I’m not a photographer but I’m always interested in photography, mostly in studio photos. I used to take photos of my doll collection with my samsung cellfone cam, and I managed to make it look like a professional photo by retouching it on Photoshop. Last week, I just purchased my new digital cam, and I just notice that all of my shots looked so raw. I can’t even retouch it on photoshop. Maybe because of the flash which seems so bright. Or maybe the lighting. I even made an improvised umbrella with a light on it but it didn’t work. Can u give tips about this?

in general, flash is bad and should be avoided if possible. If you have to use flash get one with a bounce and swivel head and angle it towards the ceiling to bounce the light. With other light sources, the closer they are, the softer they will light the subject, and it will be more even. You can use one good light source and then some simple reflectors (the kind for your car window) to add light. Watch where your shadows are falling too. hope this helps, I don’t know too much because I’m just getting into lighting.

What city is better to get started in a photography career?
New york city or Los Angeles?

I got my start in NYC working for the Gagosian gallery. I’ve been to LA a few times, but I like NYC best.

I am taking a digital photo class at my local college and am looking at buying a camera. The camera I’m looking to buy is the Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2mp. I’m looking at EBay at the different kits as going to Wal-mart and just getting the camera and one lens for the same price as some of these kits doesn’t make sense to me.

What I’m questioning is that the kits seem to only come with Tamron lenses. Are these lenses any good? Has anyone purchased a camera kit from Ebay with satisfactory results? I’m spending over $700 on a camera I want to make sure that I’m doing the right thing.

I guess the other reason I am looking at the kits is that while I may not need the extra lenses for class, once class is done I know that I would like to have a side business of photography and will need the extra stuff.

I am also considering just buying the Rebel XS or just staying with my current camera, the Fuji Finepix 3800. I have asked the course instructor, but he’s currently not answering e-mails and the college can’t tell me when he will start answering again as he’s not required while on summer break. My question to the instructor was whether or not my camera would be sufficient for the course.

My fear is that I won’t receive an answer till a day or two before the class starts and I am unable at that point to order the package from ebay since it will take time to ship, time that the instructor may not allow.

If you had to make the choice, what would you choose?

I would get the XS or the XSi with the Canon 18-55 IS lens. That is all you will need for awhile. There will be plenty of time to select another lens later when you are sure just what you need.

Your present camera is not advanced enough to use for this class. You can set the aperature, but can’t change the shutter speed, and I’m sure your teacher will want you to have a camera that you can manually set all of the controls.

I do not trust ebay for buying a camera. I prefer to buy in a store locally, so if I have any problems, can easily get them settled. I just don’t trust ebay for electronics!

I have some very important photos that I need developed…I want to get them to look very professional (perhaps the thicker paper that professional photography studios use?)
Does anyone have any suggestions?
I’d really appreciate it!

Thanks!

Check out mpix.com. I highly recommend them as their color accuracy is better, much better, that I get from either Wal-Mart or Snapfish. They offer features such as turning off automatic color correction that many of the retailers do not.

I recently took a photo class and had the same digital image printed at mpix, walmart, and snapfish. The walmart photos were too red. Snapfish was in the middle. Mpix was by far the most accurate. That said, photo processing can vary from store to store and batch to batch. IMO, the folks at mpix have tighter quality control.

Mpix also offers a separate paper for black and white and a nice metallic paper. Their prices are a little higher but not that much. There shippng is a little more but in my opinion it is worth it for nice images.

Hi, im 15 and am really interested in photography. My goal is to be in photography journalism, and to work for National Geographic Magazine (or some other similar magazine) as a photographer. Do you have any tips to get started with my photography career? thank you so much
-emily

For now, volunteer shooting for your schools yearbook, including photos of the sponsors who advertise in the annual publication.

Spend every free moment taking photos using a fully adjustable camera, learning how to use apertures and shutter speeds to create interesting images. Since DSLR’s are so expensive, look to shooting with a 35 mm SLR with standard zoom (under $150 on craigslist in a city near you — your parents can help you meet with the person selling the camera) until you can raise the funds necessary to buy a digital SLR. Shooting with film does a couple of things. It slows you down, so you can take the time to compose your images and if you make mistakes, it is much more evident so honing your skills will occur faster than if you have no limitation on the number of "try and fail" shots you can take and get in the bad habit of using a program like Photoshop to bail you out of your mistakes.

Most of the National Geographic photographers have at least a decade of experience after attending school. They all use Nikon and Canon systems (due to the large number of available lenses), so when you get your first camera and lens, be sure it is either a Nikon or Canon.

If your high school has a newspaper, get on staff and shoot as much as you can then later when you head for college, you will have tearsheets to show their newspaper so you can get a job with them.

