1. First of all, the digital camera you use should be an slr (single lens reflex) camera that lets you set it to fully manual, and allows for lens changes.

2. Take one basic photography class if possible. It doesn’t have to be an expensive college class or a professional class. It can be a class at your local community center. The most important thing is to have a professional photographer around that you can learn from. It also helps to have others around who are also learning, that way you can learn from them.

3. If you can’t take a photography class (and even if you can) find a photography book that covers the basics of using an slr camera. Read through each chapter once and then go out and shoot. Take it with you when you go out shooting.

4. Download some photography projects from the web that tell you step by step how to shoot various subjects to get different effects.

5. Don’t wait until you have an event to go to learn digital slr photography. They say practice makes perfect, so take your camera, your book or project sheet and go somewhere. It should be a place that you enjoy so it will inspire your creative side.

6. Try shooting different things and in different places. Shoot outdoors scenes, and then shoot indoor closeups of still lifes, like flowers.

7. Play around with the different aperture setting and keep a record of what the setting were on each image. This will help you understand what the different aperture setting do to the image. Once you understand what the aperture does to images, then work on the shutter speed settings. After that work on both of them in combination. If you really want to learn digital slr photography these two are the key to understanding photography and becoming a good photographer.

8. Join a local photography club. These places usually have a mix of beginner to more experienced photographers who are willing to share information.

9. Buy the Nikon D3000 DSLR digital camera. This beginner’s camera from Nikon comes with an in-camera guide that will teach you the basics of photography. It’s like carrying around a book or class inside of the camera. It is an entry level camera for those wanting to learn more about photography, take more professional cameras, and graduate up from the "point and shoot" camera. The Guide mode simplifies things for those just learning about apertures, shutter speeds, infinity and all that other camera lingo. The camera comes with the automatic system as well as the full manual control so after this smart camera teaches you photography, you can go it on your own.

it will be good if u plan to take a tutor, also u can take a way to take online lessons from Lynda.com or the internet bloggers on youtube. the also provide good and informative stuff!

as an amature photographer, i will recommend you to start with just Basic photography and dont go in much technicalities in the start like as u mentioned about Lighting and lenses.. this is a bit advance topic considered in photography

once u knows all the basics then move towards the lighting and taking pictures with different lenses. this will not confuse you when u learning the basics.

for camera angles you can follow this link:

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/camera/angles/

but u dont need since u have a film making background..

thats it.. hope i have provided all info related what u have asked!

check my photostream and see u at Flickr then! within a month

www.flickr.com/photos/waleedahmed

Follow photography awards and try to understand why this particular photographer wins and how he did the work.

Practice, practice, practice.

Oh I think I forgot just follow your instinct and be original.

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/

Happy shooting!

Here is the first book —> http://www.kelbytraining.com/product/the-digital-photography-book.html

A very wise old photographer once told me that a client doesn’t care if you had to hang upside down from a rope to get a shot, they only want the shot. You don’t need to go to school to learn photography, you need to get out there and start making images for publications or customers. You’ll learn soon enough if you’re making the right moves or not, and you’ll get paid for it as well.

Back in the old days of film perhaps there was something to a photography school because darkroom work was like cooking, and a school could cut short the time it took to make a GOOD consomme as opposed to just consomme, but with digital this is no longer the case.

The greatest part of photography is NOT having a "gift." The greatest part of photography is knowing how to make the shot that will please the client. Those stupendous photos you see of the moon rising over a New Mexican town, or of a glaring bulldog of a Prime Minister in wartime are because the photographer was in the right place at the right time for a once-in-a-lifetime shot. Wanna know the three-step formula for making pictures like Ansel Adams? One: live at Yosemite; Two: go to one of the great vistas and wait for the light and weather; Three: shoot the shot.

If you’re making pictures your customers like and are willing to pay for then who cares if you went to school?

Go to the library and read all you can find. Study the works of the great masters. Then go and practice what you have learned. It’s the only method I’ve ever seen that works.

I belong to two camera clubs, and recommend them also, but they’re not as much about teaching as contests, programs and field trips. You need a structured course that starts from the beginning and goes through advanced training. NYIP does that. (I have no financial interest in NYIP, just to be clear — I just think they’re the second-best to a four-year college like Brooks or RIT.)