This site is an attempt at collecting the best photography tutorials from the forums for quick reference , and will hopefully become a good site for beginners who want to know what 'aperture ' , 'iso' and 'shutter speed' have to do with "Exposure" - besides many other interesting topics .
I've added a few articles on the right and invite submissions from those of you interested in sharing any useful tutorials you may have .
Perhaps we could have a place to store all the best tutorials from the photography forums for easier reference !
I've added a few articles on the right and invite submissions from those of you interested in sharing any useful tutorials you may have .
Perhaps we could have a place to store all the best tutorials from the photography forums for easier reference !
I'll teach you how to do this as well :)
And this ....
How many megapixels do you need ? Any camera you buy today has more than enough so don't even worry about how many a camera has - have a look at this site megapixels compared . There was also an excellent comparison done called digital vs film where a 12 meg image was blown up to the size of three storeys on a building .... 6 meg is more than enough for most people then !
If you have a compact camera you will benefit greatly by getting a DSLR regardless of which has more megapixels . Besides the many technical differences , if you have a DSLR your investment in lenses will possibly be worth the same or even more in 10 years time , even though the body of the camera will be worth very little by then .
The compact you buy for $500 today will be worth $20 in ten years if it's still going - who would buy your 12 meg compact when they have 45 meg compacts to try and give people a reason to upgrade all the time ?
If you have more money than brains then keep upgrading , it's good for the economy and the second hand market , otherwise don't 'upgrade' unless you earn a living from your photography and know why you need to upgrade .
I took this in broad daylight with an old 6 meg compact and an even older Nikon SB24 flash to illustrate the fact that a 'better' camera does not mean better pictures . Understanding means better pictures !
With the correct understanding you can take an old truck starter solenoid and use it to trigger the flash while it destroys a light bulb ....
With the correct understanding you can take an old truck starter solenoid and use it to trigger the flash while it destroys a light bulb ....
It's also more about having the right gear for a situation than having expensive gear that is too specialized to do a job you weren't expecting it to be used for .
Some of my favourite images were taken with my 6 meg D40 and the 18-200VR 'super zoom' lens . Why ? because I didn't know what I would be photographing and left the bigger cameras with their expensive lenses with limited range behind since the 18-200 covered the full range , and nobody has ever questioned the quality of this lens without examining two identical images side by side with a magnifying glass .... if you're shooting landscapes mostly at F11 you won't notice the difference between this lens and a $4000 lens - you are more likely to be biased by an exposure error of 1/3 of a stop between the two images , or a slight difference in white balance between the two , so unless you have more money than brains or actually need F2.8 or faster glass save your money .
Patea , Taranaki , New Zealand.
Raglan harbour , New Zealand
I read an interesting quote the other day and it went something like this : " It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense . " ! This next image may not be stunning but it shows what you can do with a versatile lens like the 18-200VR , after taking the wide angle shot [above] you can immediately zoom in for a closer view of something in the same scene . There's not much sense obsessing about the image quality of lenses that can't do this for you when you need it !
With this image I had been shopping , the D40 and 18-200 lens was on the seat next to me as always [ I wasn't planning on any photography ] and I saw the sunset starting to appear . If I had my D90 and 70-200VR lens I could not have got this shot - so always be prepared for all situations when you don't know what you will be photographing , a super-zoom is better than an expensive prime lens in these circumstances .
There are plenty of people out there who know it all ! They can quote manuals and page numbers and specifications and famous people who have made statements about a topic being discussed ..... but they can't go out and take a few pictures and work out the answer for themselves - and quite often they eventually find out that the famous person who made a statement that they base their pointless arguments on was quoting someone else who turned out to be wrong and has just admitted it :( .
Don't believe anyone , not even me :) , if the statement makes sense and the results appear to confirm it then it is probably correct - but as soon as something doesn't quite add up then do some research , do some tests , post the pictures on the forums and ask questions .... eventually you will be answering questions .
I have found that nothing beats direct comparisons for proving a point . You can argue and discuss one image forever without getting anywhere but a direct comparison of the same picture at different settings says more than a thousand words , sometimes it silences them .
This image is in my blog on exposure and noise .
Simply comparing the two images side by side saves a lot of talking and typing .
Even a simple diagram showing the size of the area that spot metering uses saves a lot of talk and mathematical explanations .....
The area that most flash metering systems uses ....
And the area that TTL/BL meters off
Ask questions , question the answers until you understand them then share what you know !
Also if anyone would like to contribute tutorials to help beginners understand photography please contact me !
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