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it's evolving Anonymous
Hey /p/.

I have a Canon Powershot S3 IS. Don't worry, I'm fully aware that any SLR will blow this thing out of the water. I simply got this for an awesome price ($200, including tripod and wide angle lens).

Now, although I understand the basic mechanics of photography, f-stop, iso, shutterspeed, and such numbers like '35mm' mean nothing to me.

Also, although I generally get the gist of DoF, composition and such, all of these things I've picked up myself.

So, I was wondering if you had any resources great for fledging photographers. Some good books, maybe websites, whatever works. Yes, I understand the 2nd one (the artistic side of photography) is not something you read from in a book, and to be honest I'm more focused on fully understanding the technical aspects of photography; however, I'm sure there are some basic rules to taking pictures beyond the rule of 1/3rds.

Thanks.
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>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>Now, although I understand the basic mechanics of photography, f-stop, iso, shutterspeed, and such numbers like '35mm' mean nothing to me.
If you don't know f-stop, iso, and shutter speed, and have no idea what 35mm means (in both contexts it's regularly used), then you don't understand the basic mechanics of photography. Understanding the basic mechanics of photography is more than knowing how to depress the button.

As for resources: Visit your local library. All of this stuff can be found in any introductory photography book.
>> Anonymous
I'm going to give you some GREAT fucking advice.

I took a photo class for a *year*. At a good school.

I had a one great teacher (and one that was half great/half insane), and they did their very best to teach me all they could.

I learned... some.

Then I went abroad for half a year. I carried my camera with me EVERY DAY. And I always filled up the memory card by the end of it.

By the end of the third month I knew everything my camera could do, and all the limitations of my lenses. Editing the photos afterwards taught me what to avoid, and how to better frame my shots.

I learned a TON.

tl;dr = all the books, teachers, and classes in the world aren't going to even BEGIN to measure up to just going out every day and taking pictures (in manual mode).

Do it. Never EVER leave home without your camera.
>> Anonymous
>>91017

I said I /do/ know f-stop, shutter speed, and iso. However, I do /not/ know 35mm, within most contexts. That's something I'm actually looking into. And I made this entire thread asking if /p/ had any resources beyond something as simple, generic, and uninspiring as 'library.'

>>91020

Yeah, I'm going on a month long trip to Africa soon (AIDS), and I plan on taking my camera, and thousands of pictures. Although I'm going out to visit family, I'm really more excited about the photo opportunities.
>> Anonymous
>>91023

think of 35mm as how far into what you are looking at you are going to zoom into. (in this case, 35mm.)

so, for instance, if you had a 15mm lens, then you are going to see a HUGE amount of what you are pointing the camera at.

This sort of lens would be good for crowds, or landscapes, or anything where there's alot of shit you want to get into one picture.

But lets say you want to pic out a bird in a tree or something, really get in close to it. You would then use a 400mm lens or somesuch. Even though it would be waay high up in the tree, it would fill up your whole viewfinder with such a lens.

It's very basic. smallermm = zoomed out, bigger mm=zoomed in.

(dslrs also do a 1.6x crop which means that everything is zoomed in that much more. Both a blessing and a curse.)
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>91023
Okay. The way you wrote the sentence was ambiguous, and I chose to read it the way that allowed me to make fun of you more, 'cause it was three in the damn morning and I'm grumpy and bitter that I have to be up this late. Sorry. :)
>> Anonymous
>>91028

Ah, sorry. I didn't realize I wrote it ambiguously until I went back and read it, and instead thought you were purely being an ass.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>91024
The other way you hear '35mm' a lot is in reference to the most common film format out there, 35mm film. The 'mm' means millimeters in both cases. "35mm film" (also known as 135) comes in strips (roughly) 35mm wide.

You'll also hear focal lengths being referred to as "35mm-equivalent", which is the crop factor thing the other guy was talking about. The focal length of a lens tells you how wide or telephoto it is, but that's dependent on the size of the imaging surface. (Most) digital cameras have a smaller imaging surface than a frame of 35mm film. This means that, for example, a 50mm lens gives roughly the same field of view as your eyes on a 35mm film camera (usually called a "normal" to contrast with wideangle and telephoto), but is a moderate telephoto on most digital SLRs (and would be a serious telephoto if you could attach it to a P&S digital camera, which have wee tiny little sensors)