Photography Revealed

Start out by getting a decent point & shoot and just start taking pictures of different things. Play with the settings, try different views, look for interesting things to photograph. There are several good beginner books out there to help give you pointers and ideas. Go to the library and the bookstore and flip through some until you find one you want to read. Once you get into the hobby a bit and think you will stick to it, then consider getting a more expensive camera. As far as classes, check out any local colleges in your area since many have community development classes that are free or cheap for people to take. Sometimes your local arts center will provide free or low-cost classes. You can also call some local camera stores in your area and see if there are any clubs or classes you can take part in. Local camera stores are also pretty good about helping you pick equipment and resources.

Yes. “Intro to Photography” and Ask LOTS of questions and sit in the first row. Being timid will get you no where. Good luck.

There weren’t photography classes when I was in high school and college, but you can learn an awful lot from some of the soft-cover “how to” photography books you can buy from camera stores or the photography section of regular bookstores.
Even though those books were written for taking shots with film cameras, most all of ideas about composition and lighting, using “existing light,” etc., would be valid for any other still camera as well.

The ones I have were published by HP Books (like How to Improve Your Photography, ed. Carl Shipman, perhaps by Eaglemoss Press later), or by Kodak, etc, but many of those were really good in pointing out exactly what kinds of things to try to to (and to avoid doing) to take good photos.
There are probably lots of those on Amazon/etc now, and even cheap copies of them in the “Used and New” Marketplace section for each book.

Here are some to look at:
(unfortunately, I can’t find many of the HP Books I was looking for and they were always the best… but perhaps you can… they’ve been taken over by Penguin, and those photo books were originally created in England by another publisher
…check the library for those; they may well still have copies)

It can be good to physically thumb through various books though to see which really appeal to you.

You will probably want a decent camera too. You can start with any camera, but just things like being able to see a fairly large image of what you’re shooting can make a lot of difference!

There are also “camera clubs” all over the US, and perhaps nowadays even photography forums and mailing lists and areas of some social networking sites too that would be suitable for a beginner. Check out Yahoo Groups, Delphi Forums, Google Groups, and even MySpace, etc., to see what you can find.

HTH some,

Diane B.