I have decided to dip my toes into the world of DSLR cameras and have just ordered an entry level camera (Canon EOS 1300D) and would like to know if there are any recommended books that I should read, I don't want anything too in depth but something that covers photographing landscapes, rivers and the sea and very close up pictures of insects and plant life please. Thank you in advance.
Edit: Also any advice on any essentials I may need would be greatly appreciated.
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Other than that just get out there and throw yourself at it. Find out what type of photography it is that you enjoy and research the different ways that different people do that style. There’s so much advice out there.
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Dont get bogged down too much with extra gear at first, learn how the camera works first and what it can and can’t do. You can add other stuff as you realise what it’s limitations are. Beware that if you do get into it seriously it’s a worse hobby for GAS than guitars!
I learnt all of that stuff from the camera manual back when I got an old film SLR though
YouTube is your friend here, go watch!
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All bear in mind that you'll almost certainly need to spend a bit of time processing anything you shoot. I use Lightroom, but there's plenty of other options - Capture 1, or even Apple's Photos app or Google photos are pretty powerful these days.
Also +1 for processing. Tbh I find that side of it more enjoyable than anything else.
You have a lot to learn but starting from scratch with photography has reminded me of how exciting it can be to learn something and appreciating those little milestones along the way.
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Second on the gear. Seriously, if you have a kit zoom it's a decent lens. If you want something else, be clear on what it is you'd like to achieve before asking for advice
I'm a member of a few Facebook groups (nikon and Sony - I'm going to move to Sony) and I was astounded at how many people have purchased a Sony A9 and three G master lenses before asking why some of their picture isn't sharp and what depth of field is etc. I don't begrudge spending lots of money on gear, but often they have inappropriate gear for their goals.
Also, don't use windows Photos app - it's not colour managed and if you have a decent monitor your photos will often look over saturated or generally nasty.
Yup, I use Lightroom mobile on my Nokia 8 - works really well, and results are very good indeed! Very few features are missing for me (brush tool is it I think). Great for on-the-go instagram stuff.
Beggars belief that some apps (*cough* Microsoft) are not colour managed but hey ho. Lightroom mobile also does a great job of editing jpegs taken from my phone.
For very close up insects and plant life - this is a very technical area of photography (usually called "macro"). The closer up you want to get, the more technical it becomes. To start, you'll need a close focussing lens (a "macro" lens) which let's you get near to the subject. Macro lenses tend to have monikers like 1:2 or 1:1 which is the magnification ratio of the lens (1:1 gives twice the magnification of 1:2) A focal length of about 100mm is usually good for macro (but it must be a "macro" lens).
If you want to get the ultra close up insect mandible type shots, you'll need quite specific equiprment - but I would wait before buying that stuff. I would say get a macro lens, see how far you get playing around and if the bug bites, then think about more gear. A tripod would probably be the first thing
Re books to help a beginner, the "Digital Field Guide" series is pretty good, they have specific editions for most popular DSLRs so you get camera specific help which is useful if you are starting with zero knowledge.
Unlike photoshop it’s aimed specifically at photographers and focussed on photography-specific adjustments compared with photoshop which is a generic image editing suite.
People think it's hard because they're used to cameras doing it all for them, aided by marketing blurb that implies you need the latest whizz-bang auto camera to rescue you from the perils of indulging in the black art of making a correct exposure. I learned it aged 16 with a manual-only mechanical film camera, a hand-held light meter, and a few minutes chat at the local camera club. When your only option is manual, you just accept it as part of what gets learned to be able to take photos. It's not hard, it's easy.
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Or keep it in Aperture/Shutter priority and skip the second step - I love Fuji X series as it lets me set aperture and use the exposure comp dial for everything else.
Once you get how the ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed affect each other and what it does, there is no brownie points shooting in manual.
Here is another tip, don't dwell on the science of it too much, it really isn't that much to learn, there are 3 settings and 1 shutter button. Spend time learning the art, I am serious. I see a lot of people spending ages trying to learn how a camera work but they get bored, because they end up taking uninteresting photos of their cats a lot, but its the same shot after shot of it, there is nothing inventive of the cat.
In the end it is the art that is the fuel to make you take more photos, same way like the music that makes you want to learn guitar. Learning to play single note isn't that fun, but when you put them together, that's where the fun begin.
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Photography-All-Dummies-Computers/dp/1119291399/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531422279&sr=8-1&keywords=dummies+guide+to+dslr
@Rocker Adobe Lightroom is software for processing your digital photographs and then cataloguing them in a way that makes them easy to find in future. It is not as complex as full Photoshop but still requires some training or a decent guide book to help you find your way around. Photoshop is also available in the "Elements" version which is aimed at hobbyist photographers. Again it allows you to process your photos and also to catalogue them. It is less complex and more novice-friendly than full Photoshop - and far cheaper.
Apart from COMPOSITION, which pretty much conquers all, I really disagree with this. Don’t use auto settings because you’ll just end up with either blown out highlights or under exposed foregrounds. There are just three considerations - Aperture, Shutter and ISO all of which affect each other.
Landscape photography generally demands a tripod so therefore the shutter speed is made virtually redundant. Either go full manual, which is NOT at all complicated or Aperture Priority, meaning you set the aperture and the ISO setting to determine the shutter speed which, with a tripod, can be whatever length of time.. Most landscape photography is based on mid aperture settings for good/acceptable front to back sharpness. There are other considerations like how to deal with flowing water, freezing movement to trees, focus stacking, long exposures etc but all of these are part of the fun of learning about your camera and editing software. Also, if you have an interest in landscapes, - as well as a tripod, get a circular polariser. Other filters can be easily overcome by using your camera’s bracketing setting and exposure blending in post production in Lightroom etc.
Also, shoot in RAW, it makes processing much more flexible.
There are a lot of excellent YouTubers making great photography content. I tend to take landscape images so Nigel Danson, First Man Photography, Andrew Marr, Thomas Heaton, Adam Gibbs are all worth checking out.
Photography is great fun!
Great choice with a Canon! I have a 40D and love mine!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scott-Kelbys-Digital-Photography-Boxed/dp/0133988066/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1531461691&sr=8-6&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=scott+kelby&dpPl=1&dpID=51%2BhY%2BKBT%2BL&ref=plSrch
Does anyone have any suggestions for software to help speed up the whole "keep it", "bin it" process?
I'd like something with quick previews and the ability to create shortcuts on the keyboard, or drag and drop, for sorting images into different folders/recycling bin.
You can do it very quickly in Lightroom - just hit "x" on anything you want to delete to mark it as rejected, then ctrl+backspace (cmd+delete on mac) to delete anything marked as rejected.
If I'm importing via iPad I just use the iOS photos app to "star" anything I want to keep then quickly delete the others. Those 2 are about as quick as the process can ever be.
Lightroom. I import, then run through keep/bin, filter the bins and delete them.
The keeps are not all excellent, but the bins are poor composition, focus missed or just a terrible exposure.
My camera automatically Bluetooth transfers smaller file format previews to my phone, but I can't mark them in any way. I can also ask it to transfer the original but it takes longer as you can imagine. I do edit a lot of images for general sharing on my phone with Photoshop and Google photos.
I've never tried Lightroom, because I'm quite proficient with Photoshop and never feel I can't achieve what I want to achieve. I was not aware it included the sorting features too!
Looks like I should give it a try.