Ordered my first DSLR, new to photography. Now what?!

Dave!

Hey guys,

I'm interested in getting started in photography, only as a hobby initially. I don't have a specific kind of photo that I'm aiming for just yet, just want to take some nice ones!

I ordered this yesterday, after a small bit of research:
https://www.onestop-digital.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=34077

Firstly any thoughts on the camera/lens? Is it enough for a beginner to get started and take some good snaps? Any negative remarks will be ignored, as I've already ordered it

I expect it'll get here on Tuesday or so. I'm just looking for a bit of advice on what should be my first steps in order to get into this hobby?

I've looked at a handful of YouTube vids related to photography, and also related to my camera specifically, so I think I'll be able to start shooting straight away.

Should I then look at getting a book or two? Or are online resources enough?

Is it worth doing a course/class in the evenings too?

When I start getting comfortable/confident, should I be looking to enter competitions and the like?

At what point do I need to start worrying about post-processing, and learning the technology for that? I have decent enough Photoshop chops, but would rather be able to produce a good shot using just the camera (more or less), rather than having to touch up each one.

Any general thoughts or advice for a newbie, much appreciated!

Thanks

Tallon

Point your camera at stuff and start shooing! Simple as that

Oh, and have fun

Corkbah

join a camera club ... read some blogs, watch youtube tutorials and hang around here and ask questions

post some pics for c&c

inkedpt

Dave! wrote: »

I'm just looking for a bit of advice on what should be my first steps in order to get into this hobby?

Switching the dial from Auto to Aperture priority "A" is a good start

Dave! wrote: »

Should I then look at getting a book or two? Or are online resources enough?

Buckets of info online they will be useful as you progress. "Understanding Exposure" from Andy Stansfield is a good little book.

Dave! wrote: »

Is it worth doing a course/class in the evenings too?

Personally don't think so. Join a club, post your photos here ask for opinions/advices. Later when you find what's your photography you could consider a specific workshop in that area.

Dave! wrote: »

When I start getting comfortable/confident, should I be looking to enter competitions and the like?

It's your call really

Dave! wrote: »

At what point do I need to start worrying about post-processing and learning the technology for that? I have decent enough Photoshop chops, but would rather be able to produce a good shot using just the camera (more or less), rather than having to touch up each one.

It will come to you, then you start learning how to post process them.

Dave! wrote: »

Any general thoughts or advice for a newbie, much appreciated!

Have a quick reading about Raw files, acquiring a tripod and a cable shutter release could be one of your next purchases.
What Tallon said.

Promac

Yer in the right place.

Ben D Bus

Definitely get out and start taking photos.

I highly recommend Mike Browne on YouTube for very practical and well presented tutorials www.youtube.com/user/photoexposed

Dave!

Thanks guys!

I've been watching loads of stuff on YouTube and am feeling like I understand the mechanics reasonably well. I should know what settings to start adjusting to start with anyway. Whether that results in good shots or not is another question

Can't wait to get my hands on the thing now! I can see this becoming a bit of an obsession Either that or I'll get frustrated and give up after a few weeks!

AnCatDubh

Dave! wrote: »

I ordered this yesterday, after a small bit of research:
https://www.onestop-digital.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=34077

Woot!

Firstly any thoughts on the camera/lens? Is it enough for a beginner to get started and take some good snaps? Any negative remarks will be ignored, as I've already ordered it

Well capable, You'll love it.

I expect it'll get here on Tuesday or so. I'm just looking for a bit of advice on what should be my first steps in order to get into this hobby?

Spend your first 10,000 hours attempting to produce a decent photo.

Don't listen to friends/family who tell you that what you do is brilliant. Unless you are Mr. Cartier Bresson reincarnated they probably won't be. Believe me, look back in 5 years time at what you were producing when you started to believe you were good, and pfftttt..... you'll understand. Although, the journey will be enjoyable none the less. And do enjoy it. Don't take any negativity you encounter in any photographic community to heart. Speaking of Mr. Bresson his quote (probably misquoted many times round at this stage) is 'Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst'.

Actually, if you can get a hold of photo books by any of the greats then its surprising what you can learn by just thinking about what they produced and how you might recreate it.

I've looked at a handful of YouTube vids related to photography, and also related to my camera specifically, so I think I'll be able to start shooting straight away.

As someone said above, find something, point the camera at it, and press the shutter release.

Should I then look at getting a book or two? Or are online resources enough?

