Photography

SiMCFC

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I'm not sure whether i'm having an early midlife crisis or not and the Mrs say's it's rather gay but a couple of months back whilst out on my bike, I decided I wanted a new 'hobby'. Bought myself a Canon 650d and have started to really enjoy snapping lots of different subjects, mainly buildings of interest.

Anyone else into photography? amateur or pro..

After some recommendations of books etc to help me to the next level
 
Can't help with the photography but in terms of a mid life crisis it's only a genuine one if;

a) you get a tattoo
b) admit to it
c) leave bluemoon
d) come back again

Hope this helps.
 
SiWatts90 said:
I'm not sure whether i'm having an early midlife crisis or not and the Mrs say's it's rather gay but a couple of months back whilst out on my bike, I decided I wanted a new 'hobby'. Bought myself a Canon 650d and have started to really enjoy snapping lots of different subjects, mainly buildings of interest.

Anyone else into photography? amateur or pro..

After some recommendations of books etc to help me to the next level

Are you on Facebook there is a group called lens envy quite a few pros on but willing to give advice and some fantastic pictures .
 
Something i'd really like to get into.
I was 50 yesterday so more than likely beyond mid life:(
At least you bought the camera, i spent the money on drink and drugs
and just dreamt about it. Never too late i suppose and it doesnt involve
the gym so i've not given up hope.
 
Don't need to waste money on books unless you want nice coffee table ones mate.

I'd start with the below to fill in any missing gaps in knowledge and go from there.

<a class="postlink" href="http://lifehacker.com/5815742/basics-of-photography-the-complete-guide" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://lifehacker.com/5815742/basics-of ... lete-guide</a>

Youtube is full of great camera shows - I'm sure you'll even be able to find in-depth guides to getting the most out of that Canon 650d.

DigitalRevCom is worth checking out - it's kind of like a Top Gear for photography and they have great challenges where they give famous pro photographers shitty cameras to shoot with and the results they get are amazing - teaches you a lot about composition etc.
 
SiWatts90 said:
I'm not sure whether i'm having an early midlife crisis or not and the Mrs say's it's rather gay but a couple of months back whilst out on my bike, I decided I wanted a new 'hobby'. Bought myself a Canon 650d and have started to really enjoy snapping lots of different subjects, mainly buildings of interest.

Anyone else into photography? amateur or pro..

After some recommendations of books etc to help me to the next level

As others have pointed out, no need to buy any books, yet. There are lot of sites with plentiful information, and good forums as well. http://digital-photography-school.com/ can be a good place to start. http://www.dpreview.com/ have active forums and lots of stuff and http://www.the-digital-picture.com/ for good info on Canon lenses.

I don't know what lense(s) you've got, but I would guess you got it kitted with a 18-55 mm. This should be a good lense for buildings and architecture, and a great beginners lense. If shooting architecture becomes your thing you will in time want to consider getting a wider focal length, e.g a Canon EF-S 10-22 mm and ultimately a tilt-shift lense (where you can shift the focal plane(very expensive)). I had the same camera last year, and I used the Canon EF-S 15-85 mm lens on it (a lot). This is somewhat more expensive than the 18-55, but it has a very useful reach and top image quality. Highly reccomended.

Start out by learnig the basics about ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Also seek out some videos about basic composition. After a while you will consider shooting in RAW format instead of JPG. This will enable you to do a lot of work on your pictures in post. (adjusting white balance, exposure, noise reduction etc..) I highly reccomend Adobe Lightroom (much more important than Photoshop). This will control your workflow and give you most of the editing tools you'll need. You can get a 30 day free trial from Adobe. An absolute must IMO.

Seek out the aftermarket scene in UK. The nice thing about buying into the more expensive Canon lenses on the aftermarket is that the prices are very stable. You could have a lens "on loan" for a few years and then sell it on for nearly the same price.

Enjoy!
 

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