[Sacintimidator06]

Alright since the old thread is going to go and reach the depths of hell, I am going to start compiling stuff into this one. If you think something should be added post in here.




Q. What camera should I get?
A. Do your own research at http://www.dpreview.com . Look at the different cameras that fall into your budget. Most likely most of us have no experience with cheap cameras so we are not going to be much help for you. All lower end cameras are pretty much the same, just stay with a major company (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Fuji) Do not make a thread asking this question

Q. What lens should I get?
A. Go to http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/ and read the reviews. If you are looking to get a good lens for sports stuff it is going to cost you at least $600.

Places to buy camera stuff - if you think you found somewhere cheaper than these places, you probably didn't. When something is too good to be true, it is.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com
http://www.adorama.com

If you think you found somewhere and want to know if it is legit or not, check http://www.resellerratings.com


This is where you should start:Camera Hobby Photography e-Book By Edwin Leong
http://www.camerahobby.com/EBook-TOC.htm
That site covers everything a photo 1 class covers and then some. I still highley suggest taking a class but this will get you ahead. This is probably the best link in this list in my opinion.


Basic - Itermediate Photography Techniques

How Do I Compose A Photograph? By Andrew Hudson
http://www.photolinks.com/resources....mposition.html

Composition Series By Neil Turner
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Phot..._simple_01.htm
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Phot..._is_bad_01.htm
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Phot...a_frame_01.htm
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Phot..._Detail_01.htm
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Phot...u_Think_01.htm

Understanding the Sunny f16 Rule By Brian Ratty © 1999
http://www.photolinks.com/resources....y_f16_rule.htm

Dan Heller Photo Techniques Series perspective Control by Dan Heller
http://www.photolinks.com/resources....ersp-ctrl.html

Light Text and photographs © Nigel Dennis
http://www.photolinks.com/resources....light_tips.htm

Lighting
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Lighting

Portraits/People/Children

How Can I Take Better Photographs of People? By Andrew Hudson
http://www.photolinks.com/resources....p3.people.html

Posing Tips by Brian Ratty Text and pictures © 2000 Some photography by Diamar Portfolios
http://www.photolinks.com/resources....age=Posing.htm
(The 10 quick tips at the bottom is a good summary if u don't understand anything in that article)

Proffesional/BuisnessPresenting Photographs for Sale. Article Courtesy of MatShop
http://www.photolinks.com/resources....e_and_mat.html

Digital Photography
Digital Photography by Brian D. Ratty ©2003
http://www.photolinks.com/resources....al_how_to.html

Photography Terms Glossary: Great for that what is...? Questions.
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/glossary
http://www.camerahobby.com/EBook-Glossary.htm

Gear:
Lets get one thing straght. Sometimes it just comes down to the feel of a camera. The Cannon VS Nikon battle is all about how they feel in the photographers hand. They both can produce excellent images.
Buying Guide
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/stats.asp

Beginners Guide to Lenses by Chris Groenhout
http://www.photolinks.com/resources....cg_lenses.html

[Sacintimidator06]

ASA (American Standards Association now known as ANSI or America National Standards Institute) – usually used by longtime photographers who broke into photography when the ASA provided the standards for film speed ratings, now handled by the International Standards Organization (ISO).

Color – the hues of light that travel along a certain electromagnetic radiation frequency that our brains interpret as color.

Colorimeter – a hardware device that is attached to a monitor and used to measure brightness, contrast and white point to allow the accompanying software to create a custom profile. One of the key steps for a properly color managed digital darkroom.

Color Management – a coordinated approach by various hardware and software vendors to establish a standard of communication from one device (scanner or camera) to a viewing device (monitor) to an output device (printer) to ensure consistent colors from A to Z in the digital darkroom process. Requires a color management capable software or OS to enjoy though.

Circle of Confusion – What a group of photographers is known as when they get together and hash out Nikon versus Canon. Just playing with you J Circle of Confusion or CoC is the point where an out of focus element in your photo, but still within the acceptable depth of field of the photo, is no longer considered a sharp point.

The standard CoC measurement is 0.03 inches for an 8x10 enlargement, but other companies use a more stringent figure of 0.025. This is how large a particular subject point in your photo can be and still be considered a sharp point in an enlargement, any larger and it is no longer seen as being s sharp point, so obviously, the larger you print, the smaller your CoC must be. There are various programs and calculators available online that will provide you with the appropriate CoC.

