Hi All!

Just wondered if anyone here is into photography, I've bought a new digital camera and just wondered if anyone had any tips on how to get the best picture's out of it!

Cheers!

Hi All!

Just wondered if anyone here is into photography, I've bought a new digital camera and just wondered if anyone had any tips on how to get the best picture's out of it!

Cheers!

Ask you question in computer and tech chat,
the people in there are proper good with photography questions.

Hi All!

Just wondered if anyone here is into photography, I've bought a new digital camera and just wondered if anyone had any tips on how to get the best picture's out of it!

Cheers!
Read the instructions and practice it is digital it costs nothing.

Not a photography buff, but just an amateur. Why not just get a book and learn about how to take better pictures?

Any picture is good, it depends on what you are after. If you wanna learn the basic principles, it is always better to get a book, and see the actual sample in the books to understand the concepts. Cos I do think that it is hard for someone to tell you just online. When they can't see what your photos are like, or what you already know. It will be like trying to find a needle in the haystack.

Btw, there's a few discount book shops around the city. Which have good basic photography books. It'll tell you about the lens, and the apertures, and colours and speed of films.

Out of curiosity, what digi-camera have you got? Are you talking about a digi-SLR?

i can recommend some good introductory day time courses.

Good photography is 99% skill and 1% being in the right place at the right time!

Or is it 50/50 luck/skill..... I can never remember.

If the photos are just for your own happiness, take many and often. You'll start seeing what works and what doesn't. A book on photography never hurts, either (even ones on film based photography - the principles are the same).

I started on film and it's given me a solid foundation because I had to understand exactly what my camera was doing and why.

Learn what aperture does - controls the amount in focus [depth of field].
The smaller the No. the less in focus, the larger the no. the more in focus.
F2.8 is less in focus, f11 is more in focus.

Learn what shutter speed does - controls how sharp image is.
The larger the no. the sharper the image, the smaller the no. the more burred the image will be.
1/1000th-should be sharp, 1/8th-probably blurred - guidelines only.

Learn what ISO does - controls how sensitive the sensor is.
100 ISO good quality, low noise, less sensitive. 1600 ISO, not so good quality, lots of noise, very sensitive.

And that's most of what you need to know to take a picture. The trade off is high shutter speed means wide aperture and less in focus, so you then increase ISO to get a smaller aperture and the quality goes down. So it's about finding the best compromise of these 3 factors.


Composition etc is another ball game altogether.
Look at images, lots of images and see if you can work out why they look good. Go on flickr or similar image websites, as I think they may have exif data attached to image - this will tell you shutter speed/aperture/ISO/lens info, which can be very educational.

Learn what aperture does - controls the amount in focus [depth of field].
The smaller the No. the less in focus, the larger the no. the more in focus.
F2.8 is less in focus, f11 is more in focus.

Learn what shutter speed does - controls how sharp image is.
The larger the no. the sharper the image, the smaller the no. the more burred the image will be.
1/1000th-should be sharp, 1/8th-probably blurred - guidelines only.

Learn what ISO does - controls how sensitive the sensor is.
100 ISO good quality, low noise, less sensitive. 1600 ISO, not so good quality, lots of noise, very sensitive.

And that's most of what you need to know to take a picture. The trade off is high shutter speed means wide aperture and less in focus, so you then increase ISO to get a smaller aperture and the quality goes down. So it's about finding the best compromise of these 3 factors.


Composition etc is another ball game altogether.
Look at images, lots of images and see if you can work out why they look good. Go on flickr or similar image websites, as I think they may have exif data attached to image - this will tell you shutter speed/aperture/ISO/lens info, which can be very educational.

I also learnt on SLR and film. And the thing with digital is most of this isn't as important as they seem to do the basics for you automatically. Unless you are looking for artistic or specific type pics.

Hi All!

Just wondered if anyone here is into photography, I've bought a new digital camera and just wondered if anyone had any tips on how to get the best picture's out of it!

Cheers!

Hi, you need to be more specific. What type of pictures are you wanting to take?

Normal type 'holiday type snaps' are made so easy now, just select 'auto-program' and shoot, if you have bought an SLR and want to do artistic type pictures, then it's slightly more technical, as jezzy has pointed out.

Hi All!

Just wondered if anyone here is into photography, I've bought a new digital camera and just wondered if anyone had any tips on how to get the best picture's out of it!

Cheers!
This may help to show the relationship of shutter,aperture and iso.
http://www.robert-barrett.com/photo/exposure_calculator.html
If your camera has a P setting that should do all that for you.

I also learnt on SLR and film. And the thing with digital is most of this isn't as important as they seem to do the basics for you automatically. Unless you are looking for artistic or specific type pics.
Complete nonsense.:P Apart from film cameras having auto exposure long before digital appeared, learning what aperture/shutter/ISO variations do, is exactly how you will get the best pictures from your camera. The fundamentals of picture taking have not altered with digital, just the recording medium.

This may help to show the relationship of shutter,aperture and iso.
http://www.robert-barrett.com/photo/exposure_calculator.html
Dodgy website design, from about 5 years ago, shuts out decent browsers! :(

There is some general information on photography, including digital photography, at http://www.guide-to-photography.com/.

Dodgy website design, from about 5 years ago, shuts out decent browsers! :(
Works fine for me with firefox.Anyone else having problems?

It's the Canon EOS 400D I have just bought.
Mainly landscapes and nature pics I'm wanting to take.

I will probably see about going on a course or something aswell as get a book AND PRACTICE!

Thanks all for your comments, really helpful!

Amy :)

Works fine for me with firefox.Anyone else having problems?
Ah, but FF is simply a weak copy of a decent browser! :P

And there's a bug in Windows Firefox when displaying Flash, which has caused no end of grief on a site I'm doing. Which was about as simple a site as one could get - one line of text inc hyperlink and a flash movie.

Don't buy a book though, libaries have loads of books on photography and photoshop if you use it.

Keith :cool:

Shoot Raw and process in something like Rawshooter, Capture One etc to allow full processing of your files. Also make sure you take the camera off auto and experiement with manual it's much more fun

www.peak-photos.co.uk