Where does a novice start to learn about Photography?

Mightycamels

Mightycamels

Mightycamels

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Bristol
A short story!

The other night there was a great full moon which had a red tint and was very clear. I decided that I should document this just in case I happened to be the only one witnessing this fantastic moon. So I grabbed my wife's Nikon J1 which we brought for our honeymoon last year in Rome and walked smugly to the park across the road, found a nice spot with the silhouettes of trees below it. Whacked the camera into auto and began clicking away......

After taking half a dozen or so I had a look at my masterpiece to discover that UFO's must have whizzed by as I was taking my pictures of the moon, I tried again. Still the same thing, I tried various modes, lenses etc but could not get what I was see into the camera no matter how hard I tried. I was gutted!

So I have decided I should probably learn something about photography. Where should I start read up on the subject? What should I be using my J1 for etc.

Cheers,
 
Start with a copy of Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. It's a fairly old book (I think it's on the 3rd revision now) but it's still spot on about teaching you the technical basics.

After that start looking on Flickr for photos you like and try to understand why you like them. Then figure out how to recreate the look.
 
i'm in the same boat as you. one of the places I look at apart from various photography forums is Flickr... I find it useful when I see a photo I like to look at the exif information of that shot to get an idea for the settings used.

For what it's worth I have been trying for ages to get a good shot of the moon.. I managed this last week...


_DSC0022 by skalaberg, on Flickr

still by no means a great shot but a marked improvement on the glowing disks I was getting several weeks ago. Keep at it bud
 
If you get onto TP (TalkPhotography - google it) youll find a tutorial section for this, ive read through it.

You need longer exposures to capture the light properly (i think im right tin saying this)

Thats the best place to start, ocuk is a good place to start but theres more on TP as its a specific forum dedicated to photography.

As for the book above, GET IT, i have and its fantastic!

EDIT: How to photograph the moon
 
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