As a Poor Novice:: Where do I begin?

read the articles from neil.

http://neilvn.com/tang​ents/

straight forward reading that will swell you mind.....buy you will retain due to his understandable writing.

Before you jump into remote flash I'd start out by putting the flash on the hotshoe and learn how to bounce flash. This will teach you how light reacts. Then I would start to tackle remote flash because once you get into that sort of lighting money will be spent buying triggers, light modifiers, light stands etc.

Absorb knowldedge and have fun. IT takes time to learn to bounce flash effectively without major guesswork. Experience is the only way to figure out how light moves.

I am too a beginner with OCF I've been doing it for only a couple of months now. My advice to you is to read the single strobe and multiple strobe threads. That will educate you a great deal as it did me. OCF is addictive so beware. Good luck!

@DM, your post says you're a novice; I'm admittedly a newbie. I don't know how you & others define the difference between novice & newbie, but it certainly seems like you understand far more than many. Hats off ... I KNOW you are far more advanced than this newbie & at times like this, I wished I'd started this hobby when I was younger & had a better memory rather than waiting until I was older. While I can now afford this hobby, it's certainly more difficult to "learn new tricks" at this age.

Seaforddi, thanks. I have really just started into using strobes like this in the last month or so. It really is easy to wrap your head around if you just jump into it and start trying. I have TBI and head trauma from Iraq and learning new stuff for me is a bit challenging to say the least, so if I can figure it out, anyone can. Nothing beats pure experience, but I am also a big time podcast listener and have listened to every episode from camera dojo, pro photo show, TWiP, and some others that I can't remember that talk about using strobes and that has helped allot. I also have read online articles and whatever else I could get my hands on. the biggest help for me was to honestly just get the stuff and shoot a bunch of photos and learn from them.

SimplyShane wrote in post #12295766
I have. It's a great little place, but there's only one problem:
I'm too stupid for it! Honestly!

The creator of that site admits it is geared mostly toward advanced amatures. I am not one of those people.
I know aboslutely NOTHING ABOUT FLASH. Nothing at all. Zip. Nada. I can mount one on my hot-shoe and after that, I'm lost.

That's why I've requested some literature or other sources of information that walk you through the very basics. Does anyone know of such a resource?

did you try going through the lighting 101 course? Some of the first exercises are really good for getting a basic understanding of how to apply light.

Here is an example. I have tried to learn lighting for years from reading about it and failed on all but the simplest on camera setups. After one month of trial and error and less than 1k invested, this is where I am at now...

Garage Studio and cheap gear

DM1975 wrote in post #12320195
Here is an example. I have tried to learn lighting for years from reading about it and failed on all but the simplest on camera setups. After one month of trial and error and less than 1k invested, this is where I am at now...

Garage Studio and cheap gear

My Son...

I say jump in head first...

seems a bit under exposed to me on my monitor

I think I clipped the blacks a little too much actually. Maybe a tad under though.