Hoping for my first Nikon

[Retro]

Because of my sporadic involvement in photography, I need to start from the beginning. The basics I learned when I was 20 are long forgotten. My saving grace is composition: I really know how to set up a shot and make it look good. You know how they draw lines on an image and divide it up and tell you your subject is off? I would get high marks in that. ISO, aperture, the light meter, focal length and its effects; I need a refresher course. I don't remember how you get a blurry background or not blurry, but I know it's focal length.

As soon as I get a Nikon, I will look into taking a photography course at the college. I've always wanted to do that.

 

[Fortkentdad]

Because of my sporadic involvement in photography, I need to start from the beginning. The basics I learned when I was 20 are long forgotten. My saving grace is composition: I really know how to set up a shot and make it look good. You know how they draw lines on an image and divide it up and tell you your subject is off? I would get high marks in that. ISO, aperture, the light meter, focal length and its effects; I need a refresher course. I don't remember how you get a blurry background or not blurry, but I know it's focal length.

As soon as I get a Nikon, I will look into taking a photography course at the college. I've always wanted to do that.

Nothing like learning by doing.

Get the camera (D7100 you can't go wrong), get some good glass (keep in mind DX lenses work great on D7100 and are cheaper, but not optimal if you upgrade to FF later). Get some toys (flash, tripod at least) and start taking pictures. Nothing wrong with 'auto-everyting' just to get started, then learn how to use the other features. I seldom go full manual - either Aperture priority or Shutter priority - no point in paying for a smart cpu in the camera and not give it anything to compute eh?.

College courses sound like fun. Or join a club. Lots of treat learning on line too, some free, some not so free. (I've never paid for any on line so no judgement there but lots of the free stuff is really great and helpful to learners like me). I've also bought a couple of CD's (one came in a kits I bought for the battery because the bag, CD, cleaning kit and battery was cheaper than buying the battery alone - go figure) the other I picked up in the bargin bin at a camera store, dug deep for the $2 they wanted for it, was for D810 but close enough, 2 CD set - great bargain, learned a lot. Lots of ways to learn. But the best way IMHO is to get out there and just play with it. Good software will show you the EXIF info telling you what all your settings were - look at those you like, those that surprise you, and look at your mistakes - and learn as you go. Nothing like hands on learning in my books.

 

[Whiskeyman]

Because of my sporadic involvement in photography, I need to start from the beginning. The basics I learned when I was 20 are long forgotten. My saving grace is composition: I really know how to set up a shot and make it look good. You know how they draw lines on an image and divide it up and tell you your subject is off? I would get high marks in that. ISO, aperture, the light meter, focal length and its effects; I need a refresher course. I don't remember how you get a blurry background or not blurry, but I know it's focal length.

As soon as I get a Nikon, I will look into taking a photography course at the college. I've always wanted to do that.

Why wait? If you have the time for browsing this site, you can learn from here and another really good site: Cambridge in Colour - Photography Tutorials & Learning Community

It has lots of good photography lessons under Photo Essentials and Interactive Learning, as well as the the tutorials. There are other sites out there as well.

Get at it! You'll find it hard to wait for your camera to arrive.

WM

 

[Retro]

I'd like to have a good instructional for beginners. It'll be hard for me to get through the section on "How a Camera Works", but I want to learn the basics all over again. I'll google it and see what I come up with.

I have a couple of NatGeo books, but they are tips and tricks for intermediate photographers. I will read them.

There has to be something better than 'Photography for Dummies.'

 

[Fortkentdad]

I hate those 'for dummies' books - so 'dumb'.

There is so much information out there for beginners. Many websites, youtubes, CD's and of course good old books. Many of the magazines include sections for learning. I'm a facebook user and have "liked" more than a couple of photography FB groups. Some of these daily post tips of the day and I think I tend to learn best in little pieces. Spoon feed me a tip daily and I can digest that better than reading chapter after chapter (although I do that and it has been helpful. Depending on how up-to-date your local library is there may be books there. I find that these tend to be the read once and put on the shelf books so library may be a good option. Libraries also may have periodicals with may have "new to SLR" articles. Your local camera store probably has a selection of resources too. But in today the web is the way and it is free. Challenge is to weed out the wheat from the chaff. A lot of what is out there is really "info-mercials" designed to sell you stuff.

Here are a few I follow

Facebook pages
Nikon (of course they have their own FB page - pedestrian but good source of official information)
N-Photo Magazine ( tries to get you to subscribe but does post lots of good stuff)
Digital Photography School - good daily tips - wants to sell your their programs
Adorama - this reseller has some great learning video's on their Youtube channel
The Photography Podcast - learn while you drive if that's your way
Photography Life - "Photography Life provides various digital photography reviews, articles, tips, tutorials and guides to photographers of all levels"
Digital SLR Photography Magazine - good one

There are many more. Including Nikonites


Nikonians - another online forum - IMHO a little (not lot) more intense than this site but a great source of information and discussion.

Youtubes
B&H has a great series as does Adorama. Of course there is more than a subtle effort to get you to like their store too.
Digital Photography Cafe - done like an interview show
PhotoVideoEDU Program ok
The Photo/Video Show - alright
thefrugalfilmmaker - cheap and cheesy but interesting - and I am err frugal too.
Digitalreview TV - some oriental guy who makes lots of youtube videos - opinionated but funny (well sort of) I've watched lots of his.

Webpages
Digital Photography - Tips, Techniques & Digital Camera Buying Guides & Reviews at BrightHub.com
Digital Camera News, Reviews, Tips and Techniques | Digital Camera World

There are many more but I gotta run.

This is just a sample of those I've stumbled upon and not an endorsement of any in particular. Just google it. "DSLR Tutorial" for example will get you gobs of stuff to sift through.

Maybe some others will post their recommended learning pages to 'like', subscribe or bookmark.

Enjoy learning it is part of the hobby - it never ends.