The MUST haves.

[Whiskeyjack]

@bratkinson & pgriz: Thank you so much for your posts. Very informative and a great start. I think once I get a tripod and a flash I'll be set for a while. Spend ALL the income tax return!

 

[BrandonLaw]

The whole time I was reading this thread I couldn't wait to get to the bottom so I could start by saying AWESOME name! I love the Malazan books I just finished Toll the Hounds! I'm jealous that you are getting such a great kit from your family you seem to have a great start! I like the pictures you took the dog with the football in its mouth is great!

Ha! Thank you! The dog's name is also Whiskeyjack.. Whiskey for short.

That's awesome! I was going back and forth between Gear after one of the hounds of shadow and Stark from Game of Thrones for my dog. I ended up picking Stark cause I love GoT so much lol.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I'm a big GoT fan myself. I loved the books and I've been thrilled with what they've done with it in the series so far.... my only fear is they'll run out of material before he releases another book haha!

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I followed some of your advice and I think I'm starting to get it now. I think I got better results today. Here is an example.

 

[pgriz]

Nice! Now for the next lesson: keeping an eye on the background. In the above image, the bright out-of-focus areas compete somewhat with the flower due to the brightness. The branch on the right is a very dark and prominent presence, but it doesn't totally work with the flower (in my opinion, of course). Now that you're taking well-focused, well-exposed pictures, you need to think about the positioning of the main subject in the frame, and looking to see if the surrounding elements contribute to, or compete with the main subject. Like it says in my signature (quote from The_Traveller).

 

[Whiskeyjack]

It's funny... I never thought much about what it took to make a well composed photo. I think some of it will be trial and error.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

What about this one? I liked the background on this one.

 

[pgriz]

It's funny... I never thought much about what it took to make a well composed photo. I think some of it will be trial and error.

That's why we're here - to share our love of the art, and some of the knowledge that helps us make it. Post often, with one or two images illustrating what you're working on (in terms of photographic concept), and you'll get lots of advice and encouragement (and a few brickbats, from time to time, but they're virtual.. )

 

[TCampbell]

I am totally new to digital photography. I used my Mother's old Canon SLR a bit in high school and always wanted to take it further. Fast forward 18 years and I'm finally at a place in life where I can start affording to do some of the things I'm interested in.

I bought a Canon Rebel XS with the kit lens as well as the EFS 55-250mm. My brother bought me a Canon D60 after finding out my husband had expressed interest in photography as well. This will give us 2 bodies so I can have one for back up when my husband isn't with me.

My brother is also sending me a 28-90mm and 70mm (or maybe 75)-300mm.

I have nothing else.

What are the must haves in terms of filters and other equipment for an aspiring photographer. I'm just a few weeks in but I'm already saving up for L glass for when I figure this stuff out. It's now become an obsession.


Thanks in advance for any advice.

Did you mean to say 60D instead of D60? There was actually a D60... but that'd be about 10 years ago. There's a 60D which is a 'current' model (it was released a couple of years ago, but is still manufactured and sold.)

If you do in fact have an XS (not an XSi) and a D60, then this is one situation where I'd consider saving up for a more current body before investing in L glass.

When I first made the jump to a DSLR (from film), the first body I had was an entry-range body (I didn't want to over-invest and then be disappointed.) It was a good camera, but compared to the current cameras, it was limited in ISO range and had high noise levels at moderate ISO speeds (e.g. ISO 400 looked fine, but ISO 800 was a bit noisy, and anything above ISO 800 was _very_ noisy to unacceptable.) My current cameras can shoot at ISO 6400 and 12800 and exhibit less noise. In other words... sensors have evolved.

If you're taking all your shots at ISO 100, then you wont notice noise -- and that's pretty much true of any camera... even a fairly old digital camera. A high quality lens such as a zoom that can provide a constant focal ratio of f/2.8 will let you collect four times more light than a variable focal ratio zoom that might only let you shoot at f/5.6. Four times more light is a big difference. But that's about the same as shooting with a camera that would only produce a good image at ISO 400 or lower... as compared to shoot at ISO 1600 (which is also a 2 stop difference... the same as the difference between f/2.8 and f/5.6).

A nice L series lens, such as the 24-70mm f/2.8 II is about $2000 (and that's roughly in the ballpark of what the 70-200mm f/2.8L II costs as well.) There are some f/4 versions of those lenses -- and they are less expensive, but an f/4 lens is only a 1 stop improvement from f/5.6. That would be like increasing the ISO from 400 to 800.

A newer and more current camera body, on the other hand, will shoot at higher ISO speeds while exhibiting less noise.

I real you're not planning to buy L series lenses or new camera bodies next week... that wasn't the point of your thread. But before you plunge in and buy L series lenses (which are, frankly, a wise investment... even if and when you buy new bodies you can keep using those L series lenses AND they hold their value EXTREMELY well. A "used" L series lens generally still sells for about 85% of what it would have cost "new".

Make a mental note of the exposure settings you are using and, in particular, the ISO speeds you find yourself needing to use.

The items I think every photographer should own:

1) A decent bag.
2) A decent tripod.
3) A decent external flash / speedlight - one which can be bounced and also work as a slave to get it off the camera. E.g. the Canon 430EX II is a good first speedlite.

Then

4) A circular polarizer (must be "circular" polarizer - aka "CPL" and not a "linear" polarizer or "top" polarizer.)
5) A 3-stop neutral density filter
6) A remote shutter release

I didn't bother to mention items such as spare batteries or memory cards. But if you're like me, there will come a day when you'll pull the memory card from your camera, slide it into the card reader on your computer to unload it, then FORGET to put it back in the camera when you go shooting again. When you're miles from home, you'll pull out the camera and get the dreaded "no card" message and start kicking yourself. SO... I keep at least 1 spare card in my camera bag (which... has come in handy.) It's also possible that you'll get a card failure. I have personally never had a card fail, but many here have... and you'll want to know that there's another card in your camera bag that you can switch to rather than be done shooting for the day.

 

[ronlane]

Photoshop Elements or Lightroom 4.x are virtually "essential", IMHO. Of course, Canon's free DPP software is also workable, and will develop raw images reasonalbly well.

Derrel, I would agree with LR but from what I'm seeing mentioned, I would be tempted to wait on LR5 when it is released fully. Some of the brush, spot healing and filter upgrades that are in the beta are going to be very good improvements.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Thank you. I did mean 60D bit of a typo. I have a trial version of LR right now that's going to expire in the next week or so. Still learning how to use it. Flash and tripod are on the list. I bought a bag that can hold my both bodies and all four lenses I currently have. I bought a remote shutter release this morning along with lens cleaner and microfiber cleaning cloths as well as one of those screen cover sticker thingies, and a spare battery/sd card. Is there a date for LR5?