Starting over...........

AMOMENT · Sep 27, 2011

Scratch the last few hours please. I only began explaining and defending myself so that everyone didn't think I was being neglectful or disrespectful of their time by writing an unedited and "shorthand" type of post. I really am a good person who shares the love of photography with everyone on here and is hoping to one day make a career out of it. ( waves white flag ) I apologize if anyone took my gramatical errors personally and I vouch to never post an error filled post like that again. I was so excited to find this site and potentially gain valuable knowledge from some seasonsed photographers......

I have gathered that my Nikon D3100 is probably not sufficient enough to carry me through a career. (which is what I already knew but was hoping to avoid.) I recently purchased a 50mm f/1.8 Please forgive me if I am asking a question that has already been asked. I have a little bit more time now but not enough to search the site entirely. Where and would you buy a used camera? I'm sure all of you have many views and opinions on which ones are best. I am looking to do mostly portraits/child/wedding/events. Any recommendations on cameras/lens? I have actually accumulated quite a few people in my county who have sought out my photography and are asking me to do work for them. That being said, I'm a little overwhelmed.

Again, I apologize if I offended anyone with my neglegent post as it was merely a crazy time of night filled with many little ones with many demands. I was desperately and frantically trying to get some answers before I start my photo shoots this week. My general question is this: "How Do I increase contrast/color with the camera/lens I do have." I am able to do so adequately with photoshop but was hoping to be able to produce sharper images straight from my camera. I will be specific. On a cloudy day and when photographing my two year old daughter, and with my 50mm lens, I am using an ISO of 400 , an f-stop of 1.8 and a shutter of 1/400 ......1/600. Can anyone make any other suggestions of setting adjustments? Once again, if this is an obvious answer....please humor me. I am selecting my focal point and then using auto focus.

Furthermore, can someone elaborate about what type of camera I should be investing in and why?

....going to set up photobucket to post my pics....bare with me

dustin0479 · Sep 27, 2011

You can find used Body's at both BH Photo and Adorama. Both are reputable vendors. I myself am fine with the additional savings of buying through Craigslist.... The right body depends on what you want to spend, can you elaborate on your budget?

480sparky · Sep 27, 2011

AMOMENT said:
Scratch the last few hours please. I only began explaining and defending myself so that everyone didn't think I was being neglectful or disrespectful of their time by writing an unedited and "shorthand" type of post. I really am a good person who shares the love of photography with everyone on here and is hoping to one day make a career out of it. ( waves white flag ) I apologize if anyone took my gramatical errors personally and I vouch to never post an error filled post like that again. I was so excited to find this site and potentially gain valuable knowledge from some seasonsed photographers......

Much better! Thank you!

AMOMENT said:
I have gathered that my Nikon D3100 is probably not sufficient enough to carry me through a career. (which is what I already knew but was hoping to avoid.) I recently purchased a 50mm f/1.8 Please forgive me if I am asking a question that has already been asked. I have a little bit more time now but not enough to search the site entirely. Where and would you buy a used camera?

Camera stores. Some big online retailers sell used gear. There's also a buy/sell forum here if you scroll down to the bottom. Join your local camera club. Many members want to sell used stuff to upgrade.

AMOMENT said:
I'm sure all of you have many views and opinions on which ones are best. I am looking to do mostly portraits/child/wedding/events. Any recommendations on cameras/lens? I have actually accumulated quite a few people in my county who have sought out my photography and are asking me to do work for them. That being said, I'm a little overwhelmed.

Again, I apologize if I offended anyone with my neglegent post as it was merely a crazy time of night filled with many little ones with many demands. I was desperately and frantically trying to get some answers before I start my photo shoots this week. My general question is this: "How Do I increase contrast/color with the camera/lens I do have." I am able to do so adequately with photoshop but was hoping to be able to produce sharper images straight from my camera. I will be specific. On a cloudy day and when photographing my two year old daughter, and with my 50mm lens, I am using an ISO of 400 , an f-stop of 1.8 and a shutter of 1/400 ......1/600. Can anyone make any other suggestions of setting adjustments? Once again, if this is an obvious answer....please humor me. I am selecting my focal point and then using auto focus.

