Beginner Another noob question

[Sangoma]

Think I may be done lol, dont need grief for not understanding what I am doing with something I have never done, 1 person says do this someone else says do that, stick it on auto and take pictures, great but how do you learn when a machine does it all for you. I want more than a point and shoot, but at the moment I only have this camera, I want to know why I get the results I get from the things I use, playing around with different things on the camera and getting bad results should teach you what not to do as well as what you should do. If we were all as clever as some of the comments on here, then their would be no use for things like mechanics as we should be able to fix your own vehicle, after all we all drive them (except me lol I dont drive). Learning starts at the bottom, which is exactly where I am.

Yes and no.

It is good to learn how to use the settings, it is even better to learn how to compose and "see" a good shot.

There's a saying, don't be shy to P in public.

Put it on P and enjoy your times taking photos. Then have a look at the photos ans dee what you like and don't like, then have a look and see if there is a reason ( like depth of field, motion blur, noise etc etc, probably not sure what some of the terms mean, but they will come to light as and when you need them)

And look at the data on the PC and see what setting the camera chose for those shots (did you know that information is included in the .jpg ? So you don't need to adjust them to see what they do.

As time goes on, you will want to do certain things, and by that time the functions and effects will be known to you, and you won't be confused by it.

The knowledge does come fairly quickly, however negative experiences and confusion results in ventures given up (not just photography)

A lot of learning when new can be done online, ie making use of other peoples experiences to go forward.

Also, being "clever" doe not make good photos, it is part of it yes. One person I came across lectured photography, and he was pretty good at one field of photography, but the rest of his photos were some of the most boring and uninspiring I have ever seen. Yet I have a friend on FB who I have known for nearly 60 years, and she says she knows nothing about photography, but just likes taking photos, all she uses is a phone, doesn't even have a computer at all, but most of her photos are fantastic.

Don't worry about not knowing and being new at it, no one will judge you for just that, enjoy it, accept critique as being some of the best learning, and by next summer you will look back and wonder what the problem was.

 

[Phil V]

If you leave it on auto you won't learn but manual is the very deep end and the wrong place to learn to swim.

@Carpy2001
This.
When you learn to ride a bike, you have stabilisers that soak up all your potential mistakes so you can go wherever you want. When you’re used to the pedals and the brakes and steering, you lift the stabilisers a bit and then they just catch you if you’re overbalancing. Once you’re fully confidant the stabilisers come off and you can ride a bike.

Similarly when you learnt to swim using armbands etc

There are some very well meaning people on this board, and they’ll ‘answer’ any question you ask. Whether that’s the right question at the right time or not isn’t important to them. They’re helping if they’re answering your questions.

Some of us have more experience teaching adults; and we might ignore your actual questions and advise a different more effective learning path.

You can decide who to listen to - the internet means everyone gets to be heard, it’s up to the reader to choose which advice to follow.

 

[Phil V]

And now the blunt version.
Whilst your camera has ‘Manual’ mode, it has very limited choices of options compared to a DSLR etc.
those settings are also more difficult to use than on a proper camera.

Further - here’s a shocker Professionals don’t always use Manual modes. And why would they?

Of course they could if the situation arose; but why would they waste time on the maths when what they’re getting paid for are the pictures.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to understand how it all works. But that learning getting in the way of making pictures is just the wrong way round in my opinion.

As I said before - I had to learn with a fully manual camera using trial and error. It was frustrating and at times joyless. So why would I suggest someone else goes through that pain when there’s far better ways.

 

[sphexx]

Think I may be done lol, dont need grief for not understanding what I am doing with something I have never done, 1 person says do this someone else says do that, stick it on auto and take pictures, great but how do you learn when a machine does it all for you. I want more than a point and shoot, but at the moment I only have this camera, I want to know why I get the results I get from the things I use, playing around with different things on the camera and getting bad results should teach you what not to do as well as what you should do. If we were all as clever as some of the comments on here, then their would be no use for things like mechanics as we should be able to fix your own vehicle, after all we all drive them (except me lol I dont drive). Learning starts at the bottom, which is exactly where I am.

Don’t give up. All the comments are well meaning and may be good ones for some learners but some people just can’t put themselves in your position. Maybe sometimes they misunderstand what you are describing (and vice versa) because you may not have used the “correct” term.

I think it’s quite hard these days to go from phone camera to digital camera. Most people here are old gits who started on film when learning the settings on camera and film were much easier because there were fewer of them and most cameras worked the same way and didn’t do things you didn’t expect like they do now.

 

[Carpy2001]

Thanks sphexx, I am not even coming from a phone camera, I just found this Fuji camera in a drawer and thought, this might be a fun thing to try, the last time I picked a camera up was around about 1982, it was a Zenith 35mm, but somehow life got in the way, as it does and I have no idea why I stopped or where the camera went, back to today and everything is digital and computer controlled, shoot I have enough problems with electronics as it is lol. I have OCD, and other issues lol, and am a sort of control freak, if it is not in the right place or does not do the right thing, I have a tendancy to spit the dummy out or throw said item in the bin lol. And as for getting a message across in type, that is murder for me, what I am trying to say sometimes gets lost and just reads as aggressive, or a total ramble that makes no sense, obviously it does to me but not to others. In my other post about phone cameras, I was trying to say how similar the image quality between my camera and a phone was, I pressume due to both having small sensors in them, pesonally I have no use for a mobile phone, I dont take pictures of my dinner as I am usualy to busy eating it. And to be fair social media and this obsession with all things reality (tv etc) I dont get, got enough in my life to deal with, without watching or hearing about other (usualy rich) people and thier life. But you see there I go of on a totally different tangent from the original topic lol. Back to photography, I wont quit, I will just take onboard the advise and comments of other (more experienced) people, and for now my camera will stay in auto, and I will look at the info on images to see what the camera chose and what worked.
Here are a couple from today

The tree look slighty blured on each side, is that normal??
PS. I have just ordered a tripod, so we will see what a difference it makes, If nothing else at least the camera should be still lol.

 

[sphexx]

The tree look slighty blured on each side, is that normal??

It could be due to the side being further away than the centre and so it‘s out of focus but also vegetation is nearly always moving so it could be motion blur though I can’t see any — that would show up as sort of double images whereas focus would be just more blurry usually. I doubt it’s possible to say in this case though someone with better eyesight than I may have an opinion . Breezes can be very localised around trees and shrubs.