Think of a needle. You look at the needle with your eye and it looks sharp, but what if you had a second needle just outside of your eye’s plane of focus, would it still look sharp? That second needle’s point that is ever so slightly out of focus is now a circle instead of a point to your eye, but as long as the circle remains a set measurement size, your eye will still consider it a sharp point. If you take the second needle farther away from your eye then you pass that set measurement so that the circle is larger. Your eye will no longer see it as a sharp point and this where the circle of confusion starts for that second needle.

Daylight Exposure - See Sunny 16 below.

Depth of Field (DOF) – the zone of what appears to be in sharp focus from a two-dimensional piece of film or photo print. DOF is controlled by the aperture of the lens and a large aperture such as f2.8 has less DOF than a small aperture such as f16.

Those grand landscapes you admire in books and prints are taken with small apertures to maximize the DOF so that everything from the foreground to the distant background appears to be in sharp focus. Portrait photos on the other hand are usually taken with shallow DOF to blur out the background and allow all the attention to fall on the subject.

The wider your lens is, the greater the DOF and vice versa, the longer your lens, the less DOF you have to work with.

Digital Darkroom – What a person whose brain cells have been largely fried by dank development chemicals moves onto after buying a scanner or digital camera, only to have the few good remaining brain cells fried by the electromagnetic radiation from the computer and monitor.

Actually, a computer system setup in a dedicated space that should try and conform to an actual ISO standard of having low ambient light and neutral colors. Or, wherever you have the space to setup your computer to edit some digital files and output them from an inkjet printer for tossing into the family album or scrapbook. A good digital darkroom attempts to provide at least the same kind of editing and flexibility as the old chemical based darkroom.

Flash Sync – How quickly a dirty old man can flash you and then move on before your brain has comprehended what just happened, or the fastest shutter speed that a camera or lens will be fully open to allow the entire film plane to be exposed to a flash burst. Selecting a faster shutter speed will result in the flash popping while the shutter curtain is still traveling along the film plane, cutting off the subject view.

Most focal plane shutters sync at a maximum speed of 1/250 or slower whereas leaf-shutters typically sync at 1/500; however, there are always exceptions to the rule and as technology advances, so to do the shutter speeds. There are leaf shutters that can sync to 1/1000 of a second and there are focal plane shutters that can sync at 1/300. Then there are digital CCD chips with their own electronic shutters that can sync to 1/500. And finally there are various workarounds to the flash sync speed limitations that utilize flash pulses to allow to allow the film plane to be exposed to flash – note though that this is not true flash syncing due to use of multiple flash pulses instead of one continuous burst.

Why is flash sync important, a faster flash sync such as 1/250 or 1/500 allows you to mix flash lighting with ambient lighting outdoors to create a more natural photo, or can allow you to freeze motion more effectively than without flash.

Focus Plane – the point that the subject is sharply defined. Although we live in a three-dimensional world, film is a two-dimensional medium with no depth. Within the “apparent” depth of our in focus subject, there will be one optimum focus plane with everything in front of or behind the subject that still appears sharp, as being just a benefit of the Depth of Field available from your choice of aperture setting.

Guide Number (GN) – the number used to reference the power of a flash unit and also used to determine what the correct exposure setting should be set to on the camera. GN is not of much use in this day or modern TTL conveniences, but is if you’re into using a manual-only flash.

Take your GN and divide by the distance in feet your subject is away from the camera. The resulting number is your aperture. Or divide the GN by the aperture you wish to use and the resulting number is how far away the subject must be from the camera in order to be properly exposed by the flash output. E.g. GN 100 divided by 10 feet equals an aperture setting of 10, or f8.5 since 10 is in between f8 and f11. Or GN 100 divided by f8 equals 12.5 feet the subject should be away from the camera.

Hyperfocal Distance – the focusing distance for your lens that will maximize the depth of field for the aperture setting chosen. Hyperfocal distance changes for the focal length of the lens being used and what aperture is set. Calculators and charts are available to provide an easy reference since most of the auto focus lenses offered currently do not offer hyperfocal focusing guides.

Incident light – is the light that falls onto your subject (contrasted to reflected light). An incident meter measures this type of light and is a more critical form of measuring light in certain situations. Incident metering is the preferred method for measuring complex scenes or highly dark or reflective subjects that could fool a camera’s built-in reflected meter.

