Need some Christmans help

[jjmill1980]

Hello everyone!

I am new here and don't know much if anything about photography. My wife has wanted to take portraits (mostly of our kids) for sometime now. A few years back I got her a Pentax K10D with some "package" lenses. Needless to say, she has not had a great experience with trying to take portraits. Something I should point out is that if it's not easy for her to pick it up she won't.

The bug that bit her a few years back has struck again (i.e. she really wants to use that big useless camera I bought her to take pics)! She showed me a youTube video of a lady taking infant portraits (this is what my wife really wants to do) that used a fixed 50mm f/1.8 lens (i think it's this one: Amazon.com: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens: CANON: Camera & Photo ) natural window light and a reflector. Her pictures were amazing!

I have been looking to buy her a set of lights and a backdrop for sometime (something similar to: Amazon.com: ePhoto K103 Studio Lighting Kit with Carrying Case with 6x9 Foot Black and White Muslin Backdrop, 2 each 7 Foot Light Stands, 32-Inch Umbrellas and 3 45 Watt Fluorescent Bulbs: Camera & Photo ). This is what I had been planning to buy her for Christmas this year. But now I am not sure that this would give her the results she is looking for.

OK, so here is what I am trying to figure out (please consider that I have a budget of about $150 for this):

1. Will the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens fit on the Pentax K10D?
2. If the answer to #1 is no, is there a similar lens that would fit on the K10D for similar $$$?
3. What would be more beneficial to her portrait taking experience a good lens or lights? She is just tinkering with this in our home so I don't know if lights are necessary.
4. If the answer to #3 is lights, am I on the right track with the ones I linked above? If not, is there some other recommendation that would work for my budget?

If I am down the wrong rode entirely please point me in the right direction.

Please consider that I have a very limited budget for this and that my wife is doing this for fun but needs to see good results to stay motivated.

Thank you in advance!

 

[sm4him]

I'm not a portrait photographer, and so I'll let others who are address your questions, but I will make an observation here:

Hello everyone!

I am new here and don't know much if anything about photography. My wife has wanted to take portraits (mostly of our kids) for sometime now. A few years back I got her a Pentax K10D with some "package" lenses. Needless to say, she has not had a great experience with trying to take portraits. Something I should point out is that if it's not easy for her to pick it up she won't.

Portrait photography, or any other sort of really SERIOUS photography, is not something you can just pick up a camera and start doing and expect really quality results, consistently. There is no magical item that is going to make it "easy" for her to pick up and become instantly good. If your statement above is really true, then I suspect anything you buy--lights, flash, 50mm lens--is just gonna end up sitting in the closet alongside the camera.

My music minister once told me that many people who hear his wife play the piano will tell her how much THEY would love to play the piano, and how "they'd do anything to be able to play the piano like that." He said, the problem is, they WOULDN'T do "anything" to play like that...or else they'd be doing it. What they really want is to be instantly, magically GOOD at piano. They don't want to spend the hours upon hours of practice, they don't want to study music...they just want to sit down and play pretty songs.

So it is with photography. People see it done beautifully, and they want to do it too. But if they aren't willing to actually do the work it takes to GET good, well, all they'll end up with is a wish and dusty camera.
Good pianists make it LOOK easy to play piano. Good photographers make it LOOK easy to take a good photo. But the reality is, both took a lot of hard work and effort to make those "easy" results happen.

 

[jjmill1980]

sm4him, thank you for your input. I should restate what I was trying to say with "if it's not easy for her to pick it up she won't" Neither myself nor my wife believes that $$$ is a substitute for learning and work. She is a very realistic person and would never expect to pick up a camera and produce professional results "out of the box".

That being said, when you are lacking skills to do what you want their is anxiety; when you lack the tools to do what you want there is frustration. The two of these together have reduced her motivation and as a result photography has been at the bottom of her very long priority list. I am trying to address the lack of "tools", without sufficient knowledge to do so. If I am able to help reduce the frustration she will have more motivation to obtain the skills she needs and perhaps her desire for photography will no longer be at the bottom of her priority list.

 

[Johnboy2978]

After reading this post, I would say, disregard my other reply where you posted under the equipment forum.

I might suggest that instead of buying lenses, lighting equipment, etc, that you purchase some good photography books instead. Without a good foundation, a $50k Hasselblad and $100K worth of Briese lighting is going to be useless.

$150 might cover a photography course at your local community college/adult ed center. Being around others might be good inspiration to absorb the material. There are a bunch of books that you get for her as well. "Understanding Exposure" is a must have I would say. There are also a lot of good books for portraiture, lighting with natural light, etc.