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	<title>Beginners&#039; Photography Guide</title>
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	<description>Practical and Common Sense Advice for Newbies</description>
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		<title>Etiquette for Newbie Photographers</title>
		<link>http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/etiquette-for-newbie-photographers/</link>
		<comments>http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/etiquette-for-newbie-photographers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Apr 2010 09:50:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Russel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Beginners' Photography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beginner photographer etiquette]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beginners' photography etiquette]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[photography etiquette]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[There a lot more etiquette pointers for beginners, but those above are what I feel are the most important. So in summary, beginners should give respect to be respected, research first before asking, and putting more effort to improving their skills than looking good with their cameras.


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<p>I&#8217;ve been doing photography since I was 12 years old. My uncle lent me his Minolta full manual film camera and he taught me how to use it. I studied photography by reading encyclopedias, going to the library and asking tips from professional photographers. One thing I learned from this non-digital era was respect: respect for the process of photography and respect for other photographers.</p>
<p>When the digital age came and made photography available to almost everyone, a lot of good things happened and equally even more bad things resulted.</p>
<p>Invasion of privacy, the rise of the elitist &#8220;photographers&#8221;, the flood of <a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_489304.html">malicious people using photography to achieve their ill intentions</a>, and many more side effects came about. But what really irritates me these days is the loss of respect for others and the increase of wannabe photographers who doesn&#8217;t practice the simplest of courtesy and respect of others, photographers or otherwise.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m listing here the pointers that I believe every beginner photographer should learn and practice. I have to emphasize that these are my opinions, and you are entitled to your own. I won&#8217;t force you to follow them, because I respect your decision/opinion. If you do follow them, thank you.</p>
<p>So here it is, in no particular order:</p>
<p><span id="more-167"></span></p>
<p><strong>Courtesy is something every photographer should give to everyone, and that includes other photographers.</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong>I&#8217;ve had too many bad experiences with other ill-mannered beginners photographers that I have become selective of the newbies that I associate with. An example,  one evening, I came 2 hours early for a fireworks display in Marina Bay, Singapore so that I can get a vantage point. I already setup my gear and patiently waited for an hour when out of nowhere a group of newbie photographers organized by Olympus came to the spot. Once there, their instructors/organizers started teaching them how to use their new Olympus cameras to shoot nightscape and fireworks. Then a couple of the students went in front of me and started setting up their gear. When I told them they were blocking my view, they just ignored me. Their organizers saw this but they didn&#8217;t do anything. I just let it pass and avoided any confrontation. Common courtesy suggest respecting the ones that got there first, it&#8217;s your fault you didn&#8217;t arrive earlier. Sadly, that night I had lost a bit of hope for these newbies.</p>
<p><strong>A professional photographer is, by technical definition, someone who earns a living or 100% of his/her income from doing photography. </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong>Please don&#8217;t claim you&#8217;re a professional photographer if you just do it on a weekend or your a talented amateur/hobbyist and your works could pass for those done by real photographers. If a hobbyist claims to be a professional photographer and then messes up a project or behaves badly, it&#8217;s not just him/her that gets a bad reputation: he&#8217;s bringing down the image of all real professional photographers.</p>
<p><strong>You have no right to complain if your photographs are stolen or used by others without your consent if you use pirated software.</strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">How can thieves complain about getting robbed?</span></strong></p>
<p><strong>Taking paid projects and lowering your rates so that you&#8217;re cheaper than the professional photographers will cost you more in the long run.</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong>You will suffer the effects of charging lower, eventually. Clients will be demanding more from your lower rates and when you ask for an increase to compensate for the increase in workload, they won&#8217;t agree and they&#8217;ll just move on to other &#8220;cheaper&#8221; photographers.</p>
