Advice, please.

[lauren_scaglione]

<p>Greetings,Well, here's the deal. I have two years to learn how to use an SLR camera and buy software designed for photo editing, etc for a wedding. I am in school right so I don't have the time to take a 'photography' class. What I would like to do is buy the correct software (the most inexpensive one if possible) and learn to use an SLR camera the best I can. Any advice or suggestions would really be great. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>Lauren, learning how to use a camera is not so hard. Learning to take creative, original and well exposed photos is the difficult part, and most important and interesting (if the hobby is interesting to you). Luckily, 2 years is a reasonable amount of time, but the first bit of advice I could give is: focus on the photography.<br>

A good place to start is Bryan Peterson's <i>Understanding Exposure</i>, which gives a clear and solid understanding of the most important factors in photography. Next, take loads and loads of photos.Practise, practise, practise. Read guides, like here on photo.net (also specific on weddings, and follow threads in the wedding photography forum to see what you may run into). Read good guides on using flash (you will need good flash); check for Planet Neil, a very useful blog for flash use. And practise, practise, practise.<br>

Review your own work, use others who are critical and knowledgeable to review your work. Take criticism as points to improve, and practise some more. Look at work of others, try to get ideas and inspiration from it, but stay true to your view.<br>

<br>

Ah, yes, software. The easiest part, really. Try to avoid needing it as far as possible. Every good DSLR comes with some software to allow conversion of its RAW files to normal usable JPEG or TIFF files. For the mass volume of work, it does enough. Otherwise, a very good start and not too expensive is Photoshop Elements, it's more a swiss army knife, and can therefore take some more time to master. More photography dedicated and not too expensive are Bibble and CaptureOne 6 Express. The latter, in my view, is fairly easy to learn. But I'd really advice to start with the supplied software of the camera, though - it will cost you nothing extra.</p>

[lornesunley]

<p>Most DSLR cameras come with basic software. Nikon has ViewNX2, Canon has their own software as well. The included software usually has a minimal feature set though.</p>

[paddler4]

<p>Because you are in school, you probably are eligible for the student discount on Adobe software, which is otherwise quite expensive. Google adobe student store.</p>

<p>If you are going to shoot RAW, two of the choices are the software that comes with the camera or Adobe Lightroom, which adds more editing capabilities and a very powerful database system. LR many of us find that when we don't need selections, masks, and layers, LR is enough for most of our images. For more advanced editing, you need a "pixel level" editor. Two inexpensive options are Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro.</p>

[jon_robert]

<p>Photoshop Elements 5.0 I have seen it on eBay for TEN dollars with free shipping. It is all you will likely EVER need.</p>

<p>I think you might mean DSLR camera. Yes?</p>

<p>Any way, I see photographers with very expensive equipment produce lousy photos so do not think that you need expensive equipment. The often recommended 2.8 or fast lenses are not needed. I think these people just like recommending them to help convince their own mind that the thousands they spent on these lenses was "required". Ignore those that recommend that a beginner buy a Corvette to take the kids to school because it's "better"<br /> Expensive equipment with crooked and converging lines = lousy photo.<br /> Cheap equipment and lines straightened in software = 10x better photos than those produced by people that think they can buy a good photo with money. This similar thinking results in recommendations that a beginner shoot in RAW. Don't http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/raw.htm</p>

<p>You said any advice...</p>

<p>I have 30 years of SLR under my belt and have learned that people either see the photo in the scene or they don't. And they cannot be taught to see it either. If you can't see the photo in a scene then you will be better off hiring someone who can if this event is that critical. If not that critical then do the best you can. If you think you can pick out what it is that you should be capturing within the confines of a photo's border then read on.</p>

<p>Here is what I do at weddings with out all the filler details that you should already know. (will learn in 2 years)</p>

<p>1) I treat it as a one time deal no second chances. I must be on my A game and I must be on a roll. No lack of sleep, no lens change fiddling around, no excessive posing of guests, It is a now or never mentality. If I snooze I lose. Shoot first ask questions later (see #3) I shoot 2-3 thousand photos.</p>

<p>2) No excess of equipment to distract and foil point #1 . I use a Nikon D90, and the Kit 18-105mm lens Tokina 12-24mm (LOVE IT) SB-400 Flash and of course extra batteries cards etc.</p>

