Topic Wiki

Quick tips on random subjects that come up in between classes (will add as we go along):

Food photography tips
Newborn photography tips

Table of Contents (I'll change each line to a link as we go along.)

Introduction

1) Choosing a camera: Point and Shoot vs. Mirrorless vs. DSLR
2) Camera specs: What do they mean, and which ones matter to me?
3) Exposure Basics Part 1 - the shutter speed/aperture/ISO triangle
4) Exposure Basics Part 2 - getting to know your mode dial, and other exposure controls
5) All about memory cards
6) Using ultra-wide lenses





Lenses 101 - technology, terminology, and specs, zooms vs. primes, basic/advanced/unique lenses

Lighting 101 - focusing specifically on easy to afford and easy to use setups
Small flash - on camera, off camera, modifiers and accessories
Studio strobes
Continuous lighting - fluorescent, LED, and halogen
Basic light modifiers - umbrellas, softboxes, gels, reflectors
Basic supports - lightstands, umbrella brackets, backgrounds, etc.

All about accessories - memory cards, tripods, bags, filters, remotes, adapters, grips, geotaggers, and more)


So I bought all my stuff - now what?

What makes a compelling photograph?
Depth of field
Composition basics - rule of thirds, perspective, framing
Advanced composition - negative space, inclusion and exclusion, compression
Light - natural, golden hour, basic flash usage.

Let's start shooting...

Kids:
In the park
Playing sports
At home

Landscapes and wildlife:
"Grand" landscapes
"Intimate" landscapes
Seascapes
Waterfalls
Cityscapes
Wildlife
Birds in flight
Shooting in bad weather

Portraits:
Babies and newborns
Single person - indoors
Single person - outdoors
Families/siblings/groups
Natural light
Artificial light - simple
Artificial light - complex
Mixed light

Others:
Close up and macro
Product photography

How do I...? (Some specific scenarios/techniques - Basic)
Shoot out of a plane window?
Shoot underwater?
Shoot compelling black-and-white?

How do I...? (Some specific scenarios/techniques - Advanced)
HDR
Long exposures
Light painting
Twilight landscapes
Milky Way
Star trails

Basic editing concepts:
Exposure
Contrast
Clarity/sharpening
Color
Layers and masking

Poll

What type of camera do shoot with?

Point & Shoot - basic (Canon Elph style) or Smartphone
122 (36.9%)
Point & Shoot - advanced (Canon S100 or G Style)
52 (15.7%)
Mirrorless
26 (7.9%)
DSLR - consumer (Up to a Nikon D5200 or Canon Rebel)
74 (22.4%)
DSLR - prosumer or pro (Nikon D7000 or Canon 60D and up)
29 (8.8%)
P&S, but I plan on getting an SLR or Mirrorless in the near future
28 (8.5%)

Total Members Voted: 275

Author Topic: Learn Photography Master Thread  (Read 357946 times)

Offline Emkay

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #800 on: March 20, 2015, 05:57:50 AM »
Thanks. I see now it's not letting me download the app because I'miss in Israel.
There are apps to get around that

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #801 on: March 20, 2015, 08:01:31 AM »
Played again tonight:


The Milky way escaping from the rocks. (At least I think that is part of the Milky Way)

Yup, definitely Milky Way.

Amazing what even a bit of practice (and darker skies ;)) could accomplish. Great shot.
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Offline chucksterace

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #802 on: March 20, 2015, 12:18:20 PM »
Yup, definitely Milky Way.

Amazing what even a bit of practice (and darker skies ;)) could accomplish. Great shot.

So very true. I don't think I ever saw as many stars in my life as I did last night.
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Offline A3

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #803 on: March 20, 2015, 12:21:54 PM »
So very true. I don't think I ever saw as many stars in my life as I did last night.

Nice shot,
Wanna share the settings you used? Kits lens ;) ...?

Offline chucksterace

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #804 on: March 20, 2015, 12:32:27 PM »
Nice shot,
Wanna share the settings you used? Kits lens ;) ...?

Here you go. I was out in Joshua Tree National Park. It does help that I was in the middle of nowhere. When I left the spot where I took the picture I had about a 30 mile, 45 minute drive just to get out of the park, then another 55 minute drive back home.

Pentax K-50 Body.
Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED MC Super Wide Angle Lens
Shutter Speed = 30
Aperture = 2.8
ISO = 3200

HT to Something Fishy for giving me all the advice and telling me about the lens
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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #805 on: March 20, 2015, 01:14:03 PM »
Nice,
I finally got the 50 1.8 prime.
Maybe ill go for that one next. looks solid.

Offline chucksterace

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #806 on: March 20, 2015, 01:19:29 PM »
Nice,
I finally got the 50 1.8 prime.
Maybe ill go for that one next. looks solid.