As soon as you can, join (or at least attend) NPPA and ASMP and start networking with working pros. Over the next seven or eight years, you will have been honing your skills, meeting people and building your camera system, so when it is time, you will stand a better chance of attaining your goal as a photojournalist and hopefully a shooter for the National Geographic. Minoring in journalism can be a huge benefit, since many times, the photographer ends up writing the story as well, especially little two inch, single column stuff.

just to name a few: travel agents, ornithology specialists, news/magazine reporters, real estate agents, eBay sellers, assurance agents (when they go and check the spot of the accident) , and many others.

Im a senior in high school and im looking to buy my first digital SLR this summer. I have been looking at the Nikon D series and the Canon Rebel Xt and XTi……Im aminly interested in portrait photography/studio photography….I also wanted to know if the main differences between the prices of these cameras $600-$800 is because of the megapixels 6,8,10…? Also what is the best type of lense for portrait photography?
Looking to spend under $1,000

If you start off and have no equipment, I’d suggest the Canon brand. Both Canon and Nikon are fine cameras (I own a Nikon d70 myself). Nikon is more for sports/journalism and Canon for portrait. That is a wide generalization and both can do very well in either department. The price difference may be because of the megapixel count, the frames per second (3fps, 5fps etc.) and the overall quality and durability. The standard lens for portrait would be a 70-200. I like variable lenses because when I’m taking portraits, I don’t have to back up/get closer to frame the subject. You want to avoid wide angles (unless you want do to something fancy) and you don’t want to go too big a lens because you’ll be too far from your subject. Nice portrait shots have the background a little blurry, and longer lenses help that, and thats why 70-200 would be a good lens. Hope that helps.

I would like to make photography my career how would I get started?

The questions I have for you to think about are:

What is it you had in mind when you wrote that question? Do you want to offer wedding picture service? Or do you think you could be the one that takes the picture for the Vogue cover? Or is there another Anne Geddes in you (whereas she is so unique, you would have to have some different idea)? Or do you think about riding on a Hum-V with the troops into Bagdad or Falludjah?

Do you take pictures of your family and friends at get togethers, or do you have the camera laying next to you in the passengers seat, ready to shoot?

Film or Digital? Do you understand why people argue that question? What is ISO? Aperture? What happens when you increase/decrease one of the two?

Can you answer questions in this forum? If you go to Books-A-Million or B&N, do you go to the Photography Section or do you grab a magazine about photography?

Do you wonder how many pictures are taken of a Playmate? Or do you know?

Do you have ideas in mind of a really unique photo-shot, that is so unique, you would not even tell your closest friend or relative about it until you have done it?

Don’t let my questions throw you off the path. Find an answer, a positive one.

I view photography as an art form. But I think in almost no other art form are the boundaries so thin between layman with good equipment and sheer luck and the professional. If I paint a picture, you can tell I cannot paint. If I show you a picture I took, it is much more difficult to say if I am good or not. If I have a vision or not. If I can capture a spark or not.

What I am trying to say: If you are a layman and try to go pro, the competition is broad and you may want to be an artist, but you need to take those portrait and wedding picture jobs with the same enthusiasm, or you may starve.

Good luck in your endeavor.

I have most of my equipment but I have a few things I am not sure about. My studio will be about 100sq ft. What color should the walls be? Dark to absorb light or light to reflect? Also, I do not know what kind of lighting to get, with my space being so small do I need a whole light kit? Or just one light, and what kind of light and where online can I find one. I will be working with a digital camera. Any help would be extremely useful thank you.

Your studio walls should be painted 18% gray, this way you will not get any color casts or reflections in your photos. If you don’t want to go gray use white.

Since you will be shooting animals they have a tendency of sometimes having "accidents" unless you have a lot of money to buy on background paper I would consider something water proof for where the animal will be sitting. Check a local flooring store for linoleum and get a couple of different colors to match the animal and your backdrops. You can still use different color paper backdrops or muslin but keep them away where they would get "dirty".

Below are some links on where to buy some lights, I have a set of these lights that I purchased for transporting and ease. They are pretty good and should serve your purpose. You would like to have two lights one as "Main Light" and the other as your "Fill Light" using a 1:3 ratio.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/402654-REG/Impact__2_Monolight_Kit_.html

Here are some paper backdrops to look at:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/1395/Other_Backgrounds_Paper_Savage_.html

Here is the whole list:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/category/1175/Studio_Equipment_Background_Materials_Equipment.html

Hope this helps,
Kevin

I’m doing research on starting a photography studio.
an I’m wondering if there are anyone know of a company that develops digital images.
^written wrong^
I’m doing research on starting a photography studio.
an I’m wondering if anyone know of a company that develops digital images.

Top two choices:

1. Shutterfly (I’ve had a pro gallery account with them for three years).

2. Mpix. I have no first hand experience with them, but I know many pros who use them and are very happy with their service.