Natural Light Photography: Ladies and Gentlemen of UHH, I am in the twilight of my life and have just recently purchased my very first DSLR, a Pentax K-50. I am still in learning mode...

BuckeyeBilly Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

Ladies and Gentlemen of UHH,

I am in the twilight of my life and have just recently purchased my very first DSLR, a Pentax K-50. I am still in learning mode as far as using the camera to its best advantage but, with time on my side, it shouldn't be too much longer until I've mastered it. What I am REALLY interested in is shooting with only available light. I'm not all that computer savvy and the idea of learning some manipulative process like Photoshop or others scares the heck out of me, so I would rather spend my time learning about using natural light in order to produce photos that makes one take notice---the WOW factor. Would someone point me in the right direction as to how to go about doing this? And although I am pleased with the K-50, would a camera with a higher pixel count be better suited for natural light photography (I have no idea if this would even be a factor so please excuse my ignorance)? Thank you for your input.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Your Pentax K-50 is an excellent camera. No need to change. Take a look at Bryan Peterson's great book, Understanding Exposure, available from Amazon. Many UHH members love it as a guide and recommend it to others.

MarkD Loc: NYC

The first thing every newbie should get is a good basic photography book. Any good bookstore should have several to choose from. My favorite is, "National Geographic Complete Photography". Read it one section at a time. Don't try to digest too much at a time. Do some reading and some shooting and ask us when you have specific questions.

Post processing is a very important advantage of digital photography. There are programs like Photoshop Elements that can be very easy to use. It has quick fixes that do a very good job with just a click of the mouse. There are also free programs like Picassa that are easy to use.

CSand Loc: Fayetteville, Georgia

Buckeye, You are in the Prime of your life! All of your life knowledge and experiences and being able to do as you please-the Prime my friend. Remember who we are is in our soul not our flesh. Enjoy your learning and shooting. So much beauty out there to capture. Sandy

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

There are a few people on UHH that can actually help you with this. I am really good with natural light with flowers and critters but I am still lacking when it comes to the Wow factor with people. My big suggestion would be to google all you can about this subject and even watch the youtube videos. Then go out and practice, practice, practice. On the good ones, try to remember what you did, what time of day you did that and the settings you used. Good luck with the remembering part! Fortunately you are in the digital age so it basically costs you nothing to take a bunch of pictures. The delete key is your friend. I also knew that when I started out that I would need to learn pp and I decided to go with the best and bout Adobe Photoshop. I started with CS5 not knowing a thing about it. That was expensive. Again, that just took practice and lots of tutorials. Just don't get intimidated by it all. Make it fun.

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

Tis' a noble quest you seek, and we all wish you good fortune, but I am afraid there is little that comes out of a digital camera these days that cannot use the help of a post processing program.
The fact is most cameras are unable to capture the dynamic range of what we can see.
One of the best explanations of this I have seen, is a free video on youtube made by Mark Wallace for Adorama. It is episode #235.
There are arguments on both sides of this question.
Although not a great editor compared with PSE or PS, Picasa is free and an easy way to break into the basics of editing and may be all you ever need. Wishing you our best, and welcome to the fun and sometimes scary world of digital photography. lol

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

BuckeyeBilly wrote:

Ladies and Gentlemen of UHH, br br I am in the tw... (show quote)

Billy, I'm afraid you'll have to change your approach. There are two parts involved in the process. There is taking the initial image and then making the photograph.

Natural light is a great genre on which to set your sights. However, to produce a photograph which "makes one take notice" will require learning how to post process that initial image in order to bring it to life.

Some examples:
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-324966-1.html
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-326029-1.html
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-323804-1.html
--Bob

BuckeyeBilly Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

rjaywallace wrote:

Your Pentax K-50 is an excellent camera. No need to change. Take a look at Bryan Peterson's great book, Understanding Exposure, available from Amazon. Many UHH members love it as a guide and recommend it to others.

Thank you, rjaywallace, for your recommendation. I will get the book soon.

BuckeyeBilly Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

MarkD wrote:

The first thing every newbie should get is a good ... (show quote)

Thank you, MarkD. Oh boy, if National Geographic is behind it, it HAS to be good!

BuckeyeBilly Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

CSand wrote:

Buckeye, You are in the Prime of your life! All of your life knowledge and experiences and being able to do as you please-the Prime my friend. Remember who we are is in our soul not our flesh. Enjoy your learning and shooting. So much beauty out there to capture. Sandy

Thank you, Sandy, for your encouraging and uplifting words!

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Much great advice already!

Picasa is free and would be a good start to your post-processing experience. You can take your time learning it, even just to use for cropping and straightening, or other minimal edits. If you want to try it, go directly to the link below, not a third-party download:

http://picasa.google.com

BuckeyeBilly Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

tainkc wrote:

There are a few people on UHH that can actually he... (show quote)

Thank you, tainkc, for your suggestions. Ah, but at this point in time, the ability to remember isn't as easy as it once was....so I'm just going to get a book and journal-entry the photo info of my shots. That will make it easier on the brain!

BuckeyeBilly Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

sirlensalot wrote:

Tis' a noble quest you seek, and we all wish you g... (show quote)

Thank you, sirensalot, for the video and Picasa recommendations...sounds good.

BuckeyeBilly Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

rmalarz wrote:

Billy, I'm afraid you'll have to change your appro... (show quote)

Thank you, rmalarz, for your words of wisdom and experience and for the UHH links.

BuckeyeBilly Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

Linda From Maine wrote:

Much great advice already!

Picasa is free and would be a good start to your post-processing experience. You can take your time learning it, even just to use for cropping and straightening, or other minimal edits. If you want to try it, go directly to the link below, not a third-party download:

http://picasa.google.com

Thank you, Linda From Maine, for reinforcing the Picasa recommendation.