Is a great lens. Will go to the Air Museum today and get some of the planes with it. Going to be interesting to see how they come out with this lens.
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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #807 on: March 20, 2015, 01:23:35 PM »
Is a great lens. Will go to the Air Museum today and get some of the planes with it. Going to be interesting to see how they come out with this lens.

Trick is to get really close. Remember to mind your focus.
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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #808 on: March 20, 2015, 03:06:18 PM »

Trick is to get really close. Remember to mind your focus.

On my way home now will post some in a few
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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #809 on: March 20, 2015, 03:22:51 PM »
Looks like the last lesson was December 2013. Guess you are too busy traveling  ;D

So what do you say... time for another lesson or another Photo DO (closer than Iceland)?

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #810 on: March 20, 2015, 04:00:22 PM »
Here we go again. Taken at PSP Air Museum. All the planes were outside today due to an event tonight inside the hanger. All taken with the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED MC Super Wide Angle Lens.

1945 Supermarine 379 Spitfire FR14E


Curtiss P40 Hawk+


1958 North American AT-6G C/N 493402 // 2-P-7 North American SNJ-6 Texan
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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #811 on: March 20, 2015, 06:23:39 PM »
Great pictures!
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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #812 on: March 20, 2015, 06:24:07 PM »
Just took this through my living room window:

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Offline whYME

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #813 on: March 20, 2015, 06:26:12 PM »
Just took this through my living room window:
Does this belong in the Pros/cons of where you live thread? :)

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #814 on: March 22, 2015, 10:11:32 PM »
For a dashcam that records 1080p video at 15mbps, what speed and class SD card at minimum am I looking for? is a 30 MBps card OK? seems like that's close to 15x faster than is needed....
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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #815 on: March 22, 2015, 10:28:39 PM »
For a dashcam that records 1080p video at 15mbps, what speed and class SD card at minimum am I looking for? is a 30 MBps card OK? seems like that's close to 15x faster than is needed....

For video you need to look at the class rating. A class 10 (basically anything these days) will be perfect.
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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #816 on: March 22, 2015, 10:40:49 PM »
For video you need to look at the class rating. A class 10 (basically anything these days) will be perfect.
Confused. If the video is recording at 15 megabits per second then why do I need anything with a minimum writes speed that is faster (in theory) than 2 Megabytes per second?
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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #817 on: March 22, 2015, 10:57:51 PM »
Confused. If the video is recording at 15 megabits per second then why do I need anything with a minimum writes speed that is faster (in theory) than 2 Megabytes per second?

Like I said, the amount of MBps is completely irrelevant to video recording. What matters is the sustained write speed, which is expressed as a class rating.

MBps is how fast the card could write large chunks of days (images). Class rating is how much data the card could write in a continuous stream of smaller bits and pieces (video).
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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #818 on: March 22, 2015, 11:04:17 PM »
Like I said, the amount of MBps is completely irrelevant to video recording. What matters is the sustained write speed, which is expressed as a class rating.

MBps is how fast the card could write large chunks of days (images). Class rating is how much data the card could write in a continuous stream of smaller bits and pieces (video).
I know, but if i understand what you said, and what I am seeing on https://www.sdcard.org/developers/overview/speed_class/, the class rating is the minimum sustained write speed. if the camera recordsfull HD at 15mbps why does it need a minimum of 10MBps  for full HD?  I feel like I am missing a key point.
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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #819 on: March 22, 2015, 11:19:59 PM »
I know, but if i understand what you said, and what I am seeing on https://www.sdcard.org/developers/overview/speed_class/, the class rating is the minimum sustained write speed. if the camera recordsfull HD at 15mbps why does it need a minimum of 10MBps  for full HD?  I feel like I am missing a key point.

The key point you're missing is that the 15mbps your camera shoots does not get dumped onto the card once a second. Instead, it's spread out as a continuous stream.

For example, let's assume it writes continuously at 150kb every 1/100th of a second, or 15kb per 1/1000 sec. Could the card keep up with this constant stream, of will it have to stop for air? If it stops for even 1/30th of a second, you lose a frame of the video. To many breaths and your video will stutter.

The class rating will tell you how much data you could throw at the card before it needs to take a break. A camera shooting 1080p at 30fps (basically the standard these days) will need a card that's at least a class 10.

The fact that a card may be able to write 15MBps means that if you throw a chunk of data weighing 15MB, it'll take one second to record. 15MBps does not equal 30MB per 2 seconds or 75MB per 5 seconds; the card will not be able to sustain 15MBps continuously.

Hence:
Images: How large of a chunk could you throw at the card at once - xxMBps.
Video: How many tiny bits could you feed without stopping - Class x.
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