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Ive been playing with my D50, mostly doing Architecture and Documentary photograhy; I like the Kit Lens (18-55) but im thinking of venturing in to some potrtait photograhy. We need some photos done for iVirtua, to model the new clothes. I went on cafepress and ordered a load of clothes with our URL on the front, so I need some modles age 15-20; well I think we have 2 models, and we got them to sign a model release; now I need to fork out for a good lens.
Ive been talking to a few of my photograhy friends , well there pretty famous people actually, but Im gonna get the bess glass I can afford, as its that that matters, Ill also find a Nikon Speedlight.
The Nikon D50 is the best I could afford; but Its alot better than all the others in ts range; yeah, its got all the gimmiky modes, but its the only camera that has the depth of field, colour density, and sharpness (with support for VR lenses!!) of its counterpart D200/D2s, ofcourse they arew superior, but you cant compare the D50 to others in its range, the D70s is almost the same, with a few extras on that, but the D50 is nice and light, and well within my budget.
I really need a studio; so Ill get on to my local art college, I drew up a list of what I needed, and also, I have a few sites to recommend you if you want to start the kind of photograhy Im getting in to (as well as my Documentary)
When it comes to documentary, I love military sites, and power stations, its great to poke your lens through the barbed wire; unless theres a camera looking at you from a tree on the perimiter fences. Just the other day i was over at Chapelcross, and Eastriggs Explosive Sub Depot; Im also going to write to Spadeadam, now managed by English Heritage, to see if I can get a tour around the site, built in the cold war as a nuclear deterrent to russia, although they were tested out in australia, theywere tested and the launche site was at Spadeadam, the project was abandoned in the 50s, go to Carlisle Airport Museum to find out more about that; the military presence in cumbria and the borders is little known, but when you think about it, ideal as its well out of the way.
Lens in my bag:
Nikkor 17-35 mm f/2.8 ED
Nikkor 28-70 mm f/2.8 ED
Nikkor 70-200 mm f/2.8 G VR ED
On location id normally use the SB 800s in many different configurations. With umbrellas.. Bouncing off anything I can find that is white.. or just straight up. A good resorce for this type of shooting is to research Joe McNally (an awesome photographer)
In the studio Id use a white seamless backdrop. Id use my 2 1600 Bees to totally blow our the background & the 2 800 Bees to light the model.
Camera/lens combo buy the best glass you can it makes the world of difference between ok sort of not fuzzy images vs tack sharp can nail it everytime images. what I have now are the best of the best lenses.
The best thing you can do is carry your camera everywhere & shoot everything that takes your fancy. Try different things. Do not be afraid to experiment!!!
If you like nature photography, then you should try to get down to Australia or New Zealand - they have some of the most spectacular scenes on the planet. Between them, you can go from volcanoes, mountains, pastures and glaciers to sunny beaches, not -so-sunny beaches, rainforests, forests, desert (yes, alot of desert), rivers and waterfalls. And cyclone weather. And sandstorms. And lots of dangerous animals (I'm a diver, so I love sharks and things that can kill you very quickly and painfully) like saltwater crocodiles, sharks, several killer jellyfish, pretty much all of the most deadly snakes on the planet and so on. So, if you like living on the edge (and taking photographs of that), then head down under. Oh yeh, and you can take a ship to Antarctica from Tasmania. And there's the Great Barrier Reef, hahah forgot that one.
I do like nature photograhy, I like horticulture too, I'd love to go to Kenya or Asia, and New Zealand...
If you go to http://www.antarctica.ac.uk The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is a component of the Natural Environment Research Council.
The Artists and Writers programme is now jointly sponsored by the British Antarctic Survey and The Arts Council England under the Council's International Artists Fellowships Programme.
The Programme provides opportunities for a small number of scholars in the humanities to undertake projects in Antarctica during the summer period.
The purpose of the visits is to enable the writers and artists to experience the Antarctic in order to convey, through their chosen medium, a better understanding of its unique features. Of great importance will be the way in which these artistic activities complement and illuminate scientific research and provide a different way for the public to appreciate the important contribution that Antarctica makes to the way in which the Earth functions.
This means as a photograher you could go there with a grant!
http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/News_and_Information/Artists_and_Writers/
I like using a compact camera, for getting in to places, and being descreet, also I don't always need a 80MB RAW File, and don't want to shoot both, for example when I'm shooting for reference, or Web use, although you cant beat a real 35mm lens.
Im not really a major photographer but alot of pictures I take are using a Hewlett Packard Photosmart 315 2.1 mexapixel digital camera. Sure its very outdated now but it takes pretty awesome pictures and I got it for pretty cheap it was like a 200+ doller camera brand new when it first came out. I got it onsale when kmart when out of bussiness where i used to live.