I want to learn.

ILoveYourVibes

I want to learn more about photography.

I am interested in events fashion nature and portraits.

Can you recommend books etc?

What cameras are good for beginners?

Also any clubs or lessons in Dublin? Any classes in photoshop?

Any classes in software programs for photographers etc?

I can't do fulltime though.

Also do you find people wanting photos for free etc like people wanting headshots for people wanting experience?

Thanks

magicbastarder

the go-to book for learning about photography seems to be 'understanding exposure' and i can't remember the author's name right now.

if you're near dublin city centre, the dublin camera club on camden street do lessons as far as i can remember.

OldGoat

magicbastarder wrote: »

the go-to book for learning about photography seems to be 'understanding exposure' and i can't remember the author's name right now.

Bryan Peterson

Reati

1. Buy camera
2. Take pictures
3. Profit

Honestly, books are good to get some of the basics but the only way to learn it to take pictures and look at others pictures.

The more you shoot the better you get.

magicbastarder

any modern DSLR or one made in the last 10 years should be a fine platform to learn on. buy a standard lens rather than depending on the usual zoom which is bundled with them.
and beware that many people will insist that they way they learned is the best way; your mileage may vary. the most important thing is to keep the process enjoyable.

Irishphotodesk

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

I want to learn more about photography.

I am interested in events fashion nature and portraits.

Can you recommend books etc?

What cameras are good for beginners?

Also any clubs or lessons in Dublin? Any classes in photoshop?

Any classes in software programs for photographers etc?

I can't do fulltime though.

Also do you find people wanting photos for free etc like people wanting headshots for people wanting experience?

Thanks

Events, fashion, nature and portraits, all quite different sectors of photography.

Start with the basics of photography, join a camera club, purchase a secondhand camera body and lens.... you could try shooting film (but that can get expensive).

Go to the camera club and talk to other members, take photos with your camera, experiment with light and light positions, posing positions etc, I would nearly say all camera clubs in Ireland have members willing to help new photographers learn.

As others have said, understand exposure is a great resource of a book to learn, personally, I prefer trial and error, learning on the job so to speak, but in today’s modern world every imaginable piece of information is available to show you how to do this or that via YouTube, join up to Facebook groups, Instagram, and see the quality that can be achieved and then, learn how it was achieved and from that understand what you need to do to create images and inspire others.

Similarly for photoshop, you can do courses in it but if you learn the basics of photography you will understand what buttons/symbols are important for you to use with photoshop etc, ps, GIMP is a free type of post processing software (last time I purchased photoshop it cost me €800) , adobe sell subscription packages now, but I would suggest staying on the free software for now.

For nature - are you interested in landscape/scene pics or animals , each requires different learning and different equipment.

Events photography - do you mean photographing concerts/sports events ? An area where it is currently difficult to make a living.... do you intend on making a living from photography or just learn and enjoy it.

CabanSail

In Dublin I would recommend the Dublin Camera Club. Not only is it a good club it also runs a Beginners Course and has an equipped studio.

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I'd recommend Nikon D3XXX series, excellent entry-level cameras, usually come with a kit package of an 18-55mm lens. I started off with a D3100 but it's gone up to D3500 now I think. The reason I think it's a good starter DSLR is it has a lot of user friendly modes, it's very accessible.

I am sure Canon are similar, perhaps even better, but I have only used Nikon so that's all I can say.

Understanding things like the rule of thirds, about how aperture, shutter speed and ISO work. Those are the basic building blocks.

Get yourself a digital field guide book for whatever DSLR you end up purchasing, you can get them from Wiley publishers and they are quite good. I would definitely recommend having a look at Lynda.com for tutorials on aspects of camera operations and concepts - yes you will have to pay a subscription fee, but it's worth it in my mind.

Start an account on Pinterest, if you are interested in fashion and portraits, I highly recommend you look at the work of Ernest Blumenfeld

sheesh

I've learned a lot from here on boards.

One thing I found useful is go out and take pictures and then make sure to look at them afterwards and try and figure out it didn't come out like you thought it was going to turn out.

• get camera
• Take pictures
• review pictures

What Camera?
depends on how much money you have to spend.
Canon and Nikon are the usual brands as there are a lot of second hand lenses about which makes it cheaper (but not cheap!) for a new photographer to get some equipment together.
I am using a 50D and it works just fine (I have done Second shooter at weddings, communions)

Something like that would be what you are looking for.

50mm f1.8 lens is affordable new and good for portraits
you will need a flash if you want to do events.

if you are willing to do events for free have a look at your local sports clubs socials and events do not work for a commercial outfit for free unless they are getting you access.

Bluefoam

CabanSail wrote: »

In Dublin I would recommend the Dublin Camera Club. Not only is it a good club it also runs a Beginners Course and has an equipped studio.

I did that course... didn't get much benefit from it. Very disappointing

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Bluefoam wrote: »

I did that course... didn't get much benefit from it. Very disappointing

They also run workshops for members every 2nd Monday. They are invaluable.

jonnybangbang

1. Buy a Camera - which one? Good question. Depends on what you are willing to spend. factor in the lenses you will need as well. Tripods, filters, straps, flashes, stands, studio, software, printing equipment...... welcome down the rabbit hole. .....
2. Do a basic photography course
3. Take photos
4. Learn from your mistakes
5. Take more photos
6. Join a Camera/ photography club in your location.
7. Take even more photos
7. Look at other peoples photos that are doing what you want to do and learn how they achieved that shot that caught your eye.
8. Improve the technique to create your own style that works for you .
9. Take a lot more photos but have fun.

