Desperation... (Or where to begin.)
SimplyShane
Registered Users Posts: 153 Major grins
Hello everyone. I just stumbled upon this webpage a few minutes ago and decided to register in order to ask this question::
What would you do if you were a poor 21-year-old with a passion for photography?
What I mean by that is::: Where do I begin with gear? The fact is, I don't have much money at all. I simply CAN NOT blow thousands on a new monitor, a new camera body, calibration hardware, CS4, Lenses, a Printer, studio gear, you name it.
So...
Here's what I have RIGHT now (It's a VERY humble list.)
*A Nikon D40 with the 18-55 kit, a 50mm prime, and a 200mm zoom.
*A small form factor desktop with DVI output from an ATI Radeon HD4500 (The rest of the computer is actually quite powerful, with 4GB ram and a dual-core AMD. It is probably the only thing I have going for me.)
*A generic Dell 19" Widescreen monitor with deadpixels and I believe quite a bit of backlight bleeding...
*A "less than legal" copy of Photoshop. (Just can't blow $300-400...It is shameful I know. :dunno)
And beyond my memory cards, that's it folks. Cheap, crappy, (and even stolen) gear all-around.
So, knowing all this... What do I do? Where do I begin? Is there any light in this darkness?? -.-
What would you do if you were a poor 21-year-old with a passion for photography?
What I mean by that is::: Where do I begin with gear? The fact is, I don't have much money at all. I simply CAN NOT blow thousands on a new monitor, a new camera body, calibration hardware, CS4, Lenses, a Printer, studio gear, you name it.
So...
Here's what I have RIGHT now (It's a VERY humble list.)
*A Nikon D40 with the 18-55 kit, a 50mm prime, and a 200mm zoom.
*A small form factor desktop with DVI output from an ATI Radeon HD4500 (The rest of the computer is actually quite powerful, with 4GB ram and a dual-core AMD. It is probably the only thing I have going for me.)
*A generic Dell 19" Widescreen monitor with deadpixels and I believe quite a bit of backlight bleeding...
*A "less than legal" copy of Photoshop. (Just can't blow $300-400...It is shameful I know. :dunno)
And beyond my memory cards, that's it folks. Cheap, crappy, (and even stolen) gear all-around.
So, knowing all this... What do I do? Where do I begin? Is there any light in this darkness?? -.-
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Comments
I can post them...yes.
However, I have come to realize that to be great at photography, you not only need an eye, but the technical know-how to produce high-class images.
Since I have no money to spend on more gear, I can not possibly learn how to use all I will need to use.
So... Where does that leave me? Plus, with the calibration issue, I might be shooting myself in the foot each time I attempt to edit anyway because I lack both a hardware calibration device and a high-end monitor...
:hack
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bengford
Nonsense. It take many years to learn the subtleties of framing a good shot and the mysteries of light. Not to mention the arcane PP moves in RAW conversion and Photoshop. My apologies if you have in fact mastered all of those things, but I know I certainly haven't.
Oh, and welcome to Dgrin
No doubt a hardware calibrator is best but you can do an "better than nothing" and possibly a "pretty decent" job by eye.
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/
The biggest issue may be the brightness of the monitor which is very hard to judge by eye.
A lot of current LCD monitors get to the proper brightness with their OSD Brightness set between 5 and 20, and Contrast between 50-70.
You can very roughly judge the correct brightness by picking up a sheave of white paper and holding it to the side of your monitor. The monitor should be displaying a pure white screen. Your room. should have lighting at the typical level you edit at. If the back lit monitor looks brighter than the reflected light off the paper, turn down your monitor.
.
.
PP? What's that??
Aye, obviously I have not mastered anything. Nor did I mean to imply that. (Sorry if I did.)
What I'm trying to get at is::: Will my current set-up hold me back? Will I be disadvantaged in a --serious-- way?
Oh, and I suppose if you want me to post a few images I could... However, I do not know how.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bengford
You've fallen into the classic - and all-too-common - trap of mistaking photo gear for photography.
You already have the basic gear; you don't need any more for the moment.
If you want to be a photographer, then go shoot photographs. Forget about the digital darkroom, forget about the gear, forget about everything except shooting photographs. The rest of that stuff is nothing but window dressing, crutches, and fancy toys.
Photography is about capturing images with a camera. Sure, it helps to have a nice camera and a nice collection of lenses, and a fancy digital darkroom setup can help to fix a less-than-perfect pic (up to a point), but the most important thing, and the thing you need to concentrate on the most at this point, is learning to capture images with a camera. You have a camera, you have 3 lenses, and you have a computer to view your images. That's where you need to be right now, not shopping for pretty new toys. Buying all that stuff is fun, but it will not make you a better photographer.
Learn composition. Learn exposure. And above all, take photos.
Remember - the camera doesn't take photos, the photographer does. The camera is just a tool that the photographer uses. All the fancy gear in the world will not make you a better photographer; only experience and education will do that.