Total Neophyte Questions

[SweetLambs]

Hello,

I'm pretty new at photography- I've played around with digital photography in the past with lousy small cameras for my purposes. I'm really looking into getting something that can accomplish what I want, but I know almost nothing.

I really want to do animal photography, especially sheep, both landscape type flock scenes as well as portraits. I'm particular interested in taking photographs of sheep giving birth and action shots (lambs playing, jumping, etc.). Many of the animals I photograph are dark-colored and they always show up so flat and undefined. Other animals, including wildlife like reptiles, nature scenes, etc. I'd also like to work with.

Where can I get started? Is there a good 101 source to learn the basics? Any times of cameras/lenses I should be looking at? I plan to thoroughly do my homework before purchasing. Any key words I should be learning right now to use in my searches?

Thanks so much for any help!

 

[tirediron]

Excellent resource for the basics on all aspects of digital photography. One of the best learning resources is your local camera club; there are always some experts who are willing to share years of experience with newcomers.

 

[cgipson1]

Almost any entry / mid range body will do what you want (let your budget, features you want, etc.. determine that). Lenses will be important obviously... a good lens will do better than a poor lens. Again budget will be a factor, as will the type of lens.

Landscapes typically require a wide angle (12mm to 35mm approx) FOV (Field of View), the shots of sheep sound like they will be similar to landscape (flocks) and down to portraiture type shots (single animals, birth, etc) which will require a Normal to Short Telephoto 30 mm to 100mm approx). The wildlife shooting often requires long Telephotos (100mm to 400MM) depending on size of the subject and the distance to it)

So you are looking at two or three different lenses... unless you get one of the all purpose "do it all" lense.... which have some advantages in convenience, and disadvantages in Image Quality and aperture size.

Flash or reflectors (after you learn to use them) can help with the darker animals... by providing light to fill in the darker shadows.

list a budget.. and we can make some actual suggestions... instead of generalizations....

 

[The_Traveler]

I really want to do animal photography, especially sheep, both landscape type flock scenes as well as portraits. I'm particular interested in taking photographs of sheep giving birth and action shots (lambs playing, jumping, etc.). Many of the animals I photograph are dark-colored and they always show up so flat and undefined. Other animals, including wildlife like reptiles, nature scenes, etc. I'd also like to work with.

There are two issues that you should remember for later on:

Expose so that the dark areas are well defined (you'll need the detail later)
Expose so that the subject of the image is isolated as much as possible i.e. the depth of field is limited to only what you want to include.
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In order to do both of these, which I think are critical, you'll need a camera lens with a large maximum aperture and, if not a flash, then a camera that will tolerate high iso.

Don't ask me about terms you don't know.
They will be in the basic info you'll learn.

 

[KmH]

Here are some resources:

Everything you need to know about buying a camera | The Verge

Digital Photography Tutorials
Digital Photography Tutorials | Learning Photographic Techniques
Learn Digital Photography Basics
10 Top Photography Composition Rules | Photography Mad
Advanced Composition -- Part I

For portrait type work you'll also want to versed in photographic lighting.
Even if you just use available light you still need to know about light quality, direction, how to add light, subtract light, use light for contrast, lighting ratios, lighting styles, etc.

 

[SweetLambs]

Thank you all very much for your informative replies! These resources look very good and the other information about lenses, lighting, etc. helps tremendously. As for a budget, I'm in college and can't afford really high-end equipment, but I want a camera and lenses that are very good quality and can do what I need them to do. So that said, I plan to save as long as I need to in order to be able to afford equipment that will do the job for me and produce really good images. So I hesitate to set a budget at the moment.

I'll see if there's any photography groups on campus or nearby. I suppose I could take a class too although I'm prevet/biochem and haven't a lot of extra room in my course schedule...