got my (well my wifes) new camera now how do i...

[solidute]

so my wife decided she didnt want the eternity ring for her bday but she wanted a new camera as our old one was...well...crapola and she was sick of missing out on pics of the kids so we got ourselves an olympus pen e-p3

auto is great for us now but i want to get to know this little beast and get into photography.

im not too concerned with learning about composition yet as i think that apart from learning the basic rules it is about practice and experience- keep taking photos until you get a good result

apart from losing myself in the owners manual - i always have trouble following them as they try to cram too much stuff amongst the basics im looking for - is there somewhere i could easily find a cheat sheet on "how to" with these things? something i could tuck away in the camera bag as a reference or do i need to study (please no, theres a reason im not a high flying exec) the manual and make my own?

look forward to creating some great shots


p.s. i am making my way through the new to photography handbook on here but im hoping for a more camera specific thing combined with an "olympus pen e-p3 for real big dummies"

[ricktas]

Not sure about olympus, or for particular models, but for Nikon and Canon there are a heap of people on the net who make cheat-sheets that give you a one page sheet on where to find all the settings in the menu and generally also include some 'ideal' settings for certain situations. If you cannot find one for the Oly, you could google for something like a Nikon D800 cheat sheet and then use the concept as a basis to create your own using a spreadsheet program.

Most cheat sheets are good for assisting with finding things in the camera menu, but out shooting, cause of the huge range of varied issues related mostly to light levels and whether you want to freeze or capture movement, the settings available are huge, and no cheat-sheet is going to cover them all. I could tell you that to freeze fast moving sport you need to use a large aperture (small f number) to isolate your subject from the background (say f4) and a shutter speed of 1/1000th second, and ISO 100, but this could be right for today, but the wrong settings for tomorrow, if it was sunny today and quite overcast tomorrow. So there is not a simple answer to correctly exposing your photos.

Continue using our NTP and learn how ISO, Aperture, Shutter speed work individually and what they do, but then learn how they all interact with each other, and once you grasp that interaction, you will start to learn how and when to adjust what settings to get the results you want. There is not a piece of paper that can answer all of that. Photography as an Art can take years to master, but with the basics you can be taking great photos in a few days. If all everyone needed was a piece of paper, Ausphotography, similar forums, books, workshops, courses, diplomas and university degrees in photography would not exist.

Take it slowly, learn about each camera function and once you grasp that one, move to the next, then start combining them together.

Oh and post photos to our NTP critique forum and read the advice and feedback. Sometimes what you will get back as informative information is so simple and so helpful that you have easily overlooked it.

[solidute]

hi rick

i have no illusions that it will be a huge learning curve for me and that things will constantly change for each situation (i try to read a lot, and have spent a long time just looking on here) but the basic cheat sheet for how to find and change things in my camera is basically what im after. just took your advice and googled for a cheat sheet and found one for a similar model so will see how i go once ive had a chance to look at it

cheers

[Mark L]

Here's some more reading for you ...... http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3119908

[Hayaku]

Have you tried looking for video tutorials in Youtube?

[CandidTown]

One of my old students recommended this book:
Beyond Auto Mode, by Jennifer Bebb.
I had a look and thought that it was very well written. Easy to follow adn actually fun to read.

My friend noted that because it was written by a woman it kind of felt... softer, easier to understand.
Without this typical macho, "look how much i know" attitude...
I don't know about that, but i think its a great read.

You can borrow it from a local library to try it out...

Other than that... There is a lot of videos on youtube,
Aim to understand the exposure triangle, the relationship between Aperture, shutter speed and ISO.
Once you get this concept, you will see that its not really that difficult.

Oh.. and forget about the manual. NO one ever learned photography from a camera manual..

[Roosta]

I started out on Oly before Canon switch - Try this site, it's great for Oly specific. There is this other site, run by a bloke that's a massive fan of Oly, will try to find it for you and post here.

Right e o - What this bloke don't know about Oly, know one knows. His site is quite easy to follow, he explains everything in great detail, but easy to understand and follow.
Another site I found very useful (Beside This one) was Cambridge in Colour.

As above, the triangle is the key along with composition, to taking and getting great shots.

Try reading this as well if you haven't already.

Enjoy.

[Jcas]

This is a popular little camera and as suggested you will find a lot of advice by googling it, your wife a has very good taste, enjoy the purchase ..

[Whittler]

YouTube would be best to get tips on your camera setup.
I recommend a book called "Understanding Exposure" by Brian Peterson great way to learn the basics it's an easy read and has activities to practice.

[Chamryre]

Without reading a lot or sitting through YouTube presentations, I like to think about the shot I want to take, just research that effect and then take my time with lots of shots trying to get the result I had in my head. Practice and experience easier than study for me.
When I have the time, I will also set the camera on a tripod, take a shot on auto, check what the settings were, then take lots if shots if the same subject while changing the settings to see what differences that makes. Again, practical experience, if not terribly scientific.
You soon get to learn a few basics, which encourages more research, which promotes better shots.
Probably a bit backward in my method, but can't read the instructions till I've had a go at it myself!
Cheers.

[solidute]

cheers all,

i have been super busy lately and havent had a chance to get on here yet alone get out the camera so havent got any progress to show but hopefully ill be finding some spare time soon.

ill give the links etc a look and hopefully be able to put them into practice

cheers n beers

damo

[Irru]

The compositional rules are just guides, but learning when to use a rule vs when to break one, just takes time. It helps to take multiples of the same subject and try to work out which is better and why. The best advice though, in my opinion, is:

"I teach that you need to control what the viewer's eye does in your image, so the real question you need to answer is what do you want the eye to do?" - Thom Hogan

A bad composition might have the eye flicking back and forth between two dominant parts of the image, running off the edge of the image, or just plain missing interesting parts of the image. To name a few.

[Drubbing]

I asked a similar question on an unrelated forum, which has a photog section. Many recommended the book Understanding Exposure, which appears to be a 'must have'. But the NTP online book here seems as good a place to get the basics as any.

[Kym]

Understanding Exposure is a great book and has a lot of overlap with NTP here
The real way to learn to to use the camera, try different exposures (more and less aperture etc.) and compare the results.

NTP is about learning without information overload... (i.e. don't make people go full manual before they understand the elements)

The learning plan is also very practical in that it asks those participating to post images and get feedback
(constructive critique a.k.a CC) whereby they can quickly improve their skills.

• We start with the camera in full auto (with fixed ISO sensitivity of 400, and JPEG mode) while learning to hold the camera and compose shots
• We then progress to Aperture Priority (with fixed ISO) while learning Depth of Field (DoF)
• We add Shutter Priority to the skills (with fixed ISO) while learning movement control
• Once the above are understood we process to changing ISO (100 through 1600) using mainly Aperture Priority while learning about sensitivity and noise
• The participant is now ready to use full manual control of the Exposure Triangle (ISO sensitivity, Aperture, Shutter speed)
• We advance to control of white balance using raw mode instead of JPEG
• Finally we add other aspects such as flash, stabilisation (tripod) and other creative options

[Photographystudies]

Good on you! I have to agree I also never read the instruction manual on anything I have bought. Much more fun to work it out for yourself until you get really stuck! Cameras share the same principals though so they should be easy enough to sort out unless the camera is really not that user friendly..