I need help.......

[koziolpl]

first of all i never introduced myself im Adam and i need everyones help, im extremley new to photography but im trying to learn. i own a 350d, lens that came in the kit efs18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 ( i dont even know what that means) and efs 55-250mm 1:4-5.6 is. no external flash just the pop up. So my question is how should i set up my camera to take sharp pics like i see some of you guys take, i do realise your cameras are propably 30 times more expensive then mine but is it even possible to do with my setup and if so what lens should i be using, if im using the wrong one ill just have to buy a new one any suggestions are apreciated. BTW i wanna take pics of my fiance at home setting well outside also
thanx in advance

[OL9245]

I would not blame your camera.
Let me tell you somthing that happened to me last year.
I was on a liveaboard diving trip. A group of 20 scuba divers, diving all the day. I took hundreds of pictures, just as most of us.

At dinner time, the cameras and computers were shared around the table.

I was totally amazed by a set of images. real professional work. Something I dreamed to achieve one day. I asked whose were they. The answer smashed me : they were taken by a diver who dived in my group, and who owned exactly the same camera as mine: a simple Ixus point-n-shoot camera. The only difference: years of experience.

Since then, I stopped lurking to expensive gear, and started to concentrate on my images. And my next trip (http://masla.smugmug.com/gallery/4752228_WZVb8/1/281635182_6KKVG) rewarded me with much better images.

[Grimes]

You can definitely take great pics with what you have.

18-55mm and 55-250mm are the focal length ranges that each of the lenses can operate in. Lower numbers give you a wide field of view, and higher numbers will appear to "zoom in".

f1:3.5-5.6 and f 1:4-5.6 are the maximum apertures that each lens can open up to at their respective focal length.

18-55:
At 18mm you can open the aperture to 3.5
At 55mm you can open the aperture to 5.6

55-250:
At 55mm you can open the aperture to 4.0
At 250mm you can open the aperture to 5.6


Smaller f-numbers mean the aperture is open wider, giving you more light.

My advice is to get a photography book made for beginners, and practice, practice, practice!

[koziolpl]

thanks for the advise do you think i should get an external flash??? and also i was lookin into some photography classes what do you guys think of them? like at a local college

[Doobsy]

My friend has taken some excellent shots with his 350D and low - mid price glass.

I am a total noob as well and I've found that the 'Digital Photography Book' (Vol.s 1 then 2) by Scott Kelby are great.

I have also asked for 'Understanding Exposure' by Bryan Peterson for my B'day at the end of the month.

Most of all, start on semi-auto settings, shoot hundreds of shots and check out the EXIF data on your best ones when you get home and go through them on your computer.

Like Grimes said, practice, practice, practice!

[Doobsy]

thanks for the advise do you think i should get an external flash??? and also i was lookin into some photography classes what do you guys think of them? like at a local college

Save your money for a flash and glass.

You can learn more at your own pace with the books I mentioned and by scouring this great forum.

[OL9245]

thanks for the advise do you think i should get an external flash??? and also i was lookin into some photography classes what do you guys think of them? like at a local college
dont buy a flash. Firstly learn to work with ambient light. A good flash is tons of additional settings you will have to master, and a cheap flash is useless.

[cannylad]

First off you gear is capable of taking great images. A tip once given to me was to set my camera to auto, half press the shutter and see what info is seen through the viewfinder.
Using this as a guide experiment either side of these settings and see what this gives.

[Specialized]

While OL9245 may paint a nice picture, and yes some point and shoots do have tons of potential waiting to be unlocked by the correct photographer, not all cameras are created equally; and thus not all images are created equally. But in the other side of this equation, a good photographer with a sub-par camera can create above average images, as can a sub-par photographer (with a bit of knowledge backing him) take fantastic images with a fantastic setup.

That being said, I started with point and shoots, of the Elph variety, I had an SD220, moved to an SD600, and then finally got a fixed-lens SLR wannabe; the Panasonic Lumix FZ8. I loved the camera; light, adaptable, insane zoom. The drawbacks: EXTREMELY noisy at anything over iso100, took a terribly long time to process long exposures, even at iso100 it was still noisy. I was simply unsatisfied with a purchase I thought I spent so much time reviewing and reading about. I bought a 30D, shortly after- I got myself my Sigma and the Nifty.

