Help for a novice photographer

[HC]

JR totally surprised me with my first DSLR camera - a Nikon D3300 with an AF-S DX Nikkor 18-140 mm lens. This is something I've always wanted but never asked for so this gift came out of the blue and I'm over the moon.

Going to try it out for the first time today but does anyone have any suggestions - good books, helpful YouTube videos, etc. for a novice?

 

[Madhavok]

I was an avid member on a Canon message board that helped me quite a bit years ago. I recently sold my Canon 7D and replaced it with an older Pentax 35mm film camera that is heaps of fun. Before that, my managing editor, my goodness, 10 years ago (we are both gone from the paper), gave me a crash course on my first day in manual mode - iso speed, f stop, and shutter speed. Let us know how it goes, I'm very curious!

 

[expendable]

I bought an app from Better Book called "Understanding Your Digital Camera". I have it on my iPad and iPhone. I think it cost $5, or close to it.

 

[expendable]

Sorry, it's called "Master Your DSLR Camera".

 

[HC]

Cool ... thanks for all the suggestions. I have signed up for a 3-hr workshop at a camera shop that is specific to my model of camera and comes very highly recommended. It's for people that want to move from automatic to manual use of their camera. Seems like a good starting place for the basics.

 

[spikechiquet]

Make sure the lens cap is off. That's the best advice I can give. :D

 

[schiezainc]

Learn the three foundations of your camera (ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed) and how they relate to each other and that's seriously about 90% of the learning curve.
In layman's terms, generally:
ISO= The amount of light your camera lets in. The lower the amount (200 ISO as an example), the less light your sensor is letting in. The higher the amount (6400 as an example), the more light your sensor is letting in. With light, comes grain so if you can, shoot at the lowest ISO you can and your photos will look better. A photo taken at 6400 ISO will look a lot noisier and have more noticable muck in it than a sharp shot taken at 200 ISO.
Aperture= How much of your area is in focus. To get the nice blur you see in photos, you need to shoot at a "low" aperture (I say this because the terminology, which is confusing, say it's the opposite). So if you shoot at F2.8, you're going to focus in on a MUCH smaller area than shooting at F8. Shooting at a "lower" number means less is in focus and more is out of focus. Therefore, if you're shooting a football game (as an example), shooting at F2./8 will focus in on the running back coming your way and everything else is out of focus. Shooting at F8 will make the running back and the three defenders chasing him come in focus.
Shutter speed= How fast your shutter takes a photo. The higher the number, the faster the photo is taken, which is especially important in sports as you need to shoot at a minimum shutter speed of 1/500 (or 500 on your display) to capture action without producing blur.

These three numbers all relate to each other and you need to learn how to capture a strong photo. As an example, let's say you're shooting a daytime portrait of your friend. Let's say you start at ISO 200, F11, 1/500 and you notice it's dark. You can:
1.) Raise the ISO, which would let more light in but create more noise and wouldn't look at sharp.
2.) Lower the FStop, which would focus in on less of the area around him and more on your friend or
3.) Lower the shutter speed.
There are plusses and minuses to all three approaches but doing any of the three would fix your photo (ideally) and learning how the numbers relate will be the hardest thing to master but, once you do, the way to get truly strong photos.

Hope this helped. Whenever I help explain these things, I try to do so in a way I wish someone had told me. But good luck. Photography is a ton of fun. :)

 

[SFIND]

Schiezanic's explanations of ISO and aperture are a little off. ISO controls how sensitive your camera is to light. The aperture (F/stop) controls the amount of light your camera lets in.

This is way better explanation at understanding exposure: https://photographylife.com/iso-shutter-speed-and-aperture-for-beginners

 

[HC]

Y'all are great! I've bookmarked this thread.

 

[Songbird]

Good ideas here.

My suggestion is this: shoot like tomorrow isn't coming. Each shot will teach you something new.

 

[Rhody31]

