Newbie here

j2dab

Hi all,

New to the boards and just got a new camera, havent really thought about photography before but some photos on this forum really grabbed me. went around taking a few pics i got a canon powershot a75 3.2mp fairly basic but i figure its a good starter,
Just wondering what are the main steps including what type of cameras/lenses should be used and what type of editing do you do with your photographs with which programs? sorry about all the questiions i just want to get a feel for the whole thing.

J

Here are some of the photos I took:

Shrimp

Just a tip... for the moment.. hold the camera straight.

see the way the skies are so white? yeah you dont want that.. to fix that try get further back form your subject, doesn't always work, sometimes it does.

Dont look at your LCD screen too much.
Dont use digital zoom. Only optical.

Do keep shooting.
Do take sunsets, it's encouraging when you start off. Easy to get impressive shots.
Flick on macro mode.


The one of the horse aint too bad but it's just to tilted.

Dimy

Ouch the bright skies hurt my eyes! Try shooting your pictures in the early morning when the sun is rising or in the evening when it's going down. Midday is the worst possible time to shoot outdoors imho, I always try to prevent it myself...or when I do, I make sure to use a polariser filter (because I lack ND Grad filters ;-)) to block the brightness as much as possible. I'm not sure if you can get such filters for a point & shoot camera though.

As for composition, like Shrimp said, try to hold the camera straight, I don't think the angled perspectives worked very well, but keep experimenting...that's a good thing and the best way to learn. Try to read some articles on the web about composition and the "famous" golden mean and rule of thirds. Just google for those and you know what I'm talking about.

As for editing, most people here would use Photoshop if I had to guess, it's unmatched in terms of possibilities imho. As for editing steps.... I mostly add contrast to my pictures and shadow/highlight contrast. Your pictures could definately use some more contrast as they seem rather flat.

As for the type of camera and lenses.... for now keep playing and experimenting with your point & shoot, you'll know when you've "outgrown" it and want something better, possibly a (d)SLR if you take it seriously or a high-end prosumer camera.

Keep shooting and practising! Good luck.

rymus

but the most important thing to remember is... resize for the web!

Welcome to boards

davmigil

Join www.flickr.com
If you can't afford Photoshop, Photoshop Elements is a good package for the price (and you can get plugins/hacks to enhance its usefulness).

I'm using a Powershot A85, which has much the same controls as the A75. Try using the Av (Aperature Priority) mode and Tv (Shutterspeed) mode to get more control of over your photographs. E.g. change the depth of field etc.

You can get an adapter (will look it up if you want - have one in my camera bag) which allows you to put on 52mm filters like a Polariser etc but not sure if it is worth the hassle with the ickle LCD screen, though I preserve anyway!