A Guide to Photography for Beginners.
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(64 votes)
Published: Jul 26, 2008 4:49 p.m.
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A Noob Guide to Basic Photography:
First I think we should start off with your equipment. If you want to take pictures with any type of seriousness you need a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex)
“The basic operation of a DSLR is as follows: for viewing purposes, the mirror reflects the light coming through the attached lens upwards at an approximately 90 degree angle. It is then reflected by the pentaprism to the photographer’s eye. During exposure (when the photograph is taken), the mirror swings upward, and a shutter opens, allowing the lens to project light onto the image sensor.”-Wikipedia
The first thing that most people notice about using a DSLR camera, is the lack of shutter delay. This means when you are shooting at a high enough shutter speed, there is no delay at all. This translates into being able to capture moments that are happen quickly, and things that are moving fast, you can capture without panning.
Another feature that most beginners notice is that you are looking through the lens, not a view finder, so what you see is what you get...
CAMERA
Now onto what camera you want. Most camera brands have entry DSLR cameras that are great for starters, and usually you can find for an affordable price used (EBAY). If you have experience with cameras in the past, then you can go with their entry level camera. I myself prefer Canon cameras. Because Canon has a new line of cameras, the XS series, this is causing price drops on the Rebel XT/XTI. Right now I am shooting an XT, and that has enough features to produce great quality photos. The biggest pro for me is the 400$ NEW price tag. Also it has 8.2mp for blowing up your favorite shots in high quality...Other cameras like the Nikon D40 offer a similar price tag but only 6mp which is not good if you want to be blowing up your shots. Anyhow, do some research, and then scan Ebay, you can find great details because you will find that photographers are often camera junkies that are looking for the newest technology.
LENS
Now, make sure that whatever camera you purchased you get body only, the kit lens is ALWAYS a piece of fucking shit, you don’t want it. It is a waste of money.
You will be attracted by bargain brands such as Pheonix, and Sigma etc...Sigma lenses can be fine, just make sure you don’t get chinese shit.
People also get attracted to big zoom lenses or super wide angle lenses. For your first lens DO NOT get a lens that can move more than 20mm, you can move closer and further away from your subject. Unless you know you are going to be shooting mostly sports, don’t get some huge ass 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens. Or a 1,000$ 4.5mm Fisheye.
I love the 50mm range, personally. Perfect for taking standard pictures, the best for portraits, and can do a good job at landscapes. The 50mm lens is like having no zoom, just seeing what you get. Because it is so standard you can get a great lens for the price. My favorite Lens in my bag is the Canon 50mm f/1.4.(The f/1.4 is the lowest aperture, the aperture is how big or small the hole is in the lens that is letting the light into the camera sensor, when it is like 1.4 you have a very small depth of field with a subject that is mostly focused with nice bokeh a.k.a blur in the background.) Also you can get a 50mm f/1.8 for only 80$ which is a brilliant value. Just do not get anything to0 extraordinary, or fancy.
FILTERS
For every one of your lenses, you NEED a Haze/UV filter, this takes out unwanted haze that you get all the time in bright light, but mainly it is used for protection.
Also, you are going to want a polarizing filter, this really increases the depth of blues in the sky and takes the glare out of everything. You can almost see through the water, also useful, if it is too bright, and need your shutter speed slow.
TRIPODS
You NEEEEED a tripod. Many people kind of ignore this and shoot handheld a lot, which is fine, and a skill that you need because you can’t always have a tripod with you, but for landscapes, portraits, low light photos where you need a long shutter speed, a tripod is essential. These range from 9-600$. You can get a pretty durable stable tripod for about 30$ from any camera store or online retailer like amazon. Amazon is useful for looking at camera equipment because of the customer review feature so you don’t buy piece of shit stuff that breaks.
Okay, Now that you have your equipment I will give you some basics/tips to taking good photos.
Here is a list of idiot noob mistakes:
1. Centering
Never have your subject perfectly centered, it looks fucking boring.
2. Cropping
Unless you are very good, you will need to post process crop your photo, this is fine, any simple free program can do this, also it is helpful if you have a shitty area that ruins a good photo, like light flares and what not
3. Auto focus
Watch how much you are using your automatic setting, get creative try unique things that your camera sensor cannot produce.
4. Subjects
For the most part it is bad to have more than one main subject, or a subject with something that catches your eye in the background. For instance a person standing in front of a rose bush, and then some nice rose that steals the picture.
