Hello, photography world!n/a

9 months ago (9 months ago)ponnie

Thank you very much for interesting comments, I really appreciate every piece of advice - it's really useful! Can't wait to go home from work and get back to studies ^^

I've learnt about all the buttons yesterday so now I have a hunch how things work, yet I need more practice to learn how to adjust my new camera for the best result. Now it seems much easier with all good advice I got here, again, thanks!

9 months agoJofuu (*｀へ´*)

Congratulations and Happy early birthday! Here are a few sites that will help out but of course always read, study and shoot, shoot, shoot.

Photography Basics/Tips & Techniques
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Lightning/Strobist
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Post/Editing Work
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9 months ago (9 months ago)amehybrid

I guess it's better if we provide some basics.

Aperture:
Increasing Aperture (lowering the f number) = Increase light per f stop twice as previous stop. Reduce depth of field. DoF is how detailed you want the background to be. This is related to Bokeh or the blurring of the background. When setting this you consider the following
Is DoF enough to blur the background but not too much that it blurs parts of the subject? There's a DoF button but it's a pain to use. Read the manual. It's hard to guess how it works or what it wants to tell you.
Reversing the logic, do you want to get more detail on the background? Get higher f numbers but not too high else diffusion and other effects. Don't go beyond f/22.
Is there enough light? If adjusting it would compromise DoF you could try ISO and Shutter Speed.
Lens Sweet Spot(max sharpness) usually is 2 f stops lower than max. Ex. If your max for 80mm focal length is 4, your sweet spot is around 8.
An f stop is usually 2 or 3 clicks of the aperture dial depending on what your camera setting is. The ff are common f stops: 2/2.8/4/5.6/8/11/16/22
Also related to chromatic distortion but it's too complex to discuss unless you want some optics going on.
TIP: when your camera focuses, it uses the largest aperture. This means you don't need to refocus when you adjust apertures given the camera and subject are not moving. Focus on your subject then switch to live view or something similar. Adjust and watch the view darken/brighten. Use timer or remote trigger to take the shot to be be as steady as you can.

Shutter Speed
Decreasing Shutter Speed = Increasing brightness.
When you set this you consider the following:
Is your subject moving too fast? you'll need faster shutter speed else motion blur(will also need higher ISO). If you're taking static figures then you wouldn't bother about it.
Do you need more light? Decrease shutter speed.
Will you use a tripod or handheld? If handheld, it's advisable to use 1/30 of a second as slowest unless you're steady or know a very good camera holding position. The ideal is to use the slowest shutter speed where you wouldn't get motion blur.
Light Painting and Night Shots: Requires exposure of more than a second.
Image Stabilizer(IS) allows you to use up to 4x slower shutter speeds.


ISO
Is how sensitive your sensor(film) reacts to light. The lower it is the less grain which is better but lower ISO means slower reaction to light thus darker. The next higher ISO is 2x brighter because it reacts 2x faster. ISO must also be in line with shutter speed.



Also happy birthday :) Good luck on photography. Figure photography is a good learning platform in photography because you could set-up your figures the way you want them.

9 months agoTonoras

Congratulation!
Most important: make photos, lots of photos. Only that way you will improve.
Try using the A modus where you can change the aperture and the camera chooses shutter speed.
For figure photography a tripod and some flashes or other light sources would be recommended.
And most important: have fun :)

9 months agoRanger_Chris61

Congrats, defiantly get familiar with the manual as it will be you biggest source of info on your new camera. Also if you have not already done so get a second battery as it is by far one of the most important items to get.

9 months agoVjii

Congratulations :D

9 months agoLenner

The camera manual will explain how things work, but it won't explain anything as far as what those things do. The 60D is a great DSLR with full manual control. To get the absolute best out of any DSLR of that class you'll need to know how things like shutter speed, aperture, and light sensitivity. As far as figure photography as a type of photography: photography is what you make it. There are a few general rules, but those rules are really guidelines. The best way to shoot anything is to shoot it your way, but you have to really find what your way is first.

Toy photography is actually a great way to learn how your camera works. It's also a terrific way to learn things like composition, depth of field, and how to make scene in your frame. All of things will help you learn how to tell a story with a photo; and I hope that's where you want to go with a camera like that. I'd be happy to explain things to you if you'd like. Just send me a message. (ext link)

9 months agoJoz

Happy birthday Ponnie!

Have to agree with Asako, amehybrid, and Krelz - although reading the manual isn't as fun as just going nuts with just taking pics. I found when I tried to learn too much, I got bored with the technicallities and enjoying making photos of figurines became more of a chore, rather than uh fun.

If there are three pieces of advice I could give it would be:

1. Work out your camera/lens macro settings.
2. Lighting. Hard forward flash lighting make figures reflect too much, so try bouncing light, or if you're not using a flash, then experiment with different spot lighting or natural lighting anlges.
3. Tripod.

All the best, and I hope to see some pics soon.

9 months agoKrelz

Just keep reading that manual from time to time. It got about 96% of all required information. The rest is up to you.

9 months ago (9 months ago)amehybrid

Started studying photography seriously months ago. In the span of few months I've been exposed to the following:

-People who always talk about camera gear instead of taking actual pictures
-addiction to sharpness and then forgetting what a good photo is all about
-too much focus on beauty then forget about the message or idea of the photo
-photographers bashing each others work
-some good and bad comments and criticisms
-People rating your pic to 1/5 without even explaining why
-Phobia in showing photos because of all the shit reactions but then getting over it. Getting shit photos and knowing what's wrong and how to deal with it is the best way to learn.
-RAW vs Large JPG
-Enhancing how to take photos and learning photo-editing tricks.
-People bashing me for taking photos of my figures.
-The power of bandwagon

and many more...

Good luck!