500 Digital SLR Hints, Tips and Techniques

500 Digital SLR Hints, Tips and Techniques.

That is the next book that I am reading. I mean, I've read a dozen or more books before I even got my hand on my Nikon D5000 camera unit. I even did download a non-printable copy of the camera's manual, but of course, it only added to my misery of trying to learn the unit's ins and outs while it is still a non-tangible property to me...

That is how I do my homework, my advance learning. I proved that to myself 15 years ago or something, when I read a thick book on Corel Draw, whic was around 1995, and then after going through the book from cover to cover, I was able to recall and apply what I have read!

Or maybe that was true 15 years ago...

Anyway, I still carry the habit of reading, and reading voraciously.

So one day, maybe sooner that I think, I'll be putting in a post and telling about that I learned from this book that I have started to read about.

Till then!

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Before I bought my DSLR...

Image via Wikipedia

When I started considering the purchase of a DSLR unit, which means an upgrade from my use of a compact point-and-shoot digital camera, I made it a point to do a thorough check. Basically since the price of an average DSLR camera is not something that can be joked about. Who's to throw away a thousand dollars or something nowadays?

So around August 2009 timeframe, I started visiting review sites and reading on brochures, looking out for promotional items posted on dailies, store fliers, etc., etc. That was when I was introduced to the world of the digital photography through the use of DSLR. I read the specs of the units, and along with the step-by-step learning of the terminologies of the technical aspects of the DSLR, as well as the layman terms, I was reviewing the very small knowledge about snalog SLR cameras that I had from long time ago.

After that exercise, I frequented the store nearest my office, which is just at the mall along the way to my home - where our shuttle bus usually drops us off. I started conversing with the salesmen, befriending them in the process, a 10- to 15-min visit every other day or so, and trying to get a feel by getting a hands-on of the camera units - up close and personal.

I got the package I was waiting for - a Nikon D5000 that has a twin lens kit, a short glass 918- to 55-mm) and a medium telephoto 955- to 200-mm) glass, and a ton of other freebies. The price, if something to be thought of, as I would discover, is just the same as offered in other stores, but of course, without the freebies. The freebies made all the difference, if, when bought separately, would be about 30% of the price of the promotional package.

Of course, not everyone would agree to my liking or have the same taste or preference as me. So whenever I see other brands of DSLR coming into view (like when we have occasions or events) where a handful of photographers come around to do shoots, be they beginners or not, i don't close my mind to considering the other brand. My analog SLR was a Canon, which I passed down to my sister. Bought in 1998, it was still in good condition 12 years later. I just didn't know anything about photography then, or, should I say, wasn't that much considering photography as a hobby.

Things are different now, 12 years later. Having 4 daughters should be enough reason for me to get into the art of photography. The skills can be used not only for hobby purposes, but for livelihood as well. For who can tell what's in the future? Only that we have to be prepared, and what better way to do something that is of your interest?

In my family, it is a long line already...

My grandfather owned a darkroom.

My father bought a number of those cameras in the 1960s, and I remember using those 'boxes' which you have to open up on top, see the view, then take a picture. I even burned the front lens of one of the units - I mean, as a child, we are so curious - to the point of causing some irreversible damages to who knows what?

But the one thing that I liked that my father did was to spruce up my sister's 8x10 black-and-white picture with a very subtle oil paint. Hey, that is Photoshop the manual way!

I guess that if Photoshop were that thing of the past, he would be one of those very early users of this software...

One thing I got from his vault is a 1965 metallic tripod. Not a very sturdy one, a lightweight, and still useable tripod. Still shiny, still rugged. Older than me, but still working.

Hopefully, today's DSLRs can be passed down to our next generation, just like the olden days' camera units.

But then again, that remains to be seen...

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DSLR Photography Book

Image via Wikipedia

I have just finished one book about DSLR Photography which I borrowed from the library, and it is very basic and gets me into the world of digital SLR photography.

The good points is that this is very graphical, especially when it comes to the explanations on the camera features and technical aspects - even a primary-level pupil will definitely grasp the idea. Yap, as I said it, may be able to grab the idea, but not totally the concept - yet.

That is how very basic and down-to-earth this book is, and while I have read many other books on DSLR, some very technical, and some others in plain English, where the focus is 'what to do to get a particular shot' and altogether swerving away from any technical explanations, still this other book is quite informative in that the technical side of DSLR is explained in a very basic manner that will interest even the layman.

What book is that again?

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Photography Essentials.

And many a times I have read books under the 'Dummies...' and 'Idiot's Guide...' categories, and mind you, they are quite for people that are not dummies or idiots... you know what I mean.

Frankly, I want to lift from that book the websites that offer help, assistance and tutorials, and the likes, which will be of great value to aspiring photographers like me, a novice and beginner who will need all the help I can get. And I'm happy to have enrolled/subscribed already to one of the sites listed below before i even came across it in the book.

Here goes:
1. Photoworkshop.com, www.photoworkshop.com
2. Adobe, www.adobe.com
3. Sports Shooter, www.sportsshooter.com
4. Digital Photo Review, www.dpreview.com
5. Editorial Photographers, www.editorialphoto.com
6. Strobist, www.strobist.com
7. Digital Photography School, www.digital-photography-school.com
8. Phtojojo, www.photojojo.com
9. SeeSaw, www.seesawmagazine.com
10. Capricious, www.becapricious.com
11. Young Photogrpahers United, www.ypu.org
12. Luminous Landscape, www.luminous-landscape.com
13. Cambridge in Colour, www.cambridgeincolour.com
14. Photocrew.com, www.photocrew.com

Hope this helps you as well.
Till then...

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