Hi guys,

So I recently bought myself my first DSLR, and wanted to take photography a little bit more seriously.

Are there any general advice from all the otai2 here that you could give to a lowly amateur like me?

I mainly enjoy taking photos of architecture, a bit of landscape and a little bit of street photography.

And one more thing about street photography, how do you get around taking pictures of random strangers without coming off as a creep, or having them going hostile / confrontational when you take pictures of them?
I was originally thinking about getting cheap, simple business cards printed out and carry it around with me when I go out taking pictures, so if anyone asked me what I'm doing I could show them the card.
But I thought the idea was a bit overkill or maybe even a little bit pretentious for someone like me with no experience and just starting out building a portfolio to have a business card.

So what do you guys think?

What camera do you have right now, a mirrorless or DSLR? naah, I am consider myself as an amateur as well. You can always check many threads here for those wanted to trying out what photography is. But most discussion posted few years back, but the ilmu shared are still there. Welcome to the photography hobby.

Just with any craft, the more you practice, the better you are. If you want to improve fast, take 5~10 photos everyday and try to analyze how can you do better in each shots in term of composition and lighting. Get honest opinions from people around you to see if they like your photos.

Then you can find on youtube or other social media those who are good in these genre of photography. Try to study and understands, what makes their photo good. Try not to focus on too many genre at the same time. Start with the one you like the most first.

1. Be invisible by using a small camera and small lens. 2. Get a lens with longer focal length so you can have a comfortable distance with your subject.
3. You just have to push yourself to do it. The more you do, the natural you will be at it. Unless you are super obvious, most people don't think you're taking photos of them. They will also worry to make a scene if they confronted you yet you were only taking picture of some one or some thing else next to them and embarrassed themselves.

Business card? Seriously ? That is so old fashion. You should show them your ig account explaining that you post strangers photos on your ig so that they can be famous too.

This post has been edited by Loseeker: Jul 6 2022, 12:44 AM

I currently use an EOS 40D DSLR with EF 80-200mm f4.5-5.5 lens (which I heard from reviews saying its a shit lens but eh)
I'm mostly hanging around r/photography for tips and tricks, I'll be sure to read up the threads here as well!

Thanks for the advice!
Due to time constraints and where I live, I'm stuck with the same city / landscape all the time, and when I do go back home from work its already dark and night photography without a tripod is literally torture .
I can only barely get maybe 3~5 photos per week...

I follow professorhines and Peter McKinnon, and I also like to watch the Pro Photographer, Cheap Camera series by DigitalRev.

Would you say 80-200 zoom lens is long enough for a more stealthy approach to taking candid shots of random strangers?

if got chance, go work with pro photog, or join classes, you will learn faster, if just trial and errors, you will learn the hard way, need a lot of reading on how to compose a picture, how to make things interesting in your photo, like rule of 3rd, foreground interest, how to use flash, configure flash for diff occasion, how to take portrait, ND filter for landscape, how to adjust your aperture, or shutter speed to achieve certain effect and so on.

stuck with same city, is not the excuse, even same city, there are diff angle, time, where you can take interesting photos.

200mm max focal will be too obvious to others when you wanted to take street photography, try to get any short focal length kalau ada. Unless taking pics from a distance should be okay.

At the moment I'm stuck with whatever I have because I ran out of budget
I bought it from the seller together with the lens for RM550.

go out, shoot, post, get critic, improve, learn.

not everyone eyes is the same.

you will soon find out your 80-200mm lens will be insufficient for architecture, landscape and street photography.

get a 24,28 or 35mm prime lens when you can.

too bad the 18-55mm kit lens was not included with your camera. but canon kit lens from tat camera are all but dead now because the flex cable would have been broken long time ago.
a better replacement for the standard kit lens would be the 17-50mm f2.8 lens from tokina, sigma or tamron.

taking photos of people you will need to build up your confidence.
mostly people do not notice if its in a crowded area.
if they do, just wave at them and smile.
majority of merehsian are friendly people and most probably they will wave back at you unless you have a face problem.

on criticism when you share your pics keep in mind there are many of these "critics" that cant take good pics themsevles and are just butthurt trolling so dun get discouraged by them.

photography is an art and like many art it cannot be entirely taught so you will need to practice, practice, practice.

Getting new perspective from shooting the same thing is one of the best way to improve your vision as a photographer. If you composition is so so in one place, it will be the same every other places you are going to shoot. If you can impressed people around you (who are also very familiar with the place) with photos you've taken at the same place from a different perspective, then that's the sign of progress.

80-200 is good for stealthy approach, but generally such a long focal length is not suitable for street. Street photography need to show not only the people, but the context. So showcase of background is important also. If you only shoot like a sniper with 80-200, your photos will get boring very soon. Eventually, you need a focal length about 23mm-35mm for your 40d and mastered up your courage to do close up shot of strangers if street photography is your thing.

@TS, Nothing wrong to learn with trial and errors. Bumpy ride, true, but if you have the passion to back it up, it could be also an very enjoyable ride as well to discover thing for yourself. That will also determine how passionate/determine you are in this craft. Some times, when it was handed to you, you may not appreciate it as much as something you found by digging around. But luckily, we are leaving in a digital age where you can get most of the info you need from youtube university. You can also look up Manny Ortiz on youtube, he also learned everything he knew from youtube.

this.

