Pepsiman Loc: New York City

New York City, Manhattan...

radiojohn

Sorry for the blatent plug, but my book "How To Use The Digital Camera You Just Bought" may help. On eBay or at my site. Amazon has it too, but it ischeapest at my site. [acpress.com] I've written for Shutterbug and the book is based on several years teaching real beginners in a real college. My older work on Windows, Going online, etc. was well received internationally. You'll never regret learning the basics.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

As an amateur/hobbyist myself, with a Nikon crop sensor DSLR, you have to know about f-stops if you are going to be a decent photographer. Since you are not getting paid for your images, you only need to please yourself. But, you still want quality images. Get instructions from books. Enroll in a class. And, you will be surprised how much you can learn from free tutorials online, like You Tube Videos. And many uhh forum members. Practice "Chimping" until you feel comfortable. I did that a lot when I went from film to digital cameras. Not so much as I use to. Good luck.

northsidejoe Loc: pittsburgh

Going to youtube may be very helpful there is a wealth of information and easy to follow hopes this helps saying hello from Pittsburgh.

Bobcat87

I know exactly how you feel. Last year ago, I decided to go from a bridge camera to a DSLR. I thought I would NEVER understand about aperture. I tried memorizing, I read all sorts of articles, photography books, etc., and just started practicing. But things finally just clicked. So don't give up. I am very much a beginner still, but now I am often able to "problem solve" when I make mistakes (which are frequent), so that is progress, for me.

rtb220 Loc: O'Fallon, MO

“Understanding Exposure” by Bryan Peterson. Find it on Amazon, less than $25 and well worth it. Read it and than go out and shoot, shoot, shoot. That’s the beauty of digital photography, you can shoot all you want. Really, the books by Bryan Peterson are excellent.

Ralph (rtb220)

aellman Loc: Boston MA

There are virtually unlimited resources online for every facet pf photography. Google or search in YouTube for "beginner photography tutorial" or "course."
Best of luck! >Alan

debbie wrazen Loc: Western New York

Check out Udemy courses on line. Alot of beginner choices with step by step lessons that include hands on learning.Ditto for you tube videos. Learning to post on line through this forum and receiving constructive advice is also another way to grow your skills.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Second that!
Mark

Suallie

Wow, I didn't expect so many replies. Thank you all so much! Advice is great and I have a lot of options. I was able to get some D200 books from the person who sold me the camera so I shall start there, Magic lantern D200, and ? Pippen? anyway I have work to do and practice, practice, practice. Will look on ebay for some others that were mentioned.
Again thank you all so very much.

rdrechsler Loc: Channel Islands Harbor, CA

Great advice from William Rodriguez. I'm not a total novice as I've used SLR and DSLR cameras for a long time, but I've never really been serious about it before. I've joined this group, plus Canon and Nikon users groups and joined my local camera club. I also just ordered a book on Photoshop as I've signed up for the CC services. These are all good ideas that will get things started for you. I'm already learning droves in just a week of study and experimenting.

Shutterbug57

F stops sound intimidating, but once you understand them, they are pretty easy. Each stop let’s in either twice the light or half the light as the one next to it depending on which way you are going. If you can multiply by two and remember 1 & 1.4, you are set. F stops are: 1.0, 1.4, 2.0, 2.8, 4.0, 5.6, 8.0, 11.0 (ok a little rounding there), 16.0, 22.0, 32.0, etc. most lenses don’t go past f/32, but if you have one that does, just do the math. Notice that half are multiples of 1 and the rest are multiples of 1.4. Take a few minutes to memorize the f stops because thinking about not only aperture, but shutter speeds and ISO in stops will really make life easier for you.

The smaller the aperture number, the larger the hole the aperture makes. That is confusing until you realize that the f stop number is the denominator of a fraction. So, f/1.0 is 1/1, & f/2.8 is 1/2.8, etc. The fraction describes the focal length of the lens divided by the diameter of the aperture hole. So, if you have a 50mm f/2.0 lens, the largest hole it can make is 25mm in diameter (50/2). At f/4, the hole would be 12.5mm in diameter and at f/10 (which is a fractional stop) the hole is 5mm. You can also think of the aperture number as the number of aperture circles that would fit in the focal length of the lens, obviously, the more holes that fit, the smaller they are.

Shutter speed is more straight forward, but still works in stops. These numbers are linear where 1/125 lets in twice the light of 1/250 or half the light as 1/60. Both 1/250 and 1/60 are 1 stop from 1/125 This is pretty much simple math up and down the scale. Just remember that the bigger the number (when under a full second) the less light gets in. So, for both aperture and shutter, the bigger the number on the dial, the less light gets in.

ISO is also linear like shutter speeds, but these are not fraction denominators, so bigger numbers let in more light. For a beginner on the D200, I suggest setting the ISO at either 200 or 400 and leaving it alone until you work with the shutter/aperture relationship and understand that.

Your first mission should be figuring out how to get consistently good exposures while ignoring the artistic choices made with different aperture/shutter settings. Once you can get consistent exposures, start taking the same shot with different shutter/aperture combos. The following combos are examples of the same exposure value, but will look different.

Shutter/aperture
15/22.0 everything will be in focus. Good for landscapes. Depth of field gets shallower as we go down. This shutter speed will require a stationary subject and, in most cases, a tripod or it will be blurry
30/16.0
60/11.0 traditionally the shutter speed where you could successfully hand hold a 50mm lens. Newer lenses with vibration reduction (VR) can let you go lower, but in most VR lenses the VR will not work with the D200
125/8.0
250/5.6
500/4.0 this shutter will stop most action shots. Motor sports and some other sports may need 1000 or higher to stop them
1000/2.8. Good aperture for portraits to separate the subject from background also good for sport shooting.
2000/2.0
4000/1.4 thin DOF. Eyes may be in focus when noses and ears are not.
8000/1.0 lenses with a 1.0 aperture are rare, but have razor thin DOF.

I know this stuff sounds hard, but with a little study, and some practice, you will be shooting great shots in no time. I shot my D200 for more than 10 years. It is a great camera. It’s biggest limitation is low light shooting without flash. It gets pretty noisy above ISO 800. The D200 can teach you lots and take outstanding images at the same time. Train yourself to think in stops whether you are thinking of aperture, shutter or ISO and it won’t be long before this is second nature.

Hopefully I have neither confused nor bored you. If I have, I apologize. The books you got can get you going. Have fun shooting.

lmTrying Loc: WV Northern Panhandle

Welcome aboard.
If you are like me, you don't speak Techese. Which seems to be the language of user manuals. Go to a book store like Books A Million. Start in the magazines, read sections of a magazine that interest you. If you understand what you read, buy the book. If you don't understand, don't buy it. Next time go to the book section and repeat. Magazines and books are usually written in a language a person can understand. Manuals, not so much.

autofocus Loc: North Central Connecticut

you already have tons of information to sift through, but understand, the learning curve will take some time, it's not going to happen overnight. I've been shooting for over 50 years now, and I often feel you never stop learning. That's what keeps it interesting and worth doing. And don't forget that learning to edit is also a big part of it, and it can make the difference between a good photo becoming a great photo. But, there is no substitute for getting the basics right in the first place. I see you mentioned you live in Worcester...too bad you weren't a little closer, I'm in western CT and being retired I would have been happy to spend some time with you, but just a bit far. Good luck, keep at it...it's well worth the effort!
Vince

Ramm Francis

We all started with a first step. First film I shot was of a big eyeball on the screen. That's when I learned which side was the back of the camera.