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Other than that just get out there and throw yourself at it. Find out what type of photography it is that you enjoy and research the different ways that different people do that style. There’s so much advice out there.
Dont get bogged down too much with extra gear at first, learn how the camera works first and what it can and can’t do. You can add other stuff as you realise what it’s limitations are. Beware that if you do get into it seriously it’s a worse hobby for GAS than guitars!
I learnt all of that stuff from the camera manual back when I got an old film SLR though so maybe they still do discuss it in the manual.
YouTube is your friend here, go watch!
Rift Amplification
Brackley, Northamptonshire
www.riftamps.co.uk
All bear in mind that you'll almost certainly need to spend a bit of time processing anything you shoot. I use Lightroom, but there's plenty of other options - Capture 1, or even Apple's Photos app or Google photos are pretty powerful these days.
Also +1 for processing. Tbh I find that side of it more enjoyable than anything else.
You have a lot to learn but starting from scratch with photography has reminded me of how exciting it can be to learn something and appreciating those little milestones along the way.
Second on the gear. Seriously, if you have a kit zoom it's a decent lens. If you want something else, be clear on what it is you'd like to achieve before asking for advice
I'm a member of a few Facebook groups (nikon and Sony - I'm going to move to Sony) and I was astounded at how many people have purchased a Sony A9 and three G master lenses before asking why some of their picture isn't sharp and what depth of field is etc. I don't begrudge spending lots of money on gear, but often they have inappropriate gear for their goals.
Also, don't use windows Photos app - it's not colour managed and if you have a decent monitor your photos will often look over saturated or generally nasty.
Yup, I use Lightroom mobile on my Nokia 8 - works really well, and results are very good indeed! Very few features are missing for me (brush tool is it I think). Great for on-the-go instagram stuff.
Beggars belief that some apps (*cough* Microsoft) are not colour managed but hey ho. Lightroom mobile also does a great job of editing jpegs taken from my phone.
For very close up insects and plant life - this is a very technical area of photography (usually called "macro"). The closer up you want to get, the more technical it becomes. To start, you'll need a close focussing lens (a "macro" lens) which let's you get near to the subject. Macro lenses tend to have monikers like 1:2 or 1:1 which is the magnification ratio of the lens (1:1 gives twice the magnification of 1:2) A focal length of about 100mm is usually good for macro (but it must be a "macro" lens).
If you want to get the ultra close up insect mandible type shots, you'll need quite specific equiprment - but I would wait before buying that stuff. I would say get a macro lens, see how far you get playing around and if the bug bites, then think about more gear. A tripod would probably be the first thing
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Re books to help a beginner, the "Digital Field Guide" series is pretty good, they have specific editions for most popular DSLRs so you get camera specific help which is useful if you are starting with zero knowledge.
Unlike photoshop it’s aimed specifically at photographers and focussed on photography-specific adjustments compared with photoshop which is a generic image editing suite.
People think it's hard because they're used to cameras doing it all for them, aided by marketing blurb that implies you need the latest whizz-bang auto camera to rescue you from the perils of indulging in the black art of making a correct exposure. I learned it aged 16 with a manual-only mechanical film camera, a hand-held light meter, and a few minutes chat at the local camera club. When your only option is manual, you just accept it as part of what gets learned to be able to take photos. It's not hard, it's easy.
Nomad
Nobody loves me but my mother... and she could be jivin' too...
Or keep it in Aperture/Shutter priority and skip the second step - I love Fuji X series as it lets me set aperture and use the exposure comp dial for everything else.
Once you get how the ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed affect each other and what it does, there is no brownie points shooting in manual.
Here is another tip, don't dwell on the science of it too much, it really isn't that much to learn, there are 3 settings and 1 shutter button. Spend time learning the art, I am serious. I see a lot of people spending ages trying to learn how a camera work but they get bored, because they end up taking uninteresting photos of their cats a lot, but its the same shot after shot of it, there is nothing inventive of the cat.
In the end it is the art that is the fuel to make you take more photos, same way like the music that makes you want to learn guitar. Learning to play single note isn't that fun, but when you put them together, that's where the fun begin.