New to digital photography

[Wee beginner]

I have just bought a Powershot G5 and have now realised how little I know about photography. :oops: I may have gone a bit over the top with the quality of my camera, as I now realise that a more simple model would hav been fine.
But since I now have a nice camera, I am eager to learn how to get the most out of it and learn how to ue it properly.

Any simple advise would be appreciated! Or maybe you have some suggestions of websites with basic knowledge for beginners!?

Thanks for any help! :D [/b]

[steven]

Welcome aboard the cash sucking hobby of digital photography :P

First question is how much do you know about photography already?
and
What do you want to get out of the pictures you take?

Most digital cameras have a auto mode that will give you excelent point and shoot pictures, but from you post I take it you are wanting more than that. The first thing would be to understand the terms used in photography so that you can take your camera out of auto mode.

[Wee beginner]

Thanks for replying! :D

I have to admit I don´t know very much about photography and therefore I find the manual hard to understand. Most web-sites I have found assume that you know the lingua already, so I have not found any help yet...

I have tried the AUTO mode and get nice pics, but now I would like to learn more. It´s only a small hobby for me (still), but I can see it becoming a greater part of my life :)

[Jon]

You might want to get John Hedgecoe's Manual of Photography (*thinks he remembers the title correctly) as a basic and advanced tutorial.

[Andy_T]

No problem!

Just put it on 'P' mode, get a lot of photos and observe which settings the camera selects ... some work better than others :wink:

Best regards,
Andy

[PhotosGuy]

Take a look at these links:

How Cameras Work
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/camera.htm
SLR vs. Point-and-Shoot
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/camera7.htm

MONITOR CALIBRATION - a good place to start
Monitor Calibration and Characterisation + Photoshop CS Colour Settings
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps8-colour/ps8_1.htm
http://www.ltlimagery.com/monitor_calibration.html
Then: Colour settings in Photoshop
http://www.dcmag.co.uk/news/article.asp?UAN=247&SP=336525370515510295520&v=2
Part 1 - Monitor Calibration and Characterisation
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps7-colour/ps7_2.htm

Monitor (or System) Calibration with Adobe Gamma
http://www.aim-dtp.net/aim/photoshop/v6/adobe_gamma.htm
Continue to Photoshop v 6.0 calibration
http://www.aim-dtp.net/aim/photoshop/v6/color-settings.htm
Accurate Image Manipulation for Desktop Publishing - GREAT VISUAL DEMO!
http://www.aim-dtp.net/aim/evaluation/gamma_error/index.htm


http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=38&pq-locale=en_US

Jodies Coston's Free Online Photography Course - Excellent!
http://www.morguefile.com/ver3/classroom.php

PhotoCourse - "A Short Course in Digital Photography."
http://209.196.177.41/contents.htm

Photo basics:
http://photos.msn.com/
http://photos.msn.com/department/photobasics.aspx
http://www.grumpysworld.com/photoguide/photoguide.htm
http://www.grumpysworld.com/photoguide/basics.htm

Understanding Exposure - A Complex Subject Made Simple for Beginners
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understandexposure.shtml
Accurate Exposure with Your Meter
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/products/techInfo/af9/

Excellent Camera lessons: Resolution, White Balance, Depth of Field (Focus), Product, & more.
http://www.webphotoschool.com/newschool/default.asp
White balance - good article
http://www.webphotoschool.com/newschool/freelessons/lessons/d560wbIn/index.html
Using the Kodak Gray Card to determine a 'starting' exposure:
http://www.rogercavanagh.com/helpinfo/29_graycard.htm

"Shanzcan Tutorials"
http://www.seittipaja.fi/data/Photography_lessons/a_Photography_lessons.html
Petterie's photography lessons - Excellent
The Rule of Thirds;Simplification; Street photography; Phony subject; Geometry; Light; Available light situationals; Fun at 28 mm; The Faithful 50
Post-processing:
Levels; Sharpening;Sharpness, resolution, and accutance; What does USM do?
What to watch out for: haloes, noise, and aliasing
Setting the variables; Recap: how to sharpen with USM
An extra twist: de-fogging
When to apply USM?
Assignments
Matting and framing
Curves
Layers and Masks
http://www.seittipaja.fi/data/Photography_lessons/Processing/Lesson_2/_Sharpening.html

