Photography How To Resources: November 2011

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Finding The Perfect Camera

Now that you have been introduced to photography, you'll need a camera. Which one? I don't have the answer to that question, because it's a matter of need, style of photography you are going to do, IE: landscape, home studio, sports and such, and also how much you are going to want to use it and most important, how much you have to spend. The spend, is the BIGGEST factor in choosing a camera in my opinion.

Believe it or not, my first pro camera, the one I am still using (for now) is a...NO LIE...Kodak EasyShare Z812 IS. That's right! At the time I baught it, I wasn't thinking about using it as a professional, I only needed to capture my sons football games, (cuz it has HD video) and both my daughters choir concerts, and Christmas. The biggest thing was it was only $300.00, which still is alot, but I had it at the time. When I decided I could use it as a pro was when I saw how much a semi-pro camera really costs, ummm like 2000.00 and that wasn't/isn't happening right away. So, here are some of my protraits I took with my Kodak EasyShare Z812 IS.

Not bad? I didn't think so either. So, In my opinion it's not all about the camera, per say. It's what you do with what you have. I a have been on a mission to find a semi-pro camera because I am getting a lot more serious about what I do. It's been a year or so and I have narrowed it down to a Nikon D7000 (click the name for info on this camera) Now, How did I come to this? LOTS and lots of research! Take your time, get what you want/need. Don't settle either, save up if you have too, that's what I'm doing. Below are some AWESOME research tools that helped me find what I wanted/needed.

DON'T JUST GOOGLE CAMERAS!

Cnet reviews
Take the Cnet info and look here first! Amazon (best place to look)
Want to see what you like in action and Q&A the camera? go here. Youtube (type in your camera name and add reviews to get the best results)

Yes, I said it took me a year! I narrowed all my research to just these three things but you repeat for every camera you're looking at. Good luck my new friends. Stay tuned to this blog for more photography how to resources.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Photography Introduction

Photography is more than just taking pictures! I know, I was surprised too. With this blog I will share with you all I've learned, before, I started my photography business Five Starr Photography. There will be MANY links to resourses, web pages, Facebook pages, images, the list goes on. I will try and break it all up in sections so as not to overload you. It's ALOT, to take in all at once. I will also make sure to set up the links to all this information in New Windows, to you can bookmark & save this info. if you'd like or you can just bookmark/subscribe to this blog and visit as often as you'd like.

Here we go...

I don't care how many You tube videos you've seen, I don't care how many blogs you've read, there always seems to be something missing. Or, someone is telling you something you don't understand because most photographers have a college degree of some sort or another. I don't have that, I have a degree in having 3 children and a desire to capture their lives on film. As I am assuming you do also. You want to know, HOW they do it and WHAT to use and WHERE to go to get it! Am I right?

Hold tight my fellow, future pro photographer, I'll help you. I am still working on that PRO part of photographer myself so we can figure it out together if you'd like. If I ever miss important information, please share it here in a comment, don't be afraid, and no question is a dumb question, ask it!

I am going to start with a couple of people I think you should look into for now. The first is a chick I found on You tube, she makes photography seem easy and effortless. Her name is The Snap Chick (click on her name to check out her You tube channel). After you've watched all her vids. check out her website with even more stuff, she's for real and knows her stuff. The second person is a dude who is...OMG, so helpful and resourceful, so helpful in fact that he has a FREE lesson plan on photography. His name is Karl Taylor, you might have seen his work, it's awesome. I suggest you sign up for his FREE lessons to begin with then you can buy some more lessons if you'd like.

Next I am going to slam you with links to websites and such I feel helped me understand the business of photography, thease also helped me decide I could handle "The photography life".

Well, That's a start. I hope you'll be back cuz next I will share with you what's inside a photography studio at home or professional. Then I will give you other blog posts from where to get a good camera to backdrops and more.

See you again soon! Malonie~ Five Starr Photography