Equipment vs. Pictures

baldmountain · December 30, 2008

As I delve more into photography I find that it is partitioned into many specialities. Each specialty requires different equipment. If you try to use equipment out of your speciality you end up with less then desirable results.

I'm generalizing here so bear with me...

Landscapes are best with a medium format camera and a wide angle lens. Wildlife is best with a massively expensive 500mm lens and suitable body. Portraiture is best with an 85 or 105mm lens and lots of studio lighting. Sports is best with a Nikon D3 and 80-200 f2.8 lens...

To buy all the equipment required to cover all the different specialities would cost a LARGE fortune.

I think many people fall back on street photography because it's one of the few things you can do with a reasonable body and a 50mm f1.8 lens and get good results....

Sigh I guess I'm at that point where I want to take pictures as well as published photographers in every speciality but I don't have the resources to buy all the equipment I need.

How do you choose what to specialize in?

Moogle Pepper · December 30, 2008

Well what are you most passionate about? Start from there. You do not need the best to get the best results.

sherijohnson · December 30, 2008

Definitely choose what excites you the most to be your specialty. What could you see yourself shooting and editing day after day?

jonh68 · December 30, 2008

You can do everything you want with a D40 and 70-300 VR. The IQ is not going to be different between a D3 and 80-200 2.8 than a D50 and 80-200 2.8. This is a question only you can answer. A great photographer can make do with what they have regardless of how they are equipped to handle the situation. Getting a 2.8 zoom or prime can be very versatile in any type of situation. Learn how to handle the situations with what you have and then you can better answer your own question.

Better gear gives more options and makes it easier to make pictures, but it doesn't necessarily make for the best pictures.

jeffreaux2 · December 30, 2008

Something else of note...

I have noticed that...

Sports shooters might struggle with portrature....

Portrait shooters may struggle with landscapes...

Landscape shooters might be lost when it comes to wildlife...

Wildlife shooters might be terrified of weddings...

This isn't true in all cases....but in general....just an observation.
And having the gear makes little difference.

In your shoes, I would use the gear you already have and shoot the things you enjoy shooting. Time will tell when you are gear limited in capturing what you are passionate about...and good at.

clemensphoto's · December 31, 2008

With everyone’s post. I for one really enjoy candidates and sports photography and now I'm starting to get into portraits. Weddings will most likely be the last thing I'll get into (little scared about messing up someone's big day).

Glory2Jesus4Photography · December 31, 2008

I look at it this way photography is an art you just go out and do your own art and you will not even need a label. granted you may end up on the side lines of a football game or shooting portraits. Just make your art and let some one else worry about labeling it.

NikonsandVstroms · December 31, 2008

Equipment helps in many situations, but it's really only adding one factor to the overall process. For months all I could use was a point-and-shoot and I maintained many of the overall themes from my work. In doing so I had to adapt how the camera was used, and the limitations of that specific model (there weren't many manual controls, so I learned to trick the camera to do what I wanted.)

now I am headed more towards the specific camera route specific camera route. But not in the way mentioned in the original post where everything needed a specific camera. Every camera has its strengths and weaknesses but there is going overboard. I'll use my set up as an example. With Olympus the camera does amazing color, and the system itself is great for macro work. This makes it my primary camera, but it does lack dynamic range next to my old S3 images, which is why I also use Fuji now for times when it.

About 80 or 90% of my work is great with the Olympus gear, but that Fuji does offer new opportunities. And it is a nice luxury having two different systems, especially when they complement each other.

But back to the original post, the way I found what types of photography interest me is through simply taking lots of photos, and honestly I still am coming up with new areas of interest all the time. And it sounds like a cliché, but this experience is what will improve your images the most. Once you figure out how to take the photos you want to take the equipment is secondary. It can help or hinder you but if the goal is just a great image you can adapt what you have at your disposal for the specific task.

Art Scott · December 31, 2008

baldmountain wrote:

As I delve more into photography I find that it is partitioned into many specialities. Each specialty requires different equipment. If you try to use equipment out of your speciality you end up with less then desirable results.

I'm generalizing here so bear with me...

Landscapes are best with a medium format camera and a wide angle lens.
Wildlife is best with a massively expensive 500mm lens and suitable body. Portraiture is best with an 85 or 105mm lens and lots of studio lighting.
Sports is best with a Nikon D3 and 80-200 f2.8 lens...

