My Unorthodox Guide to Getting Into DSLR Photography

Sheesh that was a long title ;)

(I just came back from a 5 day photography trip to Tasmania, so before I get into editing the 100 over photos, I thought I will write a bit :p)


I have always wanted to write a guide (or a cheat sheet if I may) for people who want to get into photography but often don't know where or how to start. I am calling this an unorthodox guide because, there are already plenty of guides out there which covers information such as photography terms like ISO, aperture etc or photography techniques such as the Rule of the Third etc - but what I am intending to cover here is for people who haven't got their hands on a DSLR camera yet, but want to.

I feel that if I had come across such a guide before I bought a camera or accessories, I probably would have made a better informed decision. Hopefully my hindsight will benefit others.




In a nutshell, things that I will be covering are:

• Types of photography, and which ones are you interested in.
• Types of camera and lens, and which ones should you buy.
• What accessories will complement your camera and lens. 
• What settings should you use. 

Please keep in mind that this is by no means an exhaustive article or accurate - I will simply try to cover what I have learnt in my experience, and in photography no one person knows everything. Also keep in mind that this article might be heavily skewed towards landscape photography (since this is what I specialise in), but you might be able to draw information that can be used in other types of photography. I also invite you to please share any comments or tips/hints/further information in the comment section below.

I will be updating this article from time to time (when I come across new information or when I have an Eureka moment lol) so bookmark this page and keep checking regularly. 

Alright onto the boring stuff now. 

So you're interested in photography, but which one?

There are many types of photography - landscape, portraits, sports, and macro. Check out some example photos below:

• Landscape (includes seascapes, cityscapes) - Example
• Portraits (includes weddings, birthdays, model shoots) - Example
• Street - Example
• Sports - Example
• Macro - Example

There are other fields such as wildlife/birds photography, lomography etc but I will leave that to the readers to Google. 

Now it is possible to specialise in more than one field, but each field involves its own unique techniques and accessories so I would recommend to only choose one for starters. Perhaps when you feel you have mastered a certain field (trust me, that will take a long time) or if you want breathe of fresh air, you can consider other fields then.

It is important that you know what sort of photos you want to be taking, because that will determine what cameras, lenses and accessories to get.

OK I know what field I am interested in, but which camera and lens should I get? 

This is probably the most frequently asked question coming from beginners. I will break down this question into several categories so hopefully you will have couple of angles to help you decide which one you should buy.


Which brand should I go for? 

Nikon and Canon are the two juggernauts in DSLR photography, and there are others like Sony, Pentax, Lumix etc. Both Nikon and Canon have its own fanboys who will defend their brand till death do them apart, and to say one is better than the other is absurd. Both brands are equally competitive and usually release similar models one after the other. It's also worthy to note that once you choose a brand, you will be unlikely to switch over to other brands. This is because you can only use Nikon lens with Nikon and Canon lens with Canon.


So how should I decide which brand to go for? 

Simple. First, set your budget for the camera body and lens and choose a price point and find all models that fall into that price range. Then read reviews after reviews, compare your models and narrow it down to the one which satisfies you. It's also helpful to walk into a store and feel the ergonomics and weigh it for yourself. This is quite important.

It's also helpful to know which brands your friends are using, since they will be able to quickly point you in the right direction once you buy one. All Nikon models will have similar buttons, as will Canon.

There are entry-level, mid-range and advanced models for consumers (and also a different range for professionals). Check here for Nikon and Canon.

If you are great at self-learning, ready to spend plenty of time on the net researching techniques, settings etc then I would suggest getting a mid-range camera as opposed to a beginners. A beginners camera will have built-in tips/hints but personally I don't think they are that useful. There's nothing like learning through taking hundreds of photos, and trust me you will learn more through taking photos than by reading the manual book.

These links are great starting point:
The Digital SLR Guide - Canon vs Nikon Digital SLR cameras
Ken Rockwell's Nikon vs. Canon guide

Note: Ken Rockwell has an amazing website that reviews models, lens, photography techniques etc. You will find that when you google for any photography info, his site will pop up most of the time. Bookmark-worthy.


What are kit lens, and which lens should I get?

Kit lens are pre-packaged lens that come with the camera body. With most Nikon cameras you will get two; the 18-55mm and the 55-200mm or probably a single lens that cover that range. Comparing kit lens when you're buying your camera is quite important. Sometimes you may not use one lens at all, and you could have got another camera model which didn't have that lens for cheaper.


