Beginner needs help!

[jnm]

i dont usually post in these threads but when i do it is usually the same thing. so long as you are honest about your abilities, set and manage their expectations to a realistic level, and the results are within those expectations then i dont see anything wrong with it. if you're open and honest and people still want to pay then go for it, but be prepared that you may have to offer refunds still, just be open and willing to.

it's when you try and hide things from people and just hope & pray the results are great or fake it till you make it by showing a handful of shots you got lucky with as typical results that things go wrong and go wrong in a hurry.

 

[ChasK]

The point is you're a beginner and you're opening a photography business. You should be knowledgeable about your product before you sell it in any business.

Amen!

 

[ChasK]

Nina, You asked for advice, I took the time to look at your site, read your customer feed back (funny they were all posted the same day), prices (ok $65 each, your still working below your cost), look at your portfolio, and evaluate your question and give an honest reply. Granted I may have been harsh, but your arrogance toward my craft is really insulting. To think all you need is a little bit of practice taking snapshots is lunacy. You really should learn the craft before you hang up your shingle. Having a lot of equipment is not the mark of a really good photographer. And the plural form of lens is lenses. The really sad part is you don't even realize the absurdity of what your attempting to do. I wish you luck!

 

[jackieclayton]

I feel bad... altough we all know that Nina does have a lot to learn before jumping in we can at least try to answer her questions and lead her in the right direction. I have some free time this morning and will try to explain some things (because its good review for me if I can successfully explain it to someone else..lol!)... hopefully I don't screw my terms up

What would be the best lens to take newborn photos?

that would depend on your lighting, amount of space, and camera. newborns are pretty static, so you don't really need to worry about how fast your lens is at focusing. Maybe a 50mm or 85mm prime.. that is what a lot of photographers use in a home studio. Any standard to telephoto lens with a large aperture will be suitable for portraits.

I'm not sure where to set the lights, or what setting to have my camera on! The photos come out better to me when the flash of my camera is off. I can set my flash on the lowest and it still comes out TOO much.

you should check out the strobist blog for lighting tutorial: Strobist: Lighting 101 Sounds like you are using strobe and you have some continuous lights so the site will help you understand the concepts of the light you are using.

Some other sites worth checking out that have been helpful to me as far as positioning.. but like I said... learning where you put your lights before you learn the concept of your lighting will be fruitless: Portrait Lighting
Foundations of Lighting Placement

As far as camera settings, I mention that a little bit down below but knowing the basic exposure triangle but here is a cheat sheet i found: http://glark.org/media/exposure-cheat-sheet.pdf If you're still unsure you can just put it in auto but you're so limited when you do that... so first things first... learn about exposure.

I'm trying to do infant/toddler photos the most and we all know they move TONS! So I need my flash right!?

Flash helps illuminate pictures by freezing action in an insanely small instant of time. You don't need a flash in order to take pictures of toddlers because they are moving... you will need a flash (or more light) if your current available light is not enough to get clear pictures... your first thought is that ok, I have to increase my shutter speed to take a quick shot... (fast shutter= less light into the camera) but you also need a large aperture because you want a nice depth of field in your portrait (large aperture needs more light in the camera). In order to achieve both of these settings successfully, you need enough light penetrating the lens so you dont have to have an open shutter so long that it will cause blur and so you can shoot with your lens wide open. You could theoretically boost your ISO up, but it will cause grain that isn't preferrable in portraits... so the lowest ISO you can use that gives a correct exposure is ideal. If you don't have quite enough light, thats where a tripod comes in handy to eliminate camera shake. I don't know what your available light is, so I cant tell you if you need a flash in order to take pictures of moving toddlers. You as the photographer need to evaluate your setting and make that determination. If you are referring to your built-in camera flash and not a flash that you can bounce, i'd probably never ever use that thing for portraits as it will give you a hard, unpleasant light... unless you could diffuse it someway but still, I've always considered the popup flash is in portrait photography is a nogo.

Help! Where do I put my lights? What do i put my camera on? I want clear photos just like that ones i get from outside!

You can get clear photos inside, but don't expect them to look like the ones outside... the sun is your main light and you use artificial fill... when you move indoors you have to artificially produce a main light and your fill lights, so you're going to get a different look (hence, why some prefer studio settings and some prefer on-location). You need to study up on lighting in general and then after you know what you have, then you can make a determination on where to place the lights... and that is achieved by practice practice practice. As for your camera, if you can get a clear shot without a tripod, go handheld... if not, use a tripod. I'd say though, if you have enough light I would't be concerned with fast moving toddlers... i'm assuming you're working with a backdrop setup so your space will be limited

Also.. whats a must lens?
I have a D60 & D40x

I mentioned the two primes above, but you mentioned you had like 10 lenses... what are you choosing from and we can help narrow your choices for what would be suitable.

Whew!! its a novel but it was good review for me... lol!

 

[Craig G]

 

[jackieclayton]

Nina yes there is an ignore! Hey I would like to know more about the Art Institute I looked into them but never went forward. My DH deployed today so that will give me somthing to do to pass the time.