To buy all the equipment required to cover all the different specialities would cost a LARGE fortune.

I think many people fall back on street photography because it's one of the few things you can do with a reasonable body and a 50mm f1.8 lens and get good results....

Sigh I guess I'm at that point where I want to take pictures as well as published photographers in every speciality but I don't have the resources to buy all the equipment I need.

How do you choose what to specialize in?

Lets start with choosing a speciality......What really gets your blood boiling, makes you really want to pick up your camera and shoot.
How would you feel about shooting a wedding....scared.......I love weddings and I get work from other pros that will book them and hate to shoot them, they do not like the inter acting they actuall have to do........I was had a very stressful life when I took on my first wedding and it showed....but on the 2nd on it did not show.......I got into a zone, I left all my worries at home and as I call it now....got into my Buddha Nature, by doing so I could take on the most dis-respectful of mother in laws to be and have the whole group loving each other before the cake was cut.....

I love wildlife shooting....there is nothing more enjoyable tahn bein out in the woods when the suns just peeks 1 little ray over the horizon and you see the wild come to life.....it is amazing to get with in just a few feet of a very young fawn only to have your shot ruined by mom blowing snot all over you, the cam and lens......I do this without a 500mm lens......

I shoot landscapes and love it also.....and do not use a med or large format ......I have been using 35mm exclusively for almost 30yrs........

Life sometimes hands us obsticles to work around mine was coming home to find almost all my gear gone and not insured because even tho I was divorced she called the insurance agen a month earlier and cancelled the policy and took the refund....at the time she could do that as her name was on the policy also and I had forgotten to remove it after the finalization.....
Now I had one 35mm and 1 lens....a minolta srt101 and a 70-210 zoom and a shoot the next day....in home portraits in a not so great part of the city........well I proped the front door open and shot into the living room with flash sync cable running to the camera a total of close to 20' of pc sync cable.....but it worked and I did not let on that anything was a miss......metered each new set up of people ( i stacked 12 people into this family portrait.......but I got it to work........

So since that day I have repurchased a medium format kit (actually 3 med format kits) all from The Ukraine.....Kiev cameras......2 Kiev 88'd and one Kiev 66 ( looks similar to Pentax 67 only a tad smaller)....and loved what each could do for me and I had none of the problems that I had read about, they were reliable and sound for me....but I treated them kindly....no abuse.

But buying off ebay has a problem....their are idiots out there that are willing to spend 100's for something that is only worth $10 because they get into a bidding frenzy.....so there were lenses I wanted and could not get as I wasn't going to spend ridiculous amounts on equiptment

so I went back to 35mm and my 70-210 f2.8-4 and still have some of the Kiev 88 left....(it is all manual even tho I have one with a ttl meter prism...but you must do all the adjusting yourself)...............I made a decent living with that combo for along time.....

What this very long essay is all about is learning your supposed limitations and work around them......

I forgot the fawn and the snorting momma.....to get close one must take a few precautions.....1-do not smoke before going to the woods....that is something all wild animals can smell miles away....also use baking soda to deoderize your body, clothing and car.....use chlorphyll to deoderize you internally....wash clothes in a UV inhibiting soap (used by hunters....I am also an avid bow hunter and I like my shots in the under 90yd category)....so I treat my outings for wildlife as if I am going bow hunting.....but I do not go to refuges that get a lot of humans so the wild never gets use to having us around.......
By taking chloraphyll and batheing in baking soda (do not rinse it off, allow to air dry) and wasing clothes in baking soda you have destroyed all the human smells....the hardest part for me was rinsing my mouth with baking soda and not listerine.........
I can have close encounters most anytime in the wild with birds landing on me and squirrels running across me as i site on a tree limb, tree stand or on the ground........
With digital I have 3 cams....a KM A2 with a 35mm eqiv lens of 28-200 (8mp) and 2-KM 7D's + 24-70mm & 70-210mm f2.8........
I might have to work a bit more to get the same kind of shot We have seen in the Hard cover books but I can get them and without owning a 500mm-1000mm wildlife lens........I took my knowledge of bowhunting to put it to work for photography.....oh yeah...before a wedding I bathe in Baking soda and let it air dry and have never had a deoderant failure...I can't say that about commerical deoderant.

