H1 without a clue...

Hi everyone, new H1 owner here. But there's one problem... I haven't any clue how to use it other than on auto. I've played with various aperture, shutter speeds and iso settings but everything usually comes out blurry, dark, or too brite.

I'd really like to learn how to take better pictures. Especially indoors. Everytime I use the flash (on auto) the pictures come out ok, but they are so "brite". The pictures look like it was shot in Daylight even though it was evening.

So where should a guy like me look to for information? Anyone know of any good "beginner" articles on the web?
Thanks so much.... Gene
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Helloooooooooo

How bout searching through the past 2 weeks of posts on this forum, plenty of useful info has been posted for beginners.
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http://www.uwdev.com/gallery/

There are many people here with vast knowledge about cameras in general & specific Sony cameras, in particular. (Not me, though!) Some sites I've read along the way to learning more about taking pics include:
http://www.digicamhelp.com/what-is-a-histogram/index.htm
http://www.garlynzoo.com/zoophotos.html
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech.htm#digital

http://194.100.88.243/petteri/pont/Photography_lessons/a_about/_Teaching_composition.html

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml

If you post a picture that didn't turn out the way you planned, people will tell you where it went wrong if you ask and they are very nice to beginners & don't criticize unless you ask for the advice. Do you know how to post a picture here?
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Karen

Link.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=14502409

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Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

http://www.pbase.com/jekyll_and_hyde/galleries

I took this shot in pitch black darkness on my back porch just to see the lighting from the flash. Low light shots are hard for me (I'm fairly new too). The histogram is pretty much useless in dark situations BUT you can see it on the review, so after a couple tries I got it pretty close. I figure with enough experience and knowing your camera very well, you'll come to automatically know what settings you need for certain situations, but for now it's trial and error.

There were a few more with wider aperture values and slower shutter speeds, but I figure this will do.

I suppose if you want any sort of motion blur you'll have to sacrifice a wider DOF and vice versa.

Maybe someone with more experience can add to this or revise what I've said here, but this is what I came up with to show you. It's not too terrible .



Here is the exif data:
Flash Used: Yes
Focal Length: 12.7 mm
Exposure Time: 1/1000 sec
Aperture: f/4.5
ISO Equivalent: 64
Metering Mode: multi spot (3)
JPEG Quality: (6)
Exposure Program: manual (1)

Flash was set to -1.

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Brian
Sony DSC-H1
http://www.pbase.com/bhusk

Use the tutorial on the CD that was supplied with your H1. It is fantastic for beginners.
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John
DSC-H1