Taking Photos of Reflective Objects
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/reflect.htm

Macro Photography
http://www.photo.net/macro/primer

Portrait Photography - an exhibit/tutorial by Philip Greenspun
http://www.photo.net/portraits/intro

PHOTOWORKSHOP.com - Recommended by Canon tech support:
http://www.photoworkshop.com/
http://www.photoworkshop.com/public/pages/sitemap.html
Canon Digital Learning Center (Lessons):
http://www.photoworkshop.com/canon/index.html
Canon Explorers of Light Galleries:
http://www.photoworkshop.com/canon/explorers/index.html
http://www.photoworkshop.com/canon/explorers/lobby.html (Skip intro)
Robert Farber interactive photography workshop:
Register for monthly newsletter -
http://www.photoworkshop.com/registered/pages/darkroom01.html
In the Office: Fees (realplayer)
http://www.photoworkshop.com/registered/pages/office.html
Digital File Naming Conventions
http://www.photoworkshop.com/double_exposure/publish/article_326.shtml

Photoshop for Photographers
http://www.epaperpress.com/psphoto/index.html

Being "in The Moment"
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/telling.shtml

I took the pic. What do I do now?
Color Management
http://www.arraich.com/ps6_tips_colormanage1.htm

Instant Photoshop - A Fast-Start Introduction to Photoshop For Photographers
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/instant_photoshop.shtml
Photoshop techniques: (If you work through them all, you'll probably know more about the program than I do!)
http://www.arraich.com/ps_intro.htm

Understanding DSLR Workflow
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/digital-workflow.shtml
A Digital Workflow Primer
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/techniques/process.shtml
An Image Processing Workflow - Step-by-Step Processing of Photographs using Photoshop
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/workflow1.shtml
Scripted workflow
http://www.rogercavanagh.com/actions.htm

A SMART SHARPENING TUTORIAL (& High Pass method)
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/smart_sharp.shtml

Printing:
Why do we need soft proof preview?
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps6_softproof/ps6_softproof_1.htm
PSCS - Configuring Colour Management
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps8-colour/ps8_1.htm + 6-8 too.
PS7&CS - Managing Colour When Printing
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps7_print/ps7_print_mac.htm

Combining images:
http://www.arraich.com/ps6_tips_combine1.htm

Photo$Hop Elements users
http://www.arraich.com/elements/psE_intro.htm

Artistic Filtering
http://www.arraich.com/elements/pse_ooutline1.htm

That should keep you busy for awhile! See you in about two years!!!
:lol:

[Jesper]

Whoa, that's a lot of links! Most of those links are about fairly advanced topics. Don't try to learn it all at once, or you will be overwhelmed...

If you want to start at the beginning...:

Go to a local book store and have a look at the photography books. There are a lot of books that explain the basics of (digital) photography: exposure, shutter speed, aperture, etc. That would be a good point to start.

Read the book and experiment with different settings on your camera. Once you know how exposure works, try the Tv (shutter speed priority), Av (aperture priority) and M (manual exposure) settings on your camera and see how you can freeze motion with short shutter speeds, control the depth of field by setting the aperture etc., which will give you more possibilities to make good photos.

[Big_B]

As it happens you probably made a good choice of camera. You'll be amazed how quickly you progress once you start working through a book/tutorial. I suspect you would have quickly outgrown a more basic model.

Anyway, in terms of tutorials I suggest you have a look at
http://www.silverlight.co.uk/tutorials/toc.html

Its a nice basic introduction to various photography techniques. Have fun with your camera and welcome to the forum! :D

[aam1234]

In addition to what others have mentioned, I'd suggest Kodak site. It got me started very quickly. Check it out.

[Wee beginner]

Hi and thank you so much to you all!! I think I have to spend a lot of time experimenting and reading for a while now... Hopefully I will get better by time, since now it all just seems a bit confusing. Feels like I´m just randomly changing settings on my camera :oops:

I´ll let you know how I am getting on.

[47Carleton]

kudos to photosguy for a very resourceful post :)

i'm trying to get better (crisp with long shutter time) night shots... maybe i'll find what i'm looking for in one of those links :)