Basic Photography-Self Learning

Daripada mula beli DSLR aku nak belajar lebih dalam tentang photography. Disebabkan kesuntukan masa, aku tak berpeluang langsung untuk mengikuti mana2 kelas photography, kecuali minggu lepas seperti yang aku post sebelum ni.

Semalam balik daripada dinner, aku luahkan pada isteri tersayang betapa aku teringin sangat mengikuti kursus secara formal. Isteri aku beri aku idea untuk belajar secara online melalui You Tube. Yup….why didnt I try that?

Sampai rumah aku terus search You Tube and download series of lessons from the 1st video I see. Not bad jugak explaination dia. Bermula dari basic tentang apperture, shutter speed, ISO, Lenses, flash dan lain2. Sampai pukul 6 pagi aku tengok. Mula tengok pun lambat. Selepas aku tengok DVD dalam pukul 3 pagi.

Let me share the links for those who’s interested to learn:

• What is aperture or F stop
• Shutter Speed
• What is ISO
• Pop Up vs Bounce Flash
• Outdoor Potraits-Blurring Background (4 simple Tpis)
• Outdoor Potraits-Diffuser & Fill in flash
• Difference between Prime, Zoom and Kit Lens
• Canon E-TTL & Nikon CLS System
• White Balance & Custom White Balance
• Bounce Flash Tutorial
• Manual Exposure Mode-Easy Way
• What is Focal Plane
• Exposure Compensation in Appeture Mode

The tutorial is by the guy with nick name of PhotographersOnUTube. He even answers any question thru his facebook which also has brief tutorial there. And of course there’s his website with info on photography and equipments.

Of course I wont stop here. I’ll search for more tutorials. The more I learn the more I’ll master photography and my DSLR. If I have the time, I’ll attend formal courses. Wish me luck 🙂

 

 

1st Photography Course

Today is the first time I attended such course since I bought my DSLR back in February. All these while I use my camera in Auto mode.

The course at Putrajaya starts at 5pm and I have to be there by 4.30.  And today I have to attend two weddings 4 hours apart in distance. Both are relatives. One in Sg Besar, my wife cousin’s. The other in Wangsa Melawati, my 2nd cousin.

My plan was to go Sg Besar early in the morning, by noon gerak to Wangsa Melawati and at 3pm shoot to Putrajaya. Unfortunately we spend too much time in Sg Besar and have to cancel Wangsa Melawati.

At 3.15 we start our journey to Putrajaya. The traffic was quite heavy and slow moving from Kuala Selangor to Ijok. Lucky the newly open LATAR highway saves the day. We took the highway up to Kuang then took GCE to Shah Alam and lastly Elite highway. Its like travelling from West to East back to West and headed south. Well its the price you have to pay to avoid jam.

Finally, we reached Putrajaya 5 minutes before 5. The course yang sepatutnya seramai 50 orang tapi cuma 30 turned up. Maybe coz its free thats why ramai yang register tak turn up. It started at 5.30 under the bridge. Yang lain semuanya my junior and muda2. Semua panggil aku abang and ada yang panggil aku pakcik. Bengang aku!

The instructor or Cikgu as everybody called him, Mohd Hazli “Bobo” is a good teacher. Kepala ok gak. So its more like a group discussion instead of a formal class. He starts the class by explaining the difference between appeture and shutter speed. Everybody seems well versed with the terms he uses. Aku gak yang a bit ternganga in the beginning. I don’t even know how to set the appeture and shutter speed. When the Cikgu instructed everybody to try shooting according to the exposure details given, everybody starts shooting. Aku tak tau langsung how to set the exposure. Nak tanya segan so aku just shoot jer la with auto mode. Action jer……

When the Cikgu decided to check one by one, aku da gabra…hehe. When he finally came to me, I switched the camera to M mode. Actually we are supposed to use A Mode. Luckily I know which knob to turn.

The main purpose of the course is to learn silhouette technic. And silhouette is best taken during sundown. For those who don’t know what is silhouette, the object is dark while we enhance the background. Ini antara contoh gambar yang aku ambil.

I didnt really take any notes during the class. I just shoot with the exif details given and will study back the photos. So now basically I know how to take silhouette shots.

Sementara mentari turun di ufuk, cheh…., kami diajar utk mengambil gambar dengan slow shutter speed untuk capture gambar langit yang kebiruan. Ini antara gambar yang aku ambil…

Bolehlah kan? What I need the most now is to go for basic photography class to learn how to operate my DSLR and familirize myself with all the terms. Bila da familiarize baru la berani nak join photo outings. Till then I have to learn thru trial and error.

To see more pictures from the course, visit my facebook.