Photography is like oil painting, except of course, you're painting with light. Imagine your camera is your easel, the film your canvas, your lenses your brushes, and the light your paint. The light comes in all types of colors and quality. Even if you have crappy paint, you can still paint a beautiful picture. The same is true for the easel. A perfectly-designed super-expensive easel, though cool, won't make the picture look any better than if it was on your lap, it's just easier. The canvas is important - you can make a beautiful picture on newspaper, but it won't last long and it probably won't look right. And vanGogh didn't use a 3" brush from to paint his sunflowers. You need a variety of quality brushes, each for it's own type of line or stroke. And if you can't afford a lot, rather than many bad brushes, you'll be better off with one good brush that will force you to make do and concentrate on the basics. Why do all artists start with just a pencil and paper?
Finally, always keep in mind that experience and practice can never be replaced by equipment - and some of the greatest photographers in the world, even in the modern day, take one old trusty camera and a 35mm/50mm lens to an assignment (no matter what the manufacturers tell you).
So here you are on my photography page. If you have fully absorbed what you have read above, then you need not read any further. But if you think its not very clear, then please allow me to explain. But before we proceed, let me warn you that is a page for beginner/ amateur. If you are even slightly into photography, then you better be reading some pro's page like Philip Greenspun or Thom Hogan.
What do I need to get into photography?
To get into photography, you need a lot of dedication to get out and shoot, a lot of patience with people who might mock you and your work, and a lot of time to practice. To make a great picture, all you need is good lighting and a nice moment. No, you dont need a great pro camera to take a great photograph. Professional cameras dont make good photographs ... professional photographers do. The only thing that professional cameras do is that they make taking great photographs easier. What you capture is more to do with light available and your artistic eye, and not with your camera. My two paisa.
That said, you do need a camera.
So what camera should I buy?
Frankly, I dont know. Depending on your need and budget, you can go for one of the following cameras (please note that this is written in the Indian context).
a. Film Point and Shoot - If your objective is to take pictures once a month, on birthdays and anniversaries, on parties and picnics, then a Film P&S should do. You will not have much control on the picture and will not be immediately able to share it with your friends and relatives. You should be able to get a good P&S for less than Rs. 4000.
b. Digital Point and Shoot - If you think you are going to take a lot of pictures (and want to save on film and developing costs), and want to share your pictures with your friends and relatives immediately, then it is worth investing a few more grands in a digital P&S. Though the control will be limited, you will enjoy digital photography for its instant results. You should be able to get a decent digital P&S for about Rs. 12,000 to 20,000.
c. Film SLR - If it is control and results that matter, and you are serious about photography as a hobby, then you must go the SLR way. While a digital SLR can give you wonderful and instant results, the beauty of film is entirely different. No one replaces the other! You can get a good film body starting with Rs. 10,000. And you can have a whole set of lenses starting from Rs. 5,000 to 5,00,000.
d. Digital SLR - If you are nuts about photography (ie. can spend a lot of money on it), want great results, want them instantly, then go the DSLR way. You should be able to get a good body for about Rs. 40,000. Again, you can spend from Rs. 5,000 to 5,00,000 on the lenses.
All of the above cameras can be good for travel, depending on how much time, money and effort you want to spend making pictures on your trip. If you are going to snap an occasional moment on your trip, then go for (a). If you are going to spend 4 hours a day taking pictures, then go for (d).
I have decided to go the SLR way. Tell me more about it.
If you are interested, you can read a great article by Philip Greenspun of photo.net on how to build an SLR system in detail.
Tell me more about the lenses.
Essentially, lenses can be categorised into two types - Prime and Zoom. Prime lenses have fixed focal lengths. They give superior image quality and work in low light conditions (they are amazingly fast!). Zooms have variable focal length, making composition easier. But this is at the expense of image quality (due to a lot of glass) and ability to work in low light conditions (they are much slower).
Now to get an idea of the focal length, have a look at the pictures below. All of them were shot standing at the same spot but with varying focal lengths.
28mm (wide) |
50mm (normal) |
75mm (portrait) |
105mm (tele) |
Similarly, 20mm and 24mm lenses give you a more wider frame. 14mm and 16mm are called the Fish-eye lenses and give you a 180 degree angle of view. And lenses with focal length more then 70mm let you get more closer to the subject.
