Im a senior in high school and im looking to buy my first digital SLR this summer. I have been looking at the Nikon D series and the Canon Rebel Xt and XTi……Im aminly interested in portrait photography/studio photography….I also wanted to know if the main differences between the prices of these cameras $600-$800 is because of the megapixels 6,8,10…? Also what is the best type of lense for portrait photography?
Looking to spend under $1,000

If you start off and have no equipment, I’d suggest the Canon brand. Both Canon and Nikon are fine cameras (I own a Nikon d70 myself). Nikon is more for sports/journalism and Canon for portrait. That is a wide generalization and both can do very well in either department. The price difference may be because of the megapixel count, the frames per second (3fps, 5fps etc.) and the overall quality and durability. The standard lens for portrait would be a 70-200. I like variable lenses because when I’m taking portraits, I don’t have to back up/get closer to frame the subject. You want to avoid wide angles (unless you want do to something fancy) and you don’t want to go too big a lens because you’ll be too far from your subject. Nice portrait shots have the background a little blurry, and longer lenses help that, and thats why 70-200 would be a good lens. Hope that helps.

I would love to start my own business doing wedding photography and offering portrait photography as well. I would love to hear how you started out if you have your own business, i really dont know where to start. I am at the stage where i am looking to buy a professional digital slr camera after coming to the end of my course using a 35mm film camera and i dont have a portfolio at the moment, any advice would be appreciated.

Use this basic checklist to make sure all the important steps are taken before you launch your new venture. This business checklist will make sure that you cross all your t’s and dot all your i’s before your business launch.

Steps to Starting a Business -

http://www.developer-resource.com/starting-a-business.htm

Other sites you might find helpful are:
SBA – http://www.sba.gov/
SCORE – http://www.score.org
Small Business Resource – http://www.small-business-software.net
Business Link – http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/home

Goodluck!

Hi, myself have a new canon rebel xti and this guy is selling 3 continous light kit with softboxes. I was wondering what else do i need to start doing portrait photography? Is that enough?

Here is the complete description:
This is a continuous 3000WATT variable adjustment quartz halogen lighting kit for studio use. With a 1000Watt bulb, this light has a large range of adjustment. A built in fan cools the bulb for efficient, safe operation, lengthening the life of the bulb. The overheat protection will work immediately if the temperature inside reaches temperatures greater than 200° F, protecting the fuse, the bulb and the rest of the light’s internal systems.

This series of lights is specially designed for digital cameras and digital video production. Perfect for lighting your green or blue screen for digital special effects. The softboxes diffuse the light, eliminating hot spots, creating a flattering soft light. This type of lighting works great for general portraitphoto

There’s a reason most photographers use strobes….
These lights will heat up your studio so fast that it will quickly become uncomfortable. Invest in three small Alienbee lights for your portrait work.

I have an opportunity to attend a vocational school for an 18 month Commercial Photography Program. This is there outline. Photographer’s what are you opinions? Or should I just go to an actual university?

MISSION: The mission of this program is to prepare students for employment or advanced training in commercial photography, portrait photography, wedding photography, industrial photography or the photographic digital lab industry.

Program of Study Includes:

This program consists of a planned sequence of courses.

PGY0180 – Black and White Specialist (500 hours) – Includes training in the areas of safety, principles of the digital camera, creative controls, lines of composition, perspective, available light exposures, and using a portable flash.

PGY0182 – Photography Specialist/Lab Technician (200 hours) – Content includes training in the following areas: Adobe Photoshop, making prints, scanning images, and outputting digital images.

PGY0183 – Portrait Photographer (500 hours) – Content includes training in basic portrait lighting, lenses and their effects, creating low and high key portraits of men, women and children, bridal portraits, business portraits, creating model composites, window light portraiture, and creating environmental portraits.

PGY0185 – Commercial Photographer (450 hours) – Includes training in computer tethered digital cameras, commercial lighting, multimedia presentations, table top product photography, architectural, and product photography and preparing a business plan.

Looks good, do it.
I have found you usually have a better student to instructor ratio in tech schools. And, often the classes are taught by working pros. The quality of education you receive is going to depend on the instructors, there are good and bad in Universities and Tech schools so it doesn’t matter.

I want some specific ideas of what a self portrait is. I don’t want to do this wrong. Would like a detailed answer from someone in the photography field. btw this is digital photography.

