Books

[newtda]

Good evening,

I am looking for good book that will give settings and what type of lens to use for taking pictures of different things like christmas lights, mountains, water falls, sunsets, sun rises. etc. I am a newbie at photography, but wanting to learn.

[GB1]

Hmm. That would be a basic photography book that introduces you to the different lenses focal lengths, plus camera apertures and shutter speeds.

But you can learn that here - just ask. I'd say that in general,

Wide angle lenses, typically categorized up to about 35mm (focal length), are best for landscape shots but introduce distortion on the sides. If you want to capture a big area, then that might be the way to go.

Mid range lenses from about 40 to about 70 or 80mm are best for normal shooting - people, city, sunsets, etc, etc. This can be used for most anything, really, and are closer to how the human eye sees.

Telephoto are from about 80mm and up. They are best for farther-away portraits, wildlife, sports, and so on. You wouldn't normally use those on Christmas lights etc, but maybe for close up pix of the sun or moon.

Regarding settings, smaller apertures like f11, f16 and f22 are typically used for landscapes, or just whenever you want everything to be sharp. If shooting people, you typically want to use wider apertures like f 2.8, f4 and f5.6.

[ksbryan0]

I'd suggest taking a look at Bryan Peterson's book, Understanding Exposure. It is an easy read and he provides the setting he used on the photos throughout the book. Alternatively, check out Scott Kelby's "The Digital Photography Book" collection. Book #1 and 2 I found more valuable than #3.

[dbutler]

Both GB and Ken have made great suggestions. I'll add what worked for me: When I started, I could only afford one lens so I had no options but to work with that one lens. When I finally jumped in, I tried to take in as much info as I could and wound up overwhelming myself. I finally decided that I needed to corral myself as much as possible before I imploded. So instead I thought it best to think about what I wanted to do FIRST, then follow up with what equipment would work for me to achieve that goal. Once I got that under my belt then I went for other information. By understanding a lot about a few things, I was able to garner a bit of info on a lot of things. I could concentrate on how best to use my 28-105 lens, but by knowing what it could do, I also learned what other lenses could or could not do. EX: The Best of Wedding Photojournalism has a section covering what lenses he feels are best for weddings. If you are into Weddings, that may be a good source. You pick up info on those lenses PLUS info on what you really want to shoot so you've covered a good bit of area in just one book. And by doing this, you invest in a lot of books you will actually be able to get into, rather than (like me) have shelves lined with over 200 books, most of which proved to be pretty much worthless to me. Hope that made some sort of sense.