Photography amateur?

Question

any good tips?
I'm using a Canon Powershot S3 IS.

Answer 1

Yep, I have some tips.

Go buy a small notebook, and take notes what settings you used when you took each picture.

While using the automatic settings is good sometimes.

If you really want to see what you camera can do, you need to use manual settings.

That's when you need to log what settings you used, so when you look at the pictures, you can remember just what you did when you took it.

In manual mode you can do things like take pictures of light monsters...lol

using a timed exposure in a dark room ( 5 seconds or so) have a friend wearing dark clothing stand with their legs spread and arms held out. have another friend with a flashlight( colored lens are better) shine the light near(not exactly at) the camera and trace the outline of their body, the friend can lift their feet so they can trace under them too.

When developed, all your gonna see is the shape of your friend in light.


Or you can take multiple exposures on a single frame, take a picture of a airliner in the sky and the second exposure inside somewhere ( you will have to adjust setting to do this ) .

Then when the picture is developed, it looks like an airliner is flying inside.

The library has plenty of books on photography that tell you how do tricks like that.

and explain in detail what each and every setting does and how they effect the pictures you take.

Answer 2

Jeeper:
No need to take notes, just look at the exif data :-)

I would suggest a few good books on beginning photography, and one called "Understanding Exposure", by Bryan Peterson.

Read your camera manual. Understand what the settings are and how to access them.

Then practice, practice, practice!

Answer 3

Search the web for techniques, learn about depth of field, shutter speed and aperture. Also read the camera manual so it can help you work you're camera to it's full extent.