[Murgy91]

Hi everyone

Im a complete and utter noob to photography. Im qualified in IT and networking however Photo talk baffles me!

So I'm here to learn and make some friends.

I only recently wanted to get into photography and it happened this christmas when i was bought a Pentax K-r. Main reason i wanted to get into it was
I've recently got a job performing on cruise ships, so ill be wanting to take lots of photos while I'm away!

I got the K-r for christmas with an 18 - 55 lens and also a a 50 - 200m

At the moment its taken some great shots on auto and some really bad ones, some of which my phone could compare to.

When they are good they are good! crisp and sharp and the quality is outstanding, I'm just having trouble getting them all to be like that.

Everything seems to be out of focus on the bad ones.

im a noob to photography and from what i know a lot of things effect the focus. So Im here to learn

Mainly been using it on auto, but from what I've read P sounds like a good setting? i just have to know what to do!

Anyone else with the camera some tips or links to good guides?

Thanks

Luke!

[Drom]

Hi everyone

Im a complete and utter noob to photography. Im qualified in IT and networking however Photo talk baffles me!

So I'm here to learn and make some friends.

I only recently wanted to get into photography and it happened this christmas when i was bought a Pentax K-r. Main reason i wanted to get into it was
I've recently got a job performing on cruise ships, so ill be wanting to take lots of photos while I'm away!

I got the K-r for christmas with an 18 - 55 lens and also a a 50 - 200m

At the moment its taken some great shots on auto and some really bad ones, some of which my phone could compare to.

When they are good they are good! crisp and sharp and the quality is outstanding, I'm just having trouble getting them all to be like that.

Everything seems to be out of focus on the bad ones.

im a noob to photography and from what i know a lot of things effect the focus. So Im here to learn

Mainly been using it on auto, but from what I've read P sounds like a good setting? i just have to know what to do!

Anyone else with the camera some tips or links to good guides?

Thanks

Luke!

I am in the exact same boat and all I can say is thank God for digital photography. A friend of my first learned how to use an SLR in the late 70s. Can you imagine having to pay for developing all your pictures when you are first learning? Or even when you are more experienced. She is a professional sport horse photographer now and has press passes to photograph jumpers and dressage horses down on the courses at international competitions. When I told her that I wanted to take pictures of my horses over fences and said I wanted a camera with high continuous FPS so I could capture the action, she laughed because she never uses that feature. After years of using film cameras capturing images of horses in mid air she learned how to take just one shot at exactly the right moment, stop the motion and get a beautiful image.
But she offered me one beginner tip that helped me greatly and that was to use the semi-auto modes to accomplish certin things when you are learning. I was taking photos of bees flying and the pictures were blurry and I couldn't stop the motion on the wings to get them in to focus. So she said to try shooting in TV mode (shutter priority) and bumping up the shutter speed. Sure enough, I got my first images with detail on the wings and captured clear images of them flying. So there are some easy tricks for beginners way short of shooting in manual mode that are very helpful.

Also, the Adorama Learning Center has a video series called Digital Photography 1 on 1 that has short tutorials which are helpful. Here is the link:

http://www.adorama.com/alc/category/AdoramaTV

[Malfunction]

Hi everyone

Im a complete and utter noob to photography. Im qualified in IT and networking however Photo talk baffles me!

So I'm here to learn and make some friends.

I only recently wanted to get into photography and it happened this christmas when i was bought a Pentax K-r. Main reason i wanted to get into it was
I've recently got a job performing on cruise ships, so ill be wanting to take lots of photos while I'm away!

I got the K-r for christmas with an 18 - 55 lens and also a a 50 - 200m

At the moment its taken some great shots on auto and some really bad ones, some of which my phone could compare to.

When they are good they are good! crisp and sharp and the quality is outstanding, I'm just having trouble getting them all to be like that.

Everything seems to be out of focus on the bad ones.

im a noob to photography and from what i know a lot of things effect the focus. So Im here to learn

Mainly been using it on auto, but from what I've read P sounds like a good setting? i just have to know what to do!

Anyone else with the camera some tips or links to good guides?

Thanks

Luke!

Hi you will soon get the hang of your K-r , you have got your self a good kit with your lenses,I got my K-r in the summer after only having experience
with digital P-S cameras , i found some great tuition videos on youtube, that way you can sit and pause the video while you check your camera menu to
understand whats going on , you will also find some great tips on the this forum and other sites, i found this channel on youtube a great help when i first
started FontanaKnowledge's Channel - YouTube.

When i first started i done most of my shooting in the AV mode , i found it the best way to start taking better photos.

Hope this helps and enjoy your camera

Regards
Mal.

[loco]

Congrats on the new K-r! I have one and love it! I was a noob when I bought mine in March. In many ways, I still am! In addition to Drom and Malfunction's great advice, I would suggest buying a book that can teach you the basics of aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc. From there, you can get out and practice and learn as you go. "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson is a fantastic place to start. He teaches the basics in a very easy to understand way. Can you get this information free online? Sure. But the book keeps it all in one concise place that you can refer back to easily. Peterson's style of writing is easy to deal with, too.

Once you get that basic fundamental knowledge, you'll be surprised how quickly everything falls into place for you. You'll be out of Auto and P mode in no time (not that there's anything wrong with them!). Have fun, and don't be afraid to get out and experiment!

