Hey,

I know virtually nothing about photography however I’m extremely keen to learn.

Could the photoguys on here please recommend a good book/online resource etc. through which I can begin to widen my knowledge? My dad has just given me his old DSLR and I don’t know where to begin.

In summary my objective is to..

– Improve my knowledge of photography
– Learn how to take great pictures using a DSLR

Where do you think I should start?

A friend pointed me to dpreview so thats where I’m starting atm.

Thanks for all your help

The ten lessons from Jodie Coston at http://www.morguefile.com/docs/Classroom are a good place to start.

Trial and error.

Don’t use auto but put it in aperture priority mode and play with settings. You can’t break it by changing settings.

Start with aperture, see what happens regarding blurring of background and shutter speed when you change it.

Play with white balance settings and see what effect that has.

Look at metering and see what the pros/cons of spot/evaluative/weighted are.

Stick some stuff on here; I’m sure there are a few photographers that will cast a helpful eye over your photos.

I find talkphotography.co.uk quite helpful too.