Sethos Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Hey guys, So I got a very generous Christmas present from my mum; a Canon EOS 500D ( Digital Rebel T1i ) which should arrive tomorrow or Saturday. This will be my very first DSLR and is a ( big ) step up from my Canon PowerShot A710. Now, while I have a very basic understanding on how all the fancy camera technique works - There's so much to learn! So basically I'm looking for a website that has some decent DSLR guides available for beginners, by guide I mean how to get the most out of the camera when taking pictures, optimal setting ranges for certain scenes and stuff like that. Possibly even a collection of guides, so once you've mastered one you could proceed to the next slew of techniques. I feel it would be a shame to get such a great camera and then waste a lot of possibly good shots by not setting up the camera optimally for the situation at hand. Hopefully this won't get a collective facepalm from the photographing community of Neowin and I appreciate any replies! (Y) Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razorwing Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 nice Sethos! I have the exact same camera! :D Hope you enjoy it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zain Adeel Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 wow. congrats :D do post what ever good shots u take.. :) and well ill say just practise different stuff.. i once got my hands on the H50 by Sony. and i went crazy :p lolx... and thts not even a DSLR.. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince Charming Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 This, at the Quick Links section of DCL is a great starting point, and it's a good crash course through DSLRs. Any specific questions though, just post em up and pretty much everyone here is happy answering ;) https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=605721 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily_June Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I always find my manuals to be quite helpful, when I get a new camera. You're starting out with the right idea, though--you should always know your camera inside-out. Your manual will tell you how your camera works and what it does which is where you should start. You want to learn about the mechanics of the camera, first and foremost. I like to peruse Barnes & Noble's, or Borders, etc, for whatever books I can find on photography for new ideas or just to learn about a new way of doing something. I don't recall any actual titles or authors at the moment, but I'm sure you'll find some helpful books if you just look through the Photography section. One site that I continuously visit for help and ideas on lighting, though, is: http://strobist.blogspot.com/ It's been an excellent resource for me, and it's continuously updated. Another great resource are other photographers on sites like Deviant Art, which I'm sure you've heard of. A lot of times, if you look around, some great photographers will even provide tutorials on how they achieved a certain effect. Sometimes, they'll explain it briefly in their descriptions. A lot of times, you can ask them and they'll be happy to tell you. And on top of that, there are some great chatrooms where you can discuss this kind of thing with other photographers, new and old. Anyways, enjoy your new baby! I hope I helped, a little. :) -Emily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawtai Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Have you checked out dpreview.com? The forums there are great and you should be able to get a lot of helpful information there. The best way is still taking pictures yourself and seeing what you like rather than what someone else likes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sask Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Congrats on the new gadget! I was in your same spot not too long ago. I found that when I was learning how to use my camera I did lots of reading about all the different features. I think the best way to learn about your camera is: 1. Get out there and take photos in a variety of situations. Just take lots and lots of photos! 2. Read different websites that teach you the basics of composition and how to set aperture, shutter, iso etc. Some good ones I found helpful are: http://digital-photography-school.com/ (A huge collection of tutorials and other stuff) http://www.dslrtips.com/workshops/DSLR_wor...ials_tips.shtml (some good basic videos that teach you how to adjust the aperture and shutter to achieve a desired effect) 3. Read different books about photography Happy shooting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sethos Posted December 19, 2009 Author Share Posted December 19, 2009 Thank you guys, a ton of helpful information in those links - I bookmarked most of them and some may come in handy later, once I've become familiar with the camera. I received the camera yesterday and have been toying around with it ever since and already hit the first 400 photos taken - Really is a pleasure to work with this camera! The Manual and Pocket Guide included did offer a lot more information regarding all the little features, more elaborate than I would have expected and that helped me immensely - I still need to get used to all the settings, so I know what setting exactly to use in a given situation, to get the most out of the picture but that'll come the more I use it :) It does however take a lot of time to see the artistic potential in many situations but I'm pretty much snapping photos of everything and deleting 80% of them again and keeping the ones that didn't turn out completely crap :laugh: I did set up a flickr account and put it in my blog, so I can keep the ones that didn't turn out like blurry crap. So again, thank you guys and hopefully I will get my skills up to snuff at some point and share my work around here (Y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince Charming Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 Also pick up a copy of Photoshop at some point and start shooting in RAW instead of JPEG. RAW offers far more control and recovery over a badly exposed photo, and more edit latitude. Once you've mastered the camera, you have to master it's photos ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argote Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Read your manual and learn how to adjust Aperture/Shutter/ISO. Go forth and take lots of photos. Another tip is to use aperture and shutter priority and just move it around, take notice of how the other setting changes. this will familiarize you with the effects of moving aperture/shutter around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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