Hello all,

I am here to try and conquer my hate of taking photographs! I own a custom workroom,. I design and make custom window treatments, window treatments, bedding - you name it I can make it. I then take photographs of before and after - the avid photographer would cringe... my photographs do not do my work justice.

So, I have purchased a Lumix Z30 - I hope this is a camera for what I need, read many a review of people raving about it...

So, now rather that point and shoot, I am interested in taking digital photography beginner classes preferably on line due to my work hours...

I have established that I need a tri - pod....  That is far as I have got.

Can anybody advise me where to go? 

I appreciate anybody's time and efforts in answering.

thanking you kindly

Tracey Ryder

p.s. Have also purchased photoshop 6 I think and have a cd on how to use that... 

Tracey,

First off, welcome to the site. I really hope that we can help you turn your hate for taking photos into an enjoyable hobby. It sounds like you have the right equipment but I'm not sure of all the details that may be affecting how the photography comes out. When you're taking the photos of your work are the window treatments installed on the window? are you taking the photos during the day or night? are you taking close-ups? Some of these questions will help you decide onwhat settings to use with your camera. Lighting is a big factor in how the overall picture will come out. If you take a photo during the day with your window treatments hanging up then the bright sunlight may drown out the overall image making your work look dark around the frame of the window and bright looking through the window. On the other hand taking a photo of them at night may mean there is insufficient light resulting in long shadows or a flash may take away from the color of the works. The bottom line is lighting is important and taking a beginners class will definitely help you hone your skills and hopefully allow you to master the art of photography.

As for close-ups, you may need to use a tripod as you were saying in order to avoid shaking the camera midshot. A few tips for macro (close-up) work is to setup your camera on a steady surface or tripod and set your camera to macro mode (this is represented with a tulip looking flower on the camera). Next use the auto-timer to allow you to avoid any camera shake during the photo. I suggest trying this with and without the flash and see which looks better.

I think you may find a class to be invaluable. Learning the basics of your camera such as setting the aperture and shutter speed, composing the shot, etc will help you feel more comfortable behind the camera. I'd have no problem helping you out more if you can provide more detail of the problems you've encountered. Feel free to post a photo that you've taken and maybe some of us here could provide tips on maximizing your photo skills.

Until then I hope you enjoy your new camera.

Thank you very much Josh for taking the time that you spent on your informative post, I really appreciate it.

Yes, the window treatments are up, and yes the pictures have come out dark at the windows and bright outside.  I also have to take "Before" pictures before the treatments go up.

I have been reading everything I can find about photography.  I have also been reading my instruction book that is with my camera! Due to the reading and learning I have done so far, the instruction book is so much more understandable.

I am now looking into purchasing lighting. I do have questions about the following thought.

1) should I purchase a hand held light meter? ...apparently there might be one in my camera (have not got that far in the instruction book.)

2) A hand held tilting flash unit - again  I don't even know wether my camera takes this.....

My camera I have just purchased is a Lumix Z30 ..... A beast of a camera couldn't believe the size of it when I received it.... A little overwelming for us novices.  But, That's me always jump in the deep end to learn something... :-)

I am just fed up with having many many projects that I have created and made not being shown in my portfolio/web site due to the pictures being either too dark or not reflecting the quality of my work. 

Thank you once again for all your help

Tracey

Anytime, I hope some of my advice helps. This site may help to get the photos looking more even between the bright outdoors and darker indoors. http://rudylopezphoto.com/photography-tips-seeing-through-windows/

Your camera should have a light meter. If you are shooting using a manual mode when you look through the viewfinder and half press the shutter button the camera should focus the image and take a light reading.I've attached two images to show this. The bar reads from -2 to +2 and each number represents the exposure being either one f-shot higher or lower than normal exposure.

Your camera does have a hotshoe which I also included a photo of.

If you are considering additional lighting here is a do it yourself fix that sheds a lot of light http://www.shuttertalk.com/articles/diylighting

I hope this will help do your work some justice. Practice makes perfect right :)