Online stuff can be really good. But as someone else has mentioned, pick up Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. Much maligned and not the end end of your photographic journey, but it will get you somewhat along the way.

Is it worth doing a course/class in the evenings too?

Yes. And its a great way to meet up with like minded people. Photographers will generally be really willing to share knowledge with others. At least most amateurs and even quite an amount of professionals. Try combine things by joining a camera club and take one of their courses. Go on outings with them. Watch out here and on photowalk.ie for photowalks. They are a great social outlet too.

When I start getting comfortable/confident, should I be looking to enter competitions and the like?

Meh, competitions..., competitions.... Yes do, but blah..., why? If there is something that you are interested in then sure do, otherwise most competitions will try to grab rights to your image by you entering in the first place. Watch out for what you are signing up to. See the current thread on crown paints and that was just that they were publishing entries in their flickr stream. Some of the photo mag ones can be better / some of this forum's members have done quite well and you can see them improving through their involvement (imho )

At what point do I need to start worrying about post-processing, and learning the technology for that? I have decent enough Photoshop chops, but would rather be able to produce a good shot using just the camera (more or less), rather than having to touch up each one.

Good stuff. Aim to capture what you want in camera. Though if you are handy with photoshop then you have additional endless possibilities. But..... are you really that good with photoshop or do you just know how to apply an action (or whatever they are now called). I'm not being dismissive but there is a whole lot of horrendous photoshopping that goes on. People will differ but I generally get more excited about a photograph rather than some digital manipulation of a photograph.

Find your dojo and spend time in it.

Any general thoughts or advice for a newbie, much appreciated!

Thanks

All of the above posts !

Enjoy, have fun and don't be a stranger around these parts.

adox

Congratulations on the purchase! I bought the same camera a couple of months ago(if that) in the same position as you, a complete novice.

Personally, I joined a local camera group and it has been a great help and motivation. Its quite a small group and very informal, so that may not be the norm but it has been great to get advice and also go on trips. Never in a million years did I think I would ever visit the Saltee Islands for any reason but, low and behold I was there about 4 weeks ago with camera and tripod trekking around the island taking loads of shots. That would never have happened in my first 4 weeks of owning a DSLR if I hadnt joined the group.

Youtube is a great source for getting general tips and for beginning to get to grips with the very basic of settings on a DSLR. I`d advise if you can, ignore the auto settings and try and shoot in AP.

Also if you do have software, process using it. I`m using Lightroom, had never used it up until I got the camera, but use it for all my post processing now(for better or for worse). I`m still a complete novice at that also obviously but I feel its part of the learning and am really enjoying it too.

The best way to learn is get out and shoot. Take plenty of shots. Enjoy it. Dont be ashamed to be proud of your shots if you like them, no matter how "poor" they may be technically. Post shot on here in the random thread. I was afraid to originally as the vast majority of shots in there are really top notch, but I finally put a shot up and since then will throw up any shot that I quite like, even though I am still so inexperienced. Getting a thank or two on your shots there is a great boost and really encourages you to shoot.

Finally enjoy the camera when it arrives and the journey you begin. I`m only 8 odd weeks ahead of you in the early part of my journey(corny sounding I know) and can honestly say I havent regretted buying the camera for 1 second since I got it, and have already have had hours of great pleasure from the whole process.

PixelTrawler

Let us know if you end up getting charged duty on the import. One stop digital is a hong kong seller?

They have a VAT refund page - not sure what its for
https://www.onestop-digital.com/index.php?dispatch=pages.view&page_id=12

dazftw

Look at photos and find out what you like most and try doing the same thing. I've found once you learn the technical side it'll stick with you but the aesthetic side will constantly change.

Dave!

Solyad wrote: »

Let us know if you end up getting charged duty on the import. One stop digital is a hong kong seller?

They have a VAT refund page - not sure what its for
https://www.onestop-digital.com/index.php?dispatch=pages.view&page_id=12

They refund all charges if the order gets caught by customs (for certain countries, Ireland being one)
https://www.onestop-digital.com/index.php?dispatch=pages.view&page_id=5

Hopefully won't have to avail of that guarantee!

adox

Stating the obvious but don't forget a memory card or two.

Other immediate essential IMO is a camera bag.

pullandbang

Dave! wrote: »

or I'll get frustrated and give up after a few weeks!

