This forum is making me feel like a total hack...

[trevorus]

And I suppose that's a good thing though. There is nothing worse than coming off all cock-sure about yourself when you aren't anything special. Basically, I recently bought a used Rebel XT, and just wanted to get into the nitty-gritty of photography, and I am quickly realizing the scads of work involved in making the shot. Eventually, I am sure that it gets easier as setting up and catching light properly becomes second nature, but I am trying to climb the steepest bit of the learning curve right now.

I was hoping someone could give me some direction here on good resources for getting some education on the nuts and bolts of all this stuff, as I am already quite addicted to this camera stuff already. There is a good photography course at the local community college which I hope to be able to get into, which I think will be the biggest influence on turning me into a respectable photog. But until then, what is another good way to get into learning the science of catching light inside a little plastic box?

[20droger]

We'uns is all hacks.

Starts with Ben's Newbie Guide, a sticky at the top of the Talk about Photography -- General Photography Talk forum. Once you've done that, you should have learned some more questions to ask.

Above all, remember rule #1 -- Have Fun!

[halitime]

Stick with this forum,use your Xt manual and take lots of pracice shots.Learn the difference between your 18-55 and your 50mm in terms of exposure.Don't count on your 75-300mm as it is a marginal lens.

[trevorus]

Stick with this forum,use your Xt manual and take lots of pracice shots.Learn the difference between your 18-55 and your 50mm in terms of exposure.Don't count on your 75-300mm as it is a marginal lens.

yeah, the 75-300 gets nearly no use. I figure that's an ok outdoor, full light zoomer, and that's about it. I got it and my Tamron with that Sunpak Flash and a Rebel S film body for 50 bucks. The Nifty 50 is by far my favorite, of course it acts like an 80 on the XT. My recent shots have been indoors in the same place with no real good indoor lighting, which makes me think lighting might be a good investment, or maybe an off-cam flash setup with a remote trigger. Of course, using the flash to fill in for a lack of ambient makes for tough shots.

[halitime]

Sounds logical as my next step will probably be an off camera flash.When buying gear I pick a couple of items that I want and which ever shows up as good deal first I buy.Sell the 18-55 and the 75-300 and you should be able to get a 18-55 IS and a couple of toys.The 28-105 is another lens to consider.

[trevorus]

Oh, actually, the 18-55 is an IS. I had the non-IS for a bit, but it rolled off of a couch and the aperture motor quit working. So I replaced it with an IS version. The 75-300 will probably find itself elsewhere if I can find something a bit faster to replace it. The old 18-55 is my macro lens, which I mount reverse. Since the aperture is non functional anyways, that's a good use for it.

[canonnoob]

just wait until you start seeing light and saying... hm.. that is interesting.....

[halitime]

You're doing great! If you live in an area where you can rent lenses do it.

[trevorus]

just wait until you start seeing light and saying... hm.. that is interesting.....

Oh yeah, I do that a lot already. Now whether it makes an interesting shot or not is something different entirely, or whether I can catch the interesting shot properly... yeah...

[neilwood32]

There are some amazing people on this forum both character wise and skills wise.

I would agree with the suggestion about reading Bens Newbie guide but would also suggest getting Understanding Exposure by Brian Peterson. Its more written for film but the majority of it does translate very well to digital. One issue I had is he doesnt reference the histogram nearly enough in this day and age. But there is plenty of information here about it so I guess it is a moot point.

One thing I would say is have fun with this hobby. It can get disheartening, you might think I can never get to that level (seeing the extremely high quality of some of the work on here) but , for me anyway, part of the fun of this hobby is the learning journey.

Another thing I like to do is occasionally look back at previous shots and realise that I am slowly getting better at this!

[puzzle]

Yeah, plus 1 for reading Ben's sticky. That's where I started around about this time last year and the learning curve has continued to grow ever since.

[trevorus]

yeah, looking back even now is showing signs of improvement. I need to get out and really just start experimenting with this thing, in a variety of locations to really start getting the feel for things. Unfortunately, my external flash is pretty good at making everything look washed out and blown. A diffuser filter in it helps, but it still needs to be bounced to make things look anywhere near natural.

That sticky was good for setting clearly some things I already had some grasp on. Now the next step in understanding what makes a good, properly exposed shot.

[neilwood32]

Thats the best way to learn - take it one step at a time and keep plodding forward.

Too many folk think they can learn everything at once and get disheartened.