As a Chef.....food is the most difficult to look good in a photograph.
The look of most food changes when cold....set up times take lots of time....
Food photography is FULL of tricks - from simple glycerine to make shiny to Nitrogen to make steamy. Food colors and table ware. shape of dish and what accoutrements you use to 'enhance' the visual look....Think chinese...chop sticks, small bowls, bamboo screens, blue willow patterns, crisp white napkins in dragon napkin rings, steaming baskets etc etc etc.
Check out the internet and how Food Photography is produced and never eat what you photographed.

Have fun

What do you want to shoot?
Try Google - there are a huge amount of tutorials available online Search 'how to photograph XXXX' and bookmark the sites that you enjoy reading - it also works for post processing.

No matter what you want to do - there are probably several people on-line who will guide you....

The BOOK! isn't quite dead yet...but they are either very focused (sponsored) to a particular camera model/make or full of personal insights and extra kit as to be a 'long read'.

The internet allows you to follow your favorite photographer. To tailor your skills to what you want rather than 'try to do everything'.

This isn't intended as a 'glib answer'.....photography and what and how you learn has become very personal. The internet is a great learning resource that can be geared to an individuals needs and time.

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Post processing on a PC is a 'new' thing in photography - you used to either send off your images to be printed, and learned that Kodak gave great colours red and yellow or Fugi gave better greens and blues...or learned how to use a dark room and could alter your images. The vast majority of people simply put their film in the post. Altering images was for the few who were 'serious' photographers.

Adobe Photoshop allowed journalists to send their scanned images to the publisher to meet deadlines - it was a very expensive program but it allowed a lot of snap happy people to get pictures of people in a 'certain' pose if they wished. It also allowed them to play with the background and 'improve' ladies looks. It opened up photography for the 'serious' photographer and the richer amateurs.

Digital gave the great unwashed the same 'ability'. The internet will show you 'how to' create an image - with or without a camera.....

And there lies the rub....Publishers and art houses had standards (as such) The images they wanted had to abide by their rules. They had to be able to by cropped around the printed article or showed a 'Political' person in a good or bad light. They followed trends such as advertising train trips to the sea-side or mountains. You trained as a photograher....and pretty much produced what you were told.

A basic digital camera far outshines the professional cameras of the past.....! at a fraction of the cost in real terms. Today newspapers and the TV publish cell phone coverage of events..much of TV documentaries are 'filmed' using a medium priced digital camera.
There are several million images posted daily......So you will now see a huge variety of photographs as well as a huge amount that you do not think are particularly well made.

People of all ages 'think' that they can interpret the post processing visually....usually to how they 'like' it. Where once you would study a certain Genre and how others did it successfully - now you just post it and see how many 'likes' you get.

It is called either progress or the destruction of 'values'.

Conversely it allows Joe Public to become more artistic....There are some incredible images out there. You can now afford to 'take' a thousand images on the off chance that ONE will come out fantastic. You can take your snap shot and recreate it in as many ways as your imagination will lead you. There is greater interest in 'taking photo's' and money to be made teaching or blogging.

Photography has moved from the rich and famous, The trained Photographer, the nerdy amateur, to the 'everyday'. Better than a diary.....we have facebook.

As a beginner - where do you want to take your camera and how do you want to view and document your world.

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They added plastic to tea bags quite a while ago.....if they were just paper they would have disintegrated when squeezed (who doesn't squeeze their tea bag) same with toilet paper, baby wipes, kitchen towel, make-up wipes etc. It looks like paper but isn't just paper.

That is the problem with some plastics - we are not always aware that they are present.

This is why I hate people who blame Consumers for all the waste problems......we didn't demand it - manufacturer's used it to smarten up their products or minimize service staff. Items once bought loose or by weight, suddenly come in 3 sizes of blister pack that can be picked up by the customer. No waste, no staff handling except zipping the bar code.

Cucumbers wrapped in plastic condoms last 2-3 times as long on the shelf as unwrapped cucumbers. Chopped washed salad in a bag lasts longer than loose lettuce because it is washed in bleach and gassed before sealing) except in the brown liquid at the bottom which is jam packed with anaerobic bacteria. Which means we eat OLD veg not fresh veg, and some of which can poison us.

Once we had cheap food because of seasonality and competition...now we have cheap food from a handfull of companies screwing both the producer and the consumer by demanding longer shelf life and less returns: which is only achievable if you add additives, gasses and wrap everything airtight in plastic.

We do not need alternatives to plastic - we just need a less number of different plastics so that we can achieve 100% recycling. The cost of which should be born by those that keep on wrapping things in plastic.....not those who have little choice when purchasing goods.