<p>Charging cheaper will also adversely affect real professional photographers who depend on their craft to earn a living. Read &#8220;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1435454294?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thedigligscr-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1435454294">Best Business Practices for Photographers by John Harrington</a>&#8220;<img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thedigligscr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1435454294" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> to understand how a successful photography business really works.  Also, if you want to be a popular photographer, don&#8217;t do it at the expense of other people. Do it by becoming really good at your craft and developing your own style. And my favorite comment for this argument, &#8220;Pay peanuts, get monkeys&#8221;.</p>
<p><strong>Ask nicely and be sure you did your research before asking a question.</strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">Spoon-feeding is not the best way to learn. Those that have successfully learned and earned from photography did so by studying hard, practicing more, and listening to the masters before them. Read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321544080?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thedigligscr-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0321544080">&#8220;The Moment It Clicks&#8221; by Joe Mcnally</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thedigligscr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0321544080" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> to understand what I mean. This brings me to the next point:<br />
</span></strong></p>
<p><strong>Do not demand an answer from the masters and the professionals.</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong>Don&#8217;t think that because they&#8217;re nice or they opened up a channel to help beginners, the masters will instantly answer all your questions. They, the pros and the experienced photographers, learned their craft through patience, hard work, and determination.  Beginner photographers should follow their examples. We are living in a world where instant gratification is the norm, a generation of spoiled brats if you want to be harsh about it. The masters, pros and experts don&#8217;t owe you anything (unless you paid them to teach you). Also, they need to make a living! Want to learn from the masters? Take their classes, read their books, and practice what they teach!</p>
<p><em>Nothing is more annoying than an arrogant, demanding, selfish and lazy newbie demanding you give them all the information they want, fast and free.</em></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong>Respect other photographers&#8217; work</strong></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong>.</strong></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong> </strong>If you think another photographer&#8217;s work is a piece of crap, say it to him directly. Don&#8217;t start a thread in a forum, or email your friends, twit about it, or post in Facebook.  If you can&#8217;t say it directly to a person, either through a personal message or email, it means you can&#8217;t stand up for your opinion.  You&#8217;re just full of it&#8212;or you&#8217;re just trying to get attention at the expense of others. There&#8217;s truth to the old saying, &#8220;If you have nothing good to say, shut the f### up.&#8221; If that person asks for comments about his work, then that&#8217;s the time you comment publicly.</span></strong></p>
<p><em>An exception to this rule is when a photographer posts a photo that is very offensive, or derogatory or just plain illegal or prohibited, that&#8217;s the time you should react.</em></p>
<p><strong>Do not assume you&#8217;re better than other photographers if you have better gear.</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong>Always remember that most of us started with the basic gear: the camera. If you have more gear than someone else it doesn&#8217;t mean you&#8217;re better or you are more skilled. Those that brag about their gear and don&#8217;t have good photos to show are commonly looked down upon by others.</p>
<p><em>Camera collectors are not always photographers.</em></p>
<p>I know a lot of people won&#8217;t find this article pleasant, but being pleasant doesn&#8217;t always drive the point.</p>
<p>There a lot more etiquette pointers for beginners, but those above are what I feel are the most important. So in summary, beginners should give respect to be respected, research first before asking, and putting more effort to improving their skills than looking good with their cameras.</p>
<p>Peace be with you and happy shooting. <img src='http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>The Benefits of Downsizing&#8212;your gear</title>
		<link>http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/the-benefits-of-downsizing-your-gear/</link>
		<comments>http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/the-benefits-of-downsizing-your-gear/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:05:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Russel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Beginners' Photography]]></category>
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Too much of anything is bad, or generally, not good. That applies to your photography gear as well.  If you&#8217;re just starting out with photography, your goal should be to maximize what you have and not to have everything that looks nice.
The most common mistake a lot of newbies (beginners) make is to buy [...]


