photo's for beginners!!

All about Photography. Share your work or the work of other artists.

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Tamu
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Post by Tamu » 23 Mar 2008, 3:12 pm

1st of all i hope i am posting in the right section!!!

i am very keen into getting into photography. it seems like a nice hobby to be in, its definatly better then sitting around surfing the net and eating donuts :P lol

so i have a list of questions which i hope all the professionals can anwser for me:

1- what camera should i start off with?? do i buy the biggest camera which has a million mega pixels??
2- it is obvious that you cant take such great pics without photoshoping it!! is there any online reference where i can start to learn about editing photo's using adobe??
3- does anyone have any special technique's to take pics??? are there any references online which you can provide for me??

so far thats all i really want to no. its a skill thats hard to master. and it definatly needs patience, and for you to get down on all 4's and get urself dirty for the perfect pic!! if there is any comments you guys would like to add about the perfect pic then please do add it here :) ...

thanks in advance!! :)

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Post by Alpha » 23 Mar 2008, 5:31 pm

Tamu wrote:1- what camera should i start off with?? do i buy the biggest camera which has a million mega pixels??
It's a better choice to start off with an entry-level SLR camera (Nikon the best, or Canon which is cheaper.) The ones you will probably like to start off with are Nikon D40x or Canon 400D (costs ~3000dhs approx.) Both are 10MP which is very good for a start, at reasonable prices.

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2- it is obvious that you cant take such great pics without photoshoping it!! is there any online reference where i can start to learn about editing photo's using adobe??
It's not really like the pictures are totally CGI or something. You need to have some basic idea of editing in Photoshop using adjustment layers (adjusting contrast, brightness, colors etc.), may be using some filters too, and bring out a good texture for the image.

http://www.photoshopchop.com has tons of tutorials with screenshots of each step. Google it up, you'll find many more of these sites to help you with the post processing of your pics.
3- does anyone have any special technique's to take pics??? are there any references online which you can provide for me??
Few "rules" you just need to keep in mind while taking pics (of cars, that is.)

- dont shoot the shadow side of the car. it is distracting and does not show all areas of the car,
- the rule of thirds that I consider more often,
- use tripod. your hands shake more than you really think.

There is no one technique for shooting cars. You develop your own style as you start shooting and you probably tend to use the same style over and over again until you wanna try something new ;) like...
http://www.uaeboost.net/TXR3/screenshot ... _1555b.jpg[/thumbnail]

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Post by prossett » 23 Mar 2008, 6:02 pm

Another tip for shooting cars is to force the flash to work every shot - it takes away shadows, but be careful not to be straight 90 degrees to the car body or windows because it can cause reflections.

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Post by Tamu » 23 Mar 2008, 9:54 pm

thanks Sam and PR for the tips...
iv looked into the camera you mentioned sam and i might go and test out the nikon D40X. iv read some very good reviews about it. as for the two links you provided me, they were very informative!!!

today i got up and after reading your post i tried taking pics of my car away from the shadow. it obviously made the pic much clearer, but at the same time there was lighting problem bcoz no light was comming on the car!! so i guess lighting is a major factor in pics!!!!!!

does anyone have anymore tips for photography?

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Post by prossett » 23 Mar 2008, 11:17 pm

Best natural light is at sunset or sunrise, when the colours are fully saturated.

I'm not really that good - Sam is an artist in comparison - but my favourite technique is to have a really big memory and take tonnes of pics, hoping that 3-4 out of 100 come out really good!

I use an Olympus E500 and often set the bracketing feature, which from one photo automatically takes 3, one stop down and one stop up (darker and lighter); then I try different settings in sequence, alternating the semi-auto settings.

It means I get say 10 shots of the same picture, and out of those I choose the best one.

For me it's not really a hobby, it's just sometimes I've got to take photos that go with the articles I write. I don't particularly enjoy the attention to detail that is required and it's not my passion, but I've developed an eye for good photos - and some photographers are just incredibly good. Best guy I've seen works for Porsche, Argentinian guy called Jorge Ferrari: he can do brilliant action shots one minute and then next do an indoor portrait that is equally brilliant.

