Photographers- what do you look for in a camera?

[rodent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TammyB BTW, Morgan you should start posting a before and after pictures. Shoot I think it would be fun for anyone interested in learning how to edit pictures to see the difference.

I will. I did before, but now I'm a little ashamed they are on the forum. My beginner stuff was kind of bad oh well, you have to start somewhere.

I still need to fix the wall on your dog bath picture. The steps I was following wasn't letting me do it. I think I now know how to.

I'm doing a sunset picture for shelly. The class today really gave me great tips for that. i'll post the before & after.

[rodent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Autumn for me one thing that's pretty important in a camera is how it performs in low light. I want the latitude to be able to crank up the ISO, but I also want usable (and not super noisy) photos. If you plan to shoot RAW, then you should definitely check the speed (fps) and the buffer - I have a Fuji S5Pro that I absolutely love, but I can't shoot it raw because it's too slow. the other thing that's pretty important to consider is the lenses good glass can make the world of difference in the quality of photographs you take and, if you start off with a decent camera body you can always upgrade and invest in glass over time so it doesn't break the bank both Canon and Nikon tend to make great consumer DSLR bodies - I've heard good things about the Canon Rebel and the Nikon D40 (I'm a Nikon gal myself one of the best sites for camera reviews is dpreview.com Happy shopping! (and feel free to pm me if you have other questions - I'm a total photo geek and will happily talk shop any time

Thanks for the tips! I was looking at dpreview today. After the wedding i plan to start reading up on some cameras. I'll will PM you once I have some stuff narrowed down. Thanks!

[TammyB]

I still need to fix the wall on your dog bath picture. The steps I was following wasn't letting me do it. I think I now know how to.

QUOTE]

 

Don't worry about it, I actually used a different picture from what I was going to do. BUT I do have a picture that is horrible, taken from a cell phone of a foster dog that passed away, it's the only shot we have of him, do you think you might be able to do something with it? I'll probably only be able to do a 4x6 picture of it, and when I tried to play around with it I just couldn't get it to look right, like I know their is ways to fix certain things, but I don't know how to yet.

[~Melissa~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morgan Mostly I love great pictures. I plan on photographing the same stuff i do now, just better. My favorites are pictures of people laughing. On vacations I like taking pictures of buildings & beautiful landscapes. So i probably won't do any particular type of picture. I just want to have better pictures & the ability to do more with them. The more i learn about photoshop, the more i want raw files. At events, I love capturing great moments. But often the picture will be too dark because we are outside or in a poorly lit room. So i want to take these pictures where the expressions are great & improve the quality of the image. The class is for duke students & staff. They have a summer program with a bunch of technology classes. I'm also taking illustrator & dreamweaver. I started learning just by looking tips up on the internet & playing around with it. Then i bought a Scott Kelby book after I got CS3. The main problem was that I didn't understand many of the basics. I'd adjust my levels & curves, but I didn't know what I was actually doing. So this class was great to get a simple explaination and understand when a picture needs what. I really think it will give me the understanding i need to start improving my editing. once I get more comfortable with it, I might post some stuff on photo.net for a critique. or let the photographers here critique me if they promise to be nice

Scott Kelby, I think I've seen a couple of his tutorials before. Although photoshop some days confuses the h-e- double hockey sticks out of me it's such an amazing program. I know I'm not using it to it's full capabilities. That's why i got a DSLR to shoot in RAW as well. I really hope I made the right choice with the Nikon D40 though....

You're so lucky to have some classes available to you. I've searched and there really is nothing in this area which seems like a good value. I also need to learn the basics about tone curves, histograms, depth of field, aperture etc. I tend to be a hands on learner, the books confuse me.

I would love to look at your photos. I won't critique bad, I only like to point out the good

Quote:

Originally Posted by TammyB BTW, Morgan you should start posting a before and after pictures. Shoot I think it would be fun for anyone interested in learning how to edit pictures to see the difference.

Great idea Tammy. It would be cool if we could all learn together. I wonder if there are any online classes worth looking into. Maybe you and Morgan can give all us amateurs (not incl the professionals on here) tips.

[TammyB]

Here is a site that does free online photoshop help. I went through it however I need to do it again at home so I can practice with the pictures they post.

 

Backstage 101 - Digital Photography 101

[DreaW]

I'm so glad you girls are talking about this...I've been thinking of getting a pro camera, Erik wants me to get a Canon or Nikon...he used to have a Canon so he is partial to that make. So I'm in the market also