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 357836 times)

Offline ilherman

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #600 on: July 13, 2014, 11:15:04 PM »
Where is the cheapest place to buy Adobe Photoshop CS6?
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Offline ushdadude

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #601 on: July 13, 2014, 11:19:35 PM »
How do I truly capture the height of a California red wood?

Offline Something Fishy

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #602 on: July 14, 2014, 09:33:16 PM »
How do I truly capture the height of a California red wood?

Like so 8):



But for the rest of us, we can use an extremely wide lens points upwards. The problem with that is that you won't see the real scale, plus it'll look like every picture ever taken.

A better option would be to not even try to capture the whole thing. The trick is to show a bit of the tree and suggesting the immensity of it, by using scale. A person standing next to the trunk looking up, a car parked next to it. Even if you only show a bit of height and most (if not all) of the width, the viewer will instantly know that the tree is absolutely tremendous. A picture like this could be far more powerful that attempting to show the entire height.

I'll see later if I could find some shots to illustrate my point better.
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Offline Something Fishy

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #603 on: July 14, 2014, 09:45:47 PM »
Here's the "looking up" shot. Cool? Sure. Does it really show how big the trees are? Not quite.


Vertical Redwoods in Corner Light by JamesWatkins, on Flickr

These  use scale to suggest the size. I think these are much more powerful pictures:


Sequoia W37 by MikeJonesPhoto, on Flickr

Link to the other one (the owner disabled embedding).
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Offline Joe4007

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #604 on: July 22, 2014, 08:36:20 PM »
Really enjoyed your lessons so far. Eagerly awaiting the next one!

Offline wayfe

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #605 on: July 22, 2014, 10:17:33 PM »
Here's the "looking up" shot. Cool? Sure. Does it really show how big the trees are? Not quite.


Vertical Redwoods in Corner Light by JamesWatkins, on Flickr


I asked about something like this earlier, but wasn't able to upload any photo due to privacy issues- but what makes that purplish glow around the leaves on the top? And how can it be avoided? I notice it usually happens when the subject is against a white or overexposed sky.
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Offline Something Fishy

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #606 on: July 22, 2014, 10:35:07 PM »
I asked about something like this earlier, but wasn't able to upload any photo due to privacy issues- but what makes that purplish glow around the leaves on the top? And how can it be avoided? I notice it usually happens when the subject is against a white or overexposed sky.

It's called chromatic aberration and color fringing. Chromatic aberration generally happens along the corners of the image, while color fringing usually happens (as you said) on fine detail against a bright background, most commonly leaves.

One of the main reasons top lenses cost what they do is because they use extremely expensive glass and coatings, specifically to eliminate CA and fringing. Barring a top of the line lens, this could be (mostly) corrected in software. In fact, many cameras have this software built in and apply the corrections after every shot automatically. All Nikons do this, and I assume Canons and Sonys too.
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Offline wayfe

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #607 on: July 22, 2014, 10:40:49 PM »
It's called chromatic aberration and color fringing. Chromatic aberration generally happens along the corners of the image, while color fringing usually happens (as you said) on fine detail against a bright background, most commonly leaves.

One of the main reasons top lenses cost what they do is because they use extremely expensive glass and coatings, specifically to eliminate CA and fringing. Barring a top of the line lens, this could be (mostly) corrected in software. In fact, many cameras have this software built in and apply the corrections after every shot automatically. All Nikons do this, and I assume Canons and Sonys too.

I find this mostly happening on skin- all the way along an arm, or curving along the silhouette of a face. I shoot with a Canon- any reason it isn't automatically corrected?
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Offline wayfe

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #608 on: July 22, 2014, 10:44:23 PM »

Vertical Redwoods in Corner Light by JamesWatkins, on Flickr

I'm noticing now that the color fringing may be due to the fact the this image was artificially warmed up by painting or masking or the like. You can see the original cooler tones in the bottom left corner of the photo...

Does excessive lighting and tone changes exacerbate any color fringing in a photo? Meaning it would barely have been noticeable in the original yet becomes much more obvious with the edit.
"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers which can't be questioned."
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Offline Something Fishy

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #609 on: July 22, 2014, 10:48:06 PM »
I find this mostly happening on skin- all the way along an arm, or curving along the silhouette of a face. I shoot with a Canon- any reason it isn't automatically corrected?

Which Canon?

I'm noticing now that the color fringing may be due to the fact the this image was artificially warmed up by painting or masking or the like. You can see the original cooler tones in the bottom left corner of the photo...

Does excessive lighting and tone changes exacerbate any color fringing in a photo? Meaning it would barely have been noticeable in the original yet becomes much more obvious with the edit.

Absolutely. Radical highlight recovery for example will generally exacerbate existing fringing, or bring out some that were not visible earlier.
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Offline A3

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #610 on: July 25, 2014, 02:06:43 PM »
Hi, any tips for shooting at a large rally of people?