Adverts.ie......;)

TTWNF

Mike Browne videos on YouTube
'understanding exposures' book by Bryan Peterson
http://www.youtube.com/user/theartofphotography

i started a year ago & i think above is all you need from my experience... covers both the artistic & the technical :-)

forget photoshop for now... Lightroom is the business, cheaper & easier to learn....

PixelTrawler

Dave! wrote: »

They refund all charges if the order gets caught by customs (for certain countries, Ireland being one)
https://www.onestop-digital.com/index.php?dispatch=pages.view&page_id=5

Hopefully won't have to avail of that guarantee!

Thanks! Interesting to know...
So the pain would be if it goes wrong, you need to ship it back to Hong Kong.

the_monkey

TTWNF wrote: »

Mike Browne videos on YouTube
'understanding exposures' book by Bryan Peterson
http://www.youtube.com/user/theartofphotography

i started a year ago & i think above is all you need from my experience... covers both the artistic & the technical :-)

forget photoshop for now... Lightroom is the business, cheaper & easier to learn....

+1 on Understaning Exposure by Peterson.

Excellent book.

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-3rd-Edition-Photographs/dp/0817439390

Dave!

Well, it arrived Didn't get stung by customs either.

I had a bit of a play with it last night, and am starting to figure out the controls.

I didn't have any success getting a nice picture though! Was kinda holding out hope that I'd be a natural and it would just make sense as soon as I picked up the camera. Alas, I'll have to go with Plan B: learn, and practice!

My goal this evening is to get a picture with my dog as the subject, and the background blurry. I understand how to do it in theory, so let's see how I get on...

poundhound

Dave!, Id advise the first thing you do is buy a UV filter for your lens.

For no other reason that to protect it.

If you scratch the glass on the lens, your in trouble. Its probably cheaper to buy a new kit lens than to have it mended.

The filter will cost you approx €20 but its a great investment.

In fact you should get a filter with every lens you buy.

adox

Dave! wrote: »

Well, it arrived Didn't get stung by customs either.

I had a bit of a play with it last night, and am starting to figure out the controls.

I didn't have any success getting a nice picture though! Was kinda holding out hope that I'd be a natural and it would just make sense as soon as I picked up the camera. Alas, I'll have to go with Plan B: learn, and practice!

My goal this evening is to get a picture with my dog as the subject, and the background blurry. I understand how to do it in theory, so let's see how I get on...

Have fun with it.

kelly1

Congrats on the new baby

It might be a bit early on to start deciding the direction you want to take but do you have an interest in a particular aspect/type/field of photography?

Maybe has a look at some sites like 500px.com, thedphoto.com, 1x.com for inspiration. Don't let the high standard you see put you off though!

Dave!

This is my best effort so far :pac: Not quite in focus, but the background is less out of focus than the subject, so that's good, right?

It took me a while to realise that to manually focus you have to actually twist the ring, rather than just using the buttons on the device! :eek: Was wondering why everything was so out of focus...

Not sure what the photographer etiquette is, but Jessie was a less than willing participant in this photoshoot Getting good experience working with a moving target, though! She nearly licked my lens!



edit

This one's better

PixelTrawler

Dave! wrote: »

Well, it arrived Didn't get stung by customs either.

I had a bit of a play with it last night, and am starting to figure out the controls.

I didn't have any success getting a nice picture though! Was kinda holding out hope that I'd be a natural and it would just make sense as soon as I picked up the camera. Alas, I'll have to go with Plan B: learn, and practice!

My goal this evening is to get a picture with my dog as the subject, and the background blurry. I understand how to do it in theory, so let's see how I get on...

Set the f number as small as the lens will go e.g f/4 (not sure what the kit lens goes to). Smaller the number, the more the blur.
Also, the distance from you to the subject to the background will have a bearing. But don't get too close to the dog or it wont focus either - the lens has a minimum focus distance also.
The minimum distance should be printed on the lens.

You can calculate the distance and effect http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Enjoy the camera, also thats great, no customs. Did it come from the UK or Hong Kong in the end?

Oh, one other link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh - worth the read, it explains what you are after

Dave!

kelly1 wrote: »

Congrats on the new baby

It might be a bit early on to start deciding the direction you want to take but do you have an interest in a particular aspect/type/field of photography?

Maybe has a look at some sites like 500px.com, thedphoto.com, 1x.com for inspiration. Don't let the high standard you see put you off though!

