Hiya! Im a clueless newbie!

[SheikhaS]

Hi there everyone! As the title explains Im new and Im clueless!

Ive been a keen point and shoot digital photographer for a few years, but my lovely husband bought me the new sony a100 as a birthday gift.......so now Im ready to step it up a notch!

Im hoping to learn alot on this website about my camera and how to basically take good photographs! I got an A4 book with my camera about the Sony a100, but I still find it slightly confusing with all the aperture and shutter speed stuff

Anyone got any ideas where I can learn the basics first apart from on here?

Oh and another thing, when Ive been testing out the camera taking the same shot with different settings, is writing down the settings the best way to keep track and work out what setting is best? or is there a better way of doing this?!

Sorry for all the questions!

Hope to speak to you all regularly!

[Chickenhawk]

Hello,

Everyone has to start somewhere and you have the foresight to join a forum where you will get help. The good thing about digital cameras is that you can see the effect applying different setting on the camera has by using the playback to review the photos. There are also numerous sites on the web where you can get tutorials but one of the best ways is to experiment with the different settings on the camera and find out how they work. :thumbsup:

Here is a site that will explain camera settings and all aspects of photography:

http://www.dcviews.com/tutors.htm
http://www.geofflawrence.com/

[Canuck935]

Trying to figure it out all at once can be a bit overwhelming and frustrating. I would recommend to tackle it one step at a time. So pick one setting/function to learn about and just concentrate on mastering it until moving on to the next one. If you run into any problems or have questions, this is the right place to ask.

[SheikhaS]

Hi there

Thanks for the replies! Canuck youre spot on! I want to know everything about my camera, like yesterday, so it is frustrating!

Ive been playing around with too many of the settings all the time instead of just focusing on one at a time! Thanks for that obvious pointer!:blush2:

Ill have a look at those tutorials too. I have a bsic idea about shutter speed, aperture etc, but I just need to learn when to use which setting.

Thanks again!

[Sushigaijin]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

You might want to check out this thread that can be found in the nature/wildlife forum.

The 4 Basics

Shooting in full manual is a great way to learn the ropes on a new camera, even if you do get terrible photos for the first few weeks. And always remember that there is no substitute for taking LOTS of shots and actually looking at the difference that settings make. After a while, you will be able to call out the settings based on assumption. Just from looking out the window today, I know that objects like a tree trunk in the sun can be shot at 1/640s, F/5 at ISO80, just because I've pointed the camera at so many tree trunks in the past. Keeping track of the settings helps duplicate good shots, and stop bad shots. If you know what aperture or shutter speed or both that you need ahead of time, you don't have to think about it when it comes time to shoot.

[dwp99]

Hello SheikhaS,
I to am kind of a nubie when it comes to seting up for a shot. You asked if writing down the settings would be helpful. One nice thing about shooting digitly is that all that information is recorded along with the photo when you push the shutter release. There are photo organization programs that will display histogram and camera settings along with the photo.

A free program is Picasa from Google and a new program out is Adobe Lightroom. This type of program is great for organizing all the photographs that you are going to take with your new Sony.

Good Luck