Can anyone help with photography?

Hey I know this is cheeky but I just got an old SLR camera off a mate and want to learn to take pictures and get them developed. I like Stylish/arty photos of cities and people in them like what shirley Baker took of Manchester in the 50's and 60's a sort of social document but kinda beautiful in a strange way! Are any of you brilliant talented people out there got any expertise that they could share? Perhaps you'd like to go into the field and take some pics with me?

I think Sheffield needs a record good and bad of for its future citizens.

Can anyone help us out?

I just bought a digital SLR so also want to learn more about using it, I would be happy to get together and take piccys and stuff trouble is I somehow managed to break it after 2 days

Will be well up for it once i get it back from repair!!!

If you want documentary photos of people, you'll be best of with an very wide angle lens (e.g. 17mm on a 35mm SLR). This is good for two reasons...

1) It means that you won't necessarily have to point the camera at the subject to capture them in the frame, meaning they won't be all self conscious with a camera pointing at them.

2) Very wide angle lens have an extremely deep depth of field, meaning that focussing is a doddle; just set the focussing point a few meters away, set to manual focussing mode so it doesn't change, and everything you'd want to shoot will most likely be in focus, so no time wasted fiddling about with focussing.

Also, buy some books by photographers you like and plagiarise them relentlessly. From this you will eventually develop an instinct for what makes a good shot, and what it is about certain shots that you like, and eventually you'll develop your own style.

I'd say that 17mm is far too wide, its almost fisheye. Plus they cost a packet, upwards of £200...

And if you do get close to someone, it will make their nose (or whatever is in the middle of the viewfinder) very big.

Maybe a 35mm lens would be better.

For portraits, my favourite is an 80mm or 50mm

Trust me, 17mm will get some amazing shots, and it's certainly not fisheye. I use a 17 - 35 zoom but rarely use it at the "narrow" end. Like all things photographic though, it's a matter of personal taste at the end of the day.

Cheers guys. Amazingly helpful. Do you recomend any good camera shops where they don't mind giving out advice and help?

oh here is some of Bakers photos I found on an unrelated site. scroll down. The ones I have, are called shirley Baker Street photographs are (i think) much better both colour and black and white.

The only difference is if you went on to the streets and started photographing Kids at play you are liable to get linched. You'd have pictures call Chav-attack and The Pit-Bulls are Loose in the collection. What a sad time we live in! http://manchesterhistory.net/LONGSIGHT/GAMES/games2.html

Rather than start another thread I thought I would tag on here! Does anyone know of a good photography course out there? With the rise of digital everything seems to be digital dark-room / picture processing and although I have a digital I'm actually more interested in learning how to light and compose a good picture. Ta in advance

I have a 20 year old Olympus OM10 SLR which is the joy of my life. Everything is manual, even the rewind. I learned the secrets of the right speed, aperture, and depth of focus relationship that is the art of the game from an excellent book by Kodak. I use a 50 mm lens for portraiture and a 200 mm telephoto for sports and landscapes.The book may be out of date now but the principles remain the same. I also own a digital by Olympus because I like Olympus lens most. The real advantage of digital is that you can fire off a lot of shots and reject what you don't want. You can do that with film too if you're made of money

There are some good courses - the Site gallery are running some. THey might be able to help.

Harrisons camera shop on Abbeydale rd are good and happy to offer advise. They do some second hand stuff as well.

If you want a book - the 35mm Handbook is v. good.

I'd recommend getting a polarizing filter.