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<p style="text-align: center;">
<p>Too much of anything is bad, or generally, not good. That applies to your photography gear as well.  If you&#8217;re just starting out with photography, your goal should be to maximize what you have and not to have everything that looks nice.</p>
<p>The most common mistake a lot of newbies (beginners) make is to buy a lot of gear thinking that they would get better faster.  Then there&#8217;s peer pressure.  The newbie&#8217;s mind is fertile ground for suggestions&#8212;equipment suggestion, that is.</p>
<p>One of the first things a newbie will do is search the internet for resources. The amusing thing  about doing research in the internet for photography is that the results usually points to forums. This fact leads the newbie to  join forums. Once the newbie becomes a regular member, he meets up and joins other regulars. That&#8217;s when all the <strong>bombardment </strong>of suggestions and gear recommendations start. The newbie <strong>gets excited </strong>and gets even more excited when he sees sample photos produced by those lenses and cameras.<span id="more-84"></span></p>
<p>Then the newbie researches more on those lenses and cameras and <strong>convinces </strong>him- or herself that he or she needs those gear. If the newbie is rich, he or she buys the gear. If the newbie is financially limited, he either uses some form of credit or loan or uses savings to get the gear.  Once the gears they have the gear, <strong>they tremble with excitement to use it</strong>, doing test shots left and right, and more than willing to go out and shoot. This lasts for about a month or two, then the excitement fades, and some other lenses becomes suggested, then further researched on, and then acquired &#8212; and then gets stored in the storage cabinet, or wherever you store your gear. This cycle happens again and again and also triggers other purchase cycles.</p>
<p>What other purchase cycles, you ask? The <strong>accessories purchase cycle</strong>. Yes once you buy a lens or a camera, you&#8217;d be enticed to buy accessories for those gear. You&#8217;ll be tempted to buy filters for your lens, battery grips for your camera bodies, flash triggers and light modifiers (omni-bounce, gary fong&#8217;s lightsphere, and other things) for your flash. Eventually you&#8217;ll be left with a lot of stuff that you don&#8217;t need, or will not use in the near or far future.</p>
<p>To avoid, or at least lessen this cycle, I recommend you follow the following suggestions:</p>
<p>1. <strong>Don&#8217;t buy</strong>.  This is simply the most cost efficient solution to prevent gear accumulation. Instead, make do with what you have.</p>
<p>2. <strong>Rent or borrow</strong>.  This is the best way to evaluate a lens or a camera, before committing to purchase.  You could rent from the camera rental shops or borrow from your friends. It helps if most of your friends have the same camera system.</p>
<p>3. <strong>Identify your specialization</strong>.  Knowing what you&#8217;ll be shooting frequently will be a good indicator of what the gears you&#8217;ll be buying. For example, if you want to focus on macro photography, you don&#8217;t need to buy that fisheye lens that your friend is raving about.</p>
<p>4. <strong>Buy and pay cash, always</strong>.  This will help you avoid impulse buying (generally, unless you carry 3-5 thousand dollars in your pocket daily.  It&#8217;s easier to do impulse buying if you use your credit card.</p>
<p>5. <strong>Delay your purchase by at least a month</strong>. This will help tone down the initial excitement of buying a new and highly suggested product.</p>
<p>6. <strong>Convince your spouse or better half to buy it for you. </strong>If she/he buys it for you, you&#8217;re lucky to have her. But if they don&#8217;t, and they convince you that you don&#8217;t need it, you&#8217;re even luckier.  I find it a good jolt of reality to discuss your purchases with your better half.</p>
<p>7. <strong>Buy with your spouse or better half.</strong> This is your final line of defense from impulse buying. Sometimes it even turns out well. They, the better halves, can be good at negotiating the price. It never fails.</p>
<p>I hope after reading the suggestions above you realize one thing: having more gear is not necessary, it can even be a hindrance to your skill improvement and personal relationships.</p>
<p>As I always tell the newbies I meet and asks for advice, focus on your basics first, before getting more gear.</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<br />
UPDATE:<br />
I&#8217;ve posted my current gear list at: <a href="http://www.russelcp.com/general/whats-in-my-camera-bag/">http://www.russelcp.com/general/whats-in-my-camera-bag/</a></p>
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		<title>Flash, Tripod, Lens &#8211; which comes first?</title>
		<link>http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/flash-tripod-lens-which-comes-first/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:29:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Russel</dc:creator>
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Now that you&#8217;ve got your nice, new and shiny DSLR camera, it&#8217;s time for the additions. If you started with the basic kit of camera body and kit lens, good for you. Before long, you&#8217;ll start contemplating on what to buy next. Most of the time it will be these three: Flash, Tripod and Lens. [...]


