Beginner looking for a opening to study.

Well, start as usual, with Ruy Lopez 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5.

In openings you aren't always going to be able to play what you want because the opponent can direct the game also.  So you really want to understand well the maybe 6 or so major opening principles before spending a lot of time on any particular opening. If you understand the principles well then any opening moves you see will make sense and you can then get into any opening deeper as you wish.

That being said, I might start with two. Queens Gambit Declined Orthodox Line and Queens Gambit Accepted. Then when you play, always lead 1. d4. The ideas behind these openings are pretty straight forward and if you know them with either color it covers a lot of ground.

Facing 1.e4 as black is tricky because white has many options against 1...e5. You probably don't want to start with Sicilian 1...c5. Maybe 1...e6, the French is an OK one to study with opening principles in mind. 

But a lot of what you will learn, after the principles, will come from what you face. Might want to note every opening you run into that is unfamiliar and investigate it. That experience and study can pay off more than just digging into any random opening.

Players below expert shouldn't bother themselves with what kind of "style" they have. It's nonsense. Those threads you see where beginners ask to be identified as either positional or tactical players are delusional. Beginners don't have a style, they have weaknesses. You're likely to do more harm than good for your chess by trying to give yourself a label this early on.

Your goal should be to make logical, strong moves regardless of the position. Trying to attack when the position doesn't justify it (or missing a good chance to attack because you want to do some long maneuver) is not how you play chess. 

The point is to find appropriate moves for the position. You want a good toolset of chess skills to handle different types of positions.

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

I'm at the same stage as you SteelWolf84 so will follow this thread with interest.

SteelWolfe84;  All the above responses are good, but as a beginner, you do need one opening; study play the Scotch Game as white; reason; the first few moves are easy to remember and it quickly gets very tactical, which you need; play 1.... e5 in response to 1.e4.   1.e4 e5 , the Kings pawn openings lead to OPEN games, which are more tactical and have lots of tricks and traps which beginners need to learn to improve.   You will lose many many games, try to learn from each loss; and ask the stronger players who beat you to explain why.   See youtube videos online to see some Scotch game tactics; GM Yassir Seirawan has a good one as does National Master Dereque Kelley.   It is written "chess is 99% tactics".  Good luck.  

The ruy lopez is probably best but you should not go for the most topical variations e.g Berlin defense or the Breyer variation. One of the best ways to study openings is to go thru grandmaster games in the opening variation that you want to play. You will be able to pick up ideas from their games

I  recommend you play this since it avoids the Berlin defense and the open ruy lopez. It has been played by many of the top players and is entirely sound. 

1. e4 e5 Both white and black stake a claim in the centre.

2. Nf3 Nc6 White attacks the e5 pawn and black defends while developing pieces.

3. Bb5 White goes after the defender of the e5 pawn. 3..a6 Black can play this due to the fact that if white takes of c6 the black plays: bxc6 Nxe5 Qe7 d4 and now d6 and black will win back the pawn.

4. Ba4 Nf6 Black develops a piece and prepares to castle

5. d3 White does not allow the Berlin defense 5... b5

6. Bb3 

 https://database.chessbase.com/?lang=en This is a good website to review grandmaster games

http://www.chessgames.com/ This is also a good resource to learn openings

Good luck!

I agree w Kinghunter514 that Ruy Lopez is a better opening than Scotch Game; BUT, Lopez is highly analyzed and very STRATEGIC as well as tactical and complex; many lines are WELL known out to past first 20 moves, maybe 30; too hard for beginners.  And I think beginners need more simple and tactical; hence Scotch game.   I play 1.Nf3 in tournaments; but w casual weak players, Scotch.  

Vincent Moret's two books provide a complete opening repertoire targeted to beginner-intermediate players.  You will also learn a lot of chess in the process of reading his books as his explanations of the why's and wherefore's - principles, themes and plans - are as clear as you will ever find in an opening book (from the perspective of the amateur player).  I have the book on the White (featuring the Italian Game-Giuoco Piano) repertoire, which I think is excellent for the intended audience, and am awaiting the recently published book on the Black repertoire.  Check them out.

There are a sample pages from the books on the publisher's (New In Chess - NIC) website...

"My First Chess Opening Repertoire for White..."

https://www.newinchess.com/en_US/my-first-chess-opening-repertoire-for-white

The repertoire features the Italian Game for White against 1. e4 e5.

Check reader reviews of the book here, where my review (RLBell) lists the specific openings featured...

https://www.amazon.com/First-Chess-Opening-Repertoire-White/dp/9056916335/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503740057&sr=1-1&keywords=Vincent+moret

and his most recent repertoire book for Black....(scheduled to be available from Amazon USA in October)...