You can stop reading here if you like, i go on a bit of a rant below.

I am guessing that you do not have a DSLR at the moment and you are relatively new to photography. I am not a professional but I took up photography about 8 years ago as a hobby . I can only tell you what I did and what i found to be really helpful.

I bought a second hand DSLR camera at the time, It was a Sony Alpha A550 and i still have it. A week later I took a 1 day photography course with Dublin Photography School. This basically gave me some basic knowledge of what all the buttons on my camera did. Can be kind of daunting if you pick up a DSLR for the first time to know what all the buttons and settings do. I currently own a Canon EOS 80D. (Larger second hand market for lenses and more 3rd party accessories with Canon or Nikkon as stated previously.)

I then went out and took photos. I shot in manual mode mostly when starting off (I still do). This helped me to learn the settings needed to take a technically correct photo (learning from my mistakes). Also what settings i needed to change when trying to achieve a specific photography technique that i had seen or admired in other peoples photos. (youtube, boards.ie and other people are a great resource to learn techniques)

I also went on a number of photowalks with people from here on boards.ie (when I was living in Dublin at the time). I found this extremely helpful for me. You end up meeting a great bunch of people with similar interests and you can learn from some of the more experienced photographers that attend. As well as getting some great photos , it can be fun as well.


Courses - yes their are courses for all levels of photographer and grades. ranging from 1 day beginners course to a college qualification in photography. depending on what you want and what you would like to do. You can do specialized courses in "lighroom" (photography software) or photoshop or "flash photography" to help if you want to do portraits. As well as doing course on specific genres such as fashion, nature or portraits. Joining a camera club in your location can help with these as they usually will have some course /shops running throughout the year and would be able to point you in the right direction with anything specific you wanted to do.

cortinaG

Buy a used camera, you'll get something like a Canon 350d with an 18-55mm lens for around 100.00 on ebay. Or try adverts.ie
Everybody always says shoot in manual mode (which I do all the time), but don't.
There's a hell of a lot to it.
Take a day or two in auto mode first.
Get used to the camera, take plenty shots of the same scene, or person, at slightly different angles, you'll be very surprised at the difference moving a few inches can make. Pop up the built in flash, they're not great but even in full daylight it can make quite a difference. If you try to learn too much too fast, you run the risk of just giving up on what is a great hobby that, apart from buying more gear, costs nothing.
Learn and enjoy the camera and the good photos will come.

JoshN1

I also like to watch the photo editing guides on YouTube

Fishorsealant

Almost finished understanding exposure and find it easy to understand.

However, he mentions using f22 for landscape to maximise dof, which from what I have been reading elsewhere is a bit contentious. In book he kind of shrugs off diffraction as a non issue in my opinion.
Many say to stick to f11 for sharpest exposure.
Thoughts?

I also see that he sets max dof differently using lens. Where my camera doesn't have it so I focus one third into scene. I am using single auto focus. Is this the best way to get sharpest focus to infinity?

Heebie

Fishorsealant wrote:

However, he mentions using f22 for landscape to maximise dof, which from what I have been reading elsewhere is a bit contentious. In book he kind of shrugs off diffraction as a non issue in my opinion. Many say to stick to f11 for sharpest exposure. Thoughts?

Shoot a landscape with YOUR lens(es) at both aperture settings, adjusting the exposure time accordingly, and look at your results... then decide which works better on your kit.
Each lens and camera combination will perform a bit differently.
Even two of the same lens model on the same body, or two of the same model body with the same lens will likely perform sightly differently.

JoshN1

JoshN1 wrote: »

I also like to watch the photo editing guides on YouTube

but it's not always god

Fishorsealant

Even though I'm new to shooting manual/creative exposure, over the last decade I have taken a handful of (in my opinion) good exposures. Something I would say is that you have to create opportunities... While you can get good practice in your back yard, the best photos I have taken have been from being out and active, going hiking, taking the path less traveled , sometimes just pure luck...

OldGoat

Fishorsealant wrote: »

Almost finished understanding exposure and find it easy to understand.

However, he mentions using f22 for landscape to maximise dof, which from what I have been reading elsewhere is a bit contentious. In book he kind of shrugs off diffraction as a non issue in my opinion.
Many say to stick to f11 for sharpest exposure.
Thoughts?

I also see that he sets max dof differently using lens. Where my camera doesn't have it so I focus one third into scene. I am using single auto focus. Is this the best way to get sharpest focus to infinity?

Shooting at f22 will give you great DOF but the image won't be sharp. Using f22 is great idea for helping new photographers improve their snapshots into photographs but they will very quickly find the limitations of their lens that way. Each lens has a sweetspot for sharpness but in general shooting somewhere around f11 provides sharp images for most lenses.

The issue then becomes trying to get any foreground objects of your composition into focus. There are a few methods to do this.
If you like physics and optics you can faf about with hyperfocal distance to workout your max DOF.
However if playing around with measuring tapes is not an option then try focus stacking. This is taking two (or more) shots of your composition focused at different points and then blending them together to produce an image sharp from front to back.
You can always just set to f11, manual focus to infinity, wind the focus ring back just a tad and be sure to have no foreground objects near the lens.

You should try all the methods (f22, hyperfocal, focus stacking and just guessing where infinity is)on the same composition and check the results for yourself. Great learning experience.

CabanSail

Yes - f11 will be sharper than f22 on most lenses.

It is a debate that will keep the pixel peepers occupied for hours. Most medium to good quality lenses will cope quite well.


Try it and see for yourself.