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<p>Now that you&#8217;ve got your nice, new and shiny DSLR camera, it&#8217;s time for the additions. If you started with the basic kit of camera body and kit lens, good for you. Before long, you&#8217;ll start contemplating on what to buy next. Most of the time it will be these three: Flash, Tripod and Lens. So what do you buy first? As always, my automatic answer is &#8220;what do you need?&#8221;</p>
<p>Establishing the need for any equipment/tool/accessory is the first thing you should do when contemplating on a new acquisition ESPECIALLY with budget photography.</p>
<blockquote>
<blockquote><p><strong>Note</strong>: Gear Acquisition Sickness (or Syndrome in some part of the online photography community), or GAS is an affliction that hits you when you start mingling with other photographers and beginners.  I&#8217;ll discuss GAS in another post, but as a brief, <strong>GAS makes you need something that you really just want. It&#8217;s like saying I WANT to have this lens because I think it&#8217;s cool, then rationalizing that you NEED that lens because it will make you a better photographer</strong>.  In the end you just end up with a lens that doesn&#8217;t make you a better photographer and  just takes up space in your bag or dry cabinet.</p></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>So on with the tips.<br />
During the time I was writing this article, I noticed that it was fairly long. So to save you from reading till the end, I&#8217;m giving you a summary:</p>
<blockquote>
<blockquote><p>If you&#8217;re budget conscious yet you need to satisfy that urge to buy more, follow this sequence of purchases:</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p><strong>cheap TRIPOD, good FLASH, better LENS.</strong></p></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>Still interested to know my rationale for that sequence?  Read on.<br />
<span id="more-13"></span>If you&#8217;re on a budget like me, here are some thoughts to ponder on:</p>
<p><strong>Flash (a.k.a. flash unit, external flash, on-board flash, flash gun, or strobe)<br />
</strong></p>
<p>Thinking of getting a flash? Ask yourself the following questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>How often will I shoot indoors (indoor events, functions and gatherings)?</li>
<li>How often will I shoot in low light situations?</li>
<li>How often will I shoot subjects that are against the sun or against very bright light that would require me to have fill light that my built-in flash cannot provide?</li>
<li>Have I maximized the built-in flash in my camera?</li>
</ol>
<p>If you answered &#8220;very often&#8221; or &#8220;a lot&#8221; to the first three questions, then you probably need a flash. Make sure to get a very good one. Don&#8217;t risk it with third party flashes. Buy a Canon flash if you&#8217;re a Canon user, or a Nikon flash if you&#8217;re a Nikon use. Buying the same brand as your camera ensures that they have the highest compatibility. Again, don&#8217;t risk it.</p>
<p>If you answered &#8220;occassionally&#8221; or &#8220;not often&#8221;, just save your money for the other two items. Why? If you&#8217;re not going to use it that often, it will just gather dust in your bag or dry cabinet. For the few times you need it, you can adapt your built-in flash to fulfill that need (unless you bought a Canon EOS 1-series or 5D that doesn&#8217;t have a built-in flash). Personally, I only needed a flash when I was already covering events, and doing product shots in a studio setting.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re more of an outdoor shooter or you favor natural light, get a reflector instead. It&#8217;s cheaper and it gives more natural-looking results.</p>
<p><strong>Tripod</strong></p>
<p>Thinking of getting a tripod? Ask yourself the following questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>How often will I take long exposure shots (shots slower than 1/10 of a second or night shots)?</li>
<li>How often will I be the photographer and also be part of the subject of the photo?</li>
<li>How often will go out and shoot landscapes and architectural shots that require a very stable platform and a fixed shooting position  for my camera?</li>
</ol>
<p>If you answered &#8220;very often&#8221; or &#8220;a lot&#8221; to these questions, then you probably need a tripod. Otherwise, just save your money. Tripods are not the lightest equipment that you&#8217;ll be using, so don&#8217;t burden yourself carrying that extra load.</p>
<p>Tripods are meant to give your cameras a stable platform so that you can take relatively shake free shots. Examples would be shooting night landscapes, long exposure shots outdoors (like landscapes and panoramas) and indoors (like studio portraits and product shots). It can also be used as the fixed shooting position to shoot multiple shots of a landscape which you later would be stitching together.</p>
<p>If you do decide to buy the tripod, please don&#8217;t be tempted to buy the most expensive you can afford. The most expensive tripods aren&#8217;t the most practical. Why? the expensive ones are commonly big. If you want to know how it feels carrying a tripod during a shoot, get a tube (PVC) with at least a 8cm diameter and 75cm length, tie a rope from one end to another, then sling that over one shoulder. Now start walking and shooting with that dummy tripod on your shoulder. Cumbersome isn&#8217;t it?</p>
