Don Stevie shares with Pop Sonality some Tips for Aspiring Photographers.
I’d get the settings sorted first
Generally I'd say learn the implications of your exposure triangle, your aperture, wide aperture (small f number) more light, narrow aperture (larger f number) less light. That for a given focal length and distance from subject the wider the aperture, the shallower the depth of field (approx the area in focus, dof) the narrower the aperture the deeper the dof. You use your shutter (how long you leave your eye open for generally to freeze the action, that you should (try to) keep your shutter above the focal length of the lens (at least) 1/50th of a second for a 50mm for example (or 1/50 *crop value on a crop) Your ISO is the sensitivity of your sensor (or eye or film ) to light, low iso, low sensitivity, cleaner image, high iso, more sensitive, noisier image; that this can be used to support your shutter to freeze the action for the given depth of field you have chosen via aperture. framing the rule of thirds, golden mean, directional space etc and as you look at some photographs that inspire, try and apply these concepts (along with understanding the settings likely used) to your own photographs. Shoot lots, don't worry too much about gear, shoot some more.
For street, the simplest would be to set your lens (if its a zoom) to a relatively wide field of view, so focal length * crop to give say 28mm, tape the lens there, turn to manual focus, disable focus confirm, focus to 3 meters and tape it there, then in Manual mode, peg your shutter between to say 1/250 to be sure, and allow ISO to float (select auto ISO) Then use your aperture, say starting at f8 to focus by selecting a depth of field. Given the depth you'll have (certainly f8 outward) you wont need to focus and you can simply lift and push the button…..Look at some of the works of masters like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Elliot Erwitt, Daido Moriyama, Robert Frank, William Klein, Burri, Kertesz etc etc
Then photography is a surface area of 1) your eye (and I’ll lump in knowing your camera settings in this) 2) the opportunities you give yourself, places you go and people you meet and finally 3) the length of time doing it…..
So in a nutshell sort out how to set your camera up and go out and be curious have fun and shoot for you.