Ah, Jorge Ferrari has a website! http://www.ferrari-photos.com/ and it seems he's freelance, not only working for Porsche... let me invite him to see if he'll come on board and offer some tips...

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Post by Tamu » 24 Mar 2008, 2:28 am

PR the technique you mentioned about taking 100 pics and hoping 3-4 of them come out good is usually the papparzi, news, and sport photographers techniques. iv seen how most of these guy just stand in one place (for 20mins at a time) with there tripod and with one click take 10 pics.

but just besides taking pics of a sitting object like a car, i was thinking about people as well. i have a photographer friend who takes pictures for weddings. and i went with him on one of his photo shoots for a wedding. the way he would make the groom and bride pose looked riddicioulus and you would never think the pic would come out rite. and i would just there and mock him the hole time. afterwards he showed me the pics from his camera, and i was just aww'd at how well those poses turned out in the camera.

PR do you have any idea about the light stands most photographers put up when taking proffesional pics studios etc? what is its purpose??

i was also thinking that before i take a big step in getting these expensive camera's i should start of with a simple digital camera. i got a nice canon 8mega pixel camera that has lots of nice effects and options to get a perfect shot. i also have a tripod for it and i was thinking of 1st testing it out by taking my car pics in a profesional manner and posting it up here to see what you guys have to say about my photo skills :) ...i guess this would then let me figure out if its the rite thing for me to get into :) ...
prossett wrote:Ah, Jorge Ferrari has a website! http://www.ferrari-photos.com/ and it seems he's freelance, not only working for Porsche... let me invite him to see if he'll come on board and offer some tips...
it will be great if you can get mr.ferrari on UB to teach us all a bit about photography.....

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Post by Irakli » 24 Mar 2008, 1:56 pm

Oooh I didn't know we have some photo enthusiasts here, nice to know.

Nikon all the way if finances permit otherwise Canon as Sam stated, however mind you the D40x isn't compatible with some of the better lenses (autofocus etc etc), not so sure about the 400d though.

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Post by Alpha » 24 Mar 2008, 4:44 pm

Lets see some of your shots for a start Tamu :)

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Post by sr20det » 24 Mar 2008, 4:57 pm

Nice tips!!! (Y)

All I need now is an SLR camera, btw what does SLR means? Sorry, kinda new with this kind of topic. :$

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Post by Alpha » 24 Mar 2008, 5:01 pm

sr20det wrote:Nice tips!!! (Y)

All I need now is an SLR camera, btw what does SLR means? Sorry, kinda new with this kind of topic. :$
Single-lens Reflex.

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Post by prossett » 24 Mar 2008, 6:54 pm

Here's what I meant about getting the light at sunset:

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Post by Accord98 » 28 Mar 2008, 10:03 am

^^ Ur brother? :wink:

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Post by Accord98 » 30 Mar 2008, 7:59 am

OK, thanks for the above info. Was looking for a beginners camera but again more on the pro side. Any suggestios for a budget of 1500 - 1800 AED?

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Post by prossett » 30 Mar 2008, 9:12 am

Yup, that's my little bro! 8) He had a great time here... spent most of it driving cars back and forth to Dubai! :D

For under 2k I'm afraid you won't reach entry-level pro cameras; they start around 3k.

Still, if that's your budget, you can get a nice 8 mega-pixel of a brand name you recognize, and that will take plenty of good photos. You won't get the resolution needed for magazine photos, for example, but for your own use it'll be fantastic!

I had an 8 mega-pixel camera which I thought was amazing, and I set it to the highest resolution possible, yet still the magazine art director said it just wouldn't cut it.

Two summers ago I decided to invest in an entry-level pro camera, following web reviews and recommendations, and paid around 3k - but since then I've been able to send in photos and have them published, so it paid off.

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Post by Irakli » 30 Mar 2008, 12:42 pm

You could always get a second hand camera from a professional, they usually sell of theirs for a relative price in a good conditions, check souq.com and like.



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