

Ask HN: How to get started with photography? - gsastry

Hi. I've been interested in photography for about a year now but I've never gotten around to actually doing something about it. I've looked up a couple tutorials, checked out a couple cameras, but I'm not really sure how to start. So, I turn to you all for advice. How would you advise a photography-newbie to start off? Equipment? Pointers? Thanks!
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eznet
Well, I am far from an authority or expert, but really all it takes is getting
a half decent camera with a hand full of manual settings, a half decent tripod
and start clicking. Click a lot. Luckily with a digital camera and a 2GB
memory card, you can click until your finger is sore and all you have spent is
time. You will learn a LOT from doing just this. Play with macros and
landscapes, day and night, still and action - just shoot. Load em up in Gimp
or Photoshop and go to town (might I suggest playing with Shadows and
Highlights (PS) to get some instant gratification).

Since you say that you have been interested for a year, but have not taken the
steps to start, I definitely would not recommending running out and snatching
up a thousand dollar camera - for all you currently know, you might not like
the process as much as you do the idea. I can personally recommend the Canon
S3 IS as a decent entry level point and shoot with some nice manual settings
for under 300 bones - I bought this camera a couple years ago, so if anyone
knows a better comparable inexpensive one, by all means chime in. First thing
you will want to do is get the CHDK AllBest hacked firmware and familiarize
yourself with it - it lets you do a LOT with the camera that the default Canon
firmware will not. As a bonus, it will not hurt your camera or replace your
Canon firmware - just turn it back off and on and you are back to normal (see
CHDK website).

My next camera will hopefully be a Nikon D300, but I definitely would not run
out and grab one as a starter. You want something that has some nice automatic
functions as well as the manual options - without this, it will be easy to get
discouraged.

Also, a fun thing that will whet your appetite is to grab the aforementioned
tripod, set your CHDK settings to take multiple exposures of the exact same
thing and load them up in PhotoMatix (Mac/Win) or Qtpfs (Linux - I use this).
HDRs can be really fun to work with and you can get some interesting pictures
with the modern HDR programs (they do the leg work for the lazy.. _cough_
myself _cough_ ).

Like I said, I am not a pro, just a dude who likes to take lots of pictures.
Get bored, check out some of my pics I am most proud of:
<http://flickr.com/photos/mattezell/sets/72157601781859375/>
<http://flickr.com/photos/mattezell/sets/72157605580120812/>

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uzi
What's your end goal? What do you hope to achieve? For me, I wanted to get to
be good before I had kids, so I totally immersed myself for a little while for
fun. Now I have a 2 month old little girl and I've backed off, but I'm happy
with the photos I'm taking of her.

The suggestion of <http://photo.net/> is a good one. I'd also recommend
<http://dpreview.com/> for gear and <http://photosig.com/> as a place that you
can see other peoples' work, critique and be critiqued.

The "National Geographic Photography Field Guide, 2nd Ed." was an amazing book
that got me started in terms of understanding photography. (And it looks like
it's been replaced with the "National Geographic: The Ultimate Field Guide to
Photography".) The book essential is in two halves. The first half talks about
the mechanics of photography... how shutter speed relates to aperture relates
to film/sensor sensitivity (ISO) relates to focal length relates to distance
to the subject relates to... etc. All of that is half of what I think you
_really_ need to know in terms of the mechanics. The other half is light. The
second half of the book talks about a myriad of photo subjects and the
approaches to photographing them, rules of photography (in terms of
composition) and so forth.

As you get to know more, you'll see that your question is kind of like "How to
get started with computers?" There's so much to it, it's hard to say. Perhaps
your goals warrant a Digital SLR, perhaps they don't. I can tell you this,
though... a good photographer with a bad camera can take better photos than a
bad photographer with a good camera.

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tjr
Read <http://photo.net/> Most especially the introductory "textbook" and the
product reviews. This will give you a decent foundation of basic terminology
and available equipment.

I would suggest starting with an SLR camera, even if financing restricts you
to getting a film SLR camera. Add a prime lens, possibly 35mm or 50mm. There
are pros and cons all over the place, but that's why you should read
photo.net. :-)