A self portrait is a painting or a photograph you take of yourself. You can do this by setting the camera in front of a mirror, stand beside the camera, zoom in so you don’t see the camera in the shot, and "fire away" until you get something you like. Or, you can do what millions of people do everyday, and just hold the camera out at arm’s length in front of yourself, and press the shutter release button. Or, you can set the camera on a tripod (or just prop it up somewhere where it won’t fall or where someone won’t walk up and take it), and use the "self timer" function (if it has this feature). Press the button and you have 8 to 10 seconds to get in front of the camera in any pose you like before the shot is taken. REMEMBER: if you take unclothed shots of yourself, they may be seen by many people that you never intended. So, imagine your parents, teachers, etc. seeing these shots, DON’T TAKE THEM, and you won’t regret it later. (Sorry, I assumed you’re a student…if you’re an adult, plug in "employer, wife, husband, minister, etc." for "parents, teachers, etc." in the last sentence.

Have fun with self portraits! Choose backgrounds that say something about who you are. Experiment with lighting, the angle of the sun or any light you’re using, and the angle of the camera (whether the camera is low looking up at you or high looking down at you).

Good luck!

Im into portrait photography. Im not wanting or needing the cutting edge camera. But one that can take good enough pictures for me to be able to work with in photoshop without too much pixelation or noise. Its memory storage doesn’t need to be enormus just enough to hold at least 50 to 100 pictures. Extra points if its easy to transfer pictures to a computer. Thank you! : ]

There’s a lot of ways of interpreting ‘affordable’. From what you’re saying I don’t think you’re wanting to spend hundreds. I think a good quality compact camera will do the job.

I would recommend the Canon Powershot A590IS. You can get it for around $110 from Amazon (rather more, sadly, if you’re in the UK). You will also need a memory card. I’d recommend a 4GB SanDisk Ultra II SDHC card that you will find for about $15/£10 on Amazon. You will also need a set of rechargeable AA size NiMH batteries (get four – two in the camera and two spare) together with a charger.

Easy transfer! Well cameras and computers don’t always get on well together so the smart answer is to buy an SDHC card reader (about $15/£10) and just copy your pictures directly from the memory card.

Have a read of this review to see how the Canon A590IS performs against others in broadly that price range. The one chosen as the best is a bit more expensive, but it’s a good choice too.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408budgetgroup/

I have a Pentax Optio 550 – it has the auto – portrait, sunset, mountain, text, etc.. Can setting adjustment be made manually? And if so, what’s what? White Balance? Focusing Area? AE Metering? Sensitivity? Sharpness? Saturation? Contrast? Have I left out any? What do these mean? Each should be adjusted which way, and how much to do what? I hear about manual adjustments to improve lighting or whatever…. My camera manual doesn’t tell this stuff. (and please reply in words that I can understand…don’t get real technical). Many, many thanks

I checked out the Optio 550 on a couple of websites, and yes of course it has manual controls.
Do you have the manual for the camera? If so, read through it step by step.

When you turn the dial to AV (which is aperture priority auto exposure)…you select the aperture value and the camera will choose an appropriate Shutter speed according to lighting conditions.
When you select TV (shutter priority auto exposure) you choose the shutter speed and the camera will select an appropriate Aperture value.
With M (manual mode) you can select both the Shutter speed AND the Aperture, giving you complete creative control.
Always try and make sure you have your ISO set to the lowest value for noise free pics.
The best way to learn is to experiment with different settings and practice, practice practice. A good basic book on digital photography is recommended so you can understand and learn basic photography principles.

Here are some websites that may help you, or just do a search on Google, because there are many more.

I am interested in wedding/portrait photography, but I’m at the beginning stages of learning and practicing. What camera would you recommend that I purchase ? Thanks.

Olympus Stylus 840 8.0MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Dual Image Stabilized Zoom: $134

- 8.0-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 16 x 22-inch prints
- 5x image-stabilized optical zoom; Face Detection
- 2.7-inch HyperCrystal LCD
- Perfect Fix in-camera editing; includes Olympus Master 2 software
- Stores images on xD Picture Cards

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0011E870Y?ie=UTF8&tag=3730042889-20

I work at a portrait studio now and have been in photography for the last 8 years, part of me wants to go to school and learn enough about photography and how to run a small business. The other part is worried that photography is a dying business with so many people doing their own photography with digital cameras & photoshop. Is it worth all that school ,money & time?

the abillity to produce great images in the camera is a dying art as people think great images are made from hours in the computer,

do what you feel is the right thing to do

a

I live in Farnborough Hampshire UK. I want to take a class for digital photograhy but my local college keeps cancelling because of low student levels. Does anyone know any tutors that will focus on portrait photography?

i searched and found some websites
i hope they could help

www.londonphotography.co.uk
www.regentacademy.com
www.SchoolsPhotography.info
uk.dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Visual_Arts/Photography/Education/Schools/
www.photoactive.co.uk
www.freelanceuk.com/photographers/photography_training.shtml
www.barrettandcoe.co.uk/
www.icslearn.co.uk/creative-skills-leisure-courses/photography/complete-photography-course/
www.photography-courses.com/