The Importance of your Equipment

There is no short answer for this because the only thing that matter are the end result of your photograph, the amount and quality of your camera and studio equipment and even your studio size will have an effect on the type of work you can produce, it will only make things easier or more difficult for you - BUT IT WILL NOT EFFECT THE QUALITY OR CREATIVITY OF YOUR END PRODUCT

If you take a look at the early Pioneers of Photography who had to work with cameras that worked with plates or limited equipment you will see that a lack of equipment did not stop them from producing outstanding photographs. All you need is Passion and commitment and a good understanding of your equipment and subject. The principles stay the same to deliver outstanding work, so no worry at this stage about your camera or gear, as you progress in your photography you can decide on a later stage to upgrade your equipment.

Get an understanding of the basics of photography and learn to work within the limitations imposed by your equipment - then you are ready to concentrate and enjoy the creative elements of good photography !

We start our course with the basic of the different cameras, not regarding the brand of the camera but rather the different types. It is virtual that you know what your camera are capable of.

• Compact Cameras (Full or Semi-Automatic)
• Advanced Compact Cameras (More control and manual settings)
• DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex)
• Compact Cameras & Advanced Compact Cameras

Compact Cameras & Advanced Compact Cameras

If you are a Non-Serious or only a Holiday Photographer a Compact Camera will suit you fine and will be much easier and better, although you still use the Basic Principles of Photography that you will learn in this course.

Compact cameras also has the name of Point and Shoot Cameras, because that is actually what you will do. Compact Cameras allow automatic focusing on the subject and will do the automatic exposure for you, that means you only have to point on the subject and press the shutter, there for the name Point and Shoot.

Most of the Compact cameras have a build in flash unit that make it very easy to shoot indoors or in low light situations, depends on the model some have basic modes to shoot in like Portrait, Night Scene, Sport, Close Up etc, all you need to do is put it on Sport and it will freeze the motion of your subject, then again on the Close Up or Macro setting you will be able to take a photograph of a small insect on a flower with all the fine detail up close.

With a Compact Camera you will not have the highest quality of detail or full control over the image exposure that you may have intended. You cannot change lenses on a Compact Camera. But note there are some extension lenses or adapters available for some of the major brands.Some Compact cameras have grain (noise) problems when using a higher ISO due to their smaller sensor size.

So you can concentrate on your subject and composition more than the technical detail, you also don't need to carry a bunch of heavy lenses with you.

So the question is Why then buy a DSLR camera with different lenses ?

Well with a DSLR camera you can have full control over the exposure that you want for a specific scene, it will give you the highest quality images in general.They still have the same settings like Full Auto, Sport, Night Scene, Landscape, Portrait, Macro etc. each brand of camera has his own settings but mostly they all have the same settings in common. They produce images with very little to no grain (noise) when using a low ISO, with acceptable amount of grain when using a high ISO

With the technology that expand to fast the prices of DSLR cameras are most affordable for you to upgrade every now and again as you grow in your knowledge of photography.

A Quick word about Lenses

With the right lens you can specifically concentrate and focus on what they are made for with projects in mind. Lenses can be devided into two major categories Prime Lenses and Zoom Lenses. Some specialty lenses include Telephoto lenses, Wide-angle lenses and Macro lenses, Fish-eye Lenses etc.

Prime Lenses was available long before zoom lenses hit the market, the major difference between Prime Lenses and Zoom Lenses is the fixed focal length. In short the Prime lens is fixed and the zoom lens can be adjusted (zoom in and out) by the photographer to get the subject closer than it really is. With the prime lens you have to step forward or backwards if you want your subject to be closer or further away. Prime Lenses do have the advantage of a lower price, speed, light weight and about the best picture quality available. Using a prime lens for a few days you really need to think about the composition of your photograph. When you think carefully about the composition instead of just snapping away at any direction, your photography will improve dramatically.

On the other hand is the Zoom lens more convenient when photographing subjects that is far away where you cannot go up close, like with wildlife or bird photography or even street photography where you don't want to attract any attention.

The Wide Angle Lens is very handy when you shoot in enclosed areas like a church or a small room, you can fit more of the scene in and don't have to move all the way back to get everything in your frame. It make up a good deal of a Wedding Photographers day, specially in the room during the getting ready of the bridal party, in the church/chapel and to get a very large group photo of all the guests together. You are most of the time real close to your subject and there for don't loose contact with them, you have their attention the hole time while working. Wide Angle Lenses are great for Architecture and even Landscape shots. So the photographer has the ability to get in close to fill the frame with only the subject like a close up portrait or he can include some of the background to show more of the scenery.

Fisheye Lenses has a bit of a oval lens and are mostly used by the more creative photographer because it create large image distortion photographs. Works well for large buildings interior or exterior of stadiums, galleries, museums etc. Some of the Fisheye Lenses have more than a 180deg view angle.

Telephoto Lenses are the one you would like to have for that long-ranged shots. This lens will also capture a much smaller part of the scene than other lenses so you can isolate your subject perfect from the background to keep the viewers attention on the subject that you intend in the first place. You don't have to walk closer to the subject. Usually the Telephoto Lenses come with build in stabilisers because of their greater Focal length and more vibration can occur (also called camera shake). Using a Tripod is recommended to avoid blurry images.

Macro Lenses are used when you want to explore the world up close, capture all the finer detail of your subject. Most cameras come with their own Macro feature that is also very handy. You can capture the detail of an eye of insects or the inner parts of flowers that is not possible with the other lenses, this will open a hole new world of photography and you will learn to really see subject in a different way.

This Damselflies was done with a macro lens but you can go in much closer for more detail on the eye itself,if your subject will stay long enough

This Vervet Monkey baby was done with a typical Zoom lens since you cannot get close enough to them in the bushes.

We will end this Lesson on Equipment for now, the rest on equipment will be a course on its own to cover everything.

Lets start with the real learning process of Photography and get down to the important basics you need to know to take you to the next level in your career, may it be just to take Holiday or Family photos or starting to sell your photos on stock sites or your own business doing Events, Weddings, Family Shoots, New Born Shoots, etc...the list of possibilities are endless !

***Ok Lets get down to Work and Enjoy***

GOOD LUCK !