Lenses

The thing about lenses is that to get a damn good one you need to make photography your profession.. either that or you extemely rich. You might think that the standard kit lens (18-55mm) that usual comes bundled with your kit is pretty great which it is… but there are so much better ones out there. The L series lenses being the most expensive of them all.
Now I dont know much about lenses and have little experience, I do know what does what.
Take your kit lens for example, its a lightweight lens that you can easily walk around with. It has a decent wide angel and zoom. This is often refered to as a walk about lens because you carrying it with you most of the time.
Then you get your telephoto which is basically your zoom lens. These are typically the 70-200 or 70-300mm lenses. Note that 300mm is as far as you gonna go pre L series. I doubt you need anything beyond that reach tho.
If you come from a Point and Shoot Camera background then i think 70-300 is more or less 12x optical zoom. I’m not sure about that though.
Oh you also get your really wide angel lenses – 10-22mm or the 14mm fisheye. Some of these lenses are quite expensive.. So do extensive research on a lens you looking to buy.

Then you get your prime lens. These are lenses that cannot zoom otherwise refered to as fixed focal lens. A prime lens is usually a faster lens with wide apertures which makes it nice for portraiture and low light photography.

Macro lenses are my favourite. Allows you to focus on sumthing really tiny and make it look lifesize.. well depending on the lens itself.. Some lenses can do 1:2 macro and then some 1:1.. the one to get are the 1:1 macro lens.

A good lens will set you back R6-7000.. YES nearly the price of your camera. I’ve recently acquired a nice piece of glass for quite cheap(gumtree I thank you) and it makes a helluva difference.

One more thing.. learn to use the lens you have before exploring others.

F Stop / Aperture / Depth Of Field

One of the things I’ve come across while learning about dSLR photography is f stops and I always use to wonder what the hell are these people on about.. If you in that boat right now and you in the dark about all these terms let me try and simplify it.

F Stop is the number with the F infront of it. The smaller the number to wider your aperture.

Aperture is the size of the opening in the lens when you press the shutter button. This controls how much light is let in and also controls the depth of field(DOF) of the image.

DOF is in essence the depth your photo has… Still lost? Well when I started photography I was all for shots that has blurred backgrounds which is nice to have. This is achieved by having the
F Stop set to a low number. You will come across when shooting landscapes that your images aren’t as sharp as you would like them to be. This is a result of a small F Stop or wide aperture.

When you shooting in auto or P mode you probably not taking note of the settings the camera calculates for you. So your camera doesn’t know you shooting landscapes or you require a greater depth of field. Take note of the settings and adjust them accordingly.

Another example would be if you shooting a row of flowers, you take the pic and only the front flower is sharp but you want more details in the photo, so you would increase the f stop until you get the results you need.

I hope this clarifies things for you. If you unsure of something leave a comment and I will respond to your questions.

Essentials For the Beginner

When I first got my gear, my Dad was experienced enough to know what to buy me. I had no clue
all i thought was “yoorrrr a 10 megapixel camera”. I soon discovered that SLR photography is much more than just about mega pixels.

Some essentials I don’t think any beginner should start without:
1. Filters – namely UV filters – mainly for lens protection.

2. Camera Bag to keep your stuff in, whether its just your camera or camera and lenses and flashes etc.

3. Tripod – get one if you shooting at night and dont wanna use the flash or if you shooting landscapes.

4. External Flash if you can afford one – Canon 430EX Speedlite is a good place to start.

All in all should cost about R1000 without the flash.. Thats a very rough estimate.
But its stuff you will probably need. So start building your kit..
Worry about lenses later on when u move in non beginner stage

Oh yes one more thing..

Email me with your email address and name if you want to be added to my mailing list which will inform you when there is a new post.

Timing is everything

The problem I commonly come across when shooting living subjects is missing the moment at which to take the photo. We often see something whether it be an expression, pose, cool lighting and then just snap not realising that the moment has passed and we end up with something totally different on camera.

Tips for capturing that kodak moment:
1. Leave your camera on if you have it with you.
2. Make sure your settings are setup for the environment(lighting).
3. If people are posing.. dont just snap away. Wait for the moment you think is perfect.
4. Patience is everything.
5. Try to recreate what you wanted to capture.
6. Try out different angles.
7. Communicate with your subject(if its a human) and explain to them what you trying to do. This works well if the person is cooperative.
8. Take as many shots as you can. You bound to capture something nice keep in mind its digital and capturing a crap shot isn’t the end of the world.. it happens to the pro’s as well

thats all for now..
more to come in the near future.
ciao

Hecti-city

So about that engagement shooting.. nothing at all what I expected..
I totally forgot that I would be working with a video guy and bad lighting situation and just when I think my unplanned status is going way wrong in walks another video guy and another photographer.. So it was the battle of the media out there.. The bride was very co-operative although I wasn’t the pushy type which I’ve learnt you need to be in this profession. The other photographer was all like “ok you move here and you move there”. I don’t have the mouth for that kinda stuff which is kinda dumb but its something I have to get acquainted with.

The other thing is I’m young and don’t think people knew I was the photographer other than the guy with the big camera.. I was too quiet, too under planned and not assertive at all. Group shots were a mess, with the groups walking away as soon as the other photographer got his shot.. I was like hold up.. I need one as well.

So this photography thing isn’t about what you know about technical stuff and how good your photo’s turn out when you messing about in the garden.. People skills, friendliness, humour.. Stuff I think I do have but only in a known environment.. So this is something I really need to work on. Although the photo’s didn’t come out that bad. I did my best I could. Unfortunately I wont be posting any pics as it is not mine to post and something I find private to the employer.

Another event tonight and I’m feeling way more tense than I did yesterday. Hopefully today I’ll take in to account lighting.. Being assertive, friendly.. etc. I’m taking my beauty dish with today and that should be able to enable me to capture some good shots of the bride.

Anyways wish me luck again
ciao!