I defiantly would prefer getting SLR; however as a beginner and obviously someone that has not accomplished this goal yet, I don’t know what would be the best buy for what I’m trying to do. My goal is to basically travel around, take nature & portrait photography and sell to whoever I can. My question is: will SLR slow me down if I’m going to do a lot of hiking and moving around? Also, would I need to set up my tripod every shot? On the business of things, are people still interested in buying film? I figured because more people are using digital some may have certain prerequisites?

Please enlighten me on the matter!

And if you want to be really helpful, help me figure out what body camera I should get [:

I have no idea how this photography business works (as you clearly see)

I guess you have never hiked with a camera before.

I carry a dSLR with battery grip, a super wide angle lens, a macro lens and a 24-85 mm lens when I hike. I carry at least seven memory cards, one in the camera and a sixpak in a holder. I also carry one battery charger I use to charge the batteries when at the motel before the next days hiking adventure.

Basically you will want to learn how to use your camera before taking it on a hike or any traveling adventure.

It will take you a minimum of a few weeks sitting with your camera in your lap and the user manual in hand to learn how to use the camera without fumbling all over the place trying to use it, so buy it in plenty of time before you intend to use it

At this time, the most purchased dSLR cameras are the Nikon D5100 and Canon 600D. Both cost under $1,000 and have all the features a proficient photographer will require,.

I was at a nighttime event recently where there were different photographers shooting with their flashes, usually pointed at the person.

I saw one guy with his flash that pointed upward to the ceiling (0 degrees), and not at the subjects he was shooting. And it would be a very bright flash – I’m guessing full power.

Just wanted to know what effect he was going for. My guess is that it’s a different lighting/diffusing technique so you don’t get that harsh shadow from shooting the flash directly at them?

Yes, he was bouncing the flash off of the ceiling to avoid the bulletproof flash shadow and the deer in headlights look.

hi y’all,
ive loved everything around pictures all my life but never had any professional knowledge in the area. i don’t have too much in savings at the moment so school is not really an option…
do you know of a good course or series of courses on dvd covering digital photography? (camera, lighting, studio, portrait photography and photoshop)

If such a class existed, it would be called film making and would include a section on videography.which hopefully would include video editing

ive loved everything around pictures all my life but never had any professional knowledge in the area. i don’t have too much in savings at the moment so school is not really an option…
do you know of a good course or series of courses on dvd covering digital photography? (camera, lighting, studio, portrait photography and photoshop)

Go to Amazon.com and in the DVD section search on camera or photography tutorials.

Then look at the comments for each prospective DVD that catches your eye.

http://www.althephoto.com

Im currently doing a gcse photography course and I am need of some photography techniques to help me in my course. Any will help and I have an Nikon slr and photoshop so I have the technology to try some out. Thankyou!

browse through different types of photography. Here’s mine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vangorkumphotography/sets/72157623193786470/

or some of other’s photos that i really like: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vangorkumphotography/favorites/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/143/sakurafn.jpg/

As the title states – What post processing has been used on this photograph? I’m starting to learn the ways of photography. Techniques, ect. And I’m trying to figure out what has been done to this photograph. Any help?

Thanks to everyone in advance.

I see no evidence of post processing.

That is simply a shot that is called a back-lit photo.

The photographer exposed for the hand which was in shadow and let the background overexpose

Here are the details of that shot

Filename:sakurafn.jpg
Size:143Kb
Resolution:600 x 600
Camera used:PENTAX PENTAX K-x
Orientation:Horizontal (normal)
Focal length:18.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 27.0 mm)
Aperture:f/5.6
Date/Time:2011-03-22 17:24:47
Exposure time:1/80
Lens F-Number:f/5.6
ISO:320
Whitebalance:Custom
Metering mode:Multi-segment
Exposure:Manual
Jpeg Quality:JPEG (old-style)

Learn about composition, light, exposure and depth of field. Then practice by always thinking about the light, the composition, the exposure and how much or how little depth of field you want. Doing this will help you avoid falling into what I call the "machine gunner mentality" – take 300 exposures and hope – HOPE – a few are worth saving. I’ve no doubt someone will tell you to: "Just go out and shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot. That’s how you gain experience." This is about the worst advice you can get. The only "experience" you’ll gain is in taking snapshots. Good photography requires thinking – thinking about your composition, thinking about the light, thinking about the exposure, thinking about depth of field. Since thinking requires time there is no way to be thinking about those elements if you fall into the "machine gunner mentality". The goal should be quality, not quantity.