I had a photog author I admired and had read some of his books in the library and had a couple of tool calendars he had shot....then I happened upon a newer book of his in a book store......one of the first front pages with the acknowledgment and such was his phone number and I thought to myself.....surely not the authors phone number....it was and i called him to discuss studio lighting and he gave me some very good advice....start of with one light and position it to push shows away from your subject....yes all your photos will look the same...then buy another and learn to use 2 front lights....then get a third and 4th and 5th.........but do your best to have them all the same brand and model so that when you go on location it will not matter which light is your main, fill, hair, or back light.....just grab set and go..............

So for lighting I have used a reputable brand (Paul C Buff's White Lightning's), which are mono lights and have like them over any of the power pak lights I have used.....while working P/T for a local studio I had all of my clients to be cancelled by the receptionist before I arrived...why...because the only power pak died a horrible death.....the studio had plenat of heads and lamps but only one power pak........
S that strengthened my commitment for Mono lights............

Instead of having several backdrops i use colored gels on a black backdrop...I also have 2 backlights and can mix all sorts of colors out of a very small assortment of colored gels.............

So once again I re-iterate.....find your passion and work around your so called limitations

NeilL · December 31, 2008

Art Scott wrote:

Lets start with choosing a speciality......find your passion and work around your so called limitations

Fantastic, Art Scott, I really enjoyed reading about your experiences. You're so fortunate to have had such close encounters with wild animals. I share your enthusiasm for baking soda, so effective for so many things and so non-toxic.

Thank you.

clap

baldmountain · December 31, 2008

Wow! This thread has turned into something a lot more inspirational that I was expecting. There is so much good advice here. Art, I haven't had the pleasure of a mom deer blowing snot on me, but I have had the dog sneeze in my face. Ewwww!

Hmmm, I guess most of what you are saying is to find what excites me and take pictures of that. Well nothing specific excites me. I just like wandering though life and when I see something interesting I take a picture. I guess that makes me a spur of the moment photographer.

The reason I ask is that most folks here have found that something that excites them. I was getting worried that I was spreading myself too thin trying to takes pictures of everything. But I guess that is my label. "Spur of the moment Photographer"

NeilL · December 31, 2008

baldmountain wrote:

"Spur of the moment Photographer"

I like that!

Now, what's the equipment that goes with it?

Moogle Pepper · December 31, 2008

Walk around lenses!

DavidTO · December 31, 2008

I don't agree with the landscape comment. I mean, I go out shooting with Marc Muench all the time, a guy who has shot a ton in medium and large format, and who shoots exclusively in digital now. Really, for optimal landscape photography you need a FF camera, a 24 tilt/shift modified lens, a telephoto zoom, like the 70-200 and maybe a wider lens, like the Nikkor 16mm fish (which can be put on a Canon). I don't think I've seen Marc venture out with much more than that. Maybe once or twice he's taken the 17-40 with him, but the needs are not that great. Sure, that's still a sizable investment, but it's not an entirely different format, and all of those lenses can be used for other purposes.

Tango · December 31, 2008

and i would like to disagree with Jeff...
landscape photogs are not lost when it comes to wildlife!!!!

(we are just to loud and talk too much to get close enough to find the critters)

Moogle Pepper · December 31, 2008

AaronNelson wrote:

and i would like to disagree with Jeff...
landscape photogs are not lost when it comes to wildlife!!!!

(we are just to loud and talk too much to get close enough to find the critters)

Yep! It's true!

Tango · December 31, 2008

baldmountain wrote:

How do you choose what to specialize in?

do what you can when you can and enjoy it.....

what forum do you usually look at peoples work and say "WOW" ?

then thats what your after....

Cygnus Studios · December 31, 2008

What a great post Art. Sure there are differences in systems and yes it is true that a good photographer can take great pics with any system. There are some limitations within each series and none (as of yet) cover them all. A medium format will do a lot and those who use them swear by them.
Of course when you need to shoot at higher ISO, you are out of luck pretty early in the game.
The D3 is by far the best wide range system I have used. It is fast, works great at high ISO, and the color is pretty good. With good glass, I can shoot a wide range from portraits to sports to wildlife.
The better Canon systems seem to have great color, shoot at high ISO, and are fast enough to shoot sports.
If you shoot in a studio where you have far more control over lighting, backgrounds, movement and the like, your system will be quite different than those who shoot outside.
The camera is really only one part of the system. Great glass is just as important.
Most of us choose the system that allows us to do the most that we can.

k2c1959 · December 31, 2008

Cygnus Studios wrote:

What a great post Art.