I just used the ignore feature. Things look a lot better now :thumbup:

Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts - Military OneSource

Go there...
make an account, when you pick a school sign up for NYIP - Photography | Photography School | New York Institute of Photography | NYIP

I couldn't figure out how to create a plan.. so after i registered for the school, I called the mycaa and they bascially helped me set up everything

this site sucks... coast guard spouses are ineligible... BOOOOO!!!! layball:

 

[PatrickHMS]

I feel bad... altough we all know that Nina does have a lot to learn before jumping in we can at least try to answer her questions and lead her in the right direction. I have some free time this morning and will try to explain some things (because its good review for me if I can successfully explain it to someone else..lol!)... hopefully I don't screw my terms up

What would be the best lens to take newborn photos?

that would depend on your lighting, amount of space, and camera. newborns are pretty static, so you don't really need to worry about how fast your lens is at focusing. Maybe a 50mm or 85mm prime.. that is what a lot of photographers use in a home studio. Any standard to telephoto lens with a large aperture will be suitable for portraits.

I'm not sure where to set the lights, or what setting to have my camera on! The photos come out better to me when the flash of my camera is off. I can set my flash on the lowest and it still comes out TOO much.

you should check out the strobist blog for lighting tutorial: Strobist: Lighting 101 Sounds like you are using strobe and you have some continuous lights so the site will help you understand the concepts of the light you are using.

Some other sites worth checking out that have been helpful to me as far as positioning.. but like I said... learning where you put your lights before you learn the concept of your lighting will be fruitless: Portrait Lighting
Foundations of Lighting Placement

As far as camera settings, I mention that a little bit down below but knowing the basic exposure triangle but here is a cheat sheet i found: http://glark.org/media/exposure-cheat-sheet.pdf If you're still unsure you can just put it in auto but you're so limited when you do that... so first things first... learn about exposure.



Flash helps illuminate pictures by freezing action in an insanely small instant of time. You don't need a flash in order to take pictures of toddlers because they are moving... you will need a flash (or more light) if your current available light is not enough to get clear pictures... your first thought is that ok, I have to increase my shutter speed to take a quick shot... (fast shutter= less light into the camera) but you also need a large aperture because you want a nice depth of field in your portrait (large aperture needs more light in the camera). In order to achieve both of these settings successfully, you need enough light penetrating the lens so you dont have to have an open shutter so long that it will cause blur and so you can shoot with your lens wide open. You could theoretically boost your ISO up, but it will cause grain that isn't preferrable in portraits... so the lowest ISO you can use that gives a correct exposure is ideal. If you don't have quite enough light, thats where a tripod comes in handy to eliminate camera shake. I don't know what your available light is, so I cant tell you if you need a flash in order to take pictures of moving toddlers. You as the photographer need to evaluate your setting and make that determination. If you are referring to your built-in camera flash and not a flash that you can bounce, i'd probably never ever use that thing for portraits as it will give you a hard, unpleasant light... unless you could diffuse it someway but still, I've always considered the popup flash is in portrait photography is a nogo.

Help! Where do I put my lights? What do i put my camera on? I want clear photos just like that ones i get from outside!

You can get clear photos inside, but don't expect them to look like the ones outside... the sun is your main light and you use artificial fill... when you move indoors you have to artificially produce a main light and your fill lights, so you're going to get a different look (hence, why some prefer studio settings and some prefer on-location). You need to study up on lighting in general and then after you know what you have, then you can make a determination on where to place the lights... and that is achieved by practice practice practice. As for your camera, if you can get a clear shot without a tripod, go handheld... if not, use a tripod. I'd say though, if you have enough light I would't be concerned with fast moving toddlers... i'm assuming you're working with a backdrop setup so your space will be limited

Also.. whats a must lens?
I have a D60 & D40x

I mentioned the two primes above, but you mentioned you had like 10 lenses... what are you choosing from and we can help narrow your choices for what would be suitable.

Whew!! its a novel but it was good review for me... lol!

Thanks for taking the time to answer OP's specific questions, that is all well and good, but when you actually read the individual questions asked, how much does it help her to continue to let her believe that she is anywhere near being close to being qualified to portray herself as a professional photographer, and to charge money for the (snapshot) work we know will be a result, given the technical level (preschool) of the questions that are being asked that indicate she has little to no knowledge of what she is doing even as a beginner, much less a pro.

What about classes, internships, don't believe her to have done much at all (if any) in terms of reading any books, instruction manuals or guides.

Get a body, 10 lenses you don't have a clue as to what to do with them, start asking questione on TPF and put your shingle out...

I can't really envision 10 different lenses one would even have for a D40X/D60 unless someone just went out and ordered all of them.

OP might be too arrogant to understand, and all she wanted us to say was what what she wanted to hear, but we are just enabling her if someone does not tell her the truth.

And since when is telling the real truth being rude, just because OP will not accept it?

But, throughout this entire thead, with every post made by OP, this whole thread becomes more and more absurd.

 

[manicmike]

^No one in this thread was rude until the OP responded back with her arrogant comments. I stand by what I said earlier that anyone owning a business should know their product before selling it.

