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Advice to a newbie

I am new to this site but have always loved taking photos. As you can see from my gallery my pictures aren't that great. I took majority of those photos a long while ago , like 3-4 years ago. Anyways I have since had 2 kids but they are at the age where I have more free time to get back into it. My problem is learning how to use my camera. How to use the camera without the "auto" mode.

I just received a new Olympus 8080 from my husband ( early Xmas gift ) and I am sittitng down now to read the manual and trying to start from scratch. Any advice ? If you see my pics in my gallery there all "auto" settings and I want to learn how to use this new camera and to learn how to take quality photos. Any advice to this newbie ? Thanks so much for any feedback !

Tracy

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Hi Tracey and welcome to Bytephoto. I think you are much better than you think you are. I had a look at your gallery and some of the images are superb. You have a good eye for composition and some of the shots show great origionality. I love the pictures of Preston.

It's quite difficult to answer your question in a few words but you've taken the first step in reading the manual. The next thing I would do is just get out there and start taking pictures with your new camera. The C8080 is superb for landscapes, macros and most other types of shot. The image quality is outstanding. Once you've got a feel for the camera you can start experimenting with the various manual settings which will move your photography one step further. The first step being switching to A mode and learning and experimenting with depth of field.

Probably the best way to learn here is to take some pictures and then post a couple a week in the POTW contest. The contest is more about learning than winning so don't worry if you feel your shots are below par. Although looking at your other work I think you'll do well. If you then read the comments on other peoples shots as well as your own you'll be surprised just how much you pick up. A good thing to do is also to comment on others work as much as you are able. It doesn't have to be in depth critiques to begin with. If you just simply say what you like or dislike about a shot members will be very gratefull and more likely to come back to yours and comment. Also you don't have to rate a photo unless you feel comfortable in doing so. Many don't.

I noticed many of your shots are posted at full size. It's a good idea to resize them before posting to no more than 800 pixels on their longest size. That way you'll get more in your gallery and the quality will look better. It's often a good idea to apply a little sharpening after resizing as it can often soften the image slightly.

I'll stop there. I love the C8080 so am really looking forward to seeing some of your shots. I'll also comment if I feel I can help in any way and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

Happy christmas

Matt

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Welcome and Merry Christmas Tracy

You're far from a bad photographer, I've just heppened past your images, and apart from some shots that may look better if not sepia or B&W, I'd suggest you have a very good eye.

There's things to watch like power lines, crop and composition, image noise and size of your larger image, but this all comes with experience and lending your images to us in the competition (POTW) section of the site.

Many longer serving and experienced members will welcome your images and give helpful advice.

One quick way of getting to know your camera is to certainly shoot in auto, but taking note of things like aperture (also known as f stop) shutter speed, exposure settings etc and then adjusting these maybe one at a time and reshooting the same subject manually to see the result.

You may be very surprised by the results and in fact you'll start to quickly learn what increasing or decreasing settings or values does etc This way you'll progress to manual and creative shoooting in next to no time! It's all free and pleasurable at the same time...what more could you ask for lol

Don't forget to constructively post what you like or dislike about others work also, and you'll find you can be applying these sorts of techniques to your own work. Have a read of how we comment and you'll get the feel of things quickly.

Look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Graham

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Thanks !

Thank you both for your advice. I know I have allot to learn but I know one of the first things is getting to be comfortable with my new camera. I have already learned so much from just visiting this site a few hours a day. I love it here ! I actually sat down and read through my manual last night and started experimenting a little.

I do view others galleries all the time but feel a little shy on posting my thoughts since I dont know too much. I think I will ago ahead and post my thoughts. I think peoples opinions are great. After reading others posts I saw and understood how/what would make the picture just a little better. Thanks again for your notes, they made my day ! Look forward to hearing more from you again.

Tracy

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