help with outside photography

Hello everyone. I am new here and just want some tips on what is the best way to shoot outside... preferrably people, that is. I have a 10D and a number of different lenses. I would normally just shoot in automatic mode but I know it just doesn't do justice and would like to know about shooting in manual mode instead but what are some tips you can give me regarding what i should look for when shooting in that mode. Basically, I am very NEW to photography and am still learning. What are some basics regarding outdoor photography that I should learn first. Any suggestions is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

A photography book would help imensely since you'll need to understand lighting as well as just your photographs settings.

A basic tip is to either shoot on overcast days or in the morning/evening. Avoid the harsh noon sun at all costs.

Settings wise, shutter speed won't need to be too high depending on the lense you use, but you'll likely want a low aperture number to give you a bit of background blur and seperate your subject. This might mean your shutter speed goes up to 1/2000s but the speed isn't really important unless you're trying to show motion blur.

I strongly strongly strongly recommend a good photography book though. I got my basic foundation from John Hedgecoe's "New manual of photograhy" and recommend it. It's 400+ pages with alot of illustrations and is very comprehensive.

Agreed.... and my favorite book is Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson.
Here is the Amazon link.

This book will teach you all you need to know about exposure, and basically how to use your camera outside of the "basic" zones.

Happy shooting, and welcome to POTN!!

- Tom