I want to learn.

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.

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 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

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.

I also like to watch the photo editing guides on YouTube

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.

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...