Beginning Photography....?

Question

Okay so I am finally starting my photography thing.. I have been going around in circles for about a month now and finally I have my camera... well two.. I have learned from some experts that starting with film is best so I am going that route first. I want to learn everything before I spend a girp on Digital. Okay so, I have my camera (Canon Rebel II).. I ended up getting two because the first one I bought (both used) the lens did not work, so instead of buying a $200 lens for a beginner I found a different camera (Canon EOS Rebel Gii). So now I have two working cameras. Anyway here is my question (sorry for rambling) What are some things that I can practice shooting before I get into my class. I am thinking it will be at least another month before my schedule opens up, but I don't want to wat that long to start... Please serious answers from the real photographers, or other ametuers. Thanks!

Oh FYI I am not asking opinion about if I should go digital or not.. photography is a hobby... it is not my profession-- at least not yet. I want to learn ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL aspects of photography not just pointing shooting and editing a digital image. I have already spoken to a few successful photographers and they said film is the way to go.. so unless David :) (hi David!) tells me otherwise, I don't really want to hear about starting with digital... THANKS!

Also, when saying "note the settings" does that mean the numbers on the display? I know I know.. I am very dumb

Answer 1

Be prepared to shoot LOTS of rolls of film. It seems that you are asking what you can do to become, somewhat, familiar with your equipment's capabilities and develope a measure of control, so that by the time you take your class, you won't have to spend a lot of time on basics and be able to hone your skills quickly.

Besides, just, going around snapping pictures of EVERYTHING, you might consider setting up problems, so that you can work out some solutions for yourself. Spend an afternoon shooting black and white film, indoors, with available light. (no flash) This limits your "pallette" and forces you to consider the manual controls of your cameras. Make notes of your settings for EVERY shot. Learn to bracket your shots, meaning shoot what you think is the right settings and then shoot an f-stop higher and and f-stop lower. Do the same thing with shutter speeds. Make notes. When you compare the prints, you will be able to better see the relationship between shutter speed and apreture settings. Film speed (ISO) as well.

You will find that shooting a subject, lit by a bright window will require different treatment than the same subject, in the same room, but lit by the same window from behind. Interior room versus a room with an outside window. Late afternoon versus mid day, etc.

Make similar notes with outside shots. Try different natural light conditions, such as full, open sunlight, versus deep shade. Try a subject under the speckled light under a tree. Set up shots on overcast days, or, even, inclement weather. Sunlight behind you, in front of you, coming from the side. Early morning versus mid day, and so on. Take lots of notes.

Try color and black and white film. Check out the differences between negative film and slide film. You may, even notice differences between brands of film.

To save money on processing, ask the processor to make you contact prints instead of individual prints. Get a good quality magnifying glass to read these contacts. Get an inexpensive light box and learn to "read" negatives. These, last, skills will save you a lot of money, helping you decide which shots you really want to have printed. Whether done by a lab, or if you decide to set up your own darkroom, printing unnecessary photos can add up to a lot of money in paper and chemistry.

Your "pre" classroom will be these negatives, slides, contact prints and your notes. These will begin to tell you what works and what doesn't. It will also give you better control of those "happy accidents" where your camera settings were "wrong," but the result was very interesting.

Answer 2

What kind of photography do you like? People, Nature, Sports? Got any hobbies, photograph things that interest you.
Take notes of your camera settings Aperture, Shutterspeed and your film ISO, experiment with these settings and see what difference it makes to your images. While you're waiting for the class to open up get a book or two from the library on photography and read up on some techniques, compostion, lighting, you'll get some good ideas for subjects from the books too.

Edit: Yes, when we say note the settings we're talking about the Aperture settings (also referred to as f.stop which is a measure of the size of the hole the light is passing through inside the lens body) and shutter speed. Example f2.8 (aperture) and 1/100th (shutterspeed in seconds).
I recommend you get a book or two from the library on camera basics, it will help a great deal in understanding your camera and its controls.

Answer 3

It's nice you're starting with film. The colleges are starting to go over to digital and I would bet in ten years they won't do film at all. You'll have this great experience under your belt.

What I did when I started out (with a Minolta SRT-101) was push my camera in every direction I could. How dark, how light, how long an exposure, how open could the aperture be...
See what happens when you have a line of objects away from you and use different apertures (ie a row of colored bottles)

Personally, I would start with 400 ISO for a bit more forgiveness when starting out.

Answer 4

Be sure and take notes so you will know which settings you used in which frame. Keep a little notebook or voice recorder with you. Get a book on beginning photography and apply that information to your own camera. Learn how to work the controls, and what they do to affect your images. I would try to shoot a few rolls before class starts if I could. You can take them to the best local one-hour lab, and tell them to print with no correction. (Or shoot slide film) Have fun in your photography classes.

Answer 5

First, spend some quality time reading and studying the Owner's Manual for your camera.

Second, be sure to buy black and white film since that's what your class will use.

Third, buy a copy of "Object & Image: An Introduction To Photography, Third Edition" by George M. Craven. Its a wealth of information and will give you a head-start on f-stops, shutter speeds, composition, light and processing your film.

Now get out there and take pictures of whatever interests you. You'll find the early morning and late afternoon light to be good photography time.

Good luck and welcome to the fascinating, frustrating world of photography.

Answer 6

Wow, I disagree with going with film. I wouldn't be half the amateur photographer I am today if I didn't get to see first hand on the LCD what I need to improve, and what I actually took. By the time you get the film developed, you really have to know in what conditions you took the picture to improve. Obviously you can learn the "hard" way, and if you're not that good with computers, I'd definitely suggest film.

Anyway, when I first started out, I liked to mess with depth-of-field, especially since I took lots of pictures of people. I really liked the effect of having an object in the foreground in focus, while the rest of the photo was blurred. I'd experiment with your aperture, that is, the size of the hole the light comes in through. Most SLR cameras have an aperture priority setting to do this.

Good luck

Answer 7

Digital is good to see exactly what you have, however, actually taking photos and processing them is fantastic.

Take pictures of just about anything... 2 or 3 of the same but using different shutter speeds or focal points. Play with the aperture to see what it does.

The biggest thing to do while learning, is write down what settings you are using for the different photos. If you don't write it down, you won't know what affects the outcome of the finished product.

Enjoy...