Eyup

[Crafoo]

Hi everyone,

New in town and new to photography. I've had a little nosey around here and it seems to be full of very good information and knowledgeable people. I'm hoping to learn a lot along the way, to allow me to start taking some decent pictures.

A friend of mine recently gave me his old Canon EOS 350d with 18-55mm kit lens, I played around a bit and have enjoyed snapping pictures with it, so spent a little money on the (nifty fifty, or 80mm as I recently found out it is, given my cameras crop sensor lol) 50mm f1.8. just need to understand how to use it now

Anyway, glad to be here and looking forward to learning from you guys.

 

[Norkie]

Hi Leigh, welcome to the forum, nice camera to get you on the way

 

[Crafoo]

Hi Leigh, welcome to the forum, nice camera to get you on the way

Thank you.

Yeah it's not bad for free is it [emoji16]

I'm just trying to get my head around the basics at the moment.

 

[Norkie]

My first was a 450D, excellent. You will get varying views on what to buy first to get you on the way to being a proficient photographer. My suggestion is a tripod. Not an expensive one but one to ensure sharp images and allows you to close the aperture for a slightly better quality shot.

You can still download the user manual:
https://www.canon.co.uk/support/con...ital_slr/eos_350d.html?type=manuals&language=

 

[Crafoo]

The first accessory I actually bought (ignoring the battery charger my friend had lost) when I got the camera, was a tripod.

An Argos special Velbon EF-61 Camera Tripod - Black

I think my biggest problem at the moment seems to be not really knowing what it is I want to take photos of, or more accurately, wanting to take every different kind of photo and not really understanding what I need to do to transfer what I see in to a good picture.

Do you feel it's better as a beginner to try one type of photography (portrait, landscape etc..) or am I just as well snapping anything and trying to learn from the experience? At the moment I've tried a bit of closeup/macro, landscape, people/portrait type and night photography, with mixed results.

Thank you for the link. I'll download that and have a read, there's plenty I need to know about it.

 

[Norkie]

Well I knew what I liked to photograph so it wasn't a problem deciding, architecture.
Then insects and flowers, macro.

Why not consider joining a camera club?

Where abouts in the country are you?

 

[Norkie]

I see now, south Yorkshire, lovely part of the world, especially for landscape photography.

 

[G.K.Jnr.]

Hi Leigh, And welcome aboard TP, looking forward to hearing from you and maybe seeing some of your images on the various forums."Enjoy

 

[ancient_mariner]

Welcome Leigh.

It seems best to photograph everything that looks like an interesting picture to you, because that way you will start to 'see' photographically, and will also develop your preferences.

A couple of suggestions to help you grow: first look through pictures somewhere like TP where they aren't all presented as perfect and see if you can spot their strengths and weaknesses. Second, apply the same technique to your own images - that will help you see the areas where things could be done better.

Never be afraid to ask how a picture was taken or processed (about half the art is in processing) if it's not obvious to you.

 

[Crafoo]

Well I knew what I liked to photograph so it wasn't a problem deciding, architecture.
Then insects and flowers, macro.

Why not consider joining a camera club?

Where abouts in the country are you?

I see now, south Yorkshire, lovely part of the world, especially for landscape photography.

I really enjoy the close up macro stuff, just seems super cool to see all the detail on something that you take for granted in day to day life, but I think I'd also like to be able to do landscape too as I really love to see nice landscape photo's.

Doncaster, so there's some pretty nice areas close to me, I just need to get out and explore them a little more with a photography mindset I guess.

Hi Leigh, And welcome aboard TP, looking forward to hearing from you and maybe seeing some of your images on the various forums."Enjoy

Thanks for the welcome George. I've just seen there's a monthly photo challenge which sounds awesome, so I might submit in there to get a bit of feedback on a few photo's I took at the weekend

Welcome Leigh.

It seems best to photograph everything that looks like an interesting picture to you, because that way you will start to 'see' photographically, and will also develop your preferences.

A couple of suggestions to help you grow: first look through pictures somewhere like TP where they aren't all presented as perfect and see if you can spot their strengths and weaknesses. Second, apply the same technique to your own images - that will help you see the areas where things could be done better.

Never be afraid to ask how a picture was taken or processed (about half the art is in processing) if it's not obvious to you.

Thanks Toni,

Appreciate the guidance. I think my first step of signing up here will be a big help to me based on the replies so far, great information and I can see it will be a great resource for learning.