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Beginner’s Guide to SLR Photography Review

I received a complimentary copy of these two photography courses in exchange for my review. Opinions are 100% my own.

I was so incredibly excited to get my very first dSLR camera just a few months ago, but I quickly learned that I knew NOTHING about how to use my camera. At first, my pictures were pretty similar to my point and shoot, but as I read and learned and searched high and low for information, I slowly started to understand my camera more and could use it to get the pictures I wanted.

Photographer Overnight

I had the opportunity to try out this awesome new video program, Beginners Guide to SLR Photography. It teaches you all the basics of your dSLR camera in just one hour with plenty of examples, explanations, and even assignments which made it really easy to understand. I really enjoyed following along with the video and learning why I needed to move off of the automatic modes, even the semi-automatic modes like Aperture priority or Shutter Priority to make the most of my pictures. Taking the step forward to move my camera over to manual and not be afraid to play around the settings has made a huge difference in my photography! All the different aspects of my camera including aperture/f-stop, ISO, shutter speed, white balance, and other settings are very clearly explained with examples. This made it so easy to follow right along with the video, pausing or going back and replaying parts of the training video that I needed to hear again or take time to look up in my camera’s manual. Plus, the course is really affordable at just $49 for an instant download copy! It’s currently on sale on Amazon for just $19.99!

Once I had the basics down, I was couldn’t wait to learn how to use RAW, which is a file type for recording your image. I’ve heard over and over from every source I read that I should be shooting my images in RAW. So, I changed my settings right away to capture in both JPEG and RAW. However, once I had the RAW files, I had no clue how to open them, use them, or why I even wanted them. Photographer Overnight has a training video to help you learn all about shooting in RAW called Guide to RAW Photography.

I can’t even begin to tell you what a difference shooting in RAW has made for my photography, so instead I’m going to show you. This image below on the left was my original picture from my camera captured in JPEG. The right is the RAW version which was edited in Lightroom with a single one click button to adjust the white balance to “auto”. I could play with my JPEG image all day trying to adjust the coloring and getting it just right and it still wouldn’t come out as beautiful as my RAW image came out after the simple edits were made. Once I was finished editing, I could then export my image to JPEG so I could use and share the picture, the RAW file just helped me get there.

RAW Tutorial

RAW Difference

Following along with the steps throughout the video tutorial made it really, really easy to get started with RAW. I didn’t have the software program that was used throughout the tutorial, but I could still apply everything I had learned with Lightroom, which I purchased after using this video tutorial and understanding why RAW is beneficial. The software used throughout the tutorial many photographers will already have. If you purchased a copy of Photoshop or some versions of Elements, you may have a free RAW software that was included. The RAW video tutorial is just $25, a very small investment for all that I learned.

If you need help improving your photography or understanding your SLR camera, check out these or the full Photographer Overnight video training program! You can find more information at PhotographerOvernight.com to purchase and download their training videos. They are also available on Amazon.