A friend sent me this link explaining very nicely the basics of photography. If you have always wondered what different focal lengths do, what an f-stop is and what a polarizer does, hop over to Bernie’s Better Beginner’s Guide to Photography for Computer Geeks Who Want to be Digital Artists. Don’t worry, you need not be a geek to learn from this nice write-up.

As a taste here is Bernie´s recommendation on how to spend your money wisely:

Here are two ways of spending three grand:

• Spend all £3000 on a 300mm f/2.8 IS lens: an object of beauty and arguably the finest lens Canon have ever made.

• Spend £300 on a 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 IS zoom: not as glamorous, but very sharp, 1/10 the price and only 2 stops slower. Spend the remainder on a 2 month-long holiday to an exotic location taking pictures and learning how to use your equipment well.

Guess which one will yield better photos?

If you need more convicing before indulging yourself into the learning curve, here’s a quick quote from a commentor about Bernie’s guide:

Great job showing what you are telling. I teach a 12-hour digital photo course at the Community College. You condensed most of it into a simple quick tutorial. Very good.