Here are some sites you should spend time on:

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

http://www.kamerasimulator.se/eng/?page_id=2

http://www.photonhead.com

http://www.illustratedphotography.com/photography-tips/basic

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Another technique you need to learn is to pay as much attention to everything else in the frame as you do to your main subject. Look for litter, power lines, dead branches, an overexposed area in the background, a dull sky – anything that might be a distraction to someone looking at your pictures. By doing so you’ll learn that a slight change in your composition can eliminate or at least minimize any distractions.

http://www.flickr.com/drifter45h/3991210245/ After settling on this composition but before releasing the shutter I picked up 3 cigarette butts, a discarded tissue and a plastic bottle.

Don’t fall into the "Oh I can fix it in Photoshop" mentality either. The idea is to "Get it right in the camera" and keep your use of an editing program to a minimum. An image file that suffers from a blurry image caused by subject or camera movement or is underexposed or overexposed or is out of focus is a lost cause. You might be able to improve it if its only slightly under or over exposed but if its out of focus or blurry all you’ll be doing is wasting your time.

So learn to concentrate on the light, the exposure, the composition and the depth of field and learn to pay attention to everything in the frame.

just out of curiosity(:

Whatever it takes to get the shot I want.

wondering if i should upgrade my camera body or just accesorize what i already have?
i have the canon rebel xs with two lens the 70-300mm and the 18-55mm
a bower flash which never gets used .

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nature-Wildlife-Photography-by-Megan-Webb/206243579403220 here is my work . i do mostly animals and nature and was wondering if iwere to upgrade what would be the best camera for me to get , also what are some tips and techniques you think i should work on. i feel my work is good but i like to have other peoples opionions.

The Xs isn’t a horrible camera and I honestly believe that you haven’t come close to hitting it’s limits with your current skill (based on your portfolio).

As you mainly do wildlife and landscapes, lighting gear isn’t going to be very useful to you.

My first suggestion is lay off the editing. You over edit all your images like crazy, it lowers any artistic value they might have had.

Next, learn about photography. I don’t want to be nasty but you could get MUCH better pictures than these with the gear you currently have.

Learn how to expose your shots manually. You seem to have a knock at finding some nice shots to shoot but the images are desaturated and blurry and it’s not because of the camera.

If you don’t have a tripod or monopod, get one.

When shooting with a telephoto, to keep the image as crisp as possible, try to shoot faster than your focal length. I know, I sound like han solo explaining that the millenium falcon is fast by saying he did a run in 9 parsecs (a measure of distance) instead of time but bear with me.

Let’s say you are shooting with your 70-300 at 200mm focal length, to minimize blurriness, you need to shoot at 1/200th of a second or faster (1/400, 1/800 …). This is to combat motion blur caused by the shaking of the super long lens as you press the shutter release.

Also, don’t shoot at the widest aperture possible. All lenses have what’s called a "sweet spot", an aperture with image clarity is best, that sweet spot is one or two fstops higher than the minimum so if your prosumer lens can do let’s say f5.6 at 200mm then your sweet spot would be around f11. this is especially true of consumerglass like the Signma 70-300 f3.5 – 5.6 … pro glass like the Canon 70-200 f2.8 are much clearer (but are also 4 times the cost).

If f11, 200mm, 1/250, ISO 100 doesn’t give you enough light, play with your ISO a bit. With the Xs, you should be good up to ISO 400 at least, giving you 2 extra stops of light.

Learning how to use your camera will improve your picture much more than upgrading the body or buying new glass … admitedly, if you have money to spend … a good lens is a good idea but you need to buy a GOOD lens … not that consumer crap with variable aperture.

There are like 1000 lighting techniques. I really just want to know the basics and the dos and don’ts.

Remember that I’ll use them in filming and not only photography.

If there was only one best lighting technique there would not be thousands. Starting out: light both the background and the subject, try to get some light behind the subject to separate it from it’s environment and don’t put the light too low or too close to the camera ’s lens axis.