Is anyone else's head spinning?

[JerryPH]

Bah, don't listen to him.

Are you enjoying yourself? If yes, what do you care what anyone else thinks you are doing wrong... lol.

 

[JerryPH]

to be honest I think that you are taking the totally wrong approach to photography. if you really know your equipment, have a few basic times like a camera a lens and a tripod, and are creative you can take amazing pictures.

There are limits that one runs into REAL FAST with just a camera, lens and tripod. I wanted... more.

I ran into that wall within 30 days of purchasing my D200. I needed a flash, I then wanted to do macro shots... I wanted to take low light shots... I wanted to do strobist off camera shots... and I have the money to indulge myself.

How fast one wants to learn is up to them, and how much they want to spend is up to them too. As I mentioned, I have over $7500 in just over 6 months time invested in this hobby (thats NOT including the 8-10 software that I purchased, either, thats JUST hardware!)... and I am loving every slap of the shutter.

The nice thing about photography... is that there is NO one set of rules that works with everyone. We all have different budgets, different needs and different learning abilities.

As long as you are happy doing it, and are not taking anything away from someone (in the case of a mother, time away from your family or money spent on camera toys instead of diapers), who cares... really?

 

[sabbath999]

SOMEONE TAKE MY CREDIT CARD AWAY!

Ok, I will help you on this. I will PM you my address, simply mail all of your cards to me, and I will take care of them for you.



In all seriousness, I do know how you feel. I spent over $10K on this stuff last year, completely nuts, eh? (All of it cash though, no CC for me).

And that's not counting trips home to the Big Island to take pictures...

 

[passerby]

Now, I need a backpack to carry all this stuff, a tripod (ordered), and now I have started reading about all the different flashes.

The newbie syndrome. I was one so I know it, I know it well and truly

Today was my first serious day of shooting along the river nearby since I bought this camera, not even 2 weeks ago. I spent almost 3 hours clicking with what I have now - the camera and the lens of course. Now I just finish reviewing all the pictures and trying to work them out what need to be improved. They are reasonable pictures but I think I really need better lens than this.

I will travel short distance every now and then with this camera (this D40) and the lens I have now, no tripod no flash no filters no photoshop. (too much load for beginner I think). Put it simply - at the moment I like to capture what my eyes see, a bit more or less is ok.

I hope you the best and all the success. This is one of my practice for today, a river nearby:

 

[mrodgers]

......They are reasonable pictures but I think I really need better lens than this.

......no tripod no flash no filters no photoshop.

Quite a beautiful little water feature you've captured there. What do you want to improve on with this photo that a "better lens" will improve? I see you took the shot standing in the shadows of something and included the rocks in the foreground that are also in the shadows. What is it that a lens will fix for this? I see water flowing over a rock in a small waterfall type thing. Captured at a quick shutterspeed, the water's motion was "stopped". Shoot with a slower shutter speed to capture the flow of the water over the rock. Nothing a "better lens" will help out with there. I guess you could say that the details in the tree limbs and individual blades of grass are a bit blurry. I would have to guess that this has more to do with hand holding the shot as you state a D40 SLR and I could probably get a very similar shot with my cheapie non-SLR Fuji S700. Your lens and camera is far more quality than I have.

I think this particular photo would benefit from a tripod and a bit of photoshop. I don't see where a "better lens" would help out at all. The tripod will allow you to use a longer shutterspeed without blur and photoshop or equivalent (Gimp is free, Paintshop Pro is far FAR cheaper) will allow you to adjust the shadow area specifically to lighten it up.

Reminds me of my co-worker who just bought $1500 worth of Canon XTi and lenses so he could get better photos, when he says he put it in automatic mode and it shoots great. I bought a $200 camera because I wanted to learn to shoot in full manual and compose the images the way I want. I chose my Fuji S700 because I was looking for a compact to put in my pocket for snapshots until I picked up the Fuji and started looking at photography stuff on the internet. Who has the better equipment here? Me with a $200 camera learning and shooting in manual mode or my co-worker with $1500 worth so he can shoot in automatic mode?