ISO (International Standards Organization) – based in Europe that provides standards for a wide variety of matters, but for photographers, the key one for us is for film speed ratings.

Photography – from the Greek, photo meaning light and graphos meaning to write – write with light. The act of taking a subject seen through a lens and then exposing a copy of that subject onto a piece of film or digital device and then later recovering that image through a chemical or electronic process, both of which can end up on a piece of paper meant for display.

Photographer (amateur) – a nut bar that spends more time and money on a hobby than is otherwise warranted or desired by the significant other. Or a person passionate about creating images that provide some personal meaning to the process.

Photographer (professional) – a person earning the bulk of his or her income through photographic work and usually someone who can deal with adversity when thrown at them without warning, but not always the case.

Reflected light – is light that reflects off of the subject. The meter found inside your camera measures this type of light to determine an exposure for the film being used. There is some debate as to whether or not these built-in meters are calibrated for 18% grey or 13% grey (or 12%) or if they correspond to some other ANSI standards, as Nikon cameras reputedly are.

Rule of Thirds – a compositional guide that suggests placing important subject scenes onto imaginary points in the viewfinder divided up into thirds. See Chapter

Sepia Tone – a warm toning process used in B&W photos to mimic the aged look of very old B&W prints. Sepia toning is usually a brownish tint, but can also come out in blue or green tints depending on the lab or darkroom enthusiast doing the processing. It is much easier to do Sepia toning digitally today.

[gigante]

i just want to suggest two books, for the people that would rather read it on paper:

here
this is a pretty decent book for the complete photo noob.

here
for lighting

[Sacintimidator06]

Originally Posted by eltwitcho

Ok, usually you'll see lenses designated by numbers in one of three configurations

20-70 F2.8

28-105 F3.5-4.5

50 1.8

Basically, there's only two sets of numbers that mean anything on a lense. The first is the focal length, or "how zoomed in" your lense is. So for instance

20-70 F2.8

is a zoom lense. It can zoom out from 20 millimeters, in to 70 millimeters. The lower the focal length (ie, 20 millimeters is lower than 70 millimeters) the wider your view through the lense. The higher the focal length, the more zoomed in your lense is. You can zoom to anything between 20 and 70 millimeters with this lense.

If you had for instance the
28-105 F3.5-4.5

Then you could zoom that lense out anywhere between 28 millimeters, up to 105millimeters. This lense would let you zoom in closer than the 20-70mm.

If however you see a lense with only one number for focal length, such as
50mm 1.8

Then it doesn't zoom. This lense is a 50mm all the time, forever. There is no zooming at all. I use these lenses exclusively, the ones I use are 28mm, 50mm, 85mm. That's three lenses that could be covered by one single lense such as the 24-105 F4L but there are subtle differences in something called aperture.

The other number you see is the aperture of the lense. The aperture determines how much light the lense can let through at it's maximum aperture (ie, the setting that lets the most light through). The lower the number, the more light that can come through. An aperture of 1.8 lets in more light than an aperture of 2.8. An aperture of 2.8 lets in more light than an aperture of 4. This lets you shoot in lower light, get higher shutter speeds and blur the background more the lower your aperture can go. There are two ways lenses use aperture, for instance

20-70 F2.8

Has a widest aperture setting of 2.8 no matter how far you zoom in or out. At 20mm you can go as open as 2.8, at 70mm you can go as open as 2.8. Seems like the most logical way for things to work right? Well it's not, these lenses are more expensive than say...

28-105 F3.5-4.5

This lense goes as open as 3.5 at 28mm and only as open as 4.5 at 105mm. That means that at 105mm it will let in less light than at 28mm. These lenses are a little more modestly priced, and yes it means that if you have your camera set to 3.5 aperture and you zoom in to 105mm your camera will change to 4.5 aperture.

Lastly, the prime lense with only one focal length. The 50mm 1.8 This lense doesn't zoom, so it can always go to 1.8 aperture. You'll also notice that this lense can go with a much wider aperture than the others, therefore primes are best for low light photography or portrait work.

.

[Crane]

Basic Rules for composing your subjects in the frame. this applies to all subjects.

I see it all too often, people composing shots wrong... and I finally got tired of it.. So heres a quick 2 minutes read that will enhance you 1337 Ph0t0gr4phy skillz 2 fold.

Ill take a picture that I just criticized and use it as my example... this is a person playing paintball, but the rule goes for ALL subjects moving, alive, dead, or stationary.