5. Evenness
Don’t overload the photo, if there are many things in the from, make sure that the same amount are on each side, so it doesn’t get overloaded.
6. Flash
The flash on your camera sucks, don’t use it. If your going to need a flash, buy one.
7. Angles
People find angles very soothing for some reason, and shitty pictures I take that have some weird structure that has defined angles people gasp over.
The biggest rule in Photography is the Rule of Thirds. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it is dividing the frame into thirds, where the first third ends is usually the horizon line of the middle ground, that is the most important section. This is where the subject usually is. If you do this correctly it is usually the most pleasing to look at.
Yeah, so, that is about it. Leave comments for questions/ratings. Sorry about any spelling or grammar mistakes. I forgot some small random shit. |
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 | Jul 26, 2008 5:00 pm -
Nice work. I hope this isnt copied and pasted (cept for the refrence), but ill trust you took your time to write this. I already knew most of this because my friends dad is a professional photographer and he gave me a crash course on it. so ill 4* it |
 | Jul 26, 2008 5:13 pm -
My girlfriend is really into photography and she tried to explain some stuff to me. Unfortunately I’m an idiot. This really didn’t help me any more than she did but it was well written and useful to someone who seriously wants to start photography.
I’ll give you 5* because you obviously know what you’re talking about and put effort into this. |
| Jul 26, 2008 5:13 pm -
My girlfriend is really into photography and she tried to explain some stuff to me. Unfortunately I’m an idiot. This really didn’t help me any more than she did but it was well written and useful to someone who seriously wants to start photography.
I’ll give you 5* because you obviously know what you’re talking about and put effort into this. |
 | J l 26, 2008 5:23 pm -
Fives for you nigger. Make more eggs on this. |
 | Jul 26, 2008 5:30 pm -
yeah, I will probably make a few photography eggs going more in-depth about different features, and techniques etc... |
| Jul 26, 2008 5:35 pm -
Yeah make this like part one in a series. That’d be good. |
| Jul 26, 2008 5:38 pm -
Yeah, I think that would be a good idea. |
| Jul 26, 2008 5:38 pm -
Yeah, I think that would be a good idea. |
| Jul 26, 2008 5:38 pm -
Yeah, I think that would be a good idea. |
| J l 26, 2008 6:13 pm -
also join the forums if you want and welcome to re |
 | Jul 26, 2008 6:13 pm -
i like to take photos of knewbs in the nood
@ |
| Jul 26, 2008 6:53 pm -
I need to be level 3, which is gay, but yeah... |
 | Jul 26, 2008 6:58 pm -
5* |
| Jul 26, 2008 7:13 pm -
Its gay but probably necessary to keep most of the trolls out of RE. |
| Jul 26, 2008 7:17 pm -
yeah, and I hate my DPL, I am waiting untill I am a higher level before I post my next one. |
 | Jul 26, 2008 7:59 pm -
I like how the new eggs page has an egg about photography with the "no photo" icon on it. |
| Jul 26, 2008 8:11 pm -
better luck next time :) |
| Jul 27, 2008 2:46 am -
someone took a shit on my rating, can you leave a comment next time? |
| Jul 27, 2008 6:02 am -
poop |
 | Jul 27, 2008 7:37 am - Golden Ratio
good job 4*. Also, you know how in building/carpentering there is a certain ratio that two lengths stacked should be, this is called the golden ratio. The bottom being 1.623-ish and the top being 1. For some odd reason or another this ratio is naturally pleasing to the eye. This also works with photography. Estimate the golden ratio with a tree and the sky. THINK ABOUT THE PICTURE’S RATIOS. |
| Jul 27, 2008 7:39 am - Golden Ratio
Also, (sry for dbl) leave the photography to operator. But I like your technical know-how. Do some eggs on that...and possibly give tutorials on how to make your own. |
| Jul 27, 2008 8:09 am -
Quote: But I like your technical know-how
if it werent for me ,you fools would still be liveing in the dark |
 | Ju 27, 2008 12:56 pm -
4*s it could use a few pics but what the hell.. |
 | Jul 28, 2008 10:59 am -
pretty good. however i think you should have touched on more basic principles like aperture and shutter speeds before talking about filters and such. Also a SLR isnt really needed to take good photos. a higher end point and shoot with a decent manual mode will do just fine for beginners(i have a cannon a540)but 5* none the less. |
 | Aug 13, 2008 1:22 am -
This is useful. 4 |
 | Aug 14, 2008 12:57 am -
knowing how to do photography is way cooler than amateur stuff.
4 stars |
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