Self taught photography

We are looking into buying a new DSLR. Iv always been interested in photography but never really done anything about it but now with the boys around I'd love to be able to take some great photo's of them. At the moment though I don't really have time to do a photography course so what are some good ways of teaching myself about photography and how to use the camera? Are there any good books out there on the topic? My main interest at the moment is in childrens photography. Any hints and tips would be greatly appreciated.

Try googling photography tutorials online. There's some good beginner tutorials there.

Snap Persephone! Or even try YouTube :)

PS. My dad is a photographer, and I've owned various photography books, and completed two IRL photography courses. I still found (and continue to find) online tutorials the easiest to understand. The ones with videos and step-by-step lessons are best. I think some of the camera companies offer free online tutes - try Canon for example.

I think photography books are overpriced and next to useless. Often the books are very technical and difficult to understand (especially for someone like me, I learn best with visual aids).

GL

i've just stumbled across a photography forum when googling for a similar reason. seems to be people of varying skills that will not only help explain your camera and how to use it, but also look at your photos and give you some feedback on how it can be improved. i found it one day, and got knocked on my backside with a migraine i'm still fighting the next, so haven't spent toooo much time on there, but feel free to PM and i'll send you a link so you can check it out if you want

i have gotten pretty good with the Auto settings but want to move into the manual settings (cos Raven told me i have to lol) so that's my new years resolution - to learn to use my camera to it's full capabilities

A friend bought a copy of a DVD which she was kind enough to let me borrow. Basically it is an online tutorial, and the guy is a total dude and entertaining. PM if you want more details :).

Thanks for the replies everyone!

BG and Leesa if you could pm me that info that would be great!

What topics should I be looking into? I have no idea about photography but dh did photography at high school so he has a bit of an idea but I really have no idea what to learn about. He was showing me his film slr yesterday and all the numbers and things on the lenses scared me a bit lol.

I learn by online tutorials and building a network of photographer friends who are further advanced than me. I spend a lot of time studying other people's photos and then just trial and error playing with my camera settings. The other thing you can do is when you take a photo you really love the composition of, (if your using pc/windows) right click on it and select properties, then you can look at all the settings of the camera - the exposure, f-stop (apeture), etc. I learn a lot by looking at the properties of existing photos. Sometimes you can do it on other people's photos, depending on the protection settings they or the website has.