Wow Art, i didnt know u had it in you. Such a long winded explanation but, very well put. As I have also am a hunter so i know exactly
what you are talking about. I just never have taken my DSLR into the woods. I have had deer come within 2 feet of me while sitting in my blinds. I have gotten the itch for wildlife photog myself and am awaiting the arrival of a Canon 100-400L, which irks me it wont be here until Monday...i guess you could call me a Jack of All Photog, as I just love taking pics, whether it be landscapes,Nascar,sports whatever...JUST DOOO IT....

jonh68 · December 31, 2008

If you characterise yourself as spur of the moment, get a 18-200. Or, get a 17-35 or 18-55 if you go DX. Also get a 80-200 2.8 or the 70-200 2.8. You will be prepared for 90% of the shots you would come across and would not matter too much what kind of camera body you had. Photojournalists have a 17-35 and a 70-200 2.8 as standard equipment.

I freelanced for a year with just my D50 and the 18-200, and that was covering features, portraits, wildlife, landscape, and sports. I have upgraded my equipment substantialy based on specific needs, but the 18-200 is the one I fall back on when I want to travel light and want to be prepared for just about everything.

baldmountain · December 31, 2008

NeilL wrote:

I like that!

Now, what's the equipment that goes with it?

Like they say. You run what you brung...

Whether it is a camera phone, a point and shoot, a DSLR or something else. Film or digital...

I actually feel better about this. Thanks folks for the psychic massage. Now I can take my eclectic mix of images and not feel like I'm spreading myself too thin across too many disciplines. :ivar

It also means I can choose more general purpose equipment rather than speciality items. The 18-55 John suggested is probably next since the widest angle lens I have is a 50mm prime. There have been too many shots I wanted to make but couldn't get enough in frame...

jeffreaux2 · December 31, 2008

AaronNelson wrote:

and i would like to disagree with Jeff...
landscape photogs are not lost when it comes to wildlife!!!!

(we are just to loud and talk too much to get close enough to find the critters)

I know you are joking...and that is good....

I hope no one took it that I was throwing stones....but...rather understood it the way it was intended.....that most of us....even those who are better at any aspect of photography than the average Joe...have a niche at which we are more expert than in other areas. There are always exceptions....but in general......at least in my observations...this holds true.

FWIW....Wildlife doesn't respond well to direction given from portrait or wedding photographers either...."Okay....on three....say cheeeeessse!"

Cygnus Studios · December 31, 2008

baldmountain wrote:

Whether it is a camera phone, a point and shoot, a DSLR or something else. Film or digital...

I just got off the phone with a client who was asking me about my gear, and this thread popped into my head.
So I asked the client "When you see a photo that takes your breath away, is your first question 'What camera took this pic'?
We are working out the details of the shoot now

Tango · December 31, 2008

jeffreaux2 wrote:

I know you are joking...and that is good....

I hope no one took it that I was throwing stones....but...rather understood it the way it was intended.....that most of us....even those who are better at any aspect of photography than the average Joe...have a niche at which we are more expert than in other areas. There are always exceptions....but in general......at least in my observations...this holds true.

FWIW....Wildlife doesn't respond well to direction given from portrait or wedding photographers either...."Okay....on three....say cheeeeessse!"

im sure everyone know what you mean..., (problem is now im not sure i care for Peppers quick agreement:D )

oh, and .... CHEEEEEESSSEE:D

Tango · December 31, 2008

Cygnus Studios wrote:

I just got off the phone with a client who was asking me about my gear, and this thread popped into my head.
So I asked the client "When you see a photo that takes your breath away, is your first question 'What camera took this pic'?
We are working out the details of the shoot now

well atleast warn them you shoot with a Nikon...:hide

:ivar

Tango · December 31, 2008

baldmountain wrote:

Like they say. You run what you brung...

Whether it is a camera phone, a point and shoot, a DSLR or something else. Film or digital...

I actually feel better about this. Thanks folks for the psychic massage. Now I can take my eclectic mix of images and not feel like I'm spreading myself too thin across too many disciplines. :ivar

It also means I can choose more general purpose equipment rather than speciality items. The 18-55 John suggested is probably next since the widest angle lens I have is a 50mm prime. There have been too many shots I wanted to make but couldn't get enough in frame...

and the more you understand a specific lens the better your shoots will become....i would have to feel bad for you if the camera phone is all you had with you though...

baldmountain · December 31, 2008

AaronNelson wrote:

and the more you understand a specific lens the better your shoots will become....

