The previous entry was: First you buy the camera
Got the camera, now what to shoot?
You’ll probably start off inside the home and feel insecure and frustrated. Like me. Or maybe not.
But you might want to try some of the following:
Pet pictures
Yup. They always work. They’re adorable and pretty cooperative.
Staring right into the camera
See how his cute little fluffy pink paw is reaching for the camera?
Someone told me to always focus on the eyes
Staring right into the camera
See how his cute little fluffy pink paw is reaching for the camera?
Someone told me to always focus on the eyes
But focusing on his cute hairy fluffy pink paw is interesting too
Experimenting with stuff
Just look around.
Light bulb with a very hight shutter speed
Candle in dark room, still high shutter speed becouse of the flame
Low shutter speed, custom white balance. Used a neon light and moved the camera around.
Shooting in Manual mode lets you use a lower-than-recommended shutter speed when shooting against bright light
Experimenting with carrots 1
Outdoors shooting
This photo was not tampered with. Zoomed in while taking the shot. Guess it would've been a much better photo if you could see the rollerblades...
Shot with a higher exposure then increased contrast and color tempereature
Looks like old european film. (color temp and vignette)
Same
Winter scenery always looks good in black and white (click for larger version)
Winter in black and white (click for larger version)
Dog
Experimenting: face painting
The cool thing about face painting is the texture. Let it dry for a bit and it looks really neat.
It’s easy. Just be careful of the chemicals you use. Try not to get the stuff in you eyes or mouth (I did)
These were taken while sitting down and leaning against a white wall and using two tungsten lights (that means IKEA desk lamps).
One was directly below my face, between my legs, and another a bit to the side.
You can actually see them reflecting in my eyes.
I held the camera on an improvised tripod in front of me and shot them myself, using auto-focus. When shooting portraits you should focus on the eyes.
Tip: when textures are nice you can switch to black and white for more dramatic results.
Face painting. Focused on the eyes.
Face painting. Changed to a higher contrast, higher color temp, increased definition (or sharpness) and cropped.
Zooming in
Macro shots are always cool. You don’t always need a zoom lens to get nice results. I used the standard cheap 18-55 lens. Um, it’s the only one I own anyway 
Fridge magnet
macro 1
macro 2
bunny
- Green grass ALWAYS looks good when you zoom in. Try the manual focus so you can choose which blades are in focus
Water drops
The cool “freezing the water drop” effect you see in many images is the result of very high shutter speed. That way, the drop or splash of water seems to be frozen. The downside is that you have to have a lot of light flowing in or you’ll get really dark results.
Here are some examples of not enough light. I’ve yet failed to take a nice water drop/splash picture…
water drop failure 1
water drop failure 2 - camera's flash was not enough
water drop failure 3
typewriter 1
typewriter 2
typewriter 3
interesting stuff for a beginner! are you shure you just bought a camera? brilliant(ule)
You know I just did. Been using a cute little Sony CyberShot DSC-W55 for the last few years (which by the way is a pretty interesting compact camera, in the sense that it can create incredible macros. you can shoot from about 2cm from the subject and the detail is incredible) and before that, I’m ashamed to say, some webcam-camera combo, a cheap Creative little camera. Forgot the model number.
Or maybe I’m just a gifted individual…
Seriously now, anyone can do this. You just have to want to look at things a little differently. And be willing to experiment a bit.
And be willing to learn what the hell aperture, shutter speed, iso speed, white balance and metering mean… And then understand what those numbers on the lens are and then what focusing and depth of field are.
Once you know all that you just have to learn how to compose you images, a bit about color theory, lighting and how to tackle different subjects in different ways.
I kid, I kid…
Gata, am salvat postul..:)