<p>Another reason I suggest not buying the expensive ones is that most tripods already give a fairly decent stability to cameras that weigh up to 1 kilogram (that includes the camera body and lens and whatever is attached to the camera body). I have a cheap tripod (34 SGD, samurai brand) that can easily support  my EOS 20D with a Sigma 24-70mm 2.8 lens ( a total weight of 1.2kG).  I&#8217;ve never had any accident with it and it has already helped me take some very  wonderful nightscapes.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve heard other photographers say that you should use the bulky and heavy tripods to give more stability to the camera and to prevent the cameras from tipping over, or being accidentally kicked. I find those reasons flimsy. Tripods will not tip over or fall or even go rolling down a cliff if the photographer placed it on a stable and safe position and footing. It&#8217;s stupid to blame the tripod for tipping over when you placed it on a wobbly set of rocks, or on top of a wall. It&#8217;s even more stupid to blame a tripod for being kicked; it&#8217;s a photographer&#8217;s responsibility to make sure that his equipment is not in harm&#8217;s way.</p>
<p>I remember one experience I had when I was shooting at Scotts Road, Singapore. I climbed the pedestrian overpass for a better Point of View of the traffic and lights. I set up my cheap tripod and started shooting. Then this guy came and set up beside me with his expensive looking manfrotto tripod. He then gave my cheap tripod a look and smiled. I knew what he meant. After several minutes, I noticed him shaking his head and checking his tripod. I got curious and asked what the problem was and he said that his shots have wobbly, shaky light trails and lines even though his tripod is very stable and he&#8217;s sure he didn&#8217;t nodge it during exposure. When I heard that, I laughed. I said something like, &#8220;your tripod is useless here because the overpass is vibrating because of the speeding cars below.&#8221; After that he packed up and left without getting a good shot (that&#8217;s according to him).  I also experienced that same effect on my initial pictures but I easily adjusted to it by changing my settings. My tripod did it&#8217;s part, it was up to me to adjust to the situation. Remember, it&#8217;s not the gear, it&#8217;s the photographer. <img src='http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p><strong>Lens (a.k.a. glass)</strong></p>
<p>Ok since this post is getting long, i&#8217;ll make this brief. If you think you need a new lens, ask yourself these questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Can I afford it?</li>
<li>How often will I use it?</li>
<li>Where would I use it?</li>
<li>Why would I use it?</li>
<li>When will I use it?</li>
<li>Can I borrow the same lens from my friends so I can try it out first?</li>
</ul>
<p>If you answered positively to those questions, then go ahead and buy it. If not, just save your money.</p>
<p>A good lens that you actually use is a good investment. It will keep you happy for a long time. A good lens that you don&#8217;t use is just excess baggage. If you survey the &#8220;for sale&#8221; section of most photography forums you&#8217;d find that a good number of sellers sell their lenses because they don&#8217;t use it that much. That for me is a waste of money.</p>
<p>A kit lens will be good enough for most uses. Try to master the basics first with that lens. Once you&#8217;ve exhausted the kit lens to its fullest potential,you can already identify the next lens you need to buy.</p>
<p>As a final suggestion, if you do decide to buy those three items, buy in this sequence: cheap tripod, good flash, better lens.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve shared to you my opinions on these three common purchases of newbie or beginner photographers. It&#8217;s up to you if you&#8217;d consider those suggestions. Just remember, in budget photography, it&#8217;s the need that comes first, not the wants.</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
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		<title>Beginners Photography Question: Why get a DSLR? &#8211; Part 2</title>
		<link>http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/beginners-photography-question-why-get-a-dslr-part-2/</link>
		<comments>http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/beginners-photography-question-why-get-a-dslr-part-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:26:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Russel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Beginners' Photography]]></category>
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Here&#8217;s some more possible justifications for getting a DSLR. Read on&#8230;
Real time shooting
Again, this is another major selling point of DSLRs. When you click the shutter button, the camera takes the photo. With most point and shoots, you click the shutter button, a slight lag time, then the camera takes the photo. How many wonderful [...]