There is also this thing called google that works pretty well for finding answers.

 

[Crissybobissy]

I just wanted to post that I agree with every single poster before me to some extent, even yourself.

You did not call yourself a professional, posted in the beginner forum and while it may be slightly misleading to someone to see you promoting yourself through your site and charging a fee it falls on them to actually research the photographer before making a decision. If they like the quality of your photo's and the price attached to them then that's awesome. You'll gain some experience and hopefully they can pay a small fee for some portraits that they themselves couldn't take.

Having said that, for portrait work I think you should probably experiment with a 50mm f/1.8 or a 50mm f/1.4 lens. The 1.8 will give a shaper focus with better bokeh once you get the shot adjusted but the 1.4 is slightly easier to use.

These guys on here aren't giving you a hard time, if anything they are doing you a favor. Nobody just falls into a photography career. Reading all the books written can give you the knowledge you need to take stunning pictures, but until you actually have the experience to go with it then well... you're just a very informed gal with a camer KWIM?

 

[jackieclayton]

Thanks for taking the time to answer OP's specific questions, that is all well and good, but when you actually read the individual questions asked, how much does it help her to continue to let her believe that she is anywhere near being close to being qualified to portray herself as a professional photographer, and to charge money for the (snapshot) work we know will be a result, given the technical level (preschool) of the questions that are being asked that indicate she has little to no knowledge of what she is doing even as a beginner, much less a pro.

What about classes, internships, don't believe her to have done much at all (if any) in terms of reading any books, instruction manuals or guides.

Get a body, 10 lenses you don't have a clue as to what to do with them, start asking questione on TPF and put your shingle out...

I can't really envision 10 different lenses one would even have for a D40X/D60 unless someone just went out and ordered all of them.

OP might be too arrogant to understand, and all she wanted us to say was what what she wanted to hear, but we are just enabling her if someone does not tell her the truth.

And since when is telling the real truth being rude, just because OP will not accept it?

But, throughout this entire thead, with every post made by OP, this whole thread becomes more and more absurd.

ya i'm not saying anyone on here was being rude to her... i think everyone spoke stone cold truth, those basic questions she asked should not be asked by someone who is accepting money for their work... period. i just felt bad that she had questions in her first post that werent answered. I'd like her to come back to the forum when she needs advice and feedback and know that they will be answered...and hopefully she won't take offense when we answer truthfully, because ya, her response to our feedback was something less than grateful which is somewhat offensive to those of us who take the time out to read her post and respond to it when others would be much more appreciative. but I was thinking maybe she got mad because we didn't help answer her questions to begin with.... i dunno... or maybe I just care too much....either way... hopefully i didnt waste my time and i was able to lead her in some sort of direction. if this is truly her life passion as she says on her bio on her website then she'll want to take the time and learn a thing or two about it. If not... well, i hate to say it but she's embarrassing herself. ugh... I've spent way too much time on this thread... good luck with your endeavors OP... :salute:

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

... or maybe I just care too much....

Stop caring so much.
Just roll your eyes.

:roll:

 

[Joves]

These guys on here aren't giving you a hard time, if anything they are doing you a favor. Nobody just falls into a photography career. Reading all the books written can give you the knowledge you need to take stunning pictures, but until you actually have the experience to go with it then well... you're just a very informed gal with a camer KWIM?

Thank-you.
You really want to know which lens is best experiment with each lens. If you have to go by one of those life size baby dolls set up as if you are shooting a session lighting and, all. Then later review your shots and, see what you got. All you have to do to see the settings is Right Click, Properties and Show Details. Back in the good old film days you used to have to keep a notebook and, either develope your film or, wait to get it back. This is how you learn. Now if you want to see this as negative then that is fine but, it is what most of us old timers did.
Also saying you are new to photography and having 10 lenses and, asking which one to use sound as if you havent even put in the effort to find out the answer for yourself as, asking wether you need lighting. If you were asking this as say for just shooting your own kids then I bet the responses would have been way different. But since you said you were going into business and, wanting all the answers you got what you didnt want. And also this forum has been tame, some of the other forums I go to would have made this look like a tea party.

 

[PatrickHMS]

If I had a lens that I wanted to know what it did, I would probably think of taking such lens out and shooting with it to learn what it can do. That's even easier to do in a digital world than it ever was with film.

Imagine, doing research and learning on my own,

silly me....

 

[mostly sunny]

I am also new and I can relate to the OPs feelings. How can a newbie feel comfortable posting openly if they think they are going to be slammed by the old timers? If words were chosen as carefully as photographs were taken by some of the responders, she would welcome your feedback more readily. It seems that because this is digital and not face-to-face, some responders choose to respond with a negative disposition (even rude) rather than a positive. Almost anything can be said in a positive manner. I am sure you do not talk that way to people in your daily business practices.

This is why I am scared to post my pictures. They all make fun of my pictures. (With the exception of one or two of you.. you know who you are.)

 

[mom2eight]

It does make it scary for us new folks. Not because of the CC, but because some are just plain rude.