What do these numbers mean? 

These are focal lengths of lens. Lens which have a range i.e. 18-55mm are called zoom lens, while lens which have only one focal length i.e. 50mm are called prime lens. Prime lens are usually sharper than zoom lens because they have a fixed interior; they also weigh less, cheaper, faster and smaller. The downside - they only have one  focal length (as opposed to zoom lens), so if you want to fit something into your photo you may have to go a few steps forward or backward (depending on what prime lens you have).


I am still confused. How can I decide what focal length I want in my lens?

50mm is what the human eyes see, and hence it is also called the normal focal length. Here's the focal length range breakdown and its typical usage:

Focal Length	Lens Type	Typical Photography Usage
< 30mm	Extreme wide angle	Architecture, Landscape
35mm - 55mm	Wide angle	Landscape
55mm - 110mm	Normal	Street, Portrait
> 110mm	Telephoto	Sports, Wildlife, Astrophotography

Please keep in mind that this is a rough guide only. You could of course use any lens for any type of photography; there is no right or wrong in photography, although keep in mind some focal length are more typically used for specific type of photography.

To give you a better idea, check out the photo below: 

This is called "perspective" in photography. How focal length affects photograph composition: adjusting the camera's distance from the main subject (physically moving backward or forward) while changing focal length, the main subject can remain the same size, while the other at a different distance changes size.

Therefore you can often use any type of lens for any type of occasion, but just remember - perspective matters. 

OK, so now I have zeroed in my camera body and lens, what about accessories?

There are some accessories you should definitely get regardless what type of photography you're into, while there are some accessories you should only buy once you have decided what type of photography you want to do. 

The accessories that you should almost definitely have:

• Camera bag - Get one that is comfortable to carry, have ample of space, comes with plenty of padding etc. Make sure you have enough room for your camera, lens (or two) and other compartment to put your other accessories. Two good brands are Lowepro and Crumpler. Keep in mind that you don't want to be carrying ALL your lens at any given time. Always plan ahead and only take the lens you want. 

• Tripod - If you're into landscape and portraits, tripod is definitely a must. 

• UV filters - Filters are pieces of glass that you put in front of your lenses, they come in many types and have different functions. If I am to write an article on filters that will take a whole post on its own. But one filter everyone should have is an UV filter. Back in the days where film cameras were more widespread (as opposed to the current crop of digital cameras), the UV in the atmosphere tend to cause slight discolouration on photos. Although UV does not have significant effect on digital cameras,  they help to protect your lenses. After all you would rather be paying for a broken UV filter rather than replacing the whole lens. 

There are other accessories that could only be useful for certain types of photography, such as flash for portraits, however I could only list the ones that are useful for landscapes. If you have suggestions, please list them in the comment section below and I will update my post.

Accessories for landscape photography:

• Filters, filters and more filters - CPL, ND filter, Graduated ND filter and the list goes on. I will explain more on this on a future post. 

• Wireless/wired remote - Blurred photos due to shaking camera when you hit the shutter button? Eliminate those vibrations/shake by using remotes. Also, most cameras have built in long exposure up to 30 seconds, if you require longer exposure switch it to bulb mode and use remotes. 

• I will update this on a later date.

Alright, I have bought my camera, lens and accessories. How could I take sharper photos? What settings should I use? All my photos are blurry. 

This could be very frustrating. You have just spent a fortune and all your photos are either dark or blurry. You start to think that your digital point-and-shoot does a better job. And all those buttons, all those functions in the built-in menus! Daunting aren't they? 

Fear not. 

The two most basic functions your need to know is the Aperture and Shutter function, marked with A and S on the main dial in a Nikon camera while on a Canon they are marked as Av and Tv. 

You need to understand how the 3 cornerstone of photography: Aperture, Shutter speed and ISO works. Changing one will affect the other two. Read here and here for a really good explanation.

The best advice I can give at this point is, play around with those two settings while keeping everything else constant. I took 3 months to grasp the idea, and it was only by taking plenty of photos that I was able to learn. Just keep trying! ;)

Flickr is a great place to learn what settings to use for a particular photo. Just click on a photo and under the "Actions" button you should be able to see "View EXIF info" on most photos. EXIF info will contain technical specs about a particular photo.