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You can stitch a huge variety of images together in portrait or in landscape.
On holiday there was a lovely house opposite the cafe I was drinking coffee. Because the street was so narrow even the 50mm would not capture the whole building. I took 3 by 3 by 3 in portrait. PSE stitched all 9 images....a little bit of straightening 'job done'. In this way you can also 'increase' the size of the final image as it has more pixels.
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Lots of things are free....you just can't keep them. think about it.

I guess that with more people having intolerance and allergies to every day foods and substances the number of Phobias are going to increase..
good news for the Latinate.....No not coffee drinkers....Latin speakers

have fun

vibration of the fishing line increasing by distortion the light flowing through it. look at the stone on the bank...its waterline is also 'glinting.
should have used a CP filter......! it is what they do best

Because the screen tilts which causes colours to appear differently as does contrast a laptop is no use for PP. Any computer should be able to use the majority of PP programs reasonably well. The onboard graphics chip works ok...However Ram increases refresh rates and the size of the Hard Disk will decide what size external drive you will have to buy (depending upon your image saving habits)

have fun

Nope!!! Not Always......Got a dual carriage way coming into Brighton (A27) that is 40mph
The A275 is 60mph The list goes on......What you see is the 'open limit' sign...white circle with a diagonal black line which is still 60mph even on a single carriage road.

have fun

When you see the gantry's over the motorway they usually contain traffic cameras. These are to monitor road conditions as well as catch speeders....NB they can also log 'average speed' when in roadworks or when there is a temporary limit stated...Because of this - they no longer need to paint strips on the road like a ruler and average your travel time.

In towns there are still big yellow box cameras on poles....They flash twice and your speed over distance is measured. There are also very tall poles with small CCTV cameras that can catch you out.

The good news is, that as a visitor the chances of them issuing a fine is slim - which all of the European lorry drivers have discovered.

In the UK we have Motorways (generally three lanes throughout with slip roads for incoming and exiting traffic)up to 70mph. Dual carriage ways (two lanes each way and slip roads)up to 60mph .....not that you can tell, A roads which are two way traffic and generally no parking except in layby's....up to 60mph except when posted different. B roads which which link A roads together with towns and class C roads which are generally single file with passing places.The speed limit varies (often for no appreciable reason except maybe two or three accidents have occurred there in living memory)

Scotland has a different approach. You probably noticed that the A74 from Carlisle to Glasgow feels like a Dual Carriage Way but has traffic slowing and stopping in the outside lane turning right to exit as well as T junctions for incoming traffic without any acceleration zone. It is renown for pile ups....so keep an eye on braking distances. Many A roads in Scotland are like this. Also having got out of a town, many roads are quite tight for two way traffic. And a LONG way between petrol stations.
Many rural areas are single track roads with passing places and a BUS service and Heavy Goods vehicles etc using them.... expect to have to reverse!!! it is easier for the car to do so and locals expect it.
Finally, if the sat nav says turn into a gravel road -IGNORE it.....it is a farm track or house driveway.

You are obviously on a whistle stop tour of the UK.....Have fun and beware of the midges in Scotland....NOW is the season.

Hope you are having a great time

Yes as has been suggested.
Remember to reformat your card IN Your Camera - not on the PC......

I bought a cheap set of extension rings of ebay about £8. They didn't have any electrical contacts so you have to shoot in manual - which I found OK for table / tripod top set ups. The only downside was the threads on the rings were a bit rough. I lubricated them with vaseline (petroleum jelly) wiped off the excess and washed my hands before touching the camera. That solved the problem of them being a bit stiff to connect.
At a fraction of the cost of the dedicated ones with the contacts ....it is a great way 'try' macro.
I also experimented with a step down ring to reverse a lens onto another lens....it works but not as simple as using extension tubes.

for the sake of a few pounds .....the cheap plastic ones do work!

You need to get the extension tubes to match your camera....as it has to slide and twist on as any other lens.

have fun

ah, but can the US have a trade embargo on Amazon?....they obviously can't get them to pay taxes (nor can anyone else). They are looking at opening 'till less' stores in the UK where you simple walk in with your credit card and the store automatically reads the bar codes of the goods on exit.....will they match the internet price on goods? AND who's internet price?

The internet is closing shops and also the number of lines that they carry. Less shops less shop workers. Less tills, less till workers.

Finland created a minimum wage paid to all its citizens whether they worked or not....Rather than a seporate 'benefit' for the unemployed. Every other country in Europe Flinched and said 'no way'! But as 'real work' becomes scarce something will have to be done....Perhaps a government 'tally' on goods sold electronically may make a difference, but probably not.

I once wondered how The Roman Empire and The Spanish Empire became the two poorest countries in Europe......In the UK we are all learning to become peasants...! Everyone except the super rich pay tax......!

Most mechanics can download an app to their phone that will mimic the key signal! Just google your registration number and engine number....