Go to Goodwill, get a small film compact, buy a three pack of film (I prefer Kodak ultramax 400) shoot it all and develop it. If you like it, keep shooting film or get a digital. My advice, for what it's worth.
basically what the title says, ive been thinking this for a couple months now. talked to one of my very good friends who's also a very good photographer about it for a while too, but decided that i should get more than one persons opinion and forgot about this subforum that used to be HUGE
problem is, while i know a (very) small bit about composition and the like from filming skateboarding back in the day, i dont know anything about the technical specs of cameras or where to begin for this. so any help would be very appreciated. right now id be looking for something relatively basic just to start with, but i dont want to buy a piece of shit with limited capabilities either
Go to Goodwill, get a small film compact, buy a three pack of film (I prefer Kodak ultramax 400) shoot it all and develop it. If you like it, keep shooting film or get a digital. My advice, for what it's worth.
That's pretty decent advice. Or if you have a good smartphone that lets you control exposure try that. Basically you just need to learn to get composition and lighting down. Won't matter if you've got a great camera or a shitty one of you can't take a good photo to begin with.
And remember rules are meant to be broken. Once you realize what makes a technically great photography, realize the difference between technically and actually. For example, some photographers over or underexpose photos that look amazing (William Klein almost always overexposed his) but technical settings would dictate you have a certain shutter speed, aperture,exposure, ISO, etc. for it to be considered good. Just shoot what you like and if it doesn't turn out, find out why. Only do it for yourself.