First Dslr and starting up a photography business whats best for me?

[mcguire717]

Thank you so much! I will have to visit a local specialty camera store and see which one is best in hand. I think I may have been swade to the NIKON to ensure that most likely the lenses will fit a future camera upgrade and my friend who has the NIKON really liked the d90 before upgrading to the d3s I believe. Her photos are amazing.

 

[jake337]

Thank you so much! I will have to visit a local specialty camera store and see which one is best in hand. I think I may have been swade to the NIKON to ensure that most likely the lenses will fit a future camera upgrade and my friend who has the NIKON really liked the d90 before upgrading to the d3s I believe. Her photos are amazing.

Again whatever fits your hands the best. It's also nice having a friend who's using the same platform. But if your jumping into pro level gear you can't go wrong either way. Canon and nikon pro level gear is just that, pro level gear.

 

[mcguire717]

One last question does anyone have any thoughts on the 35mm lens on the NIKON?

 

[dots]

Start a 1.8/35 thread in the Nikon section :thumbup:

 

[dots]

...oop...or even use search, for it. They may be one (at least) already.

I haven't used that lens..


cheers,

 

[cgipson1]

OP... please post some shots... would love to see how good you are!

 

[Zrock]

As stated above several times go with what feels comfortable in your hands. Its the person behind the equipment that makes the picture not the name of the camera. When i got mine i tried them both and felt the Nikon did not balance well in my hands and just did not feel comfortable. Not to mention Canon has a smoking deal on my camera when i got it. When i got mine it was a rush buy my point and shoot was way to slow and i missed one of those "once in a lifetime pic's" of my 2 month old little girl. Grabbed the visa and out the door i went

 

[Village Idiot]

Friendly reminder to keep things civil and polite to each other

Yes mother.

I would only shoot families, babies/kids in natural light.

Do you understand the implications of this statement? This limits you to two or three times a day when you can shoot to get a good sky if you're outside with no cover and that's in mostly rapidly changing lighting conditions. This means that if you do shoot outside, you'll be primarily seeking shade and at the mercy of any stray light. This means that if you're shooting indoors, you'll constantly be fighting WB of ambient light sources and if you have two separate light sources in the room (say light from a window and a standard incandescent bulb), you're going to have a huge mess that you may not be able to sort in post, no matter how experienced you are?

That also means that if you're shooting indoors, your subjects will look like corpses with bags under their eyes. This means you'll always fight to have a good catch light, a good rim light, a good hair light, a good key light, and a good contrast from lighting. This also means that the most amateur person with an off camera flash and a little bit of knowledge will most always have a one up on you no matter how much experience you have.

Photography is about capturing light and if you don't have the gumption to create the right lighting conditions, your photography will suffer. Well, at least in portraiture.

Shot mid day at a horse farm. It wouldn't have been possible without lighting equipment. NOT SHOT IN A STUDIO.

 

[bazooka]

Well said VI.

 

[mcguire717]

I can see most people on here prefer lighting equipment. That said I am not ruling out lighting equipment for a studio one day. I prefer not to invest a ton of money into equipment when I am a beginner. There are plenty of natural light photographers out there. One of my friends has a very successful natural light photography business and never uses any additional lighting equipment. I realize that I can only shoot at certain times of the day and that I am reliant on the weather conditons. This does not bother me in the least. I would prefer to gain knowledge with natural light first then when I am more knowledgeable I would venture into lighting for a studio. I'm not sure if it was meant to be helpful but some comments come across as rude. Rememeber I am a beginner and just learning.

 

[Village Idiot]

I can see most people on here prefer lighting equipment. That said I am not ruling out lighting equipment for a studio one day. I prefer not to invest a ton of money into equipment when I am a beginner. There are plenty of natural light photographers out there. One of my friends has a very successful natural light photography business and never uses any additional lighting equipment. I realize that I can only shoot at certain times of the day and that I am reliant on the weather conditons. This does not bother me in the least. I would prefer to gain knowledge with natural light first then when I am more knowledgeable I would venture into lighting for a studio. I'm not sure if it was meant to be helpful but some comments come across as rude. Rememeber I am a beginner and just learning.

Then stop being stubborn and telling us what you don't need. Lighting for a studio? Why? Why not lighting in general? A ton of money into equipment? For under $200 you can get a single off camera flash speedlight or monolight. I don't have a studio and all my shooting is done on location. I own a set of powerful lights and a set of speedlights for portability. Granted, I spent some money on them, but you don't need to spend $300-$400 on one speedlight or you don't need a $4,000 set of lights and modifiers while learning.

I don't know any natural light portrait photographers that are in business; every successful photographer that I know that's in business for themselves or for someone else uses just natural light. It's a tool just like a lens or a camera and not learning how to use it properly will cause your photography to suffer. Hell, even a fill flash on the camera can go a long way to eliminating shadows and highlights when shooting outside.

Read this:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

Look at all the OCF photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/

 

[dots]

mcguire717,
Fair enough. Taking potshots at less-than-useful assumptions isn't the way. You'll achieve what you see in your mind's eye or you'll realise you need creative lighting..even in situations you thought it unnecessary. Subtle use of additional lighting isn't always obvious to everyone.

 

[mcguire717]

How childish se people by calling someone stubborn. I do happen to know a natural light photographer who is fab and is doing extremely well for herself. I have come onto this forum for advise and not to be critized for the way I am trying to do something. I don't find it professional that people would attack me for no reason. I'm a beginner and not trying to compete with a professional at this point. Info is all I was looking for with the way I want to do things.

 

[Village Idiot]

Being a beginner and whining about the fact that we're telling you information that you don't want to hear is indeed childish. Calling someone stubborn is being realistic.

 

[Overread]

But the more experienced photographers are trying to point out that the way you want to do things is not the most advised path to take.

Try seeing it this way - you can be a natural light photographer, but if you want to be one by choice you have to first learn fully how to control and manipulate both natural and artificial light. In other words you've got to learn how to use a flash properly - then how to use two or three or more. You have to build up the skills to use those tools to a good degree and then you can make the informed choice yourself to not use those tools; whilst fully understanding what situations and conditions you are limiting yourself to.

If you approach things by not learning to use those tools you'll be a "natural light photographer" but you'll be one through a lack of understanding of anything else which will seriously hamper your results. Asides which most of the learning of flash control and light manipulation still applies for the natural light photographer - reflectors, diffusers, shade and the like are all part and parcel of both fields.