kevin.tampa
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So i want to post my experience here, in case anybody gets this far in the thread. that it might be useful to
bottom line for me, if your enjoying it , and like your results , does it really matter what gear you have
i also think the learning curve from all digital is much faster than film if your willing to spend the time on it
Personally I have only been shooting with a dslr for 2 years so not a lot of experience here. and for me this is just a hobby. I still mostly shoot my family and for my family. and I still really enjoy it
when my son was born I figured, get a better camera , take better pictures, and while the pictures may have had more detail in them over my P&S the pictures were not better. I did take a class offered at the best buy I purchased the camera at . and the best thing that did for me was get me out of full auto and using the aperture and shutter priority modes
Gear at this point : t2i with kit lens and a 50 1.8, and used 17-4 4.0 (I never used the 50 at this point but read it was a great value)
so i started reading tech forums and reviews for how to improve. I found that to be both good and bad, the good was that i ended up with some good glass, the bad was that it still didn't make my pictures any better, although I could take pictures in less light now , colors were a little better, i also made the mistake at looking at 100% crops of my photos, when in reality I have never cropped anything that small, or printed anything that big
new Gear: used 28-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8 IS V1 , 580EXII
At this point, I really started to figure out that I needed more practice , and to seriously look at what I liked and did not like about my photos and other peoples work, that when at least from my perspective, I really stared noticing an improvement in my photos , and also found that i liked available light photos, over flash even in low light
new Gear: used 5Dii, 50 1.4 (replaced the 28-70 with a 24-70 l and the 70-200 V1 with a V2,)
I did more forum reading and posting before I got the 5Dii , also at this time, a professional photographer that my family had used in the past offered 1 on 1 lessons, and my wife got me those for Christmas. i cannot tell you whether I am improving or the gear got better but I like the pictures from the 5dii better than the t2i, also in the past few months my 28-70 bit the dust , and I used my 50 almost exclusively. ( I can also tell you that at this point, my father , who has been using Nikon SLR's for as long as I can remember, stared to tell me my photos were looking good, up until this point , he would point out anything I did wrong in any photo I showed him, or tell me the were just an ok picture)
New gear: set of 3 photogenic 1250's with stands and umbrellas + backdrop
I was trying to hang sheets and take "Studio" style portraits of my son and family with just window lights and reflectors I got a good deal on Craigslist locally for the strobes and am currently enjoying learning to use them trough trial and error, a local camera shop also offered lesson on strobe studio work that I will likely take.
Today: when I am out my 70-200 2.8 IS II practically lives on my camera , unless I am in very low light then I go with he 50 1.4 , shooting in raw , manual settings
I hope that i continue to get better, I want to spend less time making corrections in Photoshop, and more time taking and enjoying photos. but I will also admit that the newer gear I got over that past 2 years opened up options to take photographs I might not have been able to get otherwise especially in low light with no flash. and since this is a hobby, I look for any deal I can on used equipment, I have had to wait and passed on deals I did;t feel right about , but have gotten some very good prices on gear i could not have otherwise afforded
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