I agree 100%!

AaronNelson wrote:

i would have to feel bad for you if the camera phone is all you had with you though...

I actually took some decent shots with a camera phone. For a while it was all I had.

I would agree that it wouldn't be my first choice, but I understood it's limitations and it got me some images I wouldn't have otherwise.

Oh, and as a Nikon D50 owner here is a big smack for that Nikon comment. :beatwax

Just kidding.

cmkultradome · January 2, 2009

AaronNelson wrote:

do what you can when you can and enjoy it.....

what forum do you usually look at peoples work and say "WOW" ?

then thats what your after....

What happens when you look in all of the forums and say "WOW"?!! I browse all the galleries every day and am in awe of a lot of the photos posted. I am also very thankful for all the help everyone on this forum gives each other. I took jonh68's advice and have a Canon 40D, I then bought a used 70-200 2.8L (my first passion is my kids sports - hockey, gymnastics, & wrestling). I then bought a Tamron 28-250 that I keep on the camera most of the time and use it as my vacation/trip lens when I only want to take one lens. This arrangement seems to be working for me. Although that macro forum really has me interested, so maybe extension tubes are next. I'm going on the Dgrin shootout next year so I'll need a good recommendaton for a "landscape" lens filler.

Stephanie

baldmountain · January 2, 2009

So I'm working on weekly assignment #103 Natural High Key and trying to figure out how to take a decent high key portrait in the snow. I was dropping my daughter off at ballet and this just appeared. That'll work...

Spur of the moment photography strikes again.

pathfinder · January 3, 2009

baldmountain wrote:

............

I'm generalizing here so bear with me...

Landscapes are best with a medium format camera and a wide angle lens.

Wildlife is best with a massively expensive 500mm lens and suitable body.

Portraiture is best with an 85 or 105mm lens and lots of studio lighting.

Sports is best with a Nikon D3 and 80-200 f2.8 lens...

To buy all the equipment required to cover all the different specialities would cost a LARGE fortune.

I think many people fall back on street photography because it's one of the few things you can do with a reasonable body and a 50mm f1.8 lens and get good results....

Sigh I guess I'm at that point where I want to take pictures as well as published photographers in every speciality but I don't have the resources to buy all the equipment I need.

How do you choose what to specialize in?

It can feel like good photography is highly related to equipment, but what you find is that even if you have great equipment, it is still your creative eye and brain that really counts.

While there are those who use medium format for landscapes, today with a good tripod and a pano bracket, you can capture great landscapes with a 50mm lens like this 10 frame pano was ( well almost - I actually used a 45mm prime T&S lens )

Wildlife shooting can require some expensive glass, but usually the most important thing is finding some wildlife and trying to just get close with some decent light. There are several non-OEM lenses from Tamron and Sigma with great reach for less than $1K

But this was shot with 148mm with a 40D, so you can get wildlife without terribly long glass if you are patient and attentive.

And this was shot with a P&S G9

Portraiture has been shot with everything from 24mm to 400+mm but usually somewhere between 50 and 200mm. Lighting can be done in a studio, but soft window lighting has been used by painters for centuries.

135mm and a 40D and window light and a little flash for fill in a dim room

70mm and a little soft light with a speedlite can do wonders

As for sports - a lot of basket ball is shot with a 50-85mm lens so....

My point is that many of the limitations we impose on ourselves are not real but imagined.

I shoot all sorts of different photgraphic venues. That is one of the things I like about photgraphy, there are so many different things one can wander into and learn about and experiment with.

Even though I own a very wide range of glass, 90% of my images are still shot with a medium zoom somewhere between 24 and 105mm.

I have listed the focal length for the first two pages of my popular images here

baldmountain · January 3, 2009

pathfinder wrote:

It can feel like good photography is highly related to equipment, but what you find is that even if you have great equipment, it is still your creative eye and brain that really counts.

pathfinder wrote:

My point is that many of the limitations we impose on ourselves are not real but imagined.

I agree. I'm realizing that most of my pictures are taken with a 50mm prime. I have to move a bit more than if I had a zoom, but the lens works for most stuff. There is also a bit of luck involved too. I got this one with a 70-210mm zoom out my dining room window.

Equipment vs. Pictures

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