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<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Here&#8217;s some more possible justifications for getting a DSLR. Read on&#8230;</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Real time shooting</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Again, this is another major selling point of DSLRs. When you click the shutter button, the camera takes the photo. With most point and shoots, you click the shutter button, a slight lag time, then the camera takes the photo. How many wonderful moments have you missed capturing because of that darn lag time?</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Low light and High ISO capability</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">This is related to image quality. The maximum useful ISO of most point and shoot cameras is 200. At ISO 400 some can still look good at smaller resolutions or in printouts. With the latest digital cameras that have high ISO features, you&#8217;re just getting a high ISO value of 800-1600 and a overdose of a noise reduction feature. Don&#8217;t expect good results.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Most DSLRs can produce photos that are generally noise free up to ISO 400, and still usable upto 800 and 1600. Some, like the wonderful Nikon D3 have useful images upto ISO 12800 or higher (they say).</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">But why would you want to have low light shooting capabilities if your camera has a flash? The answer is, there are situations that don&#8217;t allow you to use your flash like in some in churches, museums, events or places where flash photography is not allowed, for example at the Singapore Night Safari.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">So far I&#8217;ve tried my best to show you the practicality of getting a point and shoot over a DSLR and vice versa. But remember, it&#8217;s not just the camera that takes good pictures, it&#8217;s the photographer who framed the shot and pressed the button.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Avoid people who tell you that the gear will make you look good or an even better photographer. Most of the times people saying that are gear heads (camera collectors who focus on the photo gear rather than the art of photography itself). Read, Learn and practice: that will help you more than a piece of gear that burned a hole in your wallet. For me, a good photographer can take a good picture even with a camera phone. Peace. <img src='http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </div>
<p>Here&#8217;s some more possible justifications for getting a DSLR. Read on&#8230;</p>
<p><strong>Real time shooting</strong></p>
<p>Again, this is another major selling point of DSLRs. When you click the shutter button, the camera takes the photo. With most point and shoots, you click the shutter button, a slight lag time, then the camera takes the photo. How many wonderful moments have you missed capturing because of that darn lag time?</p>
<p><strong>Low light and High ISO capability</strong></p>
<p>This is related to image quality. The maximum useful ISO of most point and shoot cameras is 200. At ISO 400 some can still look good at smaller resolutions or in printouts. With the latest digital cameras that have high ISO features, you&#8217;re just getting a high ISO value of 800-1600 and a overdose of a noise reduction feature. Don&#8217;t expect good results.</p>
<p>Most DSLRs can produce photos that are generally noise free up to ISO 400, and still usable upto 800 and 1600. Some, like the wonderful Nikon D3 have useful images upto ISO 12800 or higher (they say).</p>
<p>But why would you want to have low light shooting capabilities if your camera has a flash? The answer is, there are situations that don&#8217;t allow you to use your flash like in some in churches, museums, events or places where flash photography is not allowed, for example at the Singapore Night Safari.</p>
<p>So far I&#8217;ve tried my best to show you the practicality of getting a point and shoot over a DSLR and vice versa. But remember, it&#8217;s not just the camera that takes good pictures, it&#8217;s the photographer who framed the shot and pressed the button.</p>
<p>Avoid people who tell you that the gear will make you look good or an even better photographer. Most of the times people saying that are gear heads (camera collectors who focus on the photo gear rather than the art of photography itself). Read, Learn and practice: that will help you more than a piece of gear that burned a hole in your wallet. For me, a good photographer can take a good picture even with a camera phone. Peace. <img src='http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>Beginner&#8217;s Photography Question: Why get a DSLR? &#8211; Part 1</title>
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		<comments>http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/beginners-photography-question-why-get-a-dslr-part-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:24:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Russel</dc:creator>
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&#8220;Why get a DSLR?&#8221; is a question beginners often asks, especially those that have been told by other photographers to get DSLRs. My most common answer is, &#8220;You don&#8217;t, unless you really need to.&#8221; and &#8220;Google it.&#8221; And if you do search for it, you&#8217;ll find tons of useful articles and information products.
Since I&#8217;m writing [...]


