Weekly Photography Challenge Thread (see first post rules and then the poll at top before entering)

I don’t have one but if you’re new I’d start by using the green square mode, which is automatic. That way the only thing you control is zooming with the lens and framing. The camera figures the rest out based on available light.

$70 for an entry level dslr is a damn good deal!

 

I disagree with all of this. Shooting in auto doesn’t help improve or teach you anything. Unless you’re going to take a bunch of pictures in different light settings and then go back and record your ISO, shutter speed, and aperture and study this over and over, it’s not going to help.

@chuymoreno i highly recommend you purchase the book below in the Amazon links “understanding exposure” and go from there. You can start off by shooting in A (aperture priority) mode, or whatever else it recommends. It will help you understand basics of exposure (lighting, shutter speed, aperture) and how to work your way up to shooting in full manual mode.

If you want to go and just take regular old pictures and let the cameras sensors do everything, then shoot in auto. But if you’re anything like me, you’ll get really bored of shooting in auto because you can’t change any effects as you’re limited to what the camera thinks is “best”

 

I shoot photos for a living, and yes av or tv would maybe be a better jumping off point, but unless you’re fired up on shooting a speed blur, I’d be more concerned about learning how to compose an image and mastering what focal lengths do instead of confusing oneself with the other three parts of manual exposure immediately.

 

I’m coming from someone who is not an expert and was not too long ago at the same point he is at now. Shooting in auto is flat out boring. I didn’t take the time to learn about aperture/shutter speed and I just got bored of taking pictures because they didn’t come out how I wanted them in auto. Which is why I’m recommending he buy the book. I bought it and I was almost instantly able to understand the basics of manual photography. In this day and age, people have been around cameras whether it be a cell phone camera, point and shoot, whatever, to know the bare basics of photography and how to hit the shutter Release button. The book in the links is really well written and will help him learn how to actually shoot in not auto and get enjoyment out of it.
But maybe he doesn’t want to learn all of that right now. And in that case, go ahead and shoot in auto. But I just went through the beginnings and I’m just giving my input from what worked for me. I didn’t want to shoot in auto after the first week of owning the camera. It was just boring.

Edit: I’m not saying your advice is bad or wrong. For me, your advice would have bored me with photography and my camera would sit on a shelf more than it currently does

 

Haha, fair enough. I was going to say it totally depends on how deep you want your understanding to be.

 

According to Murph, you don't take any pictures at all.

 

100% agree with that. I think he should definitely go and shoot a bit in auto and take a look at what the cameras settings for shutter speed and aperture were and then build from there. But when he gets bored with that, buy the damn book! I convinced my friend to buy it and he gave me the same feed back on it. If I offer @chuymoreno a single piece of advice, buy the book and read it with your camera out so you can play with the settings as you go. And then post pictures in here every week for the challenges!

 

I take more than him

 

That's true. I don't think I have seen him participate yet. @medic2230, why don't you participate in the weekly challenge?

 

@uhplifted thank you for the information! I will take your advice and buy that book.
I have used my brother’s camera in auto mode and got really bored, I felt like there was no challenge in taking a picture. And most of the time the camera had a hard time figuring out the contrast(I guess that’s how you call when there’s a lot of shadow in one part of the photo). For example, when I take a photo of the Tacoma I’m not able to get the color of the wheels to come out on the photo.
I have been lurking around this thread and I always wondered how you were able to get such an amazing photos.
Thanks again, I hope that one day I can participate in this thread.

 

I try to, I just stay busy a lot. Not much time to get out every week. I want to though.

 

All I hear is excuses.

 

Wanting and doing are 2 different things. I take my pictures on Saturday or Sunday.

You gotta make time to get out and shoot.

 

You can start without knowing anything. I use my cell phone camera. Have I won yet? Nope! But, I still have fun and I try to do what I can with what I have.

 

Bullshit!

 

Yay! A feces submission!

 

You can also make a HDR photo from multiple images over and under exposed to get the wheels to show up if they are in the shadows. Also a HDR photo doesn't have to look like that overprocessed shit with halos some people on IG do.

 

99% of my entries are cell phone photos. I have won exactly one time-so it can be done!

That said, I’m using this thread to force me to use the full frame more!

 

Oh feces! I get it now! I take poop pictures on all my hikes! Animal scat, that is.

 

Thanks for clarifying.