Learning to photo

[Matthew Brazle]

Hey everyone! Matthew Brazle here, a new user introducing myself and saying hi.

Equipment – I shoot with a Sony Alpha and some A mount lenses. I’ve had a Sony A390 for 5-6 years and use a couple of older Minolta lenses from my dad’s Minolta Maxxum 7000. But I’ve got an A58 on the way to replace the A390 (main reasons: Face Detection, ISO & 20MP). Lenses I have right now – Sony: 18-55mm; Minolta: 35-70mm f4, 50mm f1.7, 70-210mm f4 beercan, Vivitar 100-400mm (not a great lens). I also recently got a point and shoot Panasonic Lumix ZS50 for when I need something easy to carry around. And my Note 9 is no slouch.

Subject – My primary subject is my 1.5 year old son. He’s the main reason I started getting into photography more. I like taking pics of people, but also scenes (nature/street) and still life.

Style – For people, I’ve found that candid photography is really rewarding for me, kind of my niche. I take lots of shots and very few of them are actually keepers, but I do get some really good ones IMO. As far as still life, I like plants and random interesting objects, also cars.

Challenges – I’ve struggled with composition a lot, so I’m trying to work on that and learning the technical side about aperture, shutter speed, ISO and other camera features. (I’m watching the Marc Levoy lectures atm). I’ve also had a hard time keeping my subjects in focus (hence the “new” A58). Of course gear fever is nipping at my heels too. Since my subject is a 1 year old (moves a LOT) I’ve had a hard time getting him in focus and especially in low light getting the camera settings right to get a good clean sharp shot.

Thanks for “listening”, I will be posting pics as I’m really looking forward to getting some critical feedback about my photography. I’ve been a bit scared to get an honest opinion from “real life” acquaintances 🙂

Sincerely

-MB

[Matthew Brazle]

[Dahlia Ambrose]

@brazle Hi Matthew, welcome to the forums and great to know about you and your interests in photography. Look forward to seeing more of your works here 🙂

[Patrick]

Hi Matthew, welcome indeed to the LS site / forums good to have you join up.

Happy photo taking mate.

[Author]

Posts