from where can i start
 

hi
i am a beginner to photography , i wish reach professionalism
i have a lot of tutorials about every thing ( basics , lighting , exposure , composition , colors , files , raw and jpg and retouching with software)
although i have all of these tutorials books and videos ,
but i dont know from where can i start , i have read some about basics ( shutter speed, aperture, depth of field , white balance )

what is the next step ?

i have canon xsi
sigma 530 dg flash
two umbrellas with continuous 500w light
thanks a lot

germacran, hello. What kind of work are you looking to do? There are many kinds of professional photographer.

If you could build up a portfolio of your work to show potential clients, then that would be a good start. Do this before you give up your day job.

It sounds like you have a lot of material on the technical stuff. With digital it is easy to review what you have done and make adjustments before the next shot, so the technical learning process can be quite quick. Harder I think is developing an artistic eye.
I was once advised to spend a lot of time looking at photographic images and other art mediums as well, and work out what I liked about the image and why, or didnt like and why not!
My primary interest is landscape photography, so I spent a long while looking at paintings and photos, making simple line sketches of the compositions that I liked, looking at colour use, form and texture. I then did the same thing when looking critically at my own images, and now will sometimes do it when on location to help me find the right image. All this really helped me understand composition and how to make an image 'work'.

I thought I had seen this post before, I think its been posted on every popular photographic forum there is lol...
I am a total novice at photography and have limited kit (but all I need) a few tutorials, books, magazines, podcasts etc etc.. but have realised unless I just get out there and shoot stuff I am never going to learn the practical basics for myself.

What area of photography are you interested in? That would help in terms of what kind of advice can be given.

Hello Germacran, a very warm welcome to the forum.

Hi

Maybe the first thing to decide is what you enjoy doing most. Most photographers specialise in an area of photography that they have a particular love for eg. weddings, portraits, product, general commercial, travel, landscape, architectural etc. This is an opportunity to get into something where you combine your hobby with source of income - so you might as well enjoy what you're doing.

Then I'd research the market for your particular area of photography. Many creative people get carried away with the dream of how brilliant it will be to earn a living from photography without fully understanding what's going on in that niche nationally or locally. For example - the past 12 months wouldn't be a good time to set up a construction photography business! Research can be online (list all photographers in your target niche, review their websites and make notes of the way in which they talk abou their business and how they interact with their market. You're trying to glean how they acquire new customers and if possible their pricing structure and 'packages' that they offer.

Take a look at this London Freelance site and get a feel for the 'typical' pricing listed NUJ Freelance Fees Guide: Photography - Corporate work - rates

Decide upon a trading style - what you intend to call your business - needs to be credible and above all memorable.

Investigate various options for creating a website with your new business title, obvious sections are home, about, portfolio and contact us. Research 'the best' sites in your target photographic niche and make notes of what makes them work well - might be good, clear navigation and/or high impact images

Start to develop a view on how other established photographers in your target niche appear to market their businesses - website, Google Adwords http://bit.ly/QJcrQ, local / national / niche press advertising, direct mail etc and construct an experimentation marketing plan where you try out a number of marketing activities and see which works best for your business. A lot of online promotion and marketing can be done at little or no expense - just effort on your part. You can find loads of web tools here http://www.adamcoupe.com/resources.htm

Good luck

Adam

www.adamcoupe.com/portfolio

Very good advice there Adam, thank you.

Hello - I am pretty sure you would receive some valuable information from the following website,
http://www.geofflawrence.com/photogr..._to_begin.html