What You Need to Start Practicing Photography Part 3- Software

What You Need to Start Practicing Photography

Part 3- Software

So far, I discussed what camera and small accessories are needed. Something else you will want to look into is software. While in theory you could ether simple store all your photos on a SD card and plug that card into a computer or you could just take all your photos in print, most of you will want to store your photos somewhere. It's also nice to have a way to look at and make little changes to your photos after taking a photo.

Computer and Card Reader
Obviously you’re going to need a computer or maybe a really good tablet. Pc or mac, it doesn't matter, the important thing is that it has enough storage, external ones depending on the device.
can run photo editing software and comes with a card reader. If your computer doesn't come with a card reader, you can buy







External Hard Drive or Cloud Based Storage or both

It’s a good idea to have a way of backing up your photos, if your computer breaks and/or you lose your SD card it's nice to know you can still retrieve them from somewhere. I personally use an external hard drive and amazon cloud storage to back my photos up, I am also a huge fan of Carbonite. I know some people simply never re-use the same SD card, instead opting to use each SD card as a cheap external hard drive. Personally I think I would lose them but to each, his own. Its recommended my many to have at least two ways of backing up your photos, so find your own combination.

Photo Editing Software
This is unfortunately, potentially one of the most expensive parts of photography. Still it is great to have some kind of photo editing software. I personally have adobe creative cloud and have access to all their programs (I originally got a student discount...Booya), if you are just doing photography you will probably only need Photoshop and/ or Lightroom/ Bridge. I use programs like InDesign and Illustrator for designing, so that’s just a bonus for me, there are also video editing and animating software on adobe so if you want extra other programs you might consider getting the entire cloud package. Back to the original point, you are going to want a software program to edit your photos. Lightroom is a great, simple program Adobe.

that allows you to edit and organize your photos. Adobe Bridge is also a great one that works very similar to Lightroom. Photoshop is good if you want to make or do something special as Photoshop is the most powerful and has the most options...it is also the most confusing one to use. Finally, there are many other non-adobe products that I honestly cannot speak on as I have never used them. I can tell you adobe is the industry standard and looks good on a resume. There may be better programs out there, but I can guarantee you from personal experience you will not be disappointed with

Hopefully this guide will help someone trying to get started, I'll continue with the next most important item next week.
Please visit me on facebook or my official website.

What You Need to Start Practicing Photography

Part 2- Necessary Accessories

Last week, I discussed what cameras I believed to be the most important. A camera was an obvious choice for the most important supply for starting photography, however these accessories come in at a very close second. These may not be the most exciting or talked about pieces to photography but they are in my opinion the very next thing you should get after buying a camera.

Camera strap

The camera strap deceptively useful, do you really wanna risk dropping and breaking your nice new expensive camera when you could have avoided the whole situation by buying a cheap 6-dollar camera strap from your local camera store or on amazon. I wear my camera strap all the time to the point where not wearing it feels almost naked. Many of you may have even received a camera strap when you brought your DSLR kit. If not, I highly advise you to get one, not only does it keep your camera safe but it also frees your hands up a little. While I would not advise letting go of the camera even with the strap for a very long time, letting go for a second while you change lenses or holding it with one hand while you answer a call will probably be fine, just make sure the strap is on there, nice and tight.

SD card

If your trying to figure out why your camera isn't saving any of your photos....it might be because you still need to buy an SD card. The bad news, most DSLRs don't come with this card, the good news, SD cards are incredibly cheap. It might even be a good idea to buy two SD cards, this way you can switch cards for each photography job without worrying about filling one up. This will also allow you to add photos to your computer while taking photos with another, which will prevent you from accidentally deleting photos. The nice thing about these cards is they carry a lot of photos, I have a 32 but you could honestly get a 16 or even an 8 and still be satisfied.


Cleaning Supplies

This is a very under talked about subject. How do you keep dust out of that nice glass (lens) you have? Well if you get too much dust on the sensor you'll have to pay someone else to take care of it, a good reason to keep that nose attached with ether a lens or a body cap. However, you can and should keep the front of the lens clean, the most obvious solution is to always pack your lens with the lens cap on, it also helps to not point the lens in the direction of dust. Even with these precautions some dust and dirt will always get on your glass. The proper way to clean it is to use an air blower (no liquid) to blow any dust off the top, you then use a microfiber tissue to wipe away any extra dust, then spray it with lens cleaner and wipe it again with the carbon tissue, you can ether buy each piece separate or in a kit.


Hopefully this guide will help someone trying to get started, I'll continue with the next most important item next week.
Please visit me on facebook or my official website

What You Need to Start Practicing Photography

Part 1- The Camera

Ok I originally wanted this to be a one post entry about the basic equipment you need to start photography, as I started typing I realized this will take me much longer to go through than one post, instead I will explain each piece of equipment per post in better detail than a simple one post list. 
The first and most important item you need is....

A Camera. Ok obvious, right? The real question is, what kind of camera? This depends what kind of photography, how willing you are to start and how much you want to spend.