TS, you should go visit W_9235 post at the showcase section. He spoke from experience. You will be inspired by seeing the journey of his growth from a newbie photographer to a pro photographer. https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1207851

This post has been edited by Loseeker: Jul 6 2022, 12:14 PM

You were right, W_9235's gallery is really inspiring, seeing just how much progress he made from his cosplay photography (i really like anime culture too if you can't tell from my avatar)
Maybe I could bring my camera out to cons when there is one and try out this genre too.

I also started a similar thread to try and document my journey too, feel free to go over there and give me some feedback or critiques, helps me grow as a photographer too!
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/5288509

1. Pick up a 50mm, start the learning process from there.
2. Read up on tutorials online or offline like photography books. Do not rush.
3. Make mistakes. Mistakes are often your best teacher.
4. Do not compare yourself with others.
5. Get feedback from photographers. Leave your ego out, and do not be defensive about your works.

For street photography, ask nicely and most would be happy to pose for you. If you want to do discreet style photogs, the sifus here have already given their POVs.

Rgds,

Everyone has been giving really good advice, especially on learning and improving your skills...

...so let's talk gear.

1. I think based on your description, a good next lens will be the 18-135mm STM. It's a good all rounder, plenty sharp and goes for around RM600+- used.. For around the same price, the wider angle 10-18mm STM is also fabulous for the price... check kldslr's used list. The great thing about the genres you mentioned, I don't think you need wide apertures.... yet. hehehe... of course, this is just based on your posts which shows you have a tight budget. I was using that 18-135mm for a looooong time and it served me well for many purposes.... before.... aih... the inevitable buying

In fact, I will find a reliable camera store in KL that allows you to trade in your lens (won't be much... but who knows) to further cut down your lens trade in price. If you still long for a telephoto later on, the 55-250mm STM ain't that expensive AND is also damn bargain+sharper than your current lens if you're not desperate for wide aperture lenses.

2. I think then, the next simple purchase for your genre would be a nice tripod. Many china brands now make 'decent' tripods with good load bearing as long as it's not those huge telephoto lenses. for a simple setup like 40D+18-135mm lens, many tripods will suffice. Just double check if the tripod head and mount is NOT plastic. I think for <RM200 you could get a simple tripod with very basic metal ball head + arca swiss style plates.

3. The trick about talking about gear is to resist getting too deep into GAS territory. I always feel having the right gear or sufficient gear helps a lot, but like architectural photography for instance... if you start talking about TS-E lenses, tall tripods, etc.. it can really end up being an expensive hobby.

Cheers mate, and look forward to your photography journey~

Thanks for the racun!

Honestly tho, yea I might wanna consider trading in my current lens for another one, maybe slightly wider, I can't take pictures of anything closer than 2m apart from me and I wanted to try some product photography as well so this lens is limiting me to only shooting like a sniper.

Or I could just save up and get another lens, I mean, the racun is real.

I have a feeling I'm prolly gonna end up deep in GAS if do managed to allocate a bigger budget for this

Hey, what's a fellow forumer for?

Haha... You'll be surprised, many kit lens offerings have 'decent' MFD. NOWHERE near macro levels, but if your products aren't too small, then a kit lens can do wonders... Which reduces your initial spending of course. In fact, when it comes to product photography, lights become more important. Only if the item you're Photographing is tiny or you're doing REALLY close up photography, then a macro lens is indispensable.


hey, if you end up taking this seriously, then I guess investing in your hobby isn't bad right? Like how some prefer watches, gundam, or even cosplaying.... You will always invest/spend on things you care for.

Cheers bro

This post has been edited by Dark_Angel85: Jul 9 2022, 02:08 PM

I think for a beginner, just master the manual function as you will learn more.

Use the shutter speed for your focus length to get a sharp shot. Use the right aspect ratio and rule of third, dont worry you can always break the rule.

https://www.photoreview.com.au/tips/shootin...ame-your-shots/

Hope this helps

When I started photography, each shot is expensive. So I tends to put more thinking and planning before each shot. And if the event or the location you're taking is those once in a lifetime thing, it could get a little pressuring. And if at the end of they day, if I get 10 satisfactory shots out of a roll of 36 shots, I would be very happy.

With digital photography, people put a lot less thought into each photo they take, you got a chance of instantly review your shots and correct anything wrong and retake again and again.

In the past the technical part is as important as your composition and having a good eye to see a great picture.
Now a days, it's a bit easier for the former but the composition and a good eye for a great shot is still require to take a great photograph

You can read up on all the technical aspects of photography, books (I am a traditionalist I am afraid) and.online have a lot of options . But reading is not enough, you need to try it out with what setup u have and understand how your set up behave in different situations and setting.

For the soft part, I look at a lot of photography photo book and online photo gallery. Some pictures jumps at you and other imprint itself on u and give u the ”feel”, or the story the photographer want to tell u or bring you into. Copy the style, the angle, the composition, etc, etc .... see if you can do likewise and produce good photo. And when you get there, then start making photo of you own style that have that ”feel” .! That's when you will produce great photos.

This post has been edited by darksideofthemoon: Jul 11 2022, 12:23 AM