Beginner Where to start?

[laut]

I was wondering what people here would advise someone new to the world of mirrorless cameras (and hence, the ability to change settings like shutter speed, f stop, ISO), to approach learning how to get the best results. Is how to assess the light level needed for the best shot, or the exposure triangle or playing with shutter/aperture priority modes, or something else entirely the best place to start, and where would you go next from there?

 

[Furtim]

The huge advantage of mirrorless is you can see the result before you take the photo to a large extent.

Personally I think a good approach is to learn to control one aspect at a time, depending on what you shoot. Perhaps start in aperture priority and let the camera pick shutter speed and iso and then just play round with the aperture to control how much of the photo is in focus?

Once comfortable with that aspect try same with shutter speed (either alone or in conjunction with aperture) etc.

Really no right or wrong way. Just experiment!

 

[Phil V]

Modern cameras are fantastic learning tools, and mirrorless are even better than DSLRs.

My advice though is to start with the auto modes to let the camera take care of exposure. Because photography isn’t about exposure, it’s about pictures.

And a good picture is a picture of a thing (or more importantly and slightly more accurately it’s the light reflected off a thing)

So the advice I’d give a beginner is to choose what to focus on, and explore the subjects relationship with its surroundings. Composition is all about leading a viewer around an image, so they’re the skills to practice.

I think too many photographers get obsessed with exposure when they really should be getting obsessed with imagery. Forums are full of perfectly exposed boring images.

 

[GTG]

Mirrorless are considerably easier to use in manual mode where you adjust settings yourself because there is live exposure preview ( at least on the ones I owned )

Particularly useful because you can see clearly if exposure is way out before you press the shutter.

I would say it is even easier if the controls are faster / easy to use and access such as Fuji x-t1 where the dials are physical knobs you quickly grab can turn.

It is best to do theory learning and practical use at the same time I think, plus learning the camera manual extensively.

It is very hard at first and many people, myself included can use full manual modes but never really get any good lol

 

[john.margetts]

I would echo Phil's advice to use an automatic mode. Then take lots and lots and lots of photographs. Then take even more. If you are sensibly critical of the results you will quickly learn to take good photos. By sensibly critical, I mean do NOT zoom right in and find lots of non-existent faults.

You can worry about manual exposure and focus modes when these are stopping you getting the photos you want. For 90%+ of photos, auto will produce an excellent picture so long as you point the camera in the right place. This pointing of the camera is the main skill to learn.

 

[laut]

Thanks all, that's some really encouraging advice!

 

[droj]

For general purposes, aperture-priority auto. To freeze motion, shutter-priority. But a grasp of the effect each setting has, and familiarity with the 'exposure triangle', is basic because you will be setting at least one of the three parameters of f-stop, speed and iso unless you are in full auto.

Setting f-stop affects depth of field and so is used in conjunction with focussing, which is a compositional tool.

By doing (taking pictures and reviewing the results), you'll get clues about how to go on. Auto exposure often needs user intervention (exposure compensation), to prevent blown highlights in particular.

It might seem daunting. Think about a couple of aspects at a time, you can't take on board everything at once. Try to have fun, even as you're trying to be self-critical.