Beginner question!

[emily_jacob]

<p>You can't get any more beginner than me. I have been wanting to get into photography for a long time and I have been taking tons of pictures, but the camera I own isn't the kind you use to take real great photos. I currently have a Casio Exilim and I do love it, but it's the kind you take out with to take pictures of your friends to put on Facebook. I want to get a real camera that I can take great landscape photos with. Any suggestions? I do not want to spend a lot because I am a college student trying to find a job for when I graduate in 5 months and have absolutely zero income coming in. I do have extra spending cash for something like this though. Like I said, my passion is landscape photography and I want to use a digital. What are some basics I need to know when looking for a new camera? What is a good editing software also? </p>

[bobcossar]

<p>Ah Emily........you might be surprised by what you and your Casio CAN do together. While you wait to buy the next step-up....take some time to go out and create images which inspire you. The camera cannot do that for you, only you can.......regards, Bob</p>

[hjoseph7]

<p>Bob is right on this one, don't wait on the camera, use what you got right now. As far landscape photos, go to your local Library and checkout what other landscape photographers have done in the past.<br>

Once you get a decent job, you can begin thinking about getting a decent camera. My recomendation is to get yourself a nice film camera on eBay just to get your feet wet(as embarassing as it is).<br>

Allot of people want to jump right into Digital photography head first, bypassing the film experience altogether. In my opinion, you will never really enjoy photography unless you go through the film thing first. </p>

[don_e]

<p>Landscape photographers will use larger formats, good lenses that provide high detail resolution across the frame, a good tripod and head, remote release and light meter. Landscape photography can be very high image quality oriented and thus expensive.</p>

<p>Bob's advice is good. With your current camera, it is likely that it produces its best results somewhere in the middle of its zoom range. If it has a program or manual exposure mode, learn what the shutter, aperture, and iso settings do and how they interact, and if your camera provides a histogram, learn how that can be used to improve your exposures.</p>

<p>If you don't have a tripod and remote release, pick a location for a landscape where you can set the camera level on a rock or outcropping and use the self-timer. The purpose of the tripod, remote release or self-timer is to introduce as little camera or hand shake as possible when the exposure is made.</p>

<p>As you are on a tight budget, you will probably not want to spend several thousands of dollars for a basic kit, and since you want to shoot digital, I won't recommend used film kit. Look at the bottom of the dslr price range :(under 800$), and look at some under 100$ tripods. The camera you buy will either come with a remote release or one can be bought separately. The kit zoom lens that may come with the camera probably will be at its best somewhere in the middle of its zoom range, too. Then begin saving for a better quality lens. If you live where the climate gets extreme (lots of snow, lots of water, high altitudes, bright deserts) I've found neutral density filters (that screw onto the front of the lens) to be useful.</p>

<p> </p>

[mike_earussi1]

<p>Emily, everyone's advice is correct, practice with what you have now as you can still work on composition. But as far as "real" landscape photography goes it is heavily dependent on high resolution/fine details and the basic dslr doesn't have the resolution that a 4x5 camera does. But what you can do, even with your present camera, is panorama stitching photography where you take a lot of photo slices of one scene using a pano head and and then put them all together into one highly detailed photo using stitching software. All you need for this is the pano head, stitching software, of which there are several demos on the web, and a tripod with cable release. Here a few links for you to start with:<br>

<a href="http://www.panoguide.com/howto/panoramas/panohead.jsp">http://www.panoguide.com/howto/panoramas/panohead.jsp</a><br>

<a href="http://gregwired.com/pano/Pano.htm">http://gregwired.com/pano/Pano.htm</a><br>

<a href="http://www.autopano.net/">http://www.autopano.net/</a><br>

And there is a lot more info available on the web by just typing "panorama photography" into Google. Have fun. </p>

[Jeff Lear]

<p>Hi Emily, welcome to Photo.net. I learned a long time ago that the camera does not make the photographer, which always seemed like a clever phrase. When I first heard that, all the good photographers I knew had fancy (read: expensive) cameras and bags and bags of gear I only dreamed of one day playing with so it seemed like, while clever, the statement was not realistic. Good photographers had really expensive cameras.</p>

<p>Time and experience have proven the clever phrase true, though. If you need proof, I suggest you take a look at fellow PN member Wilson Tsoi's gallery. Wilson's work is inspiring. When I look at what he can do with something that can be purchased at WalMart I feel embarrassed that I spent thousands and thousands of dollars on my camera and still can't even come close to his artistry.</p>

<p>Here's a link to one of my favorite galleries of his. These were all shot with a Canon Powershot A620 point-and-shoot. I would suggest reading some of the gallery comments at the bottom of the page as well and don't miss his other galleries.</p>

<p><a href="../photodb/presentation?presentation_id=317651">http://www.photo.net/photodb/presentation?presentation_id=317651</a></p>

<p>I'm not trying to talk you out of expanding your photographic ambitions, please do! But you have a real camera. There are many inexpensive DSLR models available from the major manufacturers that will perhaps simplify your creativity but they <em>won't</em> make you more creative.</p>

[sallymack]

Hi, Emily, if you have a camera you love, you're on your way! It's important to use equipment you like and are comfortable

with. If you learn what you and your camera can do, you'll be in a better position to choose a new camera when the time

comes.

<b>(Signature URL removed per photo.net policy.)</b>

[emily_jacob]

<p>Thanks for all of the feedback! I have been playing around with my camera a little bit more and I am learning I can do a lot with it. I also went and bought some software for my computer for digital picture editing and I am excited to use it to see what I can do with my pictures. Thanks!</p>