I don't mean like to focus on, rather was setting or equipment should I keep the camera on?

I will be shooting with http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/634600-REG/Pentax_21870_SMC_Pentax_DA_50_200mm.html lens.

I can also use the kit 18-55 which I may for a bit, but I figure I will prob get some better closer shots with this one..

Offline wayfe

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #611 on: July 28, 2014, 01:45:47 PM »
Hi, any tips for shooting at a large rally of people?

I don't mean like to focus on, rather was setting or equipment should I keep the camera on?

I will be shooting with http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/634600-REG/Pentax_21870_SMC_Pentax_DA_50_200mm.html lens.

I can also use the kit 18-55 which I may for a bit, but I figure I will prob get some better closer shots with this one..

Well, obviously the camera settings will depend on what you're planning to focus on. Why don't you google images of rallies or large crowds and see which ones you go for? Once you know what kind of look you're going for- you can figure out what the necessary settings are for those photos.
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Offline joey123

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #612 on: July 28, 2014, 02:34:36 PM »
Can anyone on DDF recommend a book about using a DSLR camera? It would be much appreciated. Thanks
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Offline YG

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #613 on: July 28, 2014, 02:44:19 PM »
Personally, I found Bryan petersons "understanding exposure" to be a very good starting point. Teaches the fundamentals of exposure - which essentially means "photo making" - in a very easy readable way that left me feeling like I hadn't learned anything, just that I now understood how photo taking works.
On course there is much more to the art of photography than just exposure, but that exposure of the sensory is the capturing of the photo and that's at the center of everything.

Offline Fan of Dan

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #614 on: July 28, 2014, 03:36:21 PM »
Personally, I found Bryan petersons "understanding exposure" to be a very good starting point. Teaches the fundamentals of exposure - which essentially means "photo making" - in a very easy readable way that left me feeling like I hadn't learned anything, just that I now understood how photo taking works.
On course there is much more to the art of photography than just exposure, but that exposure of the sensory is the capturing of the photo and that's at the center of everything.
Most of his books I really liked, my favorite being the one you mentioned. His composition field guide book was pretty weird IMHO.

Offline askmoses

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #615 on: July 28, 2014, 08:47:06 PM »
Bryan Peterson's understanding exposure is great! Very happy I bought it...

Offline wayfe

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #616 on: July 28, 2014, 09:18:39 PM »
Pretty much everything you need to know about exposure is here:

http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=28108.msg652629#msg652629

A book won't tell you much else.
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Offline askmoses

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #617 on: July 29, 2014, 09:02:17 PM »
Pretty much everything you need to know about exposure is here:

http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=28108.msg652629#msg652629

A book won't tell you much else.
-0.5
SF certainly can get you off to a great start with his fantastic lessons. Nonetheless, I find "Understanding Exposure" (check out it's amazon rankings in class here http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/10825721/ref=sr_bs_1) to be well worth the read. It breaks down the nature of exposure (and a nice amount of composition) down nicely and his side-by-side comparison photos are really great.
 I mean this in no way to put down SF's lessons or expertise. I am very much an amateur and his lessons have been fantastic! SF, your breakdown of subject and presentation is amazing! I hope you put up some more lessons soon!

Can't get too much of great thing I suppose :)
« Last Edit: July 29, 2014, 10:13:39 PM by askmoses »

Offline wayfe

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #618 on: July 29, 2014, 09:50:44 PM »
-0.5
SF certainly can get you off to a great start with his fantastic lessons. Nonetheless, I find "Understanding Exposure" (check out it's amazon rankings in class here http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/10825721/ref=sr_bs_1) to be well worth the read. It breaks the nature of exposure (and a nice amount of composition) down nicely and his side-by-side comparison photos are really great.
 I mean this in no way to put down SF's lessons or expertise. I am very much an amateur and his lessons have been fantastic! SF, your breakdown of subject and presentation is amazing! I hope you put up some more lessons soon!

Can't get too much of great thing I suppose :)

I disagree. Exposure is a simple formula. Once you know it- you can't know it better. Composition, on the other hand is a completely different thing- you can never learn all there is to composition.
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Offline Something Fishy

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Re: Learn Photography Master Thread
« Reply #619 on: July 29, 2014, 10:06:33 PM »
You're both right.

Exposure in and of itself is extremely simple once you memorize a few simple numbers. However (as I believe I've mentioned before), there's a big difference between the correct exposure and the right exposure. Everything you need to make a correct exposure could be learned from what I've already talked about.

The right exposure, on the other hand, is a completely different bird. You as a photographer choose what mood you want to convey in your picture and what you want the viewer to focus on. All this comes down to vision, planning, and skill. I will be talking about these topics in future lessons (they're coming, I promise ;)!), but a book discussing only exposure will expound on this in far greater detail than I could here on the forums.

These books generally aren't for beginners as they are often very intense, but once you're comfortable in your photography I highly recommend them. I own plenty books like that and have read many more.
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