Photography by the non-photographer Part 1

Apr 6, 2010 by Spencer

Well I thought one day I would talk about my camera because its a growing hobby of mine, but today a friend asked me about what camera I use.  She has a brand new baby and wants great looking pictures and she noticed thy my pictures look nice.  So here is my answer to her, with way more info than she bargained for when she asked, “what camera do you use?”

Background

A month before our first son was born I convinced Lindsay we needed a nice camera, I don’t know if it was as much convincing as “trust me we need a new camera, you will thank me later so I am going to get it” statement  To clarify I had done some offers for free stuff online and had collected $400 and then had the balance saved from a bonus, we didn’t starve for a month or have the lights turned off because of the camera.

1) The Camera

I did my research and decided on an entry Nikon DSLR (digital single-lens relfex).  To the non-photographer a DSLR does a few things that I wanted.  It lets me change lens and shoots in RAW format.  RAW is your digital negative.  If your camera shoots jpeg, then the camera has already processed the image.  If you don’t have a photography background (like me) then this probably doesn’t mean much to you, but trust me its better.  While a DSLR camera can shoot jpeg, you are missing out on some of great things about a DSLR.  Perhaps the clincher for Lindsay half-way approving this purchase was startup time and shutter response.  Our point-and-shoot camera was SLOOOWWWWW.  With kids I knew this would be an issue and Lindsay agreed, this was the deal clincher!  Note: All photos are unedited, except cropping, I plan on talking about editing later.

A lot can happen in 1 second.  Be ready with a fast camera!  Don’t rely on the spec sheet, test it in a store or read a real world review.  You will notice that the printed specs mean nothing.  Capture the moment, not the moment after…

2) The Lens

A good lens is in the eye of the beholder. Different lenses excel at different types of photography.  I recommend a good, everyday lens that has a decent focal range (zoom)  Nikon makes several, the 18-135mm (approx x7.5), 18-105mm (approx x7), or 18-200mm (approx x11). So you need to pay attention to the focal length, but also the f-stop.  At least this is important for me, I love a shallow depth of field.  The smaller the f-stop number the shallower (is that a word?) your depth of field is.  Here are 2 examples, the photos aren’t the best, they show the difference (the red water was part of their Easter present).

To see the difference look at the background.  Notice how blurred and out of focus the bathtub and water is.  The easiest place to see it is at the water line. That is a difference in the f-stop.  It also allows more light in so you can get better photos in lower light.

3) The Flash

To put it simple, your camara’s built-in flash is trash.  Built-in flash is too close to the lens and always pointing straight at your subject.  A DSLR will let you add a flash that can be bounced of the ceiling or off a bounce card.  This will result in much better photos in less than perfect lighting.  As you grow in your photography knowledge, the right lens AND right settings can reduce your need for a flash.  That is something I am working on so for now our flash is almost always on.  Along with better photos, an external flash also reduces the drain on your camera’s battery!  I never run out of battery power, with out scientific proof to back this up, I would guess that we take between 500-600 photos between chargers. The flash runs on 2 AA rechargeable batteries.  As a side note during my test photos, I noticed that Joshua was always in the middle of blinking in almost every shot with the direct flash. These photos show the external flash bouncing off the ceiling, the built-in flash, and no flash.

You should be able to notice a stark difference between the two flash options.  The built-in, direct flash produces harsh highlights (not to mention the red eye and blinks).  While the no flash photo actually looks pretty good, it is noticeably darker and is at a higher ISO, thus having greater potential for grain/noise in the photo.  Typically ISO 800 is ok, but 1600 shows very noticeable noise.

So that is the basics of my experiences.  I realize there is a ton more about photography but those are a few of my quick tips.  I still haven’t answered the original question.  My next post will talk more about specific equipment on a budget.