#1 See how much head space you have???? no one cares whats above the dudes head.. you care about the dude... you pulled a Tony Soprano and chopped the mu' fuggers legs off! Turn your camera Vertical and fill the frame.



#2 See all the red area? thats the area of the photo that NO ONE cares about... turn the camera vertical and fill the frame.



#3 this is how your shout should have looked. and hopefully this is how it will look next time you post pictures here. because why? Thats right because you listened to Ryan's critisism and used it to get better.



See the white part at the bottom? thats what we want to see. not the birds flying over the dude head or the nets in the background... we want to see the mu' fuggin players.

Thank you have a good day!

I truley hope that some one learned something from this, and hopefully, just maybe, someone will choose not to post pictures that look like all of your family snapshot photos from Christmas... You ALL know what im talking about...

Oh and Andy or someone.. please sticky this..

[Topazbullet]

For those of you being raped by NYS tax at BH and Adorama, use http://www.samys.com/

[geekyrocketguy]

Site that explains all sorts of photo-related things: http://www.morguefile.com/archive/cl...gilhd5hveg2 5

HDR (High Dynamic Range) explanation: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/hdr.shtml

Reviews of cameras and lenses: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/

[Crane]

Does "X" Camera take good Pictures?

Find pictures that Nikon Cameras produce! http://www.pbase.com/cameras/nikon

Find pictures that Canon Cameras produce! http://www.pbase.com/cameras/canon

Does this lens take good Pictures?

Find pictures that Nikon lenses produce! http://www.pbase.com/cameras/nikon

Find pictures that Canon lenses produce! http://www.pbase.com/cameras/canon

Etc. with all other brands as well. These are just the most popular.

[PsykoRoman]

You might want to check the link on the lighting article:

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Lighting

There's no content.

[Crises of Perception]

To cut down on useless threads, and to help Tony with this ST: Photo revision, I've decided to compile a bunch of sites that can be READ to help newer photographers answer their own questions.

VIDEO TUTORIALS FOR THE BASICS
Shutter Speed and how it works
Aperature and how it works
DOF and what it does


Online website to buy cameras.
BHphoto
Amazon
BestBuy

*There are way more than these, I just chose to list a few of the more well known and used ones.

If the price is too good to be true, chances are it is. If you ever have doubt ask in the FAQ or research the website here.

Want to know about a camera or lens?
The Digital Picture (Canon exclusive)
Dp Review

Want another photography forum?
Photography on the Net (aka POTN)
DP Review

Want to learn about photography?
Camera Hobby - ebook (Quite long, read it at your leisure, but make sure you read it)
Photo.net
Danheller
Kodak (some tips and basic stuff)
John Harvey Photo (quick read)

** All these sites have information on them, some more than others. The point is you wont be able to learn anything from them unless you actually click the link and read what they have to say.

List of camera makers:
Canon
Nikon
Olympus (aka Oly)
Kodak
Sony (eh..)

Ok well, this is what I've compiled so far. If I missed an important website let me know and I'll edit this.

-Henri

[Ryan...The Lover]

Personally Id like the links to have names or at least subjects.. but very nice Brotha..

[Crises of Perception]

Names it is, I'll get on that.

Any sites I need to add? Or categories? You've been around longer than I have.

[tonybhall]

yeah. add names to the links.. I'd eventually like to consolidate the stickies. Maybe one thread for PS topics with links to the current threads. And probably combine this one with the Superduper thead... I want to have as few stickies as poss. because when you have too many people won't read them..

Great idea Henri.. thanks for the help.

[Crises of Perception]

I do what I can, I am here alot, I might as well contribute. Do whatever you want with this thread Tony, it's your little remodeling project

[tonybhall]

stickied.

[Thanatology]

i hope someone¹ benefits from this.
http://www.aguntherphotography.com/t...-mistakes.html




¹everyone

[BunkerKing35]

I did. Nice find. Good article with some helpful tips. some people¹ need to read this.


¹everyone

[Skwerl]

Tony, does anyone on SThoto do gallery showings?

[ScareKrow]

Lesson number 1. Space between the colon and the p.

[tonybhall]

there are probably only a couple of people in there that do the kind of photogrpahy that you'd do a gallery showing of. But Im not sure if they do any ore not.

[playinpaintball]

hey i haven't been in here in a while but i'm thinking about upgrading the xt. want to say in the canon family so i was wondering what body i should get? I do shoot mostly sports.