                                     

I'll start with the cheapest:

1. Cellphone

Most of you already have a cellphone with a camera on it (do they even make them without it at this point?). A cellphone has only one lens, usually with a focal length somewhere around 33-38mm. There are pros and cons to this.

Pros: "the best camera is the one you have with you," that is the motto of a phone camera. Seeing as you almost always have your phone anyway, it is easily the most convenient camera you can own. Another pro is that these cameras are advancing very fast, taking a nice quality 8x10 photo on an iPhone is not impossible. Finally, a phone makes it easy to take candid photos because of how common they are, people won’t be as likely to notice you taking photos with a phone. Finally, you can carry a phone where you can’t carry every camera. There are many places, such as concerts or shows that will not allow you to bring a big DSLR, but have no problem with you carrying a phone.

Cons: We don't all have the nicest camera on our phone, the censors on these phones are so tiny most of them will struggle to take good photos even on a digital level. There is also no optical zoom, only a digital zoom. It would take a while to explain the differences in detail but a quick explanation is that an optical zoom allows you to actually take detailed photos of objects far away, a digital zoom allows you to simply zoom into the picture, zooming in too much will cause the picture to look pixelated, it’s really more like cropping at the end of the day. You also cannot take the lens off the phone meaning you are stuck with your focal length, that wide angle is great for landscapes, not ideal for portraits.


Point and Shoot

Like my logo! You usually buy a point and shoot if you don't want a camera phone, but you don't want to commit to an extra expensive camera.

Pros: There are many quality point and shoots and because they are dedicated to taking photos, you will often find a lot of pretty cool features that come with it. The point and shoot is also small enough that it is still easy to carry with you. Most of the pros are the same as a phone.

Cons: Lost identity, it’s not as pro as a DSLR, but it’s not as convenient as a phone. It comes with most of the same pros as a phone but also most of the same cons, just less convenient. Just like a phone you cannot change a lens and it usually is just a digital zoom.  It is because of this “lost identity” that many people believe that this kind of camera is going extinct.

Entry Level DSLR

If you want to have all the basic components a photographer would need in a camera, you buy a DSLR, specifically and entry level DSLR.

Pros: Entry level DSLR's are much cheaper than buying a mid-range or higher DSLR, it is also cheaper than buying most rangefinders. They have more than enough quality for almost any picture size. A DSLR allows you to change and buy new lenses, as a bonus most entry level DSLR's come in a kit, that comes with an optical zoom lens. DSLR's can be used for any kind of photography you can think of, candid's, portraits, landscapes, macros....it all just depends on what kind of lens's you buy for the camera. Also unlike most point and shoots or camera phones you can buy external flashes, an essential tool for many photographers.

Cons: you can find an entry DSLR for anywhere between 300-800 dollars. While this is much cheaper than the biggest and best cameras, I can understand why many will still find that a rather large price, if you are going to spend 500 dollars on something, you probably already know you are going to use it a lot. Most DSLR's are really big and bulky, there’s no getting around it people will see you and make judgments (good or bad) when they see you pull it out. Also while DSLR are very versatile, they are completely reliant on the kind of lens you stick on the body. If you own an 18-55mm kit lens, you are able to take portrait photos and even landscape photos, however good luck with sports photography, if you want that, you will need to buy a different lens. Lenses are not cheap, and if you want to get the most out of your DSLR you will need to buy more lenses.

Range Finders, Go Pros , and more

There are many other cameras you can buy, however this is a list of cameras I would recommend to someone just beginning as a photographer. These other cameras are often expensive and/or not versatile enough for a beginner. While I find nothing wrong with these cameras, and a few of them I'd like to buy myself.  They are not what I would consider a good first camera, because it locks you into one style and if you are just starting out, you will want to have many options.

My Recommendation

Personally I would recommend using whatever phone you have on hand, then when you want to really start taking photos just get a DSLR. It is very versatile and has great quality. It will give you a nice base to start at and learn from. The investment in a DSLR will quickly be worth it and it will last a long time as long as you take care of it, I’ve had my Canon Rebel T3i for about 5 years now and it still works like new.

SG Blogography

Hello and welcome to my Blog! My name is Sean Guilliams, you can call be Sean or even 

Q-Tip if you prefer. I want this blog to feel life visiting your friends house, You know, if your friend was into photography and kept giving you random photography tips while you where trying to play Call of Duty, yea that friend. 

Tria playing the piano March 19, 2016.

As a first post I thought it would be a good idea to tell you a bit about myself. My name is Sean I graduated from Liberty University, May 2016 with a BS in Graphic Design and a minor in Photography. I love Graphic Design and incorporate the things I learned from Design into everything I do. However I tend to focus more on my minor, Photography, why? Because otherwise life would be too easy. 

Recently I have worked in preschool photography, but I also enjoy taking pictures of adults in my free time (if you've seen my site hopefully you know this). The other side of me I don't get to advertise is often is that I love macro photography. I like bug pictures, toy pictures and anything that allows me to take to take a look at things from a different perspective. My next blog post I'd like to give away some basic tips for photography, hopefully I know enough to to at least give a few cool ideas :P.