Choosing a camera

People ask me all the time which type of camera is best. Honestly, there's a lot of truth to the saying, "the best camera is the camera you have with you."

Short of carrying a camera around at all times, odds are when you see something that just begs to be captured, you don't have your camera. This is why I adore the camera built into my iPhone. I always have it with me. It doesn't take the most fabulous photos of all time, but the resolution is good enough that if I post the image to the web, you can tell what it is that I have photographed, which is more than most older cell phone cameras could manage. That technology is just going to keep getting better.

"What camera should I buy?" You can Google that question and find all kinds of answers. You can ask your friends and family what kind of cameras they use and what they like and don't like about them. You can ask someone like me. I can give you pretty decent advice, since I've been a photographer for many years. I also worked part time at a camera store for a while. When I worked there, I had access to all the different brands and got to play with them. That was great education, and watching our customer's reactions to the different brands, and listening to what they wanted in a camera. Teaching classes gives me great access to the different models, too.

Currently, my main camera is a Nikon D300S. The lens I use with it is a Nikon 18-200 VR. It's a fabulous camera. It's the nicest camera I've ever owned, and it took me many years in the field to get to the point to where I could afford such a camera. However, even though I love this camera, it is not the camera for everyone, and as I found out hiking in the mountains last week, it's not really the camera for me all the time. It's heavy, for one. It's a great camera for studio shooting, for events and general walkabout, but for hiking four miles into the mountains, it's too much. For that instance, it's also too nice. It was hot when I was hiking, and I was sweating like you know what. I was reluctant to put my sweaty face and my sweaty fingers on my nice camera to get a shot. I was also preoccupied with getting from point A to B, and by the time I got to the top of the mountain to take a photo of the view, I was all out of breath from exertion and also breathless with how beautiful it was. I was so overcome, in fact, that I neglected to check my camera's settings as I snapped away in the bright, mountaintop summer light. I had my ISO set to 1600. Ooops. (1600 is what you want the ISO on when shooting in dim light)

So. There is such a thing as too much camera. If all you want is a good camera to take snapshots, you do not need a camera like my D300S.

When buying a camera, I would suggest asking yourself these questions:

1. What is your budget?
2. What are you primarily going to be photographing?
3. How much camera do you want to carry around?
4. What are you going to do with the photos you take? (Put them on the web, print them, make posters, etc...)
5. How durable do you need the camera to be?

I'd say budget is probably the most important thing to consider, followed by what you want to photograph. Most point and shoot cameras can capture anything the casual shutterbug desires, but there are several situations where only an SLR will work well. Those situations are primarily for stopping action, photographing in low light, and if you want to make large prints.

Image quality is always going to be better with SLRs, but not everyone wants that much camera, or wants to learn the nitty gritty information about settings on cameras. Ask yourself just how much do you want to learn about photography. Do you just want to get good shots, or do you really want to know how the camera captures the image and how to manipulate that to your advantage?

Also ask yourself how much time you want to spend learning it. Everyone is busy, and photography can be a time consuming (and expensive) hobby. But if you really love photography, then jumping into it with both feet might make you really happy. Once of the best things about being a teacher is seeing people really enjoy photography, and learning more about it and pushing themselves to be creative. Everyone can use a dose of creativity in their lives, and we all have it in us.

So I identified my main camera, but it's not the only camera I have. If you've bought a digital camera in recent years, you'll know that they become outdated almost as soon as you get them, like computers. And just like old computers, once they are outdated, their value decreases at a heartbreaking rate. Because of this, when I bought my current camera, I didn't even bother selling the SLR I had before the D300s, the Nikon D70. I figured I'd use it as a backup. I haven't done that so much, because the image quality of the D300s is better than the D70, but I have used the D70 for workshops I teach kids. I let them use the D70, and they love it. I would feel more comfortable hiking up a mountain with it as well, because if I dropped it or got it all sweaty, it wouldn't be as big of a deal. I urge you to hang on to your old cameras when you upgrade, and let your kids use them, or take them to the park or on the boat. Might as well get as much life out of old cameras as you can.

I also have a Canon Powershot SD600. For little bitty pocket cameras, Canon makes some of the best. They are very lightweight, and small enough to fit in your pocket or purse. I used to use it a whole bunch for snapshot type photos, saving my SLRs for professional or fine art work, but now that I have my iPhone, its camera has kind of replaced my Powershot. The iPhone camera isn't as good as the Powershot, but it's not bad, and with the iPhone, I can take a photo and immediately share it on the web, which is a fun thing to do.

Again, it's all about what you want to do with your photos, and what you want to carry, how much you want to spend, etc....