 

[yeti]

Hi,

Yeah, I was also almost being pushed to get more equipment.

I got my camera, then a night of shooting went horribly wrong because the kit lens was horrible (and I was taking pictures at night with no tripod and no flash) Most good point-and-shoot cameras have better-quality lens than most SLR's kit lens!

So I got a better lens (ouch). Image-stabilization and everything.

Then my camera had a problem and I exchanged it to the next model up : no useless kit lens this time, just a body, but still quite expensive (double ouch).

I got my new camera, showed up with it at the local church and everyone said "What a great camera, you are now going to take pictures of everyone in the church for our photo directory". Then I had to buy a flash. (triple ouch) [Yes, the Speedlite is COOL. Just make sure to disable that annoying modeling flash mode.]

My company wanted to go to a ski-trip, so I needed a bagpack
to put all this stuff in, AND A 72mm polarizing filter (quadruple ouch).

Now I expect my credit card company to call me any day now and say "If you keep spending like that we are going bankrupt." I think I will stop now for a month or two. There is always some piece of crucial equipment missing for the perfect shot.

Oh yeah, I still need to pay for that post-processing software I've been using for the past 2 weeks...

 

[Lyncca]

My gosh! This post certainly got a lot of replies, didn't it??

First off, thank you for everyone's input -- on both sides of the matter. I do happen to agree that the equipment is just a small percentage of what makes a great picture, but on the other side, if I can afford a few toys (all cash -- my credit card is actually my bank card), my husband has no problems (you should see all his freaking expensive hobbies), and I have no kids, what the hell?

To be perfectly honest, I don't feel that a tripod, a $38 set of 3 filters, and a lens are going overboard. The original post was mostly in jest about all the KNOWLEDGE I am trying to cram into my head. I happen to be one that wants to learn all I can each step of the way before buying everything in sight, but it is hard when you are trying to learn how to do something and all it says is your built-in flash is crap and you will NOT get the effect you want with it.

I think everyone should do what makes them happy. I happen to enjoy learning about something I have always had a passion for, but couldn't produce the results I wanted due to camera limitations. Now, I just hope to be able to produce to the top of my cameras abilities...

 

[Coldow91]

I undestand where you are coming from and just wanted to pass on what I'd learned and though was important, but as someone said what is great about photography is the variety of people involved and their different ways of going about it.

 

[surrrrreal]

i'm wanting so bad to go and purchase an external flash and a tripod and new lens and filters, but i'm restraining myself. i'm a full time college student and right now, i can't afford all those things. it's killing me. i'm saving up SLOWLY. haha.

 

[passerby]

I think this particular photo would benefit from a tripod and a bit of photoshop. I don't see where a "better lens" would help out at all. The tripod will allow you to use a longer shutterspeed without blur and photoshop or equivalent (Gimp is free, Paintshop Pro is far FAR cheaper) will allow you to adjust the shadow area specifically to lighten it up.

Thanks for the encouraging words. As far as I see the picture like this is reasonably satisfying. But I have read a lot about lenses lately from the professional reviewers, and that what make me see things which last month I did not know. This picture below and small crop from it shows something that maybe what it called "purple fringing", but I am not sure. Other than this I do have tripod but I hate to carry it around when my photos will be taken in the day time while still learning - and while I am still familiarize my self with this array of menus, sub menus and buttons.

Oh btw, there are some sceneries that I thought would be good to shoot but were located at the other side of the river. If my lense has longer reach I surely would have take it. I drove around but it was located at the private property. But hey, that not really good enough excuse to by longer zoom isn't it? since 90% of my shot were taken at 18mm. Very rarely I passed 35mm.