Posting samples will help us tremendously.

AMOMENT said:
Furthermore, can someone elaborate about what type of camera I should be investing in and why?

For now, your D3100 will serve you nicely why you learn the basics. What you need in the future will be determined by two things: What area of expertise you end up in, and what the manufacturers will be coming out with 5-10 years down the road.

AMOMENT said:
....going to set up photobucket to post my pics....

Read up on the sticky about how to post images. Once you go through it a couple times, it's a breeze.

AMOMENT said:
...........bare with me

Uh............ OK, if you insist!

tevo · Sep 27, 2011

Glad to see a more spell-checked you

You'll learn a lot from this site, just take it upon yourself to download a spellchecker, as you can tell we have some grammar nazis...

StringThing · Sep 27, 2011

The 50mm f/1.8 that you have is capable of producing razor sharp images, just not wide open at 1.8. Consider stopping down a bit to get more sharpness in your images.

tirediron · Sep 27, 2011

Thank-you! This is much easier to read. Recommendations for equipment have to be preceded by a budget. If you have $10-12,000, than I would say a Nikon D3s, 14-24mm, 24-70mm, and 70-200mm, and SB900. I'm guessing however you, like most of us, don't have a spare 12 grand in your trouser pockets.
Nikon and Canon are the two big players in the professional and semi-professional market. Since it sounds to me like you don't have the necessary background knowedge to buy a used camera "on your own" , I would go to a good camera store and talk to the sales staff, that way you'll have some sort of guarentee. That said, I wouldn't buy ANYTHING (except maybe an SB-700) until you have a lot more experience under your belt. Wayyyy too many people start out thinking they know what they want and then as they learn more, they learn that they want something else entirely.

The way to achieve optimum colour, clarity etc in your images is through proper exposure. Head over here and start with the "How your camera works" and read through the tutorials.

AMOMENT · Sep 27, 2011

1.

I like the color in this picture but dislike that I had to use photoshop to achieve it..... (my step daughter being silly).... 2.

AMOMENT · Sep 27, 2011

sorry...posted the same image twice...looking for the original...

MTVision · Sep 27, 2011

I think the color issue is due to shooting RAW. RAW photos aren't as vibrant because the camera doesn't do any processing to them so they look rather dull. Do you shoot just raw or raw+jpeg? If you shoot raw+jpeg you will see what I mean. All RAW photos have to be processed in some type of editing program so don't think you are doing something wrong by processing them. You have to do some tweaking to all photos.

AMOMENT · Sep 27, 2011

1.

I like the composition of this photo, though I wish it were sharper. 2.

I wish this picture had a greater DOF. 3.

seems a little washed out?

tirediron · Sep 27, 2011

Remember that the difference between a snapshot and a photograph is often the way the background is dealt with. In this case, you've got the green shutter directly behind her head making it look like she's wearing a green tophat.

AMOMENT · Sep 27, 2011

Thanks, everyone!!! Yes, my camera does offer RAW/JPEG. The reason I was shooting RAW is because I was told that alot of data is lost in pics without this setting. (could have been misled) My budget....for now, because I have no income from my photos...is around $2,000.

AMOMENT · Sep 27, 2011

The "green" is my backyard...lololol. What would you do to fix this picture? (in terms of settings)

MTVision · Sep 27, 2011

AMOMENT said:
Thanks, everyone!!! Yes, my camera does offer RAW/JPEG. The reason I was shooting RAW is because I was told that alot of data is lost in pics without this setting. (could have been misled) My budget....for now, because I have no income from my photos...is around $2,000.

No you want to shoot in raw because you have more control over correcting white balance and other things when you post process them in Photoshop. Basically what I'm trying to say is you have to make minor tweaks on all photos taken in raw and you should shoot in raw IMO. not everyone may feel that way.