A little help for taking pics for a newbie.

[ishtar]

Today it's saturday and I have made some exercises with the new camera I just bought: HP PhotoSmart 735 (as I mentioned in another thread).

I've taken lot of pics but most of them are bad, but I predicted it since this is my first experience with this camera.
This camera has a 4x optical zoom and I'm completely fall in love with it.
Now I can take great pics from a good distance and not from 1-2 meters as I've done till now.

I found really helpfull some of the threads of the Teach'n Learn forum, so I got some questions that some for you can easily answer to help me (sorry for the bad english).


1:
My first problem is looking at the LCD of the camera in sunny days (like today). Sometimes I can hardly see something. Is there an easy and quick way to eliminate this problem?
I know that leaving the sun behind me and making shade with my body is a good way to eliminate this problem, but sometimes the position of the "target" doesn't let me do this, leaving all the sun on the LCD (so I must take "blind" pics) or in my eyes.


2:
my camera has the autofocus: I have to half click the shutter to get the focus and then click completely push the shutter to take the pic.
Sometimes I have this problem:
while taking the focus, someone walks in front of the target, making my focus wrong and my pic blurred.
Is there a way to eliminate this problem or I must live with it?


3:
Bigger question.
I think it's OK to go out taking pics in big cities like my one. Especially if there are some very famous things that tourists come to visit.
Nobody really take care of you since you are doing the same things everyone is doing, that is taking pics (well, maybe I got different targets ).
But now the summer is going to start here and I have the chance to go out to beaches and it would be great to take pics also there.
But I think it's really UNUSUAL to walk on a beach with a big camera in your hand. I mean that it's more difficult to walk unnoticed. So I'm here to ask to the candid-beach members how do you take these pics.
For pro-beach volley pics it's OK to go there and take pics, but for the other targets, how to you take the pics?
Just walking and pushing the shutter button and getting the target just in this way? Or maybe using an HUGE optical zoom and so taking pics far-far way?
Well, my zoom is not so good and I will never be able to walk on a beach with a visible camera in my hands.
So my idea is to go on the beach with my shirt in my hand and with the camera carefully HIDDEN in it and taking pics with my camera-shirt at the height of my belly. Or if not in the shirt, maybe hidden in this thing (sorry I don't know the english name):


Do you think it's a good idea? Is it a stupid thing? Do you have better ideas about how to hide the camera?
I repeat it: my choice is to somehow hide the camera or NOT to take any beach pic.

Please help me giving me some good answers. Especially form the top posters of CO! I'm a very good student! Teach me and I will learn it. And I will also show you the result of this study (=good pics taken with your help).


Ok, that's all. Now I'm going to post the good pics I have taken today, just give me the time to choose the good pics. As I said I have still to learn how to use well my camera, but I'm quite happy with the results I had today.

Bye and thank you if you arrived to read till this row...

[Vitahappy]

maybe you can start my saying which 'big cities' that you're in. as for the beach thing, i dont really shoot at beaches so i cant give you any tips but as always, it's better to not hif your camera.. just be cool and calm about it and things should be ok.

[seemaya]

questions 1 an 2 can probly be answered by you reading the manual
that came with yer camera.
take some time, read it and play with the cam while you read it.

most point an shoots have an LCD adjustment fer brightness
and some have modes for seting your focal lenght focus,
but your focus will stay at that focal length.
you probly have to do the half click focusing.

beach....dont hide the cam or dont take beach shots.
the word yer looking for 'concealed' (under your shirt)
dont do that.

[CFer]

For beach shooting. For me it is really difficult.... Unless, There is an event going on like today. (will post pics later.. Have Candids of Mini Driver 6-

Walking around the beach itself, is hard to stay un-noticed and out of danger. So what I do, I try to stay around more 'populated' areas of the beach, like the pier or entrances and such.

Most times, something will happen that drawls a crowd, and you can shoot away. If not, Just mill around with other people and if you see something to shoot. Fire away. I use a Canon 20D, so it is Almost Always camera to the Eye. And, if someone askes, I am an artist and I am studding people and movement. Which Is very True for me.

Anyway, becareful of the age of your target, if they look to young, don't fire. Because if an Angry parent apears out of no where it can ruin your day.

Sometimes I may stay closer to the waters edge, shoot surfers, and candids of people all around me. Just don't turn back up onto the beach to fire directly at a Betty.

Basicly, just have to find something comfortable for you. I stick out like a soar thumb everywhere I go. So hard for me to hide what I am doing. But Im not doing anything wrong.

Today, I was even standing by two police officers and taking candids of a Betty.