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Question: How do i start up with photography!?!!!?
i want to take up photography as a hobby but i dont know where to start or with what equipment!.!.!.are the old cameras better or do i go with digital now!.!.if so what software do i need or what kind of camera!.!.!.i know it must be all expensive but id like to start off with some basic and as cheap as poss!.!.!.serious answers please people!! :)Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I am a professional photographer, so let me help you get started!.

Well, your first step is to jump right in and start learning the craft!. The best way to learn is by shooting, and reading!. So, here is what you should do:

1) Invest in a Digital SLR camera!. Entry level is a Nikon D40 or Canon Rebel XTi (around $500 for the bodies, $700 for kits)!. There is no point in learning on a film camera since film is expensive and will limit the speed that you learn!. The more pictures you take, and the quicker you get to see the developed pictures, the faster you will learn!. Later, once you are a professional, you can always go back and buy a film camera and use it to differentiate yourself from other photographers who shoot purely digital!. Though really, in my opinion, there is less and less of a reason to shoot film every day, software is just too advanced at imitating film effects!.

2) Start studying! Read books on composition, camera settings and most importantly LIGHTING! Lighting is what distinguishes a good photographer from a great one!.

3) Get out and shoot, and decide what area of photography you want to be in!.

4) Write up a business plan!. How much will you need to invest, how will you find customers, and when will you start making a return on your investment!? Portrait photographers can probably get away with a $5,000 investment on equipment, while wedding photographers need around $10,000 and sports photographers around $25,000+!.

5) Start your company and go crazy!. It definitely is not an easy market to be in, you need to differentiate yourself to stand out from the thousands of people who claim to be "professionals!."

Feel free to use our site as a benchmark for where you need to be to start going professional:

http://www!.linandjirsa!.com

If you have any questions, feel free to post here, or email me at my contact info on the site!.

Hope this helps!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

If you're really seriously interested in getting into photography, you should get a completely manual film camera!. I know that might not be the popular thing to say, but it's the truth!. An old film camera, with manual shutter speed, focus, and aperture settings will not only help you to learn more about REAL photography, but it will also give you a lot more creativity and control!. In order to get the same control in a digital camera, you would have to get a digital SLR camera, and those are expensive, at least $300!. A cheap point and shoot digital camera doesn't give you hardly any control at all because you can't change the shutter speed or aperture!. So there are a lot of photography techniques that you wouldn't be able to use!.

I've always liked taking pictures, but I wasn't seriously interested in photography until recently!. Until now, I mostly used point and shoot digital cameras!. A friend gave me an old 35mm manual film camera, and I tried it because I was just curious about how it worked!. I realized that I could take better pictures with it than my digital camera! So I started learning more about photography and I learned more about exposure and composition on my own!.

For example, a lot of people ask questions on YA about how to have a subject in front sharply in focus, but with the background softened or blurred out!. Well, guess what!.!.!.you can't do that with a point and shoot digital camera!. That's called "selective focus" and you can only do it with a camera that has manual aperture settings!.

A manual camera also gives you a lot of other options!.!.!.tricks with long exposure (like taking pictures indoors or night photography with NO flash)!.

You could get a really good vintage manual film camera that would take great pictures on eBay for less than $30!. I'd recommend an Argus C4!. It's dirt cheap, and it takes really nice pictures!. If you really want something cheap and easy to find, an Argus C3 is pretty good too!. That's really an OLD, antique camera, and they call it the "Brick"!.!.!.lol!. But it actually takes really good pictures, even better than my 8 megapixel digital camera!. Any film SLR camera with completely manual settings, like maybe a Minolta SR-1, would be good to learn with too!.

If you want a simple, cheap camera to learn real photography with, you need to get a manual film camera!. There is more to photography than just aiming a camera and pressing a button!.

I take pictures with both digital and film!.!.!.but 90 percent of the pictures I take now are with FILM!.Www@QuestionHome@Com