General Techniques...

Quote:

Originally Posted by archaic0

I'm looking at getting a 20D after Christmas (maybe they'll drop a little by then and be more available?).

I'm coming from the P&S world and my biggest reason for wanting to step up is for the manual focus.

I would like to spend some time learning some basics and this forum has helped me do that to a point through other people's questions, but I'm looking for some kind of a basics course maybe out there on some site (or multiple sites) that I can spend some time with and come away with things like:

on cloudy days you'll probably end up using ISO xxx and wanting an f stop of x.x or better

it's better to use a telephoto lens get closer to a flower than to stand real close with a normal lens (I'm not saying that's true, I'm looking to find out if it is...)

You get a more touchy depth of field with an xxx-xxx lens, and a more flat uniform one with an xxx-xxx lens.

Any thoughts on those questions would be great to start... but I'll take any number of sites out there to help me cut down the learning curve to being a photographer instead of just an idiot with a camera. *smile*

Side thought: In my world (system admin) I'd recommend a person looking to excel work on puting together their own setups at home to play with and spend lots of time online versus looking for any classes. Does that school of thought carry over to photography? Or would I be wise to look into at least a couple beginner classes at the local college?

Thanks in advance, this is only my second question here, but the first one went well and I've been pleased at the community so far.

I am currently in a basic photo class at the local university. I love the class and I have learned a ton, but most of what we are doing in my class, is darkroom work. We have talked a little about lighting and some other basic stuff, but nothing to really improve the qulity of images that we are taking. So I would talk to the instructor about what the class is before signing up for it. If you're going digital, the class like I'm in woldn't help you out much... With that said, I have learned a ton on my own from reading "The Basic Book of Photography" by Tom and Michelle Grimm. Available atbn.com for $15.40. IMHO this book is worth every penny, and more and you may find it cheaper elswhere. It has a ton of info and it's writen so anyone can understand it, even if you have never held a camera before.

When I bought my DRebel, there was some info about a web site that had some online tutorials that you may find usefull. Here is a link to the site. The ones I went thru were set up for the DRebel, and I don't know if there is anything set up for the 20D. Give it a look and see what you think. You never know what you might find.

Hope this helps!
Michael