HC,
Understand that your 18-140 is going to adjust when you're shooting in A mode (a is "Aperture mode, not automatic, as most thing). The lens is likely a 3.5 at 18 mm and the aperture closes the further out you go, so at 140mm you're shooting at probably 5.6.
Learn what aperture applies to each situation. If you're shooting a single subject, you usually want an aperture around as low (2.8 or 3.5) as possible. If you have two subjects, I've read you want to be at 4.0 or higher; three or more, 5.6 or higher; larger groups, 8.0 or higher.
I'd highly recommend buying a 50 mm 1.8 lens. You can get a Nikon 1.8 for around $100 (if you get it with VR, it's closer to $200). It's a prime lens and it really helps you learn how aperture works. As shieza mentioned, a lower aperture gives you a smaller focal point, but you'll be so much sharper. You can adjust the aperture as you see fit and learn the difference between 1.8, 2.8, 4.0, 5.6, 8.0, etc by taking photos.
Shutter speed is pretty simple. For portraits, family gatherings, you'll rarely need to be faster than 1/150. You can get away with shooting 1/80 because unless you're trying to stop motion, there's no point in jacking up the shutter speed.
I've found sports need to be shot at 1/400 at the absolute slowest. For one, anything slower brings natural camera blur into play and you want to avoid that (tip I received - whatever the length of the lens is, multiply by 1.5 and that's the slowest you want your shutter at). In the summer, jack the ISO as low as you can (200 on some cameras, 100 on others), drop your aperature low and see how fast you can get your shutter going. It's a hell of a lot of fun shooting sports when you can stop everything still in frame.
Like it's been mentioned, shoot everything possible. I've been shooting for a good three years and it's amazing how much better I am today than I was when I started. It's a hell of a lot of fun.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I'll second Rhody on an f/1.8 50mm prime lens -- if Nikon does one similar to Canon's. I don't know Nikon, but for Canon, they used to only be about $100 new, and it is probably the best bang-for-the-buck lens there is. You can't get a professional lens that is any better. Apparently 50mm prime lenses are particularly cheap and easy to manufacture. With the low aperture, it will be the fastest lens in your bag, and it's a light, small lense that you can use to shoot indoors when you can't use a flash -- for example, in a museum. And prime lenses take sharper photos. It will also teach you a lot about how to frame shots because you have to physically move your feet.

 

[HC]

I've been shooting in Auto mode so far. Went to the workshop this morning and am raring to start trying out what I learned if there weren't a snow storm going on. I've just been taking my camera almost everywhere and shooting whatever catches my eye. The one I like best so far (only thing I did was a little cropping):

 

[Beef03]

HC, the best advice I can give is to just get out and play.
• Experiment with the different settings, learn what they do and never go full automatic. Invest in a quality flash and learn how to use it and bounce it properly. Even grab some photos that others took and try to recreate them, just to see what went into pulling off that shot. Lighting is everything. Well almost everything.
• Play with different aperture and shutter speed settings while shooting the same subject and watch how it affects the end product, everything from depth of field to motion (stop action or blurred) to the way the light plays on on the subject. It's one thing to read or be told about it, so much better to do it yourself and see it first hand.
• If you're shooting a featurey shot, do not use auto focus — zoom in on your subject as much as you can, get it tack sharp and zoom back out to the way you want it cropped. Auto focus can be finicky and change with the slightest of bumps and is tough to get to focus exactly on what you want. I really only use my auto focus when I'm shooting sports and that's because my subject is constantly changing.
• The more comfortable with your manual settings you are, the better you will be and the more fun you can have.
• Make sure your shots are level, unless you are going for that specific artistic shot, but generally keep it level (it can be easy to get lost in a lens and loose your horizon).
• And my biggest error, always make sure you have your card in your camera ready to go. Fun showing up on assignment with no card, the joys of one man doing three jobs, thank god no longer.

Photography can be a lot of fun and a little addicting, the more you get into it, pick up different lenses — watch kijiji and craigslist for the glass, as it can get expensive, but as along as it is taken care of it will last years longer than the body, and as long as you stay in the brand you will be able to use the lenses on any of their DSLR or SLR models. There are also some budget brands out there that make lenses for Nikon and Canon and other big name companies that work great for the amateur photographer.

Hope some of this helps, just rambling off the top of my head. Check the youtubes for intro to photography videos or even the googles.
Have fun!

 

[murphyc]

Following up on Beef's great advice, my main advice would be to get out there and practice using the camera in as many scenarios as you can. As you get more comfortable and familiar, try experimenting with different settings.
Also, in daylight, don't take pics into the sun. When I first started photography in 1999, my boss handed me an old Canon AE-1 Program. No tips at all. I was taking a picture of a couple and the wife asked, "Don't you want us standing over here, so you're not taking the picture into the sun?" Lo and behold, that worked much better.
While first getting used to the camera, I would say start in auto mode, then start trying different modes like Shutter priority or Aperature priority. Try taking pics of the same thing with different settings (higher/lower shutter speeds or aperature settings, for example) and then review the differences.
There are some good forums out there with knowledgeable camera people. I believe DPreviews.com has a good forum (I think that's what it's called), plus there's something like Nikonians.org for Nikon shooters.
Another vote here for a 50/1.8 lens. The 85/1.8 lens is also good, but I use the 50 much more. Places like B&H Photo, keh.com and others often have good deals on used equipment as well.