Anyway here is the full photo and the crop at the right hand side, but the same thing in the middle as well as at the left side. I am not sure if that bluish flare color is normal. Maybe it is because the blue sky I don't know, I hope you or others can help.

 

[GoalieTony]

Quite a beautiful little water feature you've captured there. What do you want to improve on with this photo that a "better lens" will improve? I see you took the shot standing in the shadows of something and included the rocks in the foreground that are also in the shadows. What is it that a lens will fix for this? I see water flowing over a rock in a small waterfall type thing. Captured at a quick shutterspeed, the water's motion was "stopped". Shoot with a slower shutter speed to capture the flow of the water over the rock. Nothing a "better lens" will help out with there. I guess you could say that the details in the tree limbs and individual blades of grass are a bit blurry. I would have to guess that this has more to do with hand holding the shot as you state a D40 SLR and I could probably get a very similar shot with my cheapie non-SLR Fuji S700. Your lens and camera is far more quality than I have.

I think this particular photo would benefit from a tripod and a bit of photoshop. I don't see where a "better lens" would help out at all. The tripod will allow you to use a longer shutterspeed without blur and photoshop or equivalent (Gimp is free, Paintshop Pro is far FAR cheaper) will allow you to adjust the shadow area specifically to lighten it up.

Reminds me of my co-worker who just bought $1500 worth of Canon XTi and lenses so he could get better photos, when he says he put it in automatic mode and it shoots great. I bought a $200 camera because I wanted to learn to shoot in full manual and compose the images the way I want. I chose my Fuji S700 because I was looking for a compact to put in my pocket for snapshots until I picked up the Fuji and started looking at photography stuff on the internet. Who has the better equipment here? Me with a $200 camera learning and shooting in manual mode or my co-worker with $1500 worth so he can shoot in automatic mode?

This is quite a nice shot - the only (minor, tiny, miniscule) diff that you'd see with a 'better' lens is, perhaps, less blur at this shutter speed with an image stabilizing model (assuming that you're not using one here...)

Aside from that , I concur with mrodgers... technique first, then equipment...

Then again, we all like toys!

 

[BPALMER]

LYNCCA,

i am right there with ya ! dont forget it doesnt have to be all about technology either. there are some really good books out there that are really helpful,ie: bryan peterson's understanding exposure really helps to simplify some things for me and it was less than 15 dollars. also one of our sponsors offers a course for less than 90.00 that people seem to like real well(my next step). as tempted as i am by new goodies and big brown rolling in my driveway i have to keep reminding myself to stick with the basics 1st.

bp

 

[Lyncca]

LYNCCA,

i am right there with ya ! dont forget it doesnt have to be all about technology either. there are some really good books out there that are really helpful,ie: bryan peterson's understanding exposure really helps to simplify some things for me and it was less than 15 dollars. also one of our sponsors offers a course for less than 90.00 that people seem to like real well(my next step). as tempted as i am by new goodies and big brown rolling in my driveway i have to keep reminding myself to stick with the basics 1st.

bp

I've read Understanding Exposure and also have his second book and a book on shooting landscapes. Most of my "wishlist" is actually books. I really am about the learning side more than the equipment

I am focusing on landscapes because once I get my tripod I will be perfectly equiped with what I have, vs. working with models, etc. where I need more of a lighting setup, etc. I'm not ready for THAT yet.

 

[partyaddict]

i know exactlly wat u mean i have spent so much lately on camera equipment it becomes like an addiction lol. anyways i have just enrolled in a course in a nice college so that might be an idea for you and a good way in trying to understand photography with the equipment you have, rather than reading books your acing manually doing with guidance which is cool.

 

[Atropine]

If you're impatient and waiting for stuff to arrive, you could always spend some time perfecting your post processing skills. (Maybe you already know a lot about that, I'm just guessing) Once you have the gear needed you will also know what to do with the photos you shoot.

And please dont mention the lack of daylight. It's dark when I go for work and it's dark again when I leave. Sweden sucks this time of the year.