[Roob-N-Boots]

Congrats on the new K-r! I have one and love it! I was a noob when I bought mine in March. In many ways, I still am! In addition to Drom and Malfunction's great advice, I would suggest buying a book that can teach you the basics of aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc. From there, you can get out and practice and learn as you go. "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson is a fantastic place to start. He teaches the basics in a very easy to understand way. Can you get this information free online? Sure. But the book keeps it all in one concise place that you can refer back to easily. Peterson's style of writing is easy to deal with, too.

Once you get that basic fundamental knowledge, you'll be surprised how quickly everything falls into place for you. You'll be out of Auto and P mode in no time (not that there's anything wrong with them!). Have fun, and don't be afraid to get out and experiment!

Yup I was on the same boat exactly a year ago with my K-x and Bryan Petersons' book helped me out tremendously along with Digital Exposure Handbook by Ross Hoddinott. Either one will do but I think I perfer the latter. At the moment I'm reading Understanding Flash Photography also by Bryan Peterson. Good luck and welcome to the Forum.

[mattt]

"Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson

+1 for Peterson read - I've been thumbing through his Intro to Flash photography book since Christmas day - easy reading, lots of pictures with EXIF info and I really enjoyed the "understanding exposure". Should be in every self taught photographers library for quick reference.

/wave Hi Cat Lady

[Murgy91]

can i just say WOW!!!

Thanks for the lovely welcome already

Im going to go to the shop where camera was bought and go see what books they have hopefully ill get the hang of the modes and which to use..

struggling to find things to practice on theres hardly any light atm where i live mainly due to rubbish weather.. so far been taking photos of still objects like coke cans, my tea and my parents :L

Im getting the hang of taking pictures of stationary objects i think. The quality is there in the photo that i want. but photos of people are a different story. rarely getting a good quality one atm. once i get hang of that i want to get pictures of moving objects. not lightning speed but just moving
will be checking out the links tommorw as well as reading my new book

[Tonyr99]

One more vote for Peterson's "Understanding Exposure". I purchased my K-r exactly one year ago tomorrow....and then I found this forum....and one of the first pieces of advice from this forum for us newbies was to buy the book. I did and it was a great investment. I would also suggest purchasing a tripod at some point because it really helps in low light on still objects, and landscapes too. I happened to have an old Sears model I purchased "way back when", and one of the first things I did with my new K-r was to do some low light, time exposure close ups of some of our Christmas Ornaments on our tree....I was shocked how nice some of the shots turned out that would not have been possible without a tripod to eliminate camera shake.

Whatever you do, you're going to really enjoy your camera. I've graduated to taking sports action shots of my daughter's volleyball/Basketball games, which is a challenge with kit lenses in indoor conditions, but I'm getting better. I also took my camera to the horse races last summer and some shots were amazingly good.

Have fun!

[Dr Meerkat]

Likewise new, got a k-r as Christmas present and never used dslr before. My biggest achievement to date is starting to consistently remember to take off the lens cap! Currently all the terms like ISO, aperture and shutter speed are a foreign language and their numbers meaningless, but hoping they make sense one day (sounds like the Peterson book might be a good place to start!)

[Murgy91]

well I'm planning on going out and buying it today. only problem is i have no idea where from at the moment! sure ill find somewhere though all the reviews online also say its excellent so can't wait

[Murgy91]

well i can't find the book in any stores so I'm going to have to order it online. i could get it for the kindle but i want to see the images properly in it not black and white!

so going to have to wait for the book

today i took my telescopic lens out and tested it for the first time.. WOW!!!!

im speechless the quality from far away is amazing!!

i also seem to be able to take better quality pictures of people with it than my other lens, so maybe its just easier to use?

I've uploaded 2 shots i took with it. one on P with the settings id selected (can't remember off top of my head) and one on auto. as u can see both pretty good quality (for me anyway)

tree is about 15 - 20m away. No tripod used.

what you think?

[Murgy91]

forgot to mention i did a bit of adjusting with colours and brightness in photoshop

[Philoslothical]

Telephoto lenses are lots of fun. If you think 200mm has good reach, you're in for some pleasant surprises as you branch out and develop the inevitable case of LBA. I recently picked up a cheap old 450mm, and it's wild (although the CA it produces can be pretty wild too). My usual walking around lens is a 70-300, as I like to be able to snipe stuff up in the trees or some distance away.

You should be able to get your book shipped pretty quick through Amazon. Someone I suggested it to awhile back got his copy in a little over 24 hours.

[Murgy91]

i have just bought through amazon so hoping will be here soon I'm mainly going to be using it for photos of people and places while I'm away. so don't need ill need a 450m but it does sound fun :P ha

So far getting much better quality photos from this lens especially of people. is this usual? or just my lack of knowledge on the other lens?

[hnikesch]

So far getting much better quality photos from this lens especially of people. is this usual? or just my lack of knowledge on the other lens?

With the 50-200 you are getting images you can't get with most P&S cameras and that makes you like them better, also the subject is filling the frame and focus has no choice but to be on the subject. Make sure to turn on the focus points so you know where the camera is focusing. I like to use center focus point and recompose after focus lock. Focus lock can be maintained by holding the shutter release down 1/2 way while you recompose the image.

Hans