Thanks! Bit early for that, as you say. All the pics in the random pics thread on here blow me away. It's inspiring though when I read some of the profile threads and see that some people aren't doing it for more than a few years, and they're producing stuff that I'd love to be able to do.

If there's a meetup thing for this forum I'm sure I'll tag along and take some snaps Already got a kind offer by PM! Friendly bunch here

Solyad wrote: »

Set the f number as small as the lens will go e.g f/4 (not sure what the kit lens goes to). Smaller the number, the more the blur.
Also, the distance from you to the subject to the background will have a bearing. But don't get too close to the dog or it wont focus either - the lens has a minimum focus distance also.
The minimum distance should be printed on the lens.

You can calculate the distance and effect http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Enjoy the camera, also thats great, no customs. Did it come from the UK or Hong Kong in the end?

Oh, one other link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh - worth the read, it explains what you are after

Thanks for that. It came from Hong Kong, via Germany. It was marked as gift!

kelly1

Dave! wrote: »

It took me a while to realise that to manually focus you have to actually twist the ring, rather than just using the buttons on the device! :eek: Was wondering why everything was so out of focus...

Why not use autofocus?

Dave!

Would rather learn how to do everything manually rather than rely on the camera... Auto is cheating, no?

I've figured out the manual focus anyway... well, more or less!

kelly1

There's rarely a need to use manual focus. You might be mixing it up with auto-exposure?

I'd start of with aperture priority mode and then manual. Don't use full auto.

EDIT: Just to add to the above, here's some tips:

1. Decide your depth of field.

- This will determine your aperture.
- Small f-number e.g f/2.8 will give you shallow DOF
- High f-number, e.g f/16 will give you deep DOF.

2. Decide what shutter speed you need.

- Do you need to stop action? Use 1/500 to 1/1000 or higher.
- Is you subject static? If so you can use a low shutter speed and use a tripod if necessary.
- Do you want motion blur? Use a slow shutter speed e.g 1/50 or slower.
- As a rule of thumb, for hand-held shots, use a shutter speed of at least 1/focal_length. e.g if you have a 50mm, shoot at 1/50 or higher.

3. With the above settings decide, can you achieve your desired exposure? Is the image bright enough?
If the image is underexposed you need to :-

- Increase the ISO keeping the amount of noise at an acceptable level. Higher ISO give more noise.
- Open up the aperture (lower f-number)
- Drop the shutter speed. Tripod can help here.
- Add more light (flash or other means)

Hope that's of some use.

adox

The only time I use manual focus is when using live view on long exposures on a tripod.

Auto focus is fine for most situations and I would think commonly used.

Sgt Pepper 64

Best thing I ever did (about 20 years too late mind) was go to an "Introduction to Photography" course at the local adult education centre
Included a trip out and learnt a lot
Look out for one near you

PixelTrawler

Dave! wrote: »

Would rather learn how to do everything manually rather than rely on the camera... Auto is cheating, no?

I've figured out the manual focus anyway... well, more or less!

Autofocus is definitely not cheating! But do learn to use Manual exposure control (M on the dial)

nucker

Dave! wrote: »

Hey guys,

I'm interested in getting started in photography, only as a hobby initially. I don't have a specific kind of photo that I'm aiming for just yet, just want to take some nice ones!

I ordered this yesterday, after a small bit of research:
https://www.onestop-digital.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=34077

Firstly any thoughts on the camera/lens? Is it enough for a beginner to get started and take some good snaps? Any negative remarks will be ignored, as I've already ordered it

I expect it'll get here on Tuesday or so. I'm just looking for a bit of advice on what should be my first steps in order to get into this hobby?

I've looked at a handful of YouTube vids related to photography, and also related to my camera specifically, so I think I'll be able to start shooting straight away.

Should I then look at getting a book or two? Or are online resources enough?

Is it worth doing a course/class in the evenings too?

When I start getting comfortable/confident, should I be looking to enter competitions and the like?

At what point do I need to start worrying about post-processing, and learning the technology for that? I have decent enough Photoshop chops, but would rather be able to produce a good shot using just the camera (more or less), rather than having to touch up each one.

Any general thoughts or advice for a newbie, much appreciated!

Thanks

You would have to get yourself off to the worst start ever by buying a NOINK....:pac:

Joking aside, get to know about photography (exposure etc etc etc, ), get to know your camera inside/out, if your photos don't turn out how you expect them, learn where you are going wrong i.e. learn the exposure triangle