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<p>&#8220;Why get a DSLR?&#8221; is a question beginners often asks, especially those that have been told by other photographers to get DSLRs. My most common answer is, &#8220;You don&#8217;t, unless you really need to.&#8221; and &#8220;Google it.&#8221; And if you do search for it, you&#8217;ll find tons of useful articles and <a href="http://learndigitalphotographyresource.info" target="_blank">information products</a>.</p>
<p>Since I&#8217;m writing beginners&#8217; photography tips and techniques and how to cut down on spending in this hobby, i&#8217;m going to give you some points to consider before buying a Digital Single-Lens Reflex camera or DSLR.</p>
<p>But before anything else, if you&#8217;re just starting out in photography I suggest you learn the basic skills like composition and lighting FIRST before investing on gear.</p>
<p>Having all the gear in the world wouldn&#8217;t make you a good photographer if you don&#8217;t even know the basics of these two skills. Any decent point and shoot camera with manual settings control can be a good learning tool for composition and lighting. You don&#8217;t have to shell out hundreds of dollars or even thousands just to learn what the difference of adjusting aperture, shutter speed and ISO would do to your photos.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;ve learned the basics already and:</p>
<ul>
<li>you think your point and shoot camera is limiting you now;</li>
<li>your cellphone camera is not good enough for taking photos other than your self portraits;</li>
<li>you now have the budget to buy a DSLR;</li>
<li>or you think getting a DSLR will take your photography skills to the next level;</li>
<li>or for whatever reason you have, you now need to have some points to say when people ask you, &#8220;Why buy a DSLR?&#8221;.</li>
</ul>
<p>Here are some reasons that would justify a DSLR purchase and what I think about these reasons.<span id="more-29"></span></p>
<p><strong>Image quality</strong><br />
If you compare an image taken by a point and shoot camera and a photo taken by a DSLR, given that all settings are equal and resolution is the same, the DSLR photo would generally be better. Again I said generally, not always, but generally. It used to be always better, but with the advent of newer Point and Shoot cameras like the Panasonic LX3 and other similar enthusiast cameras the difference just got smaller in terms of sharpness, clarity and color.<br />
One rebuttal to this justification is that once you print both pictures (from point and shoot and DSLR) the difference would be hardly noticeable on an 4&#215;6 or even an 8&#215;10 print.<br />
Now, some people would counter this rebuttal by saying that with digital photography, most photos are now just seen on computer screens from online photo sharing sites. On a computer monitor, the full difference of the two would be noticeable. Let&#8217;s just assume that it does, but do you really view a photo at 3.2 Megapixel resolution on the web? A 17&#8221; monitor wouldn&#8217;t even be enough to display the whole photo, in full resolution. That&#8217;s why we have the term web size or around 640&#215;480 pixels. So whatever resolution your image was, you&#8217;d be shrinking it (downsizing is the techie term for it) to 640 pixels on the long side. So if you have an 8MP photo (3504&#215;2336 pixels) you&#8217;ll resize it to 640&#215;427 pixels. There goes all that resolution, image sharpness, clarity and color.</p>
<p><strong>Lens Interchangeability</strong><br />
Ok this one is, for me, one of the selling points of DSLRs. You&#8217;re not stuck to your cameras&#8217; lens, and you can change it for whatever purpose or situation.<br />
But if you&#8217;re going for range vs cost, you can get a 15x superzoom digital point and shoot camera for the price of a telephoto lens of a lesser range. That&#8217;s getting a zoom range of 28-432mm for a price of a 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens. So if you just want the range and just the average image quality, just get a super zoom digital camera like the Sony H-series or the Canon S-series. Also take note that with DSLRs, the lenses will be more expensive than your camera bodies, because you need to spend a lot for quality lenses.</p>
<p>Still interested to know the rest of possible justifications? Then read on to <a href="http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/beginners-photography-question-why-get-a-dslr-part-2/">Part 2</a>&#8230;</p>
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		<title>Gear Lust and Buying your First DSLR</title>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Russel</dc:creator>
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Buying a Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera is really a pain. I went through that as well. Here are some pointers I learned:

Buy what you can without putting strain on your finances.
Better set your priorities right. This is your hobby, not your livelihood&#8212;yet. If you decide to go pro then getting good gear becomes a [...]


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<p>Buying a Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera is really a pain. I went through that as well. Here are some pointers I learned:</p>
<p><a name="more"></a><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Buy what you can without putting strain on your finances.</span><br />
Better set your priorities right. This is your hobby, not your livelihood&#8212;yet. If you decide to go pro then getting good gear becomes a higher priority, but when you&#8217;re still learning, skill and knowledge development is the priority. Do not think that by getting expensive pro equipment you can immediately become a professional and earn money to pay off the cost of the equipment. I&#8217;ve seen a lot of newbies do this and fail. Clients will more likely hire you for your skills, style and rapport than hire you for your gear. I&#8217;ve read about famous photographers who use film instamatics and point and shoot cameras to take photos.</p>
<p><strong>For those on a budget, get the gear that&#8217;s between the oldest and the latest.</strong><br />
Doing so, you won&#8217;t crave to upgrade too soon because your gear is slightly less than the latest and you&#8217;d appreciate the gear because it isn&#8217;t that outdated. Also, newer doesn&#8217;t always mean better. Getting the latest gears run with the risk of getting buggy or defective first batches.</p>
