My newest hobby

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So I went out a bought a second-hand canon 450D and a beginner lens a few weeks ago. Been walking around the city taking shots and what not, having a good time with it.

Anyone else here a budding/amature/experienced photog who can share some resources or tips? If there was more than me I thought it might be fun to do some sorta FL photo contest too.

[KRins]

The biggest thing I learn in my photojournalism class was to never put the focal point of you picture right in the middle of the shot. Divide your viewfinder/digital screen into a 3x3 grid. What you want to do is place the focal point on one of the intersections on the corners of the center field.

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X's mark your spots. As I recall, the human eye finds perfectly centered photos to be boring. Also, if your camera has this capability, mess around with your ISO settings. The higher the number, the sharper your pictures of moving objects will be. The lower the number, the brighter your shots will be even in very low light. If you are feeling artsy and want a darker picture or those kinda cool "speed streaks" for a moving subject, just do the opposite. Beyond that, practice practice practice. You will eventually just know what looks good and to NOT take pictures of people with windows behind them during the day time, etc. One other thing, You can take any picture you want... provided you stay on the sidewalk. A man could be dead in the street...and provided you remain on public property no one can legally mess with you. Not all police know this however, so don't get indignant if one tells you to move... even a few minutes in handcuffs isn't worth being right. If you'd like I can dissect my old photojournalism book with more specific hints for different types of photography, granted it is broken down by type of news story (general news, sports, etc.) so they might not all apply to you.

EDIT: apparently the forum isn't liking my attempted map to photo glory... Basically...divide your viewfinder into your 3x3 grid and aim to put the focal point on the intersections of the 1/3 or 2/3 lines.

[Akoz]

Here you go...

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[Mali]

I have some amateur stuff up here: http://www.pbase.com/jarrett/florida

Shoot often, shoot manual, shoot without a direct flash, play around with the f-stop and use PS as your dark room.

PM me if you want to discuss more.

[mmajunkie]

Good buddy of mine does some great stuff.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldenboi24k

love this one http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldenboi24k/4884018755/