you, I would choose one among them and read it ... and would read a book about basic compositional concepts. You have to have some compositional background for your photograhps before entering the vast world of post processing.

By the way, you may find many photography books online in pdf.

Okay, gotcha. They didnt hve a huge slection of different types of books at the library, but I will browse around and see what I can find. I am halfway trough Dummies already and I am finding it very informative.

[AltayHan]

There are some sites offering free e-books. One of them is http://www.wowebook.com/

http://www.wowebook.com/book/landsca...o-great-shots/

or

http://www.wowebook.com/book/composi...o-great-shots/

You may also find Photoshop and Lightroom books there and some newly released books about photography.

[Manfred M]

Books can be just fine, but this depends on your learning style. If you are primarily a visual learner, then reading will be a good way to learn but if you are primarily an auditory learner, you may find a book less useful.

[annette71]

There are some sites offering free e-books. One of them is http://www.wowebook.com/

http://www.wowebook.com/book/landsca...o-great-shots/

Thanks Altay!

or

http://www.wowebook.com/book/composi...o-great-shots/

You may also find Photoshop and Lightroom books there and some newly released books about photography.

[annette71]

Books can be just fine, but this depends on your learning style. If you are primarily a visual learner, then reading will be a good way to learn but if you are primarily an auditory learner, you may find a book less useful.

Manfred,

I guess I am a little bit of both, for example, I have been reading the books and practicing what I read and I feel like I am understanding a great deal so far. On the other hand, my boyfriends oldest son is staying with us for a while and he took photography classes in college and came right in with my camera and took some amazing "test" shots to show me some things in total manual mode. He showed me things on my camera I didnt know were there, (even after rading the maual) So, I guess a bit of both worlds, is the best for me.

[Manfred M]

Manfred,

I guess I am a little bit of both, for example, I have been reading the books and practicing what I read and I feel like I am understanding a great deal so far. On the other hand, my boyfriends oldest son is staying with us for a while and he took photography classes in college and came right in with my camera and took some amazing "test" shots to show me some things in total manual mode. He showed me things on my camera I didnt know were there, (even after rading the maual) So, I guess a bit of both worlds, is the best for me.

Most people are a blend of both learning styles, so what you are writing is not surprising. I spend a lot of time with our Corporate training department to help them develop training materials for projects that I am working on. We usually get into some discussions on strategies to handle delivering training for people with different learning styles.

I find that I am a phyisical learner who works a lot better with hands-on training than reading. I find reading is okay for reinforcing and building on what I know, but am not someone who would ever read a manual from cover to cover. I just read the parts that are relevent to me.

[annette71]

Most people are a blend of both learning styles, so what you are writing is not surprising. I spend a lot of time with our Corporate training department to help them develop training materials for projects that I am working on. We usually get into some discussions on strategies to handle delivering training for people with different learning styles.

I find that I am a phyisical learner who works a lot better with hands-on training than reading. I find reading is okay for reinforcing and building on what I know, but am not someone who would ever read a manual from cover to cover. I just read the parts that are relevent to me.

Yeah, in most things, I am more of a hands on learner, my job, and just about everything else. I do prefer just going out and learning by "just doing it" But I think I need to get most of the basics down first in this case. I did learn something earlier this morning.. It is the first day that has not been freezing or below since I got the camera, and the first day the sun has actually stayed out. I went out to shoot random photos in my backyard, on manual, with settings I had in the house and produced a completely white, blown out image. I was able to adjust everythng nicely to the outdoors and take some good test shots. So I am proud of myself for that!