Kent Newsome on technology, music and life

5/13/2006


If I'm to Be Your Camera

If I'm to be your camera,
then who will be your face?
-REM

After researching cameras for a while and considering the various alternatives, I bought a new digital camera. I wanted a digital SLR that would allow me to take photos semi-automatically, like my trusty Sony DSC-V3, and do a lot more manual stuff as I climb up the learning curve.

I settled on a Canon EOS 30D. I also bought a Canon Speedlite flash to use with it. My impressions so far are (a) it is a great camera that can do everything I want it to and more, and (b) I have a lot to learn about photography. I am going to take a camera class later this month, but so far it has been a process of trial and error. I happened across Darren Rowse's excellent Digital Photography School blog. If anyone has any other sites I should bookmark, please let me know. My initial objectives are to learn the proper settings to take shots of the kids playing their sports and colorful shots in lower light settings and to learn how to manipulate depth of field.

Through reading the manual several times and trial and error, I have already learned a lot more than I knew before about the various camera setting. I am still confused by the practical interplay between aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I know what each term means, but I don't yet know how to set each for a particular shot or which one to set first.

I took a hundred or so photos today, first of a birthday party and then of the kids and their friends swimming.

The kids love to jump off the walls behind the swimming pool. Previously, getting a decent photo of them in flight was a hit and miss proposition, with at best one face sort of in focus and the rest of the faces blurry.

This camera will take 5-6 shots of the same jump, with every part of the picture in focus. This camera compared to my old one is more than night and day.

And that's notwithstanding the fact that I am a mere novice at the digital SLR thing.

It's going to be fun learning all this stuff, and I certainly welcome any bookmarks or pointers from the experts.

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6 Comment(s):

My wife Linda is currently going through the process of choosing a digital SLR and the Canon is very high on her list. She's planning to blog about it at Capturing a Dream.

She suggested I recommend Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection blog.

For help up the learning curve she also recommended An Introduction to Digital Photograpy at lynda.com.

By Blogger Steve Newson, at 5/14/2006 6:35 AM  
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Hi Kent,

I learned a lot about photography (one of my passions) from about.com and photo.net . There is definitely no shortage of good web sources for learning. My advice is NOT to skip over the basics about things like exposure and composition. These basic things make a world of difference in your photographs. One other good source that you might enjoy is the Tips From The Top Floor podcast and forum. Very useful and friendly place to learn and enjoy the hobby.

BTW nice choice of camera. I've got a 350D (Digital Rebel XT) and am more than pleased with it. The 30D should be awesome.

By Blogger RichardQuerin, at 5/14/2006 8:42 AM  
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I so envy you right now!

I'm looking to upgrade from my Cannon Powershot S200 to a Digital Rebel SLR by the end of the year.

A new site I've been following is photodoto.com.

Lots of reviews, features and tips.

John Watson, the creator has some other fun photo-related sites:

fd's Flickr Toys "Helping you do fun things with your digital camera since 2005."
fd's Toybox "Your source for helpful online gadgets and amusing time-wasters since 2005."
lightproofbox His photoblog.

And of course, his kind blog that led there in the first place: flagrantdisregard

By Anonymous Claus, at 5/14/2006 10:15 AM  
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There's a lot of good commentary tips here, Kent. I wrestled with the same challenge a few years ago when deciding to take pictures of the kids playing sports. I finally took the digital SLR plunge as well. I blog about my trials, tribulations, and post a few photos on my own blog, here: Kid Sports Photography. Also, here's a link to a recent "Why digital slr" post. This addresses the basic question of why a digital slr is necessary for sports photography. I think you'll also find that your next big decision (and possibly expensive decision) will be which lenses to purchase for sports photography.

I'm presently using a Nikon D70 with a Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR lens for most of my outdoor soccer photography. I also have a 1.7x extender for extra reach during the day.

Canon makes excellent lenses for sports purposes. Their L-Series lenses are common with the professional photography sports crowd. You'll discover that fast (wide aperature) lenses are a must for sports photography (even for the kids).

By Blogger Ranmac, at 5/15/2006 3:17 PM  
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Kent -

My html obviously is not too good. Here's the Kid Sports Photography link: http://kidsportsphoto.blogspot.com/

Here's the link to the "Why Digital SLR" post: http://kidsportsphoto.blogspot.com/2006/05/why-digital-slr.html

By Blogger Ranmac, at 5/15/2006 11:03 PM  
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Great purchase. It's funny how many people get into DSLRs because of kid photography. It really was my excuse to update from my old film SLRs to my Nikon D70.

If you're interested in lots of good photography information/tips/tricks/reviews/etc... check out all the blogs at dpblogs.com

By Anonymous John Koontz, at 5/25/2006 12:25 AM  
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