"My First Chess Opening Repertoire for Black..."

the book's table of contents indicates the openings featured in the Black repertoire...

https://www.newinchess.com/en_US/catalog/product/view/id/2355/s/my-first-chess-opening-repertoire-for-black/

There appears to be a 10% discount from NIC if you buy both books together...but NIC is in Europe and shipping to USA is relatively expensive....probably best to purchase from Amazon USA, when available...

https://www.newinchess.com/my-first-chess-opening-repertoire-for-white-and-black

Along with Vincent Moret's book, the following are also instructive introductory opening books featuring the Italian Game for White...

https://www.amazon.com/Beating-1e4-e5-Repertoire-White/dp/1857446178/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505428084&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=beating+1+e4+e5

https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Venomous-Italian-Easy-Grasp/dp/9056916742/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505428331&sr=1-1&keywords=winning+with+the+slow+but+venomous+italian

https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Openings-White-Explained-Winning/dp/1889323209/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505427829&sr=1-1&keywords=chess+openings+for+white+explained

The following provides an excellent comprehensive opening repertoire for both White and Black. Features the Ruy Lopez (aka Spanish Opening) for White against 1.e4 e5:

https://www.amazon.com/Better-Chess-Openings-Jef-Kaan/dp/1326180770/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505428595&sr=1-1&keywords=jef+kaan

Otherwise, the following list might have something that interests you.  It includes the books mentioned above.

Good Chess Opening Books for Beginners and Beyond....

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-openings-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

Finally, for other chess books on a variety of topics, you might also like to check out...

Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond....

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

As someone else said, you might be better to focus on general opening principles and on tactics. These are likely to improve your play more quickly than anything.

There are 3 basic principles I was once told that have proved useful for me:

1. King safety comes first

2. Piece development

3. Watch the whole board

It's amazing how often games I lose are because of not following one of these principles.

And a 4th rule for the fun of it: If you are ever unsure what to do, improve your worst piece.

Beginners(<1200) should only play Italian game.

It's a very good choice for virtually any level of player.  The White opening repertoire books I recommended, by Vincent Moret, Lev Alburt and John Emms, in my post #13 above, provide instructive introductions to the Italian Game.

I know that this is advice coming from a 1100/1200 player, but when I first started out, I was just moving the pieces around randomly without any idea what I was doing. I would concentrate mostly on the free lessons on anything from the opening, to the endgame as well as startegy and tactics. Enjoy, and best of luck to you. https://www.chess.com/lessons/study-plan. All lessons from beginer to advanced are all free of charge.

For someone seeking help with choosing openings, I usually bring up Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014).
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
I believe that it is possible to see a fair portion of the beginning of Tamburro's book by going to the Mongoose Press site.
https://www.mongoosepress.com/catalog/excerpts/openings_amateurs.pdf
Perhaps SteelWolf84 would also want to look at Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006).
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
"There is no such thing as a 'best opening.' Each player should choose an opening that attracts him. Some players are looking for a gambit as White, others for Black gambits. Many players that are starting out (or have bad memories) want to avoid mainstream systems, others want dynamic openings, and others want calm positional pathways. It’s all about personal taste and personal need.
For example, if you feel you’re poor at tactics you can choose a quiet positional opening (trying to hide from your weakness and just play chess), or seek more dynamic openings that engender lots of tactics and sacrifices (this might lead to more losses but, over time, will improve your tactical skills and make you stronger)." - IM Jeremy Silman (January 28, 2016)
https://www.chess.com/article/view/opening-questions-and-a-dream-mate
https://www.chess.com/article/view/picking-the-correct-opening-repertoire
http://chess-teacher.com/best-chess-openings/
https://www.chess.com/blog/TigerLilov/build-your-opening-repertoire
https://www.chess.com/blog/CraiggoryC/how-to-build-an-opening-repertoire
https://www.chess.com/article/view/learning-an-opening-to-memorize-or-understand
https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-perfect-opening-for-the-lazy-student
https://www.chess.com/article/view/3-ways-to-learn-new-openings
https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-understand-openings
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9035.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627110453/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen169.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9029.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7277.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9033.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9050.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627104938/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen159.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627022042/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen153.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
"... Overall, I would advise most players to stick to a fairly limited range of openings, and not to worry about learning too much by heart. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)
"... Once you identify an opening you really like and wish to learn in more depth, then should you pick up a book on a particular opening or variation. Start with ones that explain the opening variations and are not just meant for advanced players. ..." - Dan Heisman (2001)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626180930/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman06.pdf
"... To begin with, only study the main lines ... you can easily fill in the unusual lines later. ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)
"... I feel that the main reasons to buy an opening book are to give a good overview of the opening, and to explain general plans and ideas. ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)
"... If the book contains illustrative games, it is worth playing these over first ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)
"... the average player only needs to know a limited amount about the openings he plays. Providing he understands the main aims of the opening, a few typical plans and a handful of basic variations, that is enough. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)
"... For inexperienced players, I think the model that bases opening discussions on more or less complete games that are fully annotated, though with a main focus on the opening and early middlegame, is the ideal. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)
"... Everyman Chess has started a new series aimed at those who want to understand the basics of an opening, i.e., the not-yet-so-strong players. ... I imagine [there] will be a long series based on the premise of bringing the basic ideas of an opening to the reader through plenty of introductory text, game annotations, hints, plans and much more. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627055734/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen38.pdf
"The way I suggest you study this book is to play through the main games once, relatively quickly, and then start playing the variation in actual games. Playing an opening in real games is of vital importance - without this kind of live practice it is impossible to get a 'feel' for the kind of game it leads to. There is time enough later for involvement with the details, after playing your games it is good to look up the line." - GM Nigel Davies (2005)