I think my photographs have greatly improved with my purchase of the SLR. BUT- this also comes with a HUGE BUT; I did not simply buy the camera & lenses, and then begin taking great pictures. When I got the camera, the amount of reading I did in order to create images the way I wanted was incredible, and the amount of time I devote now to photography almost outweighs my schoolwork (I'm majoring in Industrial Engineering).

The only thing I can suggest to you is to READ. This is above all, the most important aspect in my eyes as to understanding your new piece of equipment, your tool for preserving images of your life, may I say?

I would like to make one suggestion as well, if you want to take portraits, you'll probably want to get a flash and a way to diffuse the light- read about this and you will understand. There are so many resources out there to learn about these techniques, just choose one of them and read it through, then go on to the next and do the same. Don't stop until you create the image you want.. and then you'll want something new- and the process begins again.

[collierportraits]

For starters, welcome. Not just to POTN, but to photography. I've had a love affair with it since I was 11 (and bought my first SLR) and still love it today, 25 years later.

Yes, read, read, read. If you can join a local photo club, that may be better than taking classes. You would learn a lot from more experienced members! ENJOY!

[EMART49]

as far as classes at a local college- ehhhh. Right now in college I am taking Fundamentals of photography along with Digital Imaging 1, and I have yet to learn anything new.. but I did get a head start

I recommend this to everyone I come across just getting into it and wanting to learn how to get the most out of their new DSLR- http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/digital-slr-camera-technique.html It does cost 15 bucks but thats A LOT cheaper than my classes are costing and is probably cheaper than a lot of books are and man is it worth it! I took these online 'lessons' a month or two before I started class, and now that were a good month into class I am still ahead of the class and have yet to learn anything new that I didn't get from that e-course, and looking at the class syllabus I'm not going to- that e-course covered my entire first semester. So I recommend that OVER taking a class, its packed with information and has just about everything a class would teach in it, without all the repetitive homework and high cost and boring lecturing and inconvenient hours


and yes, practice practice practice!

[leninglass]

Thank you guys for clearing this up for the people who think great equipment can get you great images.. Please people. Learn photography it self.. not the equipment.

[|)\/8]

The book "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson is an easy read with a lot of good information. I think that any good photographer with your equipment could take excellent photographs under the right conditions. I would recommend that you buy a speedlight (this gives you the option of bouncing your flash indoors to avoid direct flash which will give you hot spots). Also, outdoors, if your subject (your fiance) is backlit you will want to use your flash or a reflector for fill light.

Every lens has a sweet spot, that is the aperture at which the lens is the sharpest. I would find out what apertures give you the sharpest images for each of your lenses.

Normally when I get a new lens I do what a call the "milk jug test". Using a tripod and preferably a cable release attached to the camera I photograph a milk jug (the label) at all the different aperture settings. Here are the results from my 400MM f/5.6 lens. You will see that the sweet spot for this lens is between f7.1 to f10.0. The image will decline in sharpness starting at f/11 and then significantly thereafter. As I stated above, I use a tripod with a cable release so there is no camera movement and giving the camera time to settle after each aperture adjustment. These photos were shot using aperture priority mode. Below each image is a 100% crop which was re-sized for posting purposes, no other sharpening or adjustment were made.

http://www.dykstra.us/images/400mmtest_1.jpg

http://www.dykstra.us/images/400mmtest_2.jpg

http://www.dykstra.us/images/400mmtest_3.jpg

http://www.dykstra.us/images/400mmtest_4.jpg

http://www.dykstra.us/images/400mmtest_5.jpg

http://www.dykstra.us/images/400mmtest_6.jpg

http://www.dykstra.us/images/400mmtest_7.jpg

http://www.dykstra.us/images/400mmtest_8.jpg

Good luck and most of all enjoy.

[PhotosGuy]

Post your best shots from the "kit lens"-EF-S 18-55 (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=185522)

[René Damkot]

http://www.canon.co.jp/imaging/enjoydslr/index.html

[neumanns]

Diminishing return's (if you don't know what it means google it)

A 10x more expensive camera does not return 10x better pictures.

Shoot, Ask, Reshoot, Read, ask some more, Shoot again...Till your happy with the results!