Starting off....

Hey guys,
Recently i have been becoming more and more interested in photography as a hobby..
I'm a pure novice though so i have a bit of reading up to do to learn the basics, cos i know nothing
I was shown a camera (link below) by someone and i thought it looked good and sounds like it has a lot of good features with it from what i know anyways
So...i went into a shop and asked could i hold it and try it out and i was allowed and it's really cool and easy to use, not only that but it turned on straight away and is really quick to take photos..
But as i said up there i am just a novice is there any good books/online sources to get to know the basics?
My dad said to take classes but i think it'd be a waste of time and money, but i'm not sure though i just wanna know what ye did to get good at it, and if anyone has any tips.. i'll be getting it in the next few months probably for Christmas but i'm hoping beforehand.
http://www.compusa.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=5705675&sku=N13-4678

So that's you setting out in photography then Joe...good stuff...

Here's my first tip, download the user manual for the camera you're after buying. Have a good browse through it, it'll give you more info than you can shake a big stick at, more importantly the info will be relevant to your camera....you can download the s8000 user manual from the NIKON site below....

http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/16761/~/user's-manual---coolpix-s8000---guide-to-digital-photography

After you have your head around that, you may be interested to learn a little of about composition, general rules, image editing etc. I've posted an excellent link to photographic tutorials in this section, click below to reach that post....

Digi Tutorials

Take a look at Karl's post to see a range of images that you'll be able to achieve...Karl's point and shoot fun

If you apply yourself Joe, there's no need to spend additional money on courses etc...all you need to know is free and easily available...save yourself some money!! Of course if you run into difficulties and need a hand just let us all know and we'll help out where we can....

Thanks Tony,
Downloaded the file,
thats excellent, i didn't even think about looking for an instruction manual for it

And i'll practice as much as i can, i have a friends digital camera and theres a carnival in town so i might grab some pics tomorrow night