Suggestions?

[Noni]

Hi, all.

I'm probably not going to always be asking questions...or at least, not in such proliferation...but...I was pouring over the photos posted here, and they are all so darned good!!!!

So, I was wondering. There's so many things I want to photograph. I am in a quandry (and I haven't even bought the equipment yet! LOLOL!!!) as to what to do first that will teach me the most about photos without making steam come out of my ears.

Does anyone have any sort of "project" they could suggest to me? I live in a very sub/urban area, but am willing to travel locally away from the city...there are many local large cemetaries, the ocean, the city center, traffic, mountains, animals, people, stores, architecture, food, and so on and so on. I will be taking my camera stuff down to the dropzone, but other than that...any suggestions??

I'd appreciate it.

Best-
Noni

[RockSlut]

This year I have given myself a "photo of the day project". I carry a camera with me virtually everywhere that I go and I trie to take or at least publish one photo that is of a standard that I can share every day.

It has forced me to shoot in a variety of lighting situations and in a variety of styles which has assisted me to establish exactly what sort of photography I am passionate about, and what I'm not.

This year so far I have covered all of the subjects (except for cemetaries) you have described as well as a few more.

I hope this helps.

[FlyingPete]

The best thing I did to learn the craft was run a camera in complete manual, in fact I had no choice as my first camera was an all manual! You really get to know how things work this way, too many people just throw their camera into full auto and don't really understand what is happening (nobody around here of course!).

Anyway, when I did a night class on Photography, we did a day trip, first stop was a street parade for candid people shots, next was some native bush for the nature shots, after that it was too the airport to practice pan and shoot and generally practising shooting fast moving objects, i.e. planes. Challenging without AF!

[robertwgross]

A few decades ago, I took a photo composition class. For each session, we met at a different place near San Francisco, and we had one assignment per session. Each session/location was completely different, in order to teach us some things.

One was city skyline/night photography. One was close-ups in seawater tidepools. One was animals in a park. And so forth.

Look around and sign up for a class.

---Bob Gross---

[PhotosGuy]

Why not pick your own project? Look around here & see what you'd like to start with & how to do it:
Jodies Coston's Free Online Photography Course
http://www.morguefile.com/archive/classroom.php

Imaging Resource Photo Lessons: free lessons that show you how to get professional-grade results.
http://www.irphotoschool.com/

[Noni]

You guys are great! I think that perhaps the photo of the day is a good idea...whatever is there and whatever I can do with it. And also, the tidepools, and then the street (3rd Street Promenade is always full of people and hopping...), and then sunsets and sunrises, and maybe the mountains, and my Dad, the cats, the lemon tree outside my kitchen, and then the rose bushes, or maybe I should...the old song phrase "I want it all, and I want it now!!" comes to mind. Hopefully, I can become a tad more patient with the camera in my hand...

See my problem? I can't corral my brain! LOLOL!!!

I promise I will learn all about the camera, not just popping it into AF and seeing what I see. I've been reading tons about color and balance and framing and technique stuff, too, and so it's time to explore that to the fullest.

Is it silly to be so excited about all of this? LOLOL!!! I think I'll check out the free on-line classes first, and go from there. I'm going to be poor for a bit after I purchase the camera and acoutrements, so free is good.... and it's a good place to start!

Best-
Michele