But wait ... things aren't that simple. Now these lenses dont have the same focal length with a digital SLR! This is because the digital sensor is smaller in size when compared to film negative. When mounted on a digital SLR, their focal lengths get multiplied by 1.5 (approx), ie. a 35mm lens acts a 50mm lens on the digital SLR. So what was a "wide" lens on film SLR now becomes a "normal" lens on digital. And if you have a 300mm tele, then it becomes a 450mm super-tele with digital, giving you that much wanted extra edge for wildlife photography!
I have listed below a few lenses accordingly to their marked focal lengths and effective focal lengths (EFL) on a film back and a digital back.
|
Prime Lenses: Marking on the Lens 10.5mm 14mm 16mm 20mm 24mm 28mm 35mm 50mm 85mm 100mm 200mm 300mm 400mm 600mm |
EFL on 35mm film - 14mm - Super wide 16mm - Fisheye 20mm - Wide 24mm - Wide 28mm - Wide 35mm - Normal 50mm - Normal 85mm - Portrait 100mm - Portrait 200mm - Tele 300mm - Tele 400mm - Super Tele 600mm - Super Tele |
EFL on digital back 16mm - Fisheye 21mm - Wide 24mm - Wide 30mm - Wide 36mm - Normal 42mm - Normal 50mm - Normal 75mm - Portrait 128mm - Portrait 150mm - Tele 300mm - Tele 450mm - Super Tele 600mm - Super Tele 900mm - Exotic Tele |
|
Zoom Lenses: Marking on the Lens 12-35mm 28-105mm 70-200mm 200-400mm |
EFL on 35mm film 12-35mm - Super wide Zoom 28-105mm - Normal Zoom 70-200mm - Normal Tele Zoom 200-400mm - Tele Zoom |
EFL on digital back 18-50mm - Wide Zoom 42-160mm - Normal Tele Zoom 105-300mm - Tele Zoom 300-600mm - Long Tele Zoom |
If you ask me, I would like to own 3 primes (24mm, 35mm, 50mm) and a zoom (70-200mm). With a digital back, these primes would give me wide angle, normal and portrait focal lengths while the tele-zoom will give me long focal lengths for sports and wild life photography.
Cool. Then what is perspective?
Well, perspective can only be explained with the help of photographs. In the shots below, varying focal lengths have been used to shoot the same subject. This time, I moved forward and backward to keep the same foreground composition (ie the truck), giving me varying background compositions (ie the trees and the building) - hence different perspectives.
28mm (wide) |
50mm (normal) |
75mm (portrait) |
105mm (tele) |
Notice that while the foreground is same in all four pictures, the background in 28mm encompasses a lot of trees and an entire building block; whereas in 105mm, its just a few trees and partial building block. Thats perspective.
OK, I got the focal lengths and perspective thing. But hey, what is 'slow' and 'fast' to do with a lens?
All lenses are characterised by an f-number. The smaller the f-number, the larger the aperture of the lens. Large apertures mean more light and you can use it in low light conditions and for fast moving subjects (fast!). Smaller apertures mean you will need more light and need lower shutter speeds to operate (slow!).
And thats not all. There is something called the depth-of-field (dof), ie. detail in the background. At high apertures, you can blur the background or the foreground depending on where you focus. At low apertures, you will have the entire field in focus. Have a look at some of the snaps below.
f/4, 1/320, foreground focussed small f-number (large aperture) - shallow dof |
f/4, 1/320, background focussed small f-number (large aperture) - shallow dof |
f/20, 1/15, foreground focussed large f-number (small aperture) - greater dof |
f/20, 1/15, background focussed large f-number (small aperture) - greater dof |
f/4, 1/15, over exposed large aperture and low shutter speed |
f/20, 1/320, under exposed small aperture and high shutter speed |
So the bottomline is - go for lenses with smaller f-number as they give you more control and light. But they are also expensive! 50mm f/1.8 costs US$100, 50mm f/1.4 costs US$ 250 and the 50mm f/1.2 costs a whopping US$450!
Thanks. Can I do anything for you?
I am so glad you asked. Can you please buy me everything that's on my Amazon wishlist? Just kidding. Try and make an attempt to make good pictures, share them with the world, and help others in making good pictures. That will make me more than happy.
Dude, that was helpful. But I think I would need more info. Can you help me with some good websites?
Sure! Here you go:
Fred Miranda,
Philip Greenspun,
Thom Hogan,
Photo.net,
Photography Review,
Digital Photography Review,
Photoblogs.org
Summarising it all, I would say, to become a good photographer, you need dedication, patience, time and money (in that order). And to make a good picture, you need light, lens, understanding of aperture and a camera (in that order again). If you want more info and think I can be of any help, then please write to me at zishaan [at] gmail.com
Updated: Feb 2007