How can I learn about taking great digital pictures?

[sphinxie]

I've taken a few fantastic photos, completely by accident. Most of my pictures are quite the opposite of fantastic. I see so much gorgeous digital photography online, and I'd like to play too!

How can I learn more about digital phography? When I was in school, photography classes were mainly for film; is that still the case? Have you used a website or book that teaches about digital photography?

Also how do you learn about the various digital cameras out there?

[sphinxie]

[g&a]

What kind of digital camera do you have - slr or automatic?
I can only recommend the site I learned a lot from - but it all has to do with slr stuff. www.kenrockewell.com
He has an interesting article about how it doesn't matter what camera you have, it's more about knowing your equipment and artistic vision.
g.

[sphinxie]

I use an automatic.

My experience both agrees and disagrees with his statement--my last camera was cheaper and more of a small tourist type camera, and the really amazing pictures I and DH took (by accident) were all with that camera. Now I have a relatively 'nicer' one (although it doesn't have the closeup focus that I bought it for based on a casual recommendation), and it has taken mediocre pictures--of course there have been some nice pictures but never anything brilliantly detailed. So for me the camera mattered, but cheaper was better.

Thanks, I'll browse the site through and through!

[g&a]

I'm with you. I agree on an abstract level, but experience has taught me that sometimes you could capture a certain shot if you had different equipment. Like the bald eagle that I tried to get this summer. If I had a much bigger lens I would have had a spectacular picture instead of having to point the eagle out to people, or enlarging it so far that it's grainy.

I have seen some fantastic photography from really bad cameras, though. Bryan Adams did a book on breast cancer and I remember one particular photo where he said he worked all day with the model and the best shot was snapped with a poloroid when they were on break. There are also these awful point and shoot cameras made in China that give really unpredictable results (it was medium format film) - I wish I could remember the name of them - and people collect them just to see what they can come up with.

good luck.
g.

[Graceoc]

Piping in as a pro photographer who is self taught (see my siggy link)...

While having good equipment can give you an advantage - if you don't know how to use it, it isn't going to matter. I taught myself everything I know about photography on a point and shoot digital camera. It had a manual setting (though it was not easy to manuver) and I made myself learn by doing a TON of reading and shooting...over and over until I understood how it worked.

Great photographs are primarly about light. You must be able to understand how to make the camara work for you. There is a fine relationship between apeture, shutter speed and ISO - that all relate together to create the images you see.

A good place to start is the book 'Understanding Exposure' by Bryan Peterson. A great read! Also there are tons of online resources such as www.betterphoto.com

Have fun! Digital allows you to shoot over and over while you learn, with little to no expense - take advantage of it!

[debm]

Wow I love your photos and your web site! I am an artist and photographer as well. Did you build your site yourself? What kind of camera and flash do you use? Sorry to hijack!

[DesireeH]

I'm a photographer mama too ( http://www.desireehayesphotography.com ) and I also highly recommend the book "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Pederson. It wasnt until I understood the correlation between ISO, SS, and aperature that everything started making sense to me and I could completely control the outcome of an image.

Compositionally I think for kids....you need to get down on their level. Join their world instead of looking down on them, ykwim? Keep in mind that pictures do not have to be centered. It adds interest to have "rule of thirds" composition.

My favorite images are with natural light. 99.9% of the time I do not use a flash.

[Graceoc]

I also do not use flash - I am natural light 99.9% of the time. I shoot with a Canon 5D.