“Rookie Tip: Shoot, Shoot, then Shoot some more.”

The more you shoot, the more comfortable you get with your camera and all its buttons. Learn what you like to shoot and find more ways of shooting it, which means you’re learning composition.  You WILL learn what inspires you, and what type of photography you want to shoot more of… And with digital CAMERAS the sky’s the limit because it’s so cheap to shoot, so there’s plenty of room to explore and try new things. Get out there and explore. Photograph everything & review your work. If it all goes wrong, it really doesn’t matter…

“Fact: You will NOT Ansel Adams over night.”

Sorry to burst the bubble but a DSLR is not a magic wand that can spit out absolutely amazing photographs every time.  The camera is just your tool (whichever camera it may be) to take and record images, you’re the one in control, you create the image, you’re the photographer.  You wont get there straight away and there are no shortcuts or teleporters to photography brilliance.  It’s a journey that you should enjoy, it’s not a race. And you’ll learn a lot along the way (about more things than photography). It’s an amazing medium and you’ll get a lot out of it.

“Have fun! Enjoy your camera, enjoy your photography.”

Photography is an expensive hobby… So you had better really freaking enjoy it.  Get use out of it, shoot when you want to and take images of what inspires you or catches your eye. Look at what you’ve taken, and take more of what you like… Or challenge yourself and try something new… Or you could practice what you don’t like to take and see what happens?