Hey guys! I'm looking to get started into photography but Idk where to start.

I have an old nikon D3000 with the kit lens given to me from my sister (she was one of those need to have a DSLRs teenage girls growing up ) but she gave it to me in the end so that's cool.

Anyway, I haven't the bloodiest idea what I'm doing. Where would be great spots to start out?

Hi there Jin.

Good to know you are getting out to take some photos. What kinda genre you are interested in? Landscape? Food? Portrait?

Bring out your camera to where you go is a way to start. You can start taking some fnb photos, not necessarily in those fancy cafe. Before family dinner at restaurant also can.

Get used to bringing out a camera and also pick up the good composition like rules of third during the process. Then you can go out more often to take more good photos.

It all depends on which genre you are interested in. If you like landscape, you can go kl city centre or even hiking to get the shots done.

Just bring your camera out as much as you can, shoot as much as you can. Friends ajak lepak? Bring DSLR. Dating with wife/gf? Bring DSLR. Company event? Bring DSLR. Just make sure your battery and memory card is good to go.

Chances are, your photos will not be very good but that's okay. Everyone starts from somewhere. The hardest thing about DSLR is they're big and heavy; so a lot of newbies gave up carrying them around.

On the other side, technical knowledge is for sure required. Youtube has tons of videos; just search for "basic photography tutorials". It doesn't really matter if it's for other camera brands. What you'll need to learn are:
- Exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed, ISO). Learn how each of these control the "brightness" and hat are the "side effects"
- Metering and white balance. You'll shoot with either in full auto or semi-auto so the camera is helping you to figure out the best settings. Sometimes it doesn't do a good job, so it's important to know why and how to correct it.
- Composition.
- Learn some kind of photo editing software. It doesn't have to be Lightroom or Photoshop if you don't want to spend much.

Make sure you completely understand those above before you learn something more complicated like flashes.

Here are some mistakes beginners should be aware of:
- Don't shoot in dark places. It'll be very hard/ugly with the kit lens. That's why we spend thousands of ringgit on better lenses.
- Don't use portrait mode, landscape mode, etc. Those are just shortcuts. Try to learn how to optimise your settings for portraits, landscape etc yourself.
- When editing your photos, refrain from increasing saturation or adding a vignette. I'm guilty of this myself when I was starting out. There are so many better ways to edit

why do i keep double posting recently?

This post has been edited by dvlzplayground: Apr 14 2018, 09:48 AM

The kind of things I really want to achieve are urban pictures. Vivid colors and high contrast.

Okay I'll start getting used to the rule of third. I keep getting told to familiarize myself with that.

Thanks bro

street photography?

follow some photography IG or FB. Once in a while they have some outing you can join.

Alright man, thanks for letting me know about the common mistakes.

I kind of have surface knowledge of the first part but didn't know about the common mistakes at all.

It's such a shame though because dark places are the kind of pictures I want to do.
I'll keep away from the shortcuts and be a strong independent man.
Idk what that means, but when I see those words, I will stay away from them

If you really wanna take some night photos, bring a tripod. Some long exposure shots are on the streets are nice too.

Yeah if you already grasp the exposure triangle then DS_Legacy’s idea of long exposure shots would be fun to try out

But be careful!