Things to shoot when learning Photography?

Question

Im just getting into digital photography, and i'm buying a SLR camera, i wanted to know if anyone knew of some things i could shoot to learn the basics.

Answer 1

Start with basic nature shots, no human element. nature is simple to capture unlike human models.

Answer 2

I'm a big fan of shooting sculptures. You can learn a lot about lighting, composition, angles, etc and the models don't get tired.

It's especially nice if you have an art museum nearby that allows photography of sculptures. If that is not possible, look for a local cemetery that has above ground tombs.

Answer 3

You should try and shoot whatever interests you. Then go out onto the interenet and search for other people's photography and see how they shot the same thing. You'll really start to notice what works and what doesn't. Some good place to search are stock photography websites.

Answer 4

Let me bring a realization to you that people have a hard time grasping: Not everyone can learn to photograph. Just because you take 500 photos over a two weeks time covering all types of subjects doesn't guarentee you will learn a thing. Professional photographers have a natural eye for stuff such as composition, lighting, diagnals, triangles, diamonds, etc. With practice, we can create any of the above under controlled and uncontrolled environments. With that said...

The two basics (no matter what any novice says) are 1) lighting and 2) composition. Without those two (even if not used properly together) a photograph will suck.

1) Take some time studying lighting. Look at the way natural light falls on a subject. Then move around some and notice how the light changes on that subject. Move the subject around and watch how the light falls over. Take a handful of photos from different locations and capture different lighting situations. Take the photos at different times. See how the color of the light changes. See how it interracts and effects the subject.

2) The main types of composition are an S curve (to flatter a feminine subject), a C curve (to enhance a masculine subject), a triangle and a diamond (to create a visually appeasing group photo) and diganals (mainly used as leading lines to bring your eye to the subject). Take time with friends to practice the posing, walk around town and in your back yard to find the other compositional elements.

Take some time to read up on both elements by purchasing a few books. Some great books are listed below for learning both. Even though some of them do say 'studio' it's still a great reference for learning about lighting a subject. The same rules can apply to non-human subjects.

Studio Lighting: A Primer for Photographers
http://www.amherstmedia.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1787&Category_Code=L

Portrait Photography: The Art of Seeing Light **GREAT BOOK**
http://www.amherstmedia.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1783&Category_Code=L

Creative Lighting Techniques for Studio Photographers
http://www.amherstmedia.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1666&Category_Code=L

Best of Photographic Lighting, The
http://www.amherstmedia.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1808&Category_Code=L

Night and Low-Light Techniques
http://www.amherstmedia.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1814&Category_Code=L

Matser Composition Guide for Digital Photographers
http://www.amherstmedia.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1817&Category_Code=

Professional Techniques for Black and White
http://www.amherstmedia.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1798&Category_Code=

Telephoto Lens Photography
http://www.amherstmedia.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1606&Category_Code=

Answer 5

You need to understand light, composition, field of view, angle and perspective.

Shoot for all these things.

Go to the widest angle (28 or 38) and shoot a head shot of a person straight on with them filling the view in the same ratio. Say, top of head to chin.

Go to a more normal (50 to 60) and move the camera futher back and shoot head to chin.

Go to a further (90 to 100) and move the camera back and shoot head to chin.

Go to futher (120 to 150) and shoot head to chin.

Then look at the finished pictures and see how the nose looks compared to the rest of the face.

Try this with an arm pointing a finger at you.

At the same time as the arm pointing a finger at you, try changing F/stops or lense openngs. Try this with 35, 50, 70, 100, 150 MM at f 2.8, then f 5.6, then f/8, then f/11

Notice the sharpness changes or "field of view" that is in focus.

Notice how the forced persective of the 38mm becames flatter at 100mm.

Try shutter speeds with a fast object. Say a car in motion.

Try 1/30th, 1/90th, 1/150th, 1/200th, 1/500, 1/1000

While the faster yo go the less blurr is noticed, also look at the tires, especially of they have BIG WHITE LETTERS.

Sometimes a little blur looks better for showing "speed" than stopping actiona altogtther.

Get a friend outside during the day or two before a full moon. Have them stand there and put their hand up. Try and position their hand UNDER the moon in the sky and take a picture of it.

This is foolying perspective and perception.

Shoot low looking up

Shoot up looking down.

Get three clamp lights from a hardware store. Put three 100 watt bulbs in them.

Put one on a chair back even with your camera and next to it. Put another behind and aabove the subject, a person, put the third on another chair back and put it off to the side.

Move all the lights around to learn how to shade and get shadows or remove them.

Learn how to get "roundness" with light, get "flatness" with light. Get highlights with the back kicker.

Answer 6

Try Trick Photography Special Effects : http://tinyurl.com/TWz7bQGedv

Answer 7

First you need to familarize yourself with your camera and your film and how they will react and how you will manipulate them. Shoot anything...it's your camera, it's your eye. The key to photography is the photographers ability to take the most simple object and give it life. So go out there and give life to what ever you would like .... because after all YOU are the photographer.

Answer 8

Simple . . . shoot everything you see-- same as an artist would choose subjects for a sketch book. Anything you find interesting, even if you dont know why, or even anything you find disturbing would make good subjects. Just go for a walk and look around you. Shoot whatever catches your eye. BTW, have fun!

Answer 9

The best way is to look at photographs in magzines and websites and try and emulate their compositions. I did that and it was an immense pleasure seeing a photograph being so similar to that of a professional. Of course, you'll be stretching your equipment and your mind a lot to get a decent composition.

Answer 10

Shoot a room blanketed by a black light. Good luck. This is a challenge. But you will get good at taking pics that for sure.

Answer 11

shoot whatever is around, you'll learn. Digital is basically the same as film, you need light to hit something to focus on. That's about it. Nothing mysterious about it.