<p><strong>After getting the cam, whatever it is, you NEED to maximize it to its full potential.</strong><br />
In my case I went with a 2nd hand Canon EOS 300D 6.3MP (slow) DSLR because it&#8217;s <strong>what I can afford</strong> and it&#8217;s the minimum I need to jumpstart my <a href="http://www.mementosg.com/" target="_blank">freelance photography business</a>. I maximized it to the fullest, being able to do events, products, and studio/outdoor fashion with just one lens, the Sigma 18-125mm DC, and a cheap but flexible flash, the sunpak 383 manual flash. In the process, I applied all that I learned <strong>and got tips from the masters</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Learn to make up for whatever you think your gear can&#8217;t deliver.</strong><br />
I had no lens with Image Stabilization. That&#8217;s a real problem when you&#8217;re in a low light environment and you don&#8217;t have a wide aperture lens and a tripod. I adjusted to that kind of situation by mastering how to shoot with lower shutterspeeds handheld. I now know how to take 1/15secs shots handheld with the least blurring or noticeable shake. I experimented with shooting higher ISOs and doing noise reduction in post processing. Now the chances of me missing a shot because there&#8217;s little light has been reduced.</p>
<p>I hope you&#8217;re still awake after reading all that and that you&#8217;ve got some good points.</p>
<p>Goodluck and congratulations on your new DSLR. <img src='http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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<li><a href='http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/beginners-photography-question-why-get-a-dslr-part-2/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Beginners Photography Question: Why get a DSLR? &#8211; Part 2'>Beginners Photography Question: Why get a DSLR? &#8211; Part 2</a> <small> Here&#8217;s some more possible justifications for getting a DSLR....</small></li>
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		<title>How Do You Start in Photography?</title>
		<link>http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/how-do-you-start-with-photography/</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:24:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Russel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Beginners' Photography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[advice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[how to start in photography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[photography]]></category>

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This whole blog will be about how you, the beginner, can start in, and learn photography. Below, I listed the sequence of things you should do or learn to guide you in your journey in the field of photography. I&#8217;ll write articles for each of the suggestions listed, and perhaps elaborate more through additional posts, [...]


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<p>This whole blog will be about how you, the beginner, can start in, and learn photography. Below, I listed the sequence of things you should do or learn to guide you in your journey in the field of photography. I&#8217;ll write articles for each of the suggestions listed, and perhaps elaborate more through additional posts, so that you can have a clearer idea.</p>
<p>So how to do you start with photography? Here are the initial steps:</p>
<p><strong>Start with the interest. </strong>You&#8217;re reading this blog, so I guess you&#8217;re interested in Photography.</p>
<p><strong>Learn the basics.</strong> What is photography? What are the basic elements and concepts you need to know to shoot the scenes you want to capture. Basics like ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed, Composition, Exposure, Depth of Field, Focus, and many more should be the first things you learn.</p>
<p><strong>Get a camera. </strong>This is common sense. Without a camera, you can&#8217;t take pictures. If you&#8217;re not yet that committed into this hobby, don&#8217;t buy expensive cameras. Heck, just use what you have in your hand: you camera phone. You can already practice composition with it. But if you want to invest on a good camera, check out my advice for <a href="http://beginnersphotographyguide.info/beginners-photography/beginners-photography-question-why-get-a-dslr-part-1/">getting a DSLR</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Read the manual.</strong> Or, as we oldies say, Read the F****** Manual.  It&#8217;s free, it comes with your camera, and it&#8217;s full of answers to your most common questions about your camera.</p>
<p><strong>Shoot! </strong>Never forget to practice what you learn.  By regularly shooting photos, you will be exposed to different fields of photography, like landscape, nature, portraiture, and others.  Doing this will also allow you to identify which field you want to focus in.</p>
<p><strong>Identify your specialization. </strong>The more photos you take,  the easier it is to identify which field of photography you want to focus in. If you discover you prefer landscapes over portraits then, learn as much as you can about landscapes. Don&#8217;t do wholesale learning where you try to learn every field all at the same time. Once you&#8217;ve learned to take good photos in one field, you can try and learn other fields that interests you.</p>
<p><strong>Learn from the Masters and the professionals. </strong>Most of the time, the best teachers are the ones who have learned and done photography to the level of being called masters. Try to learn from them by studying their works and books they wrote or were written about them. If the person you look up to is still alive, then getting it touch with them will be a better way to know them more. If they offer workshops or courses, attend those. A structured course is better than studying alone.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s all! Well not really. There are a lot more things you should learn but the tips listed above will guide you well enough that your journey into photography will be fruitful and enjoyable.</p>
<p>Happy Shooting!</p>
<p><strong><br />
</strong></p>
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