<p>3) This is my greatest asset= point #3. I err on shooting too wide of an angle framing. It is too hard at a wedding pace to get the textbook framing/compositions. Much better to crop the perfect framing later. Besides it allows for trimming after correcting crooked and converging lines with software. I hold the camera high, low, middle. I shoot when the quests are posing for others to get different angles. I shoot 2-3 thousand photos. If I snooze I lose. Shoot first ask questions later</p>

<p>4) I edit every photo. I delete duds. I correct crooked and converging lines and tilted framings. I remove color casts to make sure the dress is in fact white. I correct color for skin tone. I CORRECT SKIN BLEMISHES, which brings me to the point of never sharpening a woman's skin unless needed. I sharpen other stuff do the degree needed- which is always some. I get the perfect crop out of my wide angle shot. It will almost always still have enough resolution for 4x6 prints. I can get 1,2,3 or 4 crops out of 1 wide photo. the couple in the middle, the middle couple with the brother on the left, the middle with the mom on the right etc. I take a wide shot and may then zoom in for what I "think" is the best framing. Often later it proves to not have been the best framing. At my leisure I crop the best framing with software.</p>

<p>5) Out of say 2500 photos 6-8 hundred will make the final cut. Like I said, Shoot first ask questions later.</p>

<p>6) I upload them to a web site like Walgreens and email the link to any and all of the quests that gave me their email. They can choose and order whatever prints they want from that site. They love that idea! They get family photos as well as the wedding etc. It is great for advertisement as well. One nurse was looking at my photos slide show on that site while at work and another nurse asked for my card.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p> </p>

[lauren_scaglione]

<p>Jon Robert, and all of you, I just can't thank you enough. I am going to print out this page and review all of your points. You guys are great. Thank you!!!!</p>

[lauren_scaglione]

<p>Jon Robert, I looked at the price for a Nikon D90 and the Kit 18-105mm lens and well, it's expensive, for me at least.:) Could you recommend another camera comparable to the Nikon D90 but cheaper in price. Thank you soooo much.</p>

[David_Cavan]

<p>The "bottom end" for Canon / Nikon (the most popular brands) is about $450; and then of course you need at least a couple of decent-sized cards and an extra battery. You should be able to get in right around $500. I don't know if that is in your budget range or not, but there are both great starter cameras and if you want to get more serious any lenses that you acquire will fit higher-end bodies from the same brand. There's always the second-hand market, and if you are careful you might be able to get something that is a couple of generations old for $250 to $300. Here's a link comparing the starter Nikon/Canon bodies:<br>

<a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/canon-rebel-xs-black/4505-6501_7-33064505.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody;1r">http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/canon-rebel-xs-black/4505-6501_7-33064505.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody;1r</a> <br>

The Beginners Forum here at photo.net has a lot of information about how to get started, and what to focus on. I do think that you should consider getting some books on the basics - the one mentioned by Wouter is quite good and if you were to ask this community about their recommendations I'm sure you'd find several publications that would help. Going out and using the camera in an organized fashion (choose a feature, such as ISO, and work through that for a couple of hours, for instance) will get you moving forward effectively. And, by all means, find some subject matter that interests you and have fun with that. </p>

[dan_south]

<ol>

<li>Shoot photos as often as you can and in every kind of lighting and circumstance - indoor, outdoor, day, night, different seasons, different weather.</li>

<li>Review your photos on your computer. Try to determine what you might have done differently to improve them.</li>

<li>Compare your photos to the photos of photographers (particularly wedding photographers) whose work you respect.</li>

<li>Try to enhance your photos with whatever editing software you own. Determine what works and what doesn't.</li>

<li>Consider taking a class or watching tutorials in popular photo editors such as Photoshop CS5, Photoshop Lightroom, and Apple's Aperture program.</li>

<li>Try to attend as many weddings as you can and take some photos while you're there. Weddings present a multitude of technical problems for photographers. You can't learn to handle those problems unless you have the opportunity to photograph some real weddings.</li>

<li>Post your questions on the appropriate forums at this site and ask for tips and comments.</li>

</ol>