Is my camera holding me back?

[Bitter Jeweler]

I think what is meant correctly, is ambient light.

But it's really being nit picky. :meh:

 

[Derrel]

FOr over 30 years, Nikon's "advanced amateur" camera bodies have found there way into the hands of professionals in all fields that used small, 35mm-style cameras. THe Nikon FM, FE, FM-2,FE-2, N8008, N90s,and F100, as well as the D100 and D90, and D200 and D300, and now the D7000, have ALL had capabilities that were advanced enough to satisfy both serious amateur and professional photographers. The D5000 and D5100 are entry-level cameras. They lack some capabilities that more-costly cameras have. It's pretty simple...either the photographer needs to "work around the camera's limitations", or the camera is so capable that the photographer never has an excuse except himself.

 

[GeorgieGirl]

I think what is meant correctly, is ambient light.

But it's really being nit picky. :meh:

There are a fair amount of photgraphers who use the term Natual Light. 'I am a natural light photographer'...And I have seen here on more than one ocassion others insist that flash is natural light as well. Picking it further though, ambient light can mean natural light, but it can include other forms of lighting that are man made as well and in addtion to.

My curiousity has been why there an insistence that flash is natural lighting, unless the terminology for Natural Lighting is not very strict.

 

[vtf]

I think what is meant correctly, is ambient light.

But it's really being nit picky. :meh:

There are a fair amount of photgraphers who use the term Natual Light. 'I am a natural light photographer'...And I have seen here on more than one ocassion others insist that flash is natural light as well. Picking it further though, ambient light can mean natural light, but it can include other forms of lighting that are man made as well and in addtion to.

My curiousity has been why there an insistence that flash is natural lighting, unless the terminology for Natural Lighting is not very strict.

I'm not really one to fight the "flash is natural light" fight, really don't care, I use flash and withourt it I think it makes life harder in certain situations. But I read quite alot of this person's blog and website and couldn't find a reference to natural light so I wondered where Sabrina got that she was, I may have missed it.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

GG, I agree with you. I dunno if this has become forum specific, this "but flash IS natural" thing. It's kinda silly to me.

 

[Derrel]

Electronic flash as natural light...yeah I agree with that...so, lemme see, we take a small glass cylinder, run some wires through it, suck out all the air and then fill it with gas, seal the ends and all the gas inside the flash tube, then run very brief itsy-bitsy bits of 800 volt current, stored inside of one to six capacitors, through the wires that run inside the gas-filled tube...the gas becomes "excited" and lets off photons!!! Yeah, sure that's pretty much a naturally-occurring way that intense yet incredibly brief flashes of light happen, all the time, in nature. Why in fact last week I was watching the sunrise and thought to myself, "Hey, this is just like a Vivitar flash...well, like ten billion of 'em, all going off in sequence,over and over and over and over and over."

 

[KmH]

'Natural', or sunlight, is made at the center of the Sun when 4 hydrogen atoms fuse into helium atoms (the proton-proton chain). The density in the core of the Sun is about 150 times more dense than water, though hydrogen and helium are gases. The temperature at the core of the Sun is about 15 million degrees. The high temperature allows the protons to overcome their Coulomb Repulsion threshold so fusion can take place.

In the process of nuclear fusion photons are made. Photons are the basic unit of all light - light made by the Sun, a flash unit, an incandescent lamp, a match, an LED, a candle - all light.

The photons made at the core of the Sun then begin a journey from the Sun's core to it's surface. That journey has been estimated to take from 10,000 to 170,000 years, plus an additional 8.3 minutes to travel at approximately 186,282 miles per second the average 93,000,000 miles the Sun is from Earth.

 

[Derrel]

Natural light comes from the sun...

Artificial light is created by things like incandescent lights, electronic flash units, quartz-halogen bulbs,etc.

Just as animals that roam across the countryside are "wild" animals, and animals that live in concrete and steel enclosures are "captive" animals.

If one wants to be a dick about it, he can call electronic flash "natural light". We can all smile, and pat him on the head, and snicker behind his back...

 

[SabrinaO]

If you are serious about progressing as a professional, and your intention is to have a sucessful buisiness, then I think just about any investment toward that goal is worth it. Just be careful to weigh your cost of doing buisiness against the money you're putting into it. Most "up and coming" photographers are actually loosing money. Depending on your business situation, it may even be something you can write off as a business expense. Personally, if I was in your situation, I would probably just save up my personal savings until I could pay for it outside of my buisiness costs, because I would look at a new camera body, that is helping me to continue actually learning to be a professional photographer...as sort of a half buisiness half personal expense, and a "start up" investment for my goals. (Just like any lighting, insurance costs, web development, marketing, etc.... would be when starting a new buisiness.)

