Getting Into Photography

[JoshDude]

Recently my dad got a new camera, and passed on his older one to me. I don't know much about cameras, but he said it was a really good one.
I am thinking of starting photography as a hobby, but don't really know where to start.
How does one start up photography? Just take pictures of whatever?
How do you know what to take pictures of? Just what takes your fancy?
How do you know when you are increasing in skill level?

Thanks alot for the help and tips!

[Atonement]

Hey, I know quite a little about photography and rather than just spill out all my information in a post, I'll direct you to help.

Research: help yourself find out what everything means. Buy books, google, etc.

Youre right, just playing with your camera helps get angles, ISO aperature,etc. right and its just fun.

A lot of it is just an eye and talent for it. Light is the most important thing in photography. Poses, meh. pretty nature, meh... But guess what makes all those pretty? LIGHT. So whenever photgraphing, watch the light.

Sorry if I wasn't too helpful, but its just fun to get it right. It's fun.

[JoshDude]

+rep, yeah that helped, thanks

[byee]

Hiya Josh!

I like photography, too. Unlike 'regular' snappies which just record some image for posterity's sake, photography is actually an opportunity tio express yourself, to exercise some creativity.

I thnk you have to fool around with the camera (what kind is it, btw? and is it digital or film?), take it out for a day and see the world thru the view finder, see what attracts you. It might be still life (nature), or people, see what catches your eye. It takes a while to discover where your creativity lies, but if you hang out wth the camera and put yourself into some diff situations, ot should become clear to you what interests you.

[george]

Getting into photography is a great way to find out what you interesting in in pictures.

Like Addi and Sam said, you should fool around with it and find out all its features and figure out what ISO, exposure, etc. Figure out whats good for what, whats bad for what and

Depending on what type of camera and how big it is, like if its compact digital camera, carry it around during the day and if you see something that looks like it'd make a good picture, just take a picture and soon you'll find out what you like. If its a big digital, just do the same thing but I don't think you'll be able to carry that around everywhere, atleast not in your pocket lol.

Soon enough, you'll know what looks good, what doesn't, how you should take the picture, like what angle, and you'll have great pictures ^_^

[JoshDude]

Thanks for the tips and help. For the record, it is a Nikon Coolpix 5700. Yes it is digital, 5 MP and 8x optical zoom, which I presume is alright.

Thanks everybody.

[leostriker]

photography

yeah it is an excellent hobby. trust me, it really brings out ur creativity and style. Trying taking picture of anything. And here a tip, if taking of people, try not taking of standing or posing like formal pictures. Take of them when they r doing something or sitting.

[Zazu]

Firstly, I think that photography is a great hobby to get into, it's so versatile, and the main reason I like it is because when you take a picture, you're capturing a scene / person / emotion which will never happen or exist again, you're capturing a moment in time.

Best thing to do to get started is just to get out there, start taking picture of anything and everything. You'll slowly pick up the hang of exposure / composure, and you'll learn what your camera is good at taking pictures of and you'll discover what you like taking pictures of. If you ever get stuck with something, there are loads of online forums where you can go from help, and there's a fair few of us on here who could give you a hand I'm sure.

As to being able to tell when your skill level is increasing, well, that one is hard to tell because different things will come into factor; how quickly you pick photography up and who you show your pictures to (different people like different styles, so when one person might love a photo, another might detest it). I found that I noticed than I was becoming a lot quicker at taking photos when I progressed, I could spot scenes pretty quickly, but yer it varies from person to person.

After a while, if you enjoy photography, it's an idea to start looking towards DSLRs (Digital SLRs). Google them and you'll see what I mean, it's the type of camera that you see paparazzi wonder round with. These allow more freedom with your picture taking, and I find that it generally allows you to be more creative.

Another thing which is handy to get to know is PhotoShop; it's the god of all image editing programs, you can do so much on it. To learn how to use that, you just have to mess about really. Only set back that can occur with PhotoShop is the price of it. I think it costs around £700 / $1200 (correct me if I'm wrong). But of course, there are many other ways of obtaining it, but of course these certain other ways aren't condoned by me ;)

So yer, just get out there and have fun, you'll be opening yourself up to a whole new world :)

[matts13]

That Nikon Coolpix 5700 is a good camera to have if you're going into photography as a hobby, nice zoom. Being able to change the aperture, exposure etc is pretty essential for more technical shots.

[The Batman]

Please don't bump old threads :locked: