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04-16-11 Making the Best of Bad Lighting part of the April SoCal Photog ShootOut

by Nathaniel Kam Photography

(syndicated on our General Photography Blog)

MODELS:

Vanessa Cedeno, Yianni Petrogonas, Devon Alana and Travis Sandoval (in order of appearance)

STYLISTS:

Hope Stanley – Bridal Stylist www.marymebridal.com

Special thanks to: Nate at Friar Tux in Orange for the tuxes! www.friartux.com

Sussanna Davidson for French Buckets –www.frenchbuckets.com

Mary Lallande for Jay’s Catering and Serra Plaza – www.serraplazaevents.com

Pegy Rizzuto – Sweets Tables www.PremiereEventsGroup.com

HAIR AND MAKEUP:

Makeup – Jeanette Pulecio - www.jennettepulecio.com

Lisa O’Conner – www.elementsofartistry.com

Hair - Diego Ortega - DiegoOrtega.net

Assisted by: Kristin Macchio

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             Last Saturday we had the awesome opportunity lead a segment at the April SoCal Photog ShootOut, and what can I say other than wow! Their organizers did such a great job getting models, stylists, florist, and photographers together in one amazing venue. If you're a photographer looking for a community where you can share, learn, be challenged and grow, I highly suggest checking out your local Photog ShootOut Group.

The purpose of the SoCal Photog Shootout is to connect photographers with different strengths, abilities, and talents to learn from each other, to network and make new friends.

SoCal PSO is part of the global Photog Shootout network! The group has thousands of members nationwide, so no matter where you travel to you will know what your fellow photographers are doing! This will be your one stop to find workshops, photographer GTGs and other photography related events!

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- April Photog ShootOut -

Robert Tran and Jessica Tincopa –  “Finding and Creating Beautiful light.”

www.jessicaelizabethphotography.com

Erin and Gavin Wade -  “Seeing Through Your Subjects”

www.gavinwadephoto.com

Matthew Saville – “ Quick Thinking/Feeling the Light”

www.matthewsaville.com

Corina Shauntele – “Searching For the Light”

www.pixel2canvas.com

Nathaniel Kam – “Making the Best of Bad Lighting Situations”

www.nathanielkamphotography.com 

Tamara Young – “Creating Drama and Emotion with Light”

www.tstylephotography.com

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       If you're just learning about Photog ShootOuts or couldn't make it to the April one, no worries there's another one coming in June! So get connected, join in, and shoot. Alright onto the recap for our segment, "Making the Best of Bad Lighting Situations". Inevitably, as a photographer you will at some point be asked to shoot in bad lighting. For us wedding photogs, this is most often a beach ceremony at 2PM on what seems like the brightest day of the year. California is covered with beaches, grassy plains, and open flower fields completely void of any even shade. No matter what you're shooting it'll happen - so best be prepared.

Photography Tip - All lighting is not equal, don't fight bad lighting make it work with you

Front lighting (above)-

        This technique uses the sun as a giant hot lamp, it gives high contrast and high saturation to images. Excellent for giving context and surrounding to your subject. This technique is not recommended for portraits or close ups. When shooting with front light always keep in mind it's pros and cons. Example, we all know high noon + direct lighting creates shadows under the eyes, so don't make the focus of your photo the face or eyes. Remember a big plus of using this technique is that exposure levels for your subject and your background will be even (ie. blue skies, colorful sunsets) - take advantage of these pros.

Back lighting (above)-

     This technique uses your subject's shadow to create even shade anywhere and anytime. Excellent for giving even skin tones, no harsh shadows, no squinting, and no glossy skin - it won't be as good as the shady side of a building, but you can't move a building to the beach can you? This technique is NOT recommended for trying to get lots of surrounding context or skylines to your photos. If you are at a beach shoot, don't expect to get a pretty sunset using a back lighting technique (unless you want to add flash into the mix). For best results make sure your camera is shooting from inside your subjects shadow (i.e. block the sun with their head or body). You will get washy backgrounds but then you aren't focusing on the background are you? Just like "eye shadows" in front lighting - keep in mind what your pros and cons are and focus on the pros.

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A few shots from what I now dub the "impromptu" rotation

Photography Tip - Challenge yourself to try new things

For those of you who know me personally, I'm sure you're thinking vintage photos?? While it is not exactly our specialty, even I can't deny it's the most fitting look for this setting.

One of my favorites, such an amazing scene

My absolute favorite

Like what your seeing? Looking to learn more about photography?  Check out our Photography Tips blog on posterous.

Nathaniel Kam Photography -

http://www.nathanielkamphotography.com

Our Photography Tips -

http://nkamphoto.posterous.com

Our Wedding Blog -

http://www.nathanielkamphotography.com/blog

Our Facebook Page -

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nathaniel-Kam-Photography/108451470572

Our Twitter - http://twitter.com/nkamphoto

Okay so you've got all your gear and scoped out some nice locations what do you need now? Someone to shoot of course! Now let's be honest you probably aren't getting into photography expecting that next week Tyra Banks will come knocking at your door for a shoot. So then how do you start getting the practice in and your techniques down? Pretty much anyway you can. When you are starting out as a photographer NO ONE is going to want you to "hire" you, and for obvious reasons. You just bought a camera, you don't really know too much about what you're doing, and you can't really show them any samples proving otherwise. So how do you get your foot in the door to the world of photography? Simply put, by targeting these markets one by one. 

Volunteers -> Subjects -> Models -> Clients 

Volunteers - 

 This is where we all started out, none of us bought a camera, put up an ad online, and had our inbox overflowing with requests the next morning. For the vast majority of people your first volunteer is going to be someone you know. Probably your photogenic friend, who has a million photos of themselves on Facebook or Myspace in front of a mirror. If not, it can just be a good friend interested in helping you out in your new photography endeavor. Worst case scenario you could always find someone on Craigslist or a Casting call service (though I don't really recommend these unless you honestly can't find anyone else). Actually, if you can't find a friend to help you out...go make more friends till you do (it'll be better in the long run). This is the phase for discovering yourself. Do you even like photography? Do you hate taking pictures of people? If it's a friend and you can't talk and interact with them, it'll be real hard to do so with a stranger. Focus on getting your techniques down, your interpersonal skills in line, and decide if this is something you really want to spend countless hours on in the future. 

Subjects - 

Once you've got a few shoots under your belt and your images are getting better and better, what inevitably happens next is someone will ask you for a shoot. Now chances are, they aren't going to pay you and even if they did it's not going to be much. The important thing to realize here is that you have created demand for your services. Keep up the good work and keep improving and pushing yourself. As soon as you stop trying you'll stop growing as a photographer (subsequently demand may drop off as well). Soon you'll find that the more of these requests you do, the more shoots you finish, and the more images you get up for people to see, the less work you will have finding your next gig. Once you have enough of these requests coming in that you don't need to look for subjects anymore, then you will need to make that inevitable decision about whether or not you start charging for your services. This also marks the end of the hobbyist route and the beginning of your photography business. Things to focus on are the same as in the Volunteer phase. 

Models - 

So now your time is now worth something, big deal. Don't stop there, what did I say about what happens when people stop trying? You need to keep pushing yourself to make better and better images and the way you're going to do that is with people who know what they are doing in front of the camera. This brings us to the models phase of photography. The most important things to do now are 1) keep yourself busy and 2) think about what your style is and how you want to expand on it 3) expand on it. Keep doing those free and budget shoots, don't be stiff with your pricing you aren't quite there yet. Consider free and budget shoots, advertisement, marketing, or good PR as it is more important to have new material going out to new markets then make a few extra dollars at the end of the day. Also it's time for you to start searching people out again. When looking for models, they should be comfortable in front of the camera, respond well to direction, and be able to expand on your ideas when given the chance. Will you need to pay them? Maybe, just like how you started models need to follow a similar type of path before going professional. Even new models should still be able to teach you a good pose or two if you pay close enough attention to what they are doing. Make sure that with each new "Portfolio" shoot you feel that you have improved, use a critical eye on everything from hair strands and eye lashes to hand placements and nail polish. 

Clients -

Basically, repeat the steps in the Models phase over and over again till you can raise your prices and still get more requests (this means you are priced below the true fair market value for your services). Once this happens you can truly call your subjects clients without any doubts or hesitation. You aren't pulling the wool over anyone's eyes, because you are priced below the fair market value of your time and services. The next steps are really up to you. What kind of business do you want to become, how do you want to conduct and market yourself? That's for you to decide. 

Want to learn more? Have a question that didn't get answered? Leave us a comment with any questions and we'll do our best to answer them for you.

Looking for additional instruction? We are now offering photography consultations starting at $100/h. For more details check out the Workshops section on http://www.nathanielkamphotography.com

Interested in our photography? 

Our Site at http://www.nathanielkamphotography.com

Our Bridal Blog at http://www.nathanielkamphotography.com/blog

Our Blog http://nkamphoto.wordpress.com 

Also you can find us on Facebook and Twitter

Greetings fellow photographers and avid readers! 

Wedding season sure is in full bloom right now so my apologies for the scarcity of posts lately. I know it seems insane that we've gone through so much without getting into what you should actually be shooting and what makes good images good images. But rest assured in good time we'll get there and by focusing on these fundamentals you'll be setting yourself up for the results you want immediately and with the least amount of effort.

There is a general rule in photography that I want you all to take to heart right now, "Do it right the first time!"... seriously let these words echo throughout your mind every time you pick up the camera.

When it comes to lighting your subject naturally, i.e. no flashes, scrims, or reflectors location, much like in real estate, is everything. Do it right the first time and save yourself the agonizing time in photoshop or the delivery of sub standard images. So here we go with how to pick the perfect spot to shoot: 

Location No No's - 

1) If you are new to photography, STAY OUT OF THE SUN, while pretty blue sunny days sure look nice to us, the camera absolutely hates them. Why is this you might ask? It's all about dynamic range, the brightest bright to darkest dark your camera can see. In the sunlight your camera is a poor substitute for the human eye. 

2) Stay out of buildings, if you can avoid it for now. Window light, balancing flash, messing with iso, and changing your white balance are things that you might not want to mess with right now. Not to mention slow shutter speeds make some indoor photography difficult for people who haven't developed steady hands.  

3) For now, shadows are BAD very BAD, if you can see shadows on your subjects face, that is BAD. If you've never thought to look at the shadows on your subjects face, please please start now. Test out your light by holding up your hand with your palm facing your face, if you see shadows on your hand there will be shadows on your subjects face. The most unflattering of these are eye shadows, bags, socket shadows, nose shadows, and forehead shadows. The last thing you want is a pretty picture of a skyline and a shadowy person that was supposed to be the subject of your photo. 

3b) Conversely, super bright light is bad too, remember when I said stay out of the sun 20 seconds ago? Yeah, squinting eyes are just as bad as shadowy faces and no girl on the planet wants her forehead to look like a shiny lightbulb (at least that is what I would assume) 

Location Gold! - 

By now, I'm sure at least 1 person has thought, well if I can't shoot in the sun or indoors and shadows are bad where do I shoot? Well not all shadows are bad, shadows on peoples' faces is bad, shooting in the shadows is photography 101. 

1) Open Shade is GOOD, think of the shady side of a building, that is open shade, its open (outside) and its shade hence open shade. 

2) You want to see as little shadows on your subject as possible, this is called soft light, because it is soft on the skin not harsh and shiny. 

3) Some shadows are okay, but the softer your shadows the better, while no shadows is the easiest to photograph in, soft shadows can give your images that studio contrast look that people love. 

       Shadow Softness - hard shadows have sharp contoured edges and soft shadows are fuzzy shadows that blur on the edges, if you pay attention to your shadows you'll pick up the difference really fast.

4) Trees are not a good starting place, until you train yourself to pay close attention to the minute lighting and shadow changes on your subjects face and body, stay away from tree shade because it is full of light holes and spots.

       Spotty Lighting - light that creates shadow spots on the subjects skin, unless you are shooting a leopard, spotty lighting is bad

A fellow photographer once told me, the skills of photography are really just the skills of selection. You see millions of options with your eye and narrow it down to dozens which become your images. You need to think like a photographer, be selective, choose the right backgrounds, the right lighting, and the best expressions to be your photographs. If you aren't thinking about what's best, how will you ever become better? Be conscious of what you are shooting, take control, you're the photographer people need to trust you and your judgement in what makes the best shot.

Want to learn more? Have a question? Leave us a comment with any questions and we'll do our best to answer them for you.

Looking for personal instruction? We are now offering photography consultations starting at $100/h. Lock in your fundamentals with hands on 1:1 training. Learn the advance techniques of shooting and lighting. Learn more about the business side of photography.

Interested in our photography?

Our Site at http://www.nathanielkamphotography.com

Our Blog http://nkamphoto.wordpress.com 

Also you can find us on Facebook and Twitter

The Little Three -

So I'm sure you are asking yourself, "Why is this titled the Little Three?". Many people consider great photography to be expert command of composition, exposure, and focus. And while I do agree with this to some extent, it is a rather oversimplified statement. That said we'll consider the BIG Three Composition, Exposure, and Focus and the Little Three Shutter, Aperture, and ISO. Now with the titled explained, I'd imagine some very astute people will be asking, "if composition comes first, why did you do a post on exposure?". 

Why we didn't do a composition post first - 

 I did think about it but I also asked myself, "What's the point of taking greatly composed photos that look terrible?" Wouldn't you hate yourself if you had an awesome shot lined up but it came out 4 stops underexposed or completely blurry? It's happened to me and it's happened to everyone else, so minimize the chances that it happens to you and get down with the basics. 

After all, this wouldn't be a real photography blog unless we went over how to use everything on your camera. That said, we're going to take a second now to do that. I know this is the part of photography that everyone cringes about, so we'll try to keep it quick, easy, and hopefully entertaining. And while you can easily look into your camera's manual or take a class on photography, chances are you won't...and besides who really uses those manuals anyways? 

We'll assume you've been keeping up to date with this blog and you're already trying out shooting in manual and will only be going over what we feel is absolutely essential to taking great photos.  

ISO -

Just like in film cameras ISO stands for International Standard of Optics and is just a sensitivity convention for recording light. It is a bit of an aging convention but is familiar to veteran photographers and is analogous for the digital system. What you really need to know is it's a doubling scale ISO 100 being standard, 200 will be twice as sensitive, then 400 twice that, 800 twice that etc.The higher your ISO the more sensitive to light your sensor will be and will help you use smaller apertures and/or higher shutter speeds. The trade off is noise, not as much a problem on newer camera bodies but the rule still applies that the higher your ISO the more random color noise you will undoubtedly incur on your image.   

Shutter Speed -

Obviously the length of time your shutter stays open...really though I think "shutter lag" would be more fitting....okay maybe not so obvious. So what do you need to understand about shutter speed?

1) Longer shutter speeds (lower numbers) will allow more light in.

2) Longer shutter speeds will pick up more motion blur from the photographer 

3) Longer shutter speeds will pick up more motion blur from the subjects

That said keep your shutter speeds up to keep crisp images whenever lighting allows it. You can always bring up exposure in post, but a blurry image is blurry forever. 

Aperture - 

This is the size of the opening on the back side of your lens that light comes into the sensor from. It can range form 1.0 to as high as 32 and is the product of some mathematical equation you won't need to concern yourself with. Unlike ISO and Shutter speed which really only directly affect light Aperture will also affect how and what you can focus on. That said things you need to know about aperture: 

1) Bigger Apertures are smaller numbers (ex. f1.0 is much bigger than f32)

2) The bigger the aperture the more light comes in and the higher shutter speeds you can use

3) The bigger the aperture the shallower the Depth of Field is (this is how far front and back of your focal plane appears in focus)

Ex. f1.2 has a very shallow DOF compared to the same lens stopped down to f4.0

Corollary: You would not use big apertures to take group photos with lines of people

Balance is Everything -

 Since all three control your exposure, it is your job as the photographer to decide what you need and when you need it. Do you need a wider Depth of Field for close up detail shots? Or do you need fast shutter speeds for sports? The more intentional you are the more creative and proficient you'll become.  

Have additional questions you'd like answered? Leave us a comment on this post and who knows maybe your question might get its own post. 

Interested in our photography?

Our Site at http://www.nathanielkamphotography.com

Our Blog http://nkamphoto.wordpress.com 

Also you can find us on Facebook and Twitter

Shoot in Manual, Shoot in Raw, Test.

                 If there was ever one piece of photography advice I ever got, that I would say is most responsible for where I have come to today it was, "Shoot in Manual, Shoot in Raw". I honestly feel this is the most important thing for new photographers to do as it teaches them inherently how to get the shot they want. I will concede that for some reasons I don't agree with, stylistically some people do choose to shoot in JPG. But for a professional photographer to be shooting in an automatic mode, I would go so far as to say it would be like your doctor using webMD to diagnose you. I know I wouldn't want my doctor to plug symptoms into a website and pop out answers I can get myself. So shouldn't our attitude towards professional photographers be the same? 

                For me simply, shooting in automatic and Jpg is like painting with only 2 colors or cooking with only 1 pan. You are limiting yourself in how creative you can ultimately be. I believe the more things you have control over: exposure, aperture, DOF, flash, focus, contrast level, split toning, saturation the more tools you have to create dynamic images the way you want them. If you don't agree with me, that's okay you don't have to keep reading, but it sure seems logical to me.

                So why do I think you learn faster shooting in raw and manual? Shooting in manual forces you to pay attention to all those little numbers on your camera. In automatic modes our brains literally shut off and we tend to only focus on the subject we are shooting. This greatly extends how long it would take you to realize how ISO, shutter speed, and aperture are related. It's not that complicated, I guarantee if you just keep at it you'll get it in no time...I mean there's only 3 things in there that ultimately effect exposure. What also helps, IS TEST SHOTS. Accept that you will fail, the center of the light meter is a poor judgement of how photos should actually look - THIS IS WHY AUTO IS BAD. Perfect exposure to the camera is definitely NOT perfect exposure to humans. Take test shots, review them, and fix what's wrong with the pictures. You wouldn't do this in auto and if you did all you do is change the bar on the ev spectrum. You don't learn what the auto did to fix the problem and thus cannot replicate the needed adjustments the next time around. 

                So what about raw? Well combined with shooting in manual it'll actually help move you along. Say I shoot something and it seems pretty dark but overall it looks okay. Well I open that image later in ACR or lightroom and edit it to where I think it looks really cool and if it was 1 stop too dark, I then know to make it brighter 1 ev in the camera the next time I shoot. This will also force you to pay attention to lighting, color, and overall just forces you to review the images you took with more thought. And of course, again if you really want to be unique and have your own style that stands out, you can't be using the jpgs your camera spits out, you need to take initiative and make you images look like how YOU want them to look. 

- An Excerpt from our 1st Workshop Follow Up - (link to our workshop group)

            Raw files are the most robust file type on your Camera  (they have the most data in them for post production and are the most accurate for color). JPG files will tend to over saturate skin tones (especially in tungsten lighting – so badly it sometimes bleeds into the eyes), make skin look plastic like, deepen eye sockets, and they also have a tendency to clip blacks and highlights (from their heightened contrast level). You can always add contrast, clarity, and saturation into your files later on, but you can’t easily take it out. 

         Manual Shooting, professionals are paid for their competency, consistency, and skill; with that perspective, aim to be the best. If you can shoot in manual do it. If you can’t but want to get better, just start, it won’t take as long as you think. Certain shots and situations (Flares, halos, backlighting, low lighting, multiple or mixed lighting, flash, light painting, trails, radial spins, zooms, and macros) are simply easier to shoot on manual.

So you have a camera body, but what about lenses...there sure are a lot out there. And who makes lenses anyways? A lot of companies make camera lenses and for the most part it'll depend on where you are at skill wise and monetarily for where you will likely be dropping money on glass (or even plastic). So where do we get lenses... 

Well there's your camera company

  ex. Canon and Nikon both have their own Lens lines

Big name Lens Manufacturers

  ex. Zeiss, Cosina, and to some extent Leica

Respectable 3rd Party Manufacturers

  ex. Sigma, Tokina, Tamron

and what I call The Randoms (as the name suggests, you will not see too many photographers with these lenses, and if you did...you'd think man that's random)

  ex. Quantaray, Phoenix, and many more

Now like our discussion on camera bodies, I really want readers to focus on what you HONESTLY are going to need. Sure it would be cool if we could all mount Leica lenses to our cameras but that wouldn't be too practical cost wise nor too useful to take pictures of your kids or roommates. In the following discussion there will quite a few terms and ideas that beginners or general interest readers might not be familiar with, feel free to ask via comment or ignore them and wait for our future posts concerning shooting. 

Beginners - This is your first camera / lens. You have no idea how to take photos other than pushing the button on a point and shoot. You're focus really needs to be on getting the hang of photography and understanding how to take a picture and what ultimately you are going to be taking photos of. It would be very sad to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on equipment and finding out you suck at or hate photography (and yes this happens). (Limit $150)

  Kit Lenses (free or included with camera) - These were designed for a reason and reviewed by many people far smarter than you or I before being put into mass production. Love them or hate them, they exists because they do exactly what they are supposed to. These lenses will give you a nice standard working range from wide to normal or slight telephoto. I'd say don't pay for it if you don't have to, but if you have it, it'll be utility in your pocket. 

  50mm F1.8 (<$100 and my recommendation) - If you were ever to buy just one lenses and you had almost no money to do it, by far over anything else would I say get a 50mm f1.8. This amazing lens will hopefully force new photographers to think about things like DOF and composition and aid in their becoming better shooters. Coupled with any camera than can shoot ISO1600+ you will be able to take photo's pretty much anywhere there is a natural light source (i.e not in the dark of night) without flash.

Amateur - Hopefully you've at least tried some functions other than the Green box setting but you might not be using them all the time. What you need to start thinking about is utility with regard to your lenses. RESIST the urge to buy lenses you don't need. Optic quality really isn't what you need to concern yourself with. Again you are taking pictures of everyday stuff, from friends and get-togethers to day trips and vacations. That picture of your friend blowing out a cake isn't going to be blown up on a billboard or put into a magazine so why are you trying to argue you need super tact sharp lenses to do it? (Limit ~$400)

  Mid-range walk arounds (recommendation) - These are essentially upgrades to your kit lens. Stay around the same focal length and remember to buy on utility not on optical quality. 

Intermediate - Ok so by this point, you have hopefully have some idea of what shutter speed, aperture, and ISO are and have outgrown your kit lens and 50mm. Again though, try not to get ahead of yourself. Even if you are being creative and artistic, you aren't in need of multiple $1000+ lenses to do so. If you want more creative potential and control you should learn what "mm" really means both semantically and practically as this will be the best way to decide what you need to do what you want creatively. Keep thinking utility minded at this point, "I want to be able to do this type of shot...I need this type of lens" not "i've been shooting for this long...I should be upgrading to professional grade equipment". Careful, this is where most people blow way too much money and end up regretting it. (Limit ~$400)

  mm or millimeter - is the actual number of millimeters the distance of the lens to the sensor is, this is measured at infinity focus (but that really doesn't matter any) 

What you do need to know is this

  Lenses <50mm are considered wide angles lenses

  Lenses >50mm are considered telephoto lenses 

But what does that mean for you? 

  Wide angles do more than let you see more stuff at once and Telephotos do more than get closer views of things. Without going into an in depth discussion of optics and how we see simply put, wide angles can be used with strong perspective (ex. ground up) to increase the apparent length of lines and size of objects relative to one another.

      Example, a person looks very tall if you shoot them ground up with a 24mm lens. The stronger the perspective or wider the lens the greater the effect.

  Telephotos do the opposite (again without going into optics - these would be parallel light rays if you were wondering or don't believe me) - Using a telephoto understand that it will essentially flatten images. 

      Example, shoot down hallway with columns at 200mm+ and they will appear as consecutively larger rectangular boxes, like looking at a picture of a mirror reflecting a mirror endlessly. 

Like being a beginner, I'd recommend highly going back to Prime lenses (fixed focal lengths) just now they will cost you $300ish each not $100.

  For Canon users I would recommend the 24mm f2.8, 35mm f2.0, 50mm f1.4 (only if you don't have a f1.8), and the 85mm f1.8. These lenses force you into modes of thought and make you utilize what you have. If you a 24mm on you need to think, what is 24mm good for and how do I use it best. You will also be able to take control over the Depth of Field in your images, blurring out the backgrounds that looks so professional without breaking the bank.

Advanced to Professional - Utility is still king, until you have the money to spend on quality which could be years, it's a business so marginal analysis better not fall by the wayside.

  Ex. I (in reality) would really love to have a 50mm f1.2, but since it offers me almost no gains in utility and will virtually no clients I wouldn't already be booking it makes no sense to purchase one as an investment. But if say I have a great season and have lots of excess profit, I can purchase one after my other needs are taken care. 

Have additional questions you'd like answered? Leave us a comment on this post and who knows maybe your question might get its own post. 

Our next post is going to be an Introduction to shooting

Interested in our photography?

 Our Site at http://www.nathanielkamphotography.com

Our Blog http://nkamphoto.wordpress.com 

Also you can find us on Facebook and Twitter

My recommendation: Don't pay any attention to shutter count #'s, they are mostly flawed and useless. Pay more attention to the condition of the body and the buttons to tell roughly how used the camera is. If there are lots of body scratches, buttons with weak springs, and warn down grips and textures the camera has been used pretty heavily. 

**Disclaimer** Always exercise caution in purchasing used equipment, there are a lot of shady people out there just looking to make a quick buck off you. In order to understand how to avoid this scam; reading this will inevitably end teaching you how to scam people as well. So please please refer anyone you know purchasing a used digital camera to this information.   

Sorry Nikon users I don't know enough about your camera Bios to know if this works or affects your system. Okay so here's how Shutter Count works on a Canon 

Under the "Continuous" file numbering system - (the other system just resets to 0 on each card) 

Each image you take (IMG_0001, IMG_0002, etc) goes into a folder (100CANON, 101CANON, etc). 

Example: In my computer D:/ DCIIM / 100CANON / IMG_0001.CR2 would be the first image on a brand new Canon Camera

Folder 100CANON: holds images IMG_0001 -> IMG_9999 representing images 1-9,999.
Folder 101CANON: also holds images IMG_0001 -> IMG_9999 but represents images 10,000-19,998. 
Etc, etc 

In general we say that each folder holds 10,000 image counts under this system (it is actually 9,999 since Canon image numbers go from 1-9,999).

So to find out how many images have been taken on a camera:

1) Take the folder number (Ex. 101CANON)
2) Subtract 100 ( 101 - 100 = 1 )
3) Multiply by 10,000 ( 1 x 10,000 = 10,000 )
4) Add the last image number ( 10,000 + IMG_0001 = 10,001 images)

How people get scammed - 

Most people do not understand the number and filing system on Canon cameras, so if someone says "Hey this 4 year old camera has 2,000 actuations on it" but their folder # is actually 900CANON not 100CANON you know they are lying and they've actually taken 82,000 images.

Now you might think, okay well know I know that and I'll look at what folder # it is in. But sadly this filing system only works if you use the same memory card or cards. If your seller has placed his card into another camera it'll pick up off their last image count NOT the one you are buying. Again this is why so many used camera posters claim 3,000 or less shutter actuations. 

NEVER believe a professionally owned camera has a lower shutter actuation count - if this were true they better be selling the camera cause their business failed due to them not shooting anything. 

It is possible that some used cameras were just paper weights and dust catchers and their owners never used them except when the first bought them, but you'll have to decide that for yourself when you look at it. If the person has a professional camera bag, lots of lenses, multiple cameras or memory cards and a website...chances are they are trying to scam you. 

So you want to get into photography, but you don't have a camera and thousands of dollars sitting around?

Tip: Don't get bogged down in the advertising hype and don't pay so much attention to that techno babble you don't really understand. 

Recommendation: My recommendation is always always to go for used or older model cameras. Now you will need to bite your lip and a chunk of humble pie when your buddy tells you he just got the new " digital blah blah super blah" but rest assured in the end you've made the better decision.

Let's examine some general truths that you probably didn't think about when considering purchasing a digital camera - 

1. Photographers have been around for awhile 
2. Digital Cameras (SLR's in our case) have been around for sometime now too
3. Ask yourself, where there amazing digital photos 2 years ago? 5 years ago? 10 years ago? - Yes
4. So then do you need this year's latest model to be a photographer? or even take quality photos just for fun? - In my opinion no! 

Now you probably shouldn't buy a 10 year old digital camera, just because electronics don't last forever, but if you looking at a model from a year or two ago it should be just fine. Understand that the vast majority of digital cameras that are sold go to people who will never shoot professionally. Most people pull the camera out once in a while to take some pictures of their kids and what not, but never really put it through the paces and rigors they were designed to withstand. In other words, DO NOT BUY PROFESSIONALLY USED CAMERAS,  after all you wouldn't buy a used car from a cross country rally driver would you? Sure they know what it does better than other people but it's been put through so much more stress.

The best deals available online are used cameras from the people who "need" to have the latest models. These people generally think that equipment = results, but you know about fact 4 and that new technology is no guarantee of quality. **Disclaimer** Always take care and caution when meeting to look at or purchase used equipment. Thoroughly examine the product and if the deal seems too good to be true just walk away. Of course there are always online used camera stores, just keep to the bigger stores like http://www.bhphoto.com or http://www.adorama for more stringent quality assessments and customer service. 

Now that we've disillusioned the advertising myths and looked at where to get your camera, let's examine the things you really do need on your first camera.

- Brand -

Ideally stay within Canon and Nikon, but don't feel barred from Sony and Olympus to a lesser extent. The reasoning behind this, is expansion options. By keeping to the two largest brand names you will pay a little bit more for your camera but if you decide to get more serious with photography you'll be rewarded for your choice by much larger selections of lenses, flashes, and accessories. 

- Mega-Pixels - 

If there is one specification anyone knows about a digital camera is the word "Mega-pixel", this refers to the resolution of the images the camera takes. Now instinctively you might think that bigger is better, but this is not always the case. Let's assume you buy a brand new 20+mp camera, well if you shoot in JPG you can expect around 12 megabytes a picture, which means you will inevitably be paying more for storage cards and hard drives. But you are just getting into photography, you aren't taking studio quality images that are being put onto 30ft billboards and movie posters, so why do you need all those megapixels? Well...you don't. 

- ISO -

If you ever shot on film you'll recognize the term, but if you haven't ISO essentially tells you how dark it can be for you to still be able to take a picture. Ideally if you can find a camera with ISO 3200  that's great, but 1600 is fine as well. 

- Lenses -

Chances are you are going to end up with a kit lens, which is fine for starting out. But if you have the option, get a 50mm f1.8 they are generally about $100 and will give you the best quality for the price.

- Shutter Life - (thnx Myo for mentioning)

Ok so a little about shutter life - shutter life or expected actuations is how many photos your camera is rated to potentially take. These numbers are averages like any other warrantied part will represent the lower end of real life use. For instance my XTi has about 100,000 actuations on it twice the Canon expected figure. In general for canon you are looking at:

 Canon, . "Canon EOS Rebel T1i 500D Digital SLR Camera Review." The Digital Picture. The Digital Picture, 22 May 2009. Web. 20 Mar 2010. <http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EOS-Rebel-T1i-500D-Digital-S...>.

Now as interesting as this little chart is, you need to look at it from your prospective. I am sure you're thinking 200 or 300 thousand looks great compared to 50,000 but remember you're not a professional right now - this is your first camera. So take some time and honestly examine how many images you are likely to take a year. Let's say you take 50 to 100 images per event and since you're really popular you go to like 8 events a month, that's 800 images a month on the high end and 10,000 a year - giving you a 5 year life expectancy. Now since you're not a professional, ask yourself "am I really going to take 100 photos an event and 100 events a year?!". Yea I didn't think so, that's a huge time commitment. So expect that you will in REALITY take much less. 

Now it is my opinion that if you honestly try to improve and become a professional 30,000-50,000 images from a used camera is more than enough to gain the necessary experience to start "charging" for your time. And since you bought your camera used, does $450-800 dollars every 1, 2 or 5 years really seem like THAT much money.     

I hope you found these tips helpful, good luck, and good shooting.

~Nathaniel Kam  

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