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