Basics Of Digital Photography

1

What are the best books and/or websites for a beginning photographer who wants to learn the basics?

Can you recommend resources for someone who wants to start with the very basics of film photography followed by helpful lessons in digital? This could be a text book, website, magazine, etc.

Sure. For a website, I would recommend Photo.net. There are a lot of professional and amateur photographers on the forums there, and they're very friendly and helpful. If you want to learn about the basics of using a film camera with manual exposure, then I would definitely suggest the "Classic Manual Cameras" forum or the "Film and Processing Forum." In fact, I learned a ton about photography just from the forums. Feel free to ask questions.

http://photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/
http://photo.net/film-and-processing-forum/
http://photo.net/black-and-white-photo-film-processing-forum/

For books, what you will really want to learn about first is how to use manual exposure. You need to learn how to set your shutter speed and aperture for certain lighting conditions. Depth of field is another technical aspect that is extremely important in photography. Look up what's called the "Sunny 16 Rule." Go to your local library and look up books on film photography. There are a million books on basic 35mm photography that will help. And don't think you have to get the most recent book either...don't be afraid to read old books. They will teach you the basics. The technical elements of ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and depth-of-field apply to both film and digital cameras.

One book I would recommend is "The Basic Guide To 35mm Photography." It's an old book (although it does seem to have some more modern chapters added) but it will teach you the basics of using manual exposure and focus, and it's just as relevant today:

http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Photo-Guide-Beginning-Photographers/dp/1584280301/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231313587&sr=8-1

Once you learn the basics, then you can start to learn how to use the elements of photography to take creative pictures. Also, you might find that if you start with film, you'll really like it and want to learn how to develop your own film. It's a lot easier than you might think, and it's a lot of fun.

Also, despite all the consumer hype about digital cameras, there is still a LOT of interest and support for film. A lot of people do just prefer to use film. There are entire groups and websites for people who like to use film (35mm, 120 size, and many other kinds of medium format and large format film).

Here's one, APUG.org:

http://www.apug.org/forums/home.php

And there are even magazines that are EXCLUSIVELY for film, like this one:

http://www.emulsionmagazine.org/index.php

Other fine art photography magazines like "B&W Magazine", "Silvershotz" and "View Camera" also tend to lean a lot more towards traditional film photography.

Later on, if you decide to get into digital cameras, you can take the same skills and apply them to both. However, I think you'll probably end up using both film and digital. That's what a lot of people do.

Good luck and have fun!

Digital Photography - D3000 Project the Basics


basics of digital photography5
basics of digital photography5