Please help! would love yalls advice

[agirlwithadream]

Hello! :heart:

I am new to this forum and am so glad I found it. I have alot of questions about photography. I took photography back in the 11th grade. Though I didnt like the class because of the teacher I realized I had a passion for shooting pictures. I am a senior right now and am trying to figure out where to go with photography. I am really confused about all of this!!!

My first question is.. What do you recommend doing when you get out of highschool to persue photography? I know there are so many options. One of the colleges near me offers courses yet all you get at the end of the year is a certificate. I have heard alot of photographers dont go the college route. I also have the option to take classes through Ritz Camera or Gibbs Art Gallery. This would just help me get experience im guessing. My money is very limited and I dont want to do what a ton of people do which feel college is the only route or jump into something that takes all of your money off the bat u know! :meh:

Second question. I have a Dell computer that is pretty slow. We got it a while back and its held up but it has alot of viruses ect on it. I am looking into getting a lap top anyway that would be easy to take with me on trips and download my pictures onto. What kind of computer/laptop would you recommend for photography? I dont know to much about computers so when I go into a computer store and the person starts telling me which 10 000 dollar computer I need and why it sounds like hes speaking in another language. That is very frusterating. I know alot of computers have Photo shop on them and that many people edit their pictures on there. Not sure if its something u have to have or not.

And Last question for now! I was wondering what kind of camera you would recommend? I have a Cannon Rebel (non digital) 35mm which has worked alright however it is very heavy to take around and hurts ur arm after a while of carrying it outside. I am looking for a very good camera that has easy settings and is not heavy. Also one that has a good zoom. I like to capture things from far away and I cant do that with mine without being really obvious.

Ok well ill end here. thanks SO MUCH for reading this. any help to any of those questions would be awsome. u can also email me at [email protected] if you would like to! take care night

 

[darin3200]

1. Shoot. A lot. It's the best way to learn.
2. For laptops, get something with a bigger harddrive for pictures. And make sure it has a DVD burner for backups. Something with more RAM is nice.
3. What's your budget? What kind of photography do you do?

 

[Torus34]

There are three routes to knowledge of photography: classes, self-study and apprenticeship to a pro.

 

[agirlwithadream]

To Darin3200 thanks so much for your reply ! really appreciate it. Its a good thing to know that I should get a bigger harddrive for pictures. I didnt know that before! I know its sad isnt it lol.is there a brand of computer that you would recommend or programs I should buy to upload onto the computer. I am so new to all of this! I like alot of different kinds of photography. My favorite is photographing animals. I have done black and white photography before and developed pictures that way. Also like to photograph pictures and land scapes.

To Torus 34 thanks for your advice. Sounds like a combination of all 3 of those things would be really good!

any other ideas would be awsome!!!!! thanks again to those who took the time to read and to those who replied.

 

[darin3200]

Any major brand of laptops will probably be fine. For software you can buy Photoshop elements for about $80. There is a similar program call 'the gimp' which does about the same thing and it's free.

Cameras you might want to look into are the Olympus C-5050 or Olympus C-5060.

If you go the digital SLR route the Canon digital rebel or digital rebel XT. Or nikon d50

 

[agirlwithadream]

Thanks Darin for your grat advice again. I have heard that the Cannon Rebel is a good digital camera. Might check into that. Im trying to keep the camera 300 dollars or below if possible..and it may not be! I have also been told by alot of people to get the Photoshop Elements cd so I am most definatly going to get this thanks for telling me!!!!

any more advice welcome!...

 

[niccig]

Since I'm also more or less just starting out, I can't offer much advice on your photo-related questions. However, since I spend all day every day with computers...
As for your current computer, how old is it? There's probably nothing wrong with it except viruses and spyware slowing it down, if it's fairly new. Run a virus scan of your choice, and Ad-aware (get it at www.download.com), and I bet you see an improvement. If you're going digital, maintaining your computer is SUPER important. After all, wouldn't it suck if a virus wiped your hard drive and you lost a few thousand photos? You can get McAfee Internet Security Suite for $50 (http://us.mcafee.com). Trust me, speaking as a certified computer geek, this investment is just as important as Photoshop, and probably moreso if you use your computer for things like online banking, shopping, or anything that contains person info. I'll get off my IT security soapbox now.
If a new one is really important to you, I recommend Dell. At my office we've used various different brands, and recently settled on exclusively Dell computers. They're reasonably priced, and have great customer service.
If you're buying a laptop, don't go for the cheapest one. Laptops in general are slower and have less memory/hard drive space than desktops, so you'll need to pay more to get a "desktop replacement" type of laptop. I'd recommend the Dell Inspiron E1705 Core Duo (around $1200US)

Another piece of advice that I think may end up sounding snarky, but it isn't meant that way: if you are planning on going pro, it sounds like you might need to take some computer courses (or just spend some more time with computers), based on your previous comments about viruses and hard drives. Everyone seems to be going digital these days, and some computer skills are an absolute must, for editing, storing, archiving, etc.

