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So you've decided to get started in photography, but where do you start? Here's a simple guide for you.

READ YOUR MANUAL

The best place to start is with reading your manual. You may consider this a boring prospect, but understanding how your camera works and how to manipulate it is crucial to getting started in photography.

Sit down with your camera and manual together; as you read a section, try it out on your camera to make sure you understand how to use each feature.

Hopefully you have a camera that allows you to make manual settings when taking pictures, like the aperture and shutter speed. If not, then you should strongly consider getting one. While good photos can be taken with any camera, having a camera with manual controls opens you up to a much wider variety of photography.

But don't think this means you should buy an expensive single lens reflex (SLR) camera. Many of the cheaper point and shoot cameras have shooting modes like aperture-priority, shutter-priority, and manual. These will allow you to have extensive control over how you take your photos.

GET A GOOD BOOK

The next thing to do is find a good book to explain all of the basic principles of photography. It should cover things like the aforementioned aperture and shutter speed and how they relate to each other. It should also explain film speed (ISO), the rule of thirds, depth of field, exposure, angle of view, focal length, and other important topics.

Two good books are "The Betterphoto Guide to Digital Photography" by Jim Miotke and "National Geographic Photography Field Guide" by Peter Burian and Bob Caputo.

GO OUT AND EXPERIMENT

As you become familiar with your camera and the basic principles of photography, go out and experiment - put into practice those principles you are learning.

As you do so, don't be afraid to create bad photos. They will only help you better realize when you've made a good one!

Try various techniques for each of your photos, like taking several photos of the same subject but each with the subject in a different place in the frame. See what the results are when you change your aperture or angle of view.

REVIEW YOUR PHOTOS

After uploading your photos to your computer, review them to see what worked well and what didn't. If you were playing around with focal length, shutter speed, aperture, or film speed, look at the detailed properties of the photos to see what settings caused the effects you like.

This task is much harder if you have a film camera. If you're shooting film, write down what settings you used for each shot as you experiment. Then, when the film is developed, compare your notes to the prints to see what worked and what didn't.

FIND A MENTOR

Perhaps the best thing you can do is find an experienced photographer who is willing to be your mentor. Ask him or her questions when you don't understand things. Look at your mentor's photos and found out how your favorites were shot. Best yet, have your mentor come along with you on photo excursions and get some tips while you are taking your photos.

Interaction with your mentor can be priceless. Just be sure to show proper appreciation for their time and efforts.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

And as a last piece of advice - practice, practice, practice. Keep shooting and learning. Even successful professionals will tell you they are constantly looking for new ways to make better photos.

If you don't become complacent in your shooting, your photography will continue to get better and better.

Learn more about this author, Chris d'Aquin.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

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