Personally, I like Nikon and Canon best of all the brands. They consistently make a quality product, have been in the business for years, and because they are in competition with one another, each brand always has something new and interesting to offer. You really can't go wrong with either brand, in an SLR or a point and shoot. There are other brands out there, and some of them are pretty decent, but I'm always going to recommend Nikon and Canon first. There are many different models to choose from with both brands, but these days, any of their cameras are going to take a good picture. What you do with the photo afterward is up to you.The possibilities are endless!

Summer Nature Photography classes at Blackacre State Nature Preserve

I am teaching two sections of a 3 week Nature Photography class for JCPS Adult Education at Blackacre State Nature Preserve. This is a fun class and it only meets for three weeks. If you haven't been to Blackacre, you're in for a treat! There is a historic house on its grounds, a barn with some animals- goats, horses and cows, and hiking trails.

Here is some more information:

Summer classes for Jefferson County Public Schools Adult Education at Blackacre State Nature Preserve. To register, call (502) 485-3400 or visit the JCPS Adult Education web site.

Nature Photography
Mondays, June 7-June 21
5:30 - 7:15 p.m.
Blackacre State Nature Preserve
$65

Learn unique ideas for taking good photos of nature and the great outdoors. This class is for digital or film cameras. While it is geared toward SLR camera users, point-and-shoot camera users are welcome. NOTE: The class will include moderate walking.

San Diego County Library Workshops

I am teaching a series of photography workshops at the San Diego County Library March 6-14. For a list of when I am teaching and where, click here.

To visit the site I created for the classes, click here.

If you've attended one of the classes, you will receive a handout with a password that will give you access to PDF versions of my presentations with clickable links. To access that part of the site, click here.

Photographer and writer Ken Rockwell gave our workshops a plug on his website on March 1st on his "What's New" page. Click here to visit the page, and scroll down to the March 1 entry to read more.

For more info about me, visit my web site. You can find me on Facebook here. Follow me on Twitter here.

Portrait links

Kodak has a great website about how to take good portraits:
Kodak's Portrait Tips website

You can find the blog entry I wrote on portraits here.

Also, visit Flickr to see examples of portraits:

Here are just a few Flickr portrait groups:

Flickr Portrait Photography

Flickr Wedding Photography

Flickr Children's Portraits

Flickr Photos of children taken in natural light (no flash)

Flickr Sports Photography

Finally, here are some examples of my recent portrait work:

Here are two portraits that I took last week of my friend while he was playing with his band at a festival in New Albany:




See how color vs. black and white changes the mood of the photograph? I zoomed in close to capture the emotion on his face as he sang. If you want to see some other photographs like this, visit my blog on my professional website.

I have two weddings and three portrait sessions scheduled for this fall. I'll be posting a few shots from each session on that blog page if you want to keep up with me after the class is over.

Composition Assignment Companion

Here is the link to the website that I mentioned in the Composition assignment:

http://3191.visualblogging.com/index.html

Here is where I wrote more about the above mentioned website last year:

http://huberphotoclasses.blogspot.com/2008/02/3191-year-of-mornings.html

For further reading about composition, visit these websites:

General

http://digital-photography-school.com/digital-photography-composition-tips

http://digital-photography-school.com/6-tips-for-perfect-composition-in-portrait-photography

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/learnmore/composition.mspx

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=14055&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=6437

Highly recommended books on photography

This is a list of books that I've come across in the years I've been teaching photography that I find to be great resources. I use them myself and recommend them to all my students.

Essential companions to the study of digital photography

These books are great for photographers of all levels and skill, for both point and shoot and SLR camera users.

The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby
Find it on Amazon here.

The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2 by Scott Kelby
Find it on Amazon here.

Buy them both as a boxed set on Amazon here.

KODAK Guide to Digital Photography by Rob Sheppard
Find it on Amazon here.

The Betterphoto Guide to Digital Photography (Amphoto Guide Series) by Jim Miotke
Find it on Amazon here.

This is a great book on nature photography

The BetterPhoto Guide to Digital Nature Photography (BetterPhoto Series) by Jim Miotke
Find it on Amazon here.

Digital Photography and Software

Digital photography and Photoshop go hand in hand. Photoshop is a difficult program to learn, but it can greatly enhance your experience with photography and digital technology. For most people, Photoshop Elements, a simplified version of Photoshop, is all you will need. It can do most of the same things that the full version of Photoshop can do, and costs a fraction of the price.

I've studied and used Photoshop regularly for the past ten years. Of all the books I've read about Photoshop, Scott Kelby's are by far the best. They are colorful, well designed and most importantly, Kelby explains concepts in a way that makes sense.

Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, like most computer programs, have many versions. The most current version of Photoshop Elements, as of today, is 7. I'm figuring that most people don't have the most current version, so I recommend Kelby's book on Elements, version 6:

The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)by Scott Kelby
Find it on Amazon here.

If you are in the photography, graphic or web design industry, or if you are planning on or are trying to start your own photography business, I strongly suggest that you purchase and learn the full version of Photoshop. The most current version of Photoshop is CS4. CS stands for "Creative Suite." Again, I am assuming that most people don't have the most current version of Photoshop, so I recommend Kelby's book on Photoshop CS3. I am currently using CS3 on my personal computer for all of my personal photography and the photography I do for freelance clients.

The Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby
Find it on Amazon here.

Taking a photography class is a great way to learn photography skills, but I think it's always a good idea to have reference materials around that you can refer to again and again. I have a whole library of books about photography and software that I find essential to my day-to-day use of my camera and computer, so I hope this list is helpful to you too.

The Art and Challenge of Portraits

As you probably know, taking a good portrait of someone is not as easy as one might think. The camera makes a lot of people nervous, and it makes people pose even if they aren't meaning to. A good portrait is a shot of someone where they look natural and relaxed. It's hard for most people to relax in front of the camera. The photographer's challenge is to make their subject relax and let down their guard.

There are several ways to do this. One way is to take lots of photos. These photos I present below are from a group of about 60 shots. As you can see, of those 60 shots I took, only about 3 or 4 are worth keeping. This is pretty typical. If you are shooting digitally, taking lots of photos is not going to cost you anything, and it's worth doing no matter what the subject, but is especially essential when shooting portraits. Another technique that is often used by photographers to get their subjects to relax and forget that the camera is there is to engage them in conversation. I usually do a combination of both. You have to be careful with the conversation, however, because if you snap a photo of your subject while they are talking, then you might capture them with their mouth open. Plan on taking one shot after the other- that way you'll get some good ones during conversation pauses, or even better, when your subject is laughing. It's always good if you can get your subject to laugh.

This set of portraits below are of my sister. I have one sister and she is three years younger than me. We've always been close, growing up and now that we are adults. However, just because I have a good relationship with her doesn't necessarily mean that I can take a good portrait of her. She's always presented a challenge to me photographically. She's an attractive woman, but we tend to cheese it up when we are around each other, so my portraits of her are often stiff. She doesn't look at ease in front of the camera, and her smiles don't always look natural.


(Captions refer to the photo above) I think this was the best shot of the group, because I managed to trip the shutter when she was laughing. This is how she really smiles and the look on her face is relaxed, open and natural. However, her face is in shadow a little bit, and when I looked closely at the photo, the focus on her face is not as sharp as I would have liked. You have to watch your camera when taking these types of shots. Sometimes the autofocus does not focus on the elements of the photograph that you want it to focus on. Often, you don't find this out until the shoot is over and you're viewing the photos on the computer screen. That's another reason to take several different shots of the same pose. Chances are one of them will turn out the way you want it to.


In some ways, I like this shot more than the above shot where she is smiling more. The light is better overall, and the angle of the photo is more interesting. She's not looking directly at the camera, which might bother some people, but I don't mind it. It looks like she is contemplating something.


Usually you never want to undershoot (placing yourself lower to the ground than your subject, causing you to have to point the camera up to take the shot) when taking portraits, because it is not a flattering angle for anyone. I sort of did that here, but I liked the resulting angle. The portrait probably would have been a little stronger had I not undershot it quite as much, but it was salvagable.


When working with people, you have to watch the expression on their face in each shot. This is much easier to do now with digital photography. As you photograph your subject, take the time to review the photo on your camera's LCD screen. Make sure they have their eyes open and mouth closed. Eyes closing in portraits is probably the most typical thing that will botch a portrait. Take many shots of the same pose in sucession (even use the continuous mode on your camera) to make sure you'll get a few shots where they eyes are open and your subject is looking good.


Sometimes portraits end up looking too serious. That's fine if what you're going for is a serious "artsy" or documentary photo. However, if the object of the portrait session is to get some nice relaxed photos of your subject that give off a warm, happy vibe, you don't want them to look like this. When reviewing photos as you shoot them on your camera's LCD screen, also watch for the mood that your sujbect's expression conveys. Make sure it captures the look that you want.

If you're shooting with film, it's a little more difficult to monitor how your portraits are looking as you shoot them. You really have no way of knowing until after the film is processed. We are spoiled in the digital age by not having to worry about this as much anymore, but there was a day not too long ago where all photographers had to combat this problem. The solution to this is just to take lots of photos.