The Esentials

Lets talk about the tools of the trade for a bit. As a starting photographer, I have purchased a Nikkon D80, that came with a standard Lens with a 18-55mm optical zoom This lens allows me to place the Telephoto Lens and the Wide Angle Macro lens additions onto it, as well as one of the three light filters. I also received a Telescopic 70-300mm optical zoom lens with the camera. We'll talk about these later. As far as cinematography goes, I received my new Cannon GL2 in the mail yesterday. I have not had a chance to power it up and test this one yet.

The Nikkon series, as far as I can tell from reading many articles, is a very high valued camera. Many photographers use this brand, and start with one of the low numbers like the D80 or D70, and move onto the D300 or higher. This I feel is because of financial issues. Its much easier to drop around $800 for a camera than it is to drop a couple grand. The difference between a double digit and a triple digit really boils down to the settings and options that the camera allows you to control. With the D80 I can set my focus, use an optical zoom, which is a big thing in photography. As well as use many settings like an ISO for photo noise or clarity, and allow for metered readings through the camera. The D300 does all of this, but just does it slightly better. Has a faster response time, and uses a many media options for storage. Other than that they are the same cameras.

I want to take a moment to touch on digital zoom versus optical zoom. Digital zooming uses an on board chip set to act like a computer and zooms in on the already "taken" image. I use this wording because I mean that the image is being processed before you press the red take picture button. While this allows you to get a closer zoom, it also lowers the image quality. This happens because the camera is set to use say 10 mega pixels per image. That's tens of thousands of pixels placed where the image is. Then you start to zoom, and effectively you are cropping the image and blowing it up right there in your hand. This process can lower image quality because it cuts off the amount of pixels shown versus the total pixels used. A good example of this would be opening a picture in paint and then using the magnifying glass tool to zoom in a few clicks, you'll noticed the image starts to get slightly blocky, and the farther in you get the worse the image looks. The optical zoom actually keeps the image at the same size at all times, but uses lens distance to bring the image closer to you and does not sacrifice pixels during this process, this makes for a crisp clean image every time. the only way I could explain this with an example would be to close one eye, focus on an objects and then just move up to it and look at it. The object looks the same, but is closer.

Now, zooming in on objects isn't always the way to get a good image, but it helps you get closer to things that aren't always accessible. The best way to take an image that I have found is to zoom all the way out and place the lens on the camera right on the subject. Sometimes even this isn't enough, and that's where Telephoto and Macro lenses come into play, these add-ons allow you to take an image of something from point blank, but the lens brings out a richer or wider shot, allowing for texture and color to bleed through allot better. Of course this all takes practice to master, and even the best photographers take the same image with several camera settings, and several lens types.

I mentioned f/stop earlier. I don't know exactly what it means, but I know that its a metered expression of light. If my camera says that my subject has f/1.8 light on it, then the suggested f/stop to use would be that number or close to that number. What does this do to an image? It simply controls the lens shutter speed to allow more or less light onto the lens. This will help you get a crisp image that isn't to white or to dark. However there are many other things to consider. I.e. The subject is moving and you can't afford to have the lens open for 1 second, because that will cause a blur. That's why the camera comes with white balance, and EV settings that allow you to saturate the image with a little more light through digital enhancements made during the click of the camera.

As for the Cannon GL2, I chose this camera to be my first based on the multiple awesome reviews it had on Amazon.com. I originally was going to buy the Cannon XL2 which is a more professional camera that allows you to change the lens aperture, and control almost every aspect of the camera i.e. the f/stop. However the XL2 is $3K and the GL2 is 1K, and when trying to make something from nothing, you don't have allot of money to play around with so I had to go to my second choice.

Making Something from Nothing

Ok, so I lied a bit there, I have received a small amount of float cash due a family death about a year ago. But the principle is still the same. I am trying to launch a small business or carrier from almost nothing. I started out by purchasing a very nice and professional camera, one that allows for great optical zooming, and allows me to add and change lenses as needed. Along with this camera I got a standard 55mm lens, a 700mm telescopic and a few add-on lenses (Telephoto macro and Widescreen). Bought one of those books that help you learn the in and out for this specific camera and am ready to go. Now I do have a little background work as an amateur cinematographer, and editing work that I have done for friends in the past. I find this type of work fun and rewarding. Granted I don’t have the backdrops that most photographers use, nor do I have umbrella light kits, but I do at least have a thousand lights that we purchased a year ago for demand satisfaction productions. I think they should be adequate to start with. The only thing I am missing is a subject.

Now, photography is an art. You can take images of landscapes and make them breathtaking, a flower and highlight its detail, and if you are lucky a humming bird hovering inches above a pool of water casting a prefect reflection. These are all the types of photos that I am trying to do right now. Which are easily obtained through patience and practice. However, there is one type that I cannot obtain, and that is of a model subject. Whether it is male or female, no one is willing to work with an armature photographer, especially the first time they are doing a photo shoot. I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t want to have to go to some guy’s house, and take a large number of photos change my clothes and take more for a few hours.

I had hoped to be able to get a License, Car, and launch my photography business by January 1^st 2009. I don’t think this will happen. The only Images I do have are from the Pittsburgh Zoo, and I didn’t have the camera in my hands that day, I let a good friend of mine Beth takes the pictures. Now I am not saying she did a bad job, just saying I didn’t do anything and can’t really say it was my work. So now I have a little less than a month and a half to achieve my goals and still have had absolutely no practice. Let’s see how well I do under pressure.

Why am I writing this? Am I complaining to try and get someone to feel bad? Absolutely not. I am writing this because when I do succeed, I want to look back and see how I did it. When I do succeed, I want anyone that is looking for information to find what worked for me. Think of this as a guide for not only me, but anyone out there that is trying to get into photography or cinematography. And yes, I am doing some cinematography work later this year as well.