I agree with Torus that you can probably get pretty far with an apprenticeship/workshop/on your own. After I finish my photo class in the fall, I'm planning on visiting a few photographers in town with my portfolio to see if they want an assistant on weekends. You could also try selling prints at coffee shops/flea markets/art fairs. Philosophically, I think there's a lot more to college than what you learn in class and that it's a good experience to go through, but that diverges from the topic..... Also there's a book called Photographer's Market 2006 that basically is just a huge listing of people that want to buy photos, and how to market yourself to them. You may want to stop by your local library to see if they have it, or buy a copy.

As far as the camera, if you already have a lot of lenses for your one, you might want to stick with Canon. Otherwise, I've heard good things about the Nikon d70. You might want to check the spec sheet on your current camera for the weight, and compare that to the cameras you look at. They'll all be heavier than a point & shoot, especially when you get the batteries and lenses in. I just bought an F80 (film), and sometimes it feels like my hand is going to fall off! Maybe I should go lift weights or something Personally I prefer a heavier camera - my glorified point & shoot feels like a toy after handling a real DSLR - like it might just snap apart in the He-Man-like grip that I have to use on the F80!

So yeah.... that's the end of my novel

 

[mysteryscribe]

I'll tell you what I would have told my daughter if she had a photo interest. Find yourself a good technical college and enroll. Buy what they advise you to buy for the course. When you finish, think about what you want to buy for the business.

You need more knowledge than is available these days by just what you can pick up. The course will give you a chance to explore a lot more than you would on your own, or even as an apprentice. It's also easier to get a into school, than it is to find a really well trained photographer to help you. Frankly most of us don't know as much as we thing we do.

Things are going to change a lot in the next couple of years. School is a good place to hide out while they shake out a little more.

Regardless of what you do, shoot shoot shoot, and listen to every one, try everything but keep an open mind. Don't get into a hero worship mode and stop listening to people with different opinions. School will give you contact with different aspects and different mindsets. At least it used to.

Thats what I would have told my daughter.

 

[Luke_H]

I will second the technical or community college route.

As an adult that did photography in highschool for the yearbook and then refinding the desire for it in 2005, I've been researching ways to learn film photography the right way and the associated cost of it.

I called the Art Institute of America who informed me that a 4 year program in photography comes in at about 80k dollars in cost. For an average job placement salary of around 30k/year.

Having my MIS degree that I paid 20k for at a state school to land a 40k/year job after I graduated in 2000, the photography school seemed way overpriced.

Therefore, I'm enrolled (it's just about over) in summer class of the intro to b&w photography. It has cost me about 600.00 in total for the one class (enrollment + film & paper & gasoline in my car for travel.)

Self Motivation is the #1 requirement though. Most things I know about photography, I have actively sought out online. The class gives me the hands-on time to practice the theory, which I believe is also necessary.

I love photography as a hobby, but don't know if I want to try to pay my bills with it. I'm planning on taking all of the community college courses and just calling myself an 'advanced amateur' haha...

Mostly though, don't discard photography if you enjoy it. I didn't know a thing about photography other than snapshots when I was in highschool. I merely developed/printed b&w photos as a way to get out of going to class. It wasn't until 10 years later that I found a passion for it again and it has been rewarding on a personal level. I may not take photos that other people enjoy, but I like them and it's a good break from my day to day life as a 'professional.'

And you have your whole life to learn the theory and apply it in practice. I find that if I learn things slowly, on my own, that it finally sinks into my long-term memory. Things like fstop, shutter speeds, depth of field... That stuff use to confuse me, but now it's converted to memory and I just know the relation to the point where I use a lot of cameras without built-in light meters or even rangefinders now...

Time (patience,) willingness to spend some money, practice, and self-motivation.. I think those are key.

The community college here sends you out into the world as a proficient photographer with a total of 1200.00 spent on tuition (probably another 1200 or more in supplies) but it's MUCH cheaper than any 4 year plan.

I'm not sure what the industry expectations are for job placement though.. ie: how much weight an associates degree holds verus a bachelor of arts or whatever..

 

[mysteryscribe]

There are darn few jobs around here, but the associates degree would put you one step ahead of another inexperienced young person wanting to apprentice with a big company.

I once dated a girl who worked as an intern for a newspaper. They would send her out to shoot a retirement party, when their staff man was busy. They paid her by the picture and she learned zilch, but she had a press card. That's why I would send my daughter to a tech school in a minute,

In other words sometimes apprentice means they shoot on demand and maybe sell their pics maybe not. They really aren't learning anything at all. It's why I would send my own kid to a good tech school any day.

I did it to feed my family for thirty years, and would go that route myself if I was young and wanted to get into the business. If nothing else, you have the experience and the confidence to start working on the side as a a photographer shooting wedding and portraits that kind of thing. Of course the competition in that area is growing daily.