Anyway, take it from somebody who has been using the D5000 and the nifty 50 pretty much exclusively since I started on this venture... It's a decent little camera, and it can take you a long way. But I will admit to being "held back" on many occasions due to its limitations, and I think a full frame camera, with commander mode, high ISO capabilities, internal motor, among many other bonuses would be invaluable. Granted, there are plenty of other things that are JUST AS invaluable, here's a short list:

-good knowledge and practice of "seeing" light. You can utilize this in so many creative ways with outdoor "natural" lighting. It's trickier, and will often limit the locations you choose to shoot in..But it will also make you more creative, and purposeful with your photography.

-Any off camera flash, and a good knowledge of how to use it. Yes, I know...I love working with natural light only..But I have learned that in those situations where it's so dark that you're wishing for a higher ISO camera, it's more likely that an OCF would give you a better result than bumping the ISO on any camera body. You can make the "grain" work to your advantage on any camera that you've raised the ISO on, when you're using good natural light in the right way. Maybe you've seen some of the beautiful black and white conversions on pictures with all natural light, with lots of grain...it gives it sort of a nostalgic feel. But if you have a high ISO performance camera, you're wayyyy more likely to just say "ah what the heck..I"ll just raise the ISO" in situations where you *could* have used the light much more wisely and gotten a much better shot with a lower ISO. I could definitely see that being a trap to fall into if a photographer's first solution to "being held back by low light situations" is to get a camera that will shoot at higher ISO's.

Also..along the lines of using flash...it really can look natural, especially in those low light situations. It doesn't have to be overpowering, it can be subtle. It can fill with just that extra bit of light that you need to expose the scene. I have taken some shots using my "pop up flash" because it was all I had. I would just hold a card up to the base of the flash, and angle it so my light would bounce off in the right direction, and create some soft, extra ambient light, so I could still get the look I wanted. You could probably get even more creative and precise with the use of a good OCF, or just a nice speed light and bounce card.

These are some older shots from last year....but they show what I mean about bouncing my pop up flash with a card, and still looking like natural light. These were taken in a DARK room. I mean pitch black dark. There were only a couple of candles on the wall, at night in an old schoolhouse...so the "natural" light in that scene would have needed to be shot at about ISO 3500 minimum, and the candle light would have cast odd shadows on my subject.

This was the pop up flash result:

I'm not showing these to say LOOK I'm soooo awesome by any means LOL. These are older pictures, and I know they have issues. (Red lobster skin on the groom much? haha). But, to me, they show that even a basic pop up flash can create soft, directional lighting that mimics the effect that I love about using natural light. And it didn't cost me 2,000+

Anyway..I guess what I'm saying..is that if you feel like a better camera would help your business, and it doesn't hurt your business to make the investment, you should go for it. But just don't overlook the other, more simple and less expensive, alternatives before you make the plunge. I really believe that it's worth it to come to the point where you feel that you've mastered the simple things I listed above, before you look for new equipment to solve your problems.

P.S. I would probably have personally taken the plunge and bought a D700 several months ago...but I ended up choosing between a new camera or a violin bow that wasn't well...broken in half lol. The violin bow was a bit more of an urgency

Thank you so much for this post! You've given me a lot to think about... which is good! I think i'm going just going to try to perfect my flash photography before just running out and buying a high ISO camera. Those are beautiful photos btw. I would have never guessed you used flash.. especially a pop up!

 

[SabrinaO]

I wouldn't say they are amazing

To each their own!

Point me to where it says she's a natural light photographer. I am one too, flash is 100% natural, it's a play on words if she says that.

Because I know her. You are also free to ask her on her fanpage if you would really like to know.

Also... why do you consider flash as natural light??

 

[Derrel]

Flash is natural light because it requires 1) electricity held in a capacitor and 2) a gas-filled, sealed flashtube and 3) small wires or leads that can distribute 800 to over 900 volts of electricity for a couple of milliseconds to the gas sealed inside the flashbtube, in order to create a brief, intense, "explosion" of photons that are sent through a diffusion material, a Fresnel lens, or some other type of plastic or glass substance...

So, that's why electronic or bulb flash is "natural light". You know, like the wild hamburgers that roam the streets of New York City, or the natural, free-range burritos of Los Angeles, and the strangely exotic and beautiful native-spawning deep dish pizzas of old Chicago.

lolz

 

[kundalini]

Light is light regardless of its source, but has color characteristics depending on its temperature in degrees Kelvin. Natural or not, it is still light. Capturing and controlling it is our job as photographers.

 

[Derrel]

Light is light regardless of its source, but has color characteristics depending on its temperature in degrees Kelvin. Natural or not, it is still light. Capturing and controlling it is our job as photographers.

Yes. While remaining at, or below, each individual camera's maximum X-synchronization speed when using flash as all, or part of the exposure, so as to expose the entire frame, and not leave a big, broad, black band across part of the frame.

 

[bentcountershaft]

From here on out I'm only going to shoot in light provided either by lightning or by the fire that is started by the lightning. The sun and flashes can suck it.

 

[kundalini]

Are you shouting at me Derrel? If one has a broad black band across their image, then one and possibly two things have occured. 1) They have not controlled the light and 2) they have not RTFM.