Photography Tips for Amateurs - and Digital Cameras for Professionals
As well as a few mookalicious tips for taking lovely, avant garde photos, we've also cherry-picked a few digital cameras for the budding professional photographer. They're a bit too expensive for happy-snapper amateurs, but perfect for buying with the earnings from your first photographic commission!
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Don't centre your subject
If you have an object or person in the foreground, then for the dear love of God place them off-centre for extra style points! A centre shot isn't great because it leaves space above the subject's head and to either side of them - the final result is terribly bland and average-looking, almost like a passport photo. To capture your subject's character, why not have a little play with different angles and framing? An atmosphere, or indeed a smile will be so much easier to capture this way.
Don't clutter your photo with background nonsense
Keep bins, passers-by and awkward background bits and bobs out of your photo - unless you specifically want them in there, of course. Make an effort to consider everything that will be in the photo, even if it's in the background. Think about where your human subject is stood too. Is a tree branch coming out of his head? Perhaps move him (or yourself) so it isn't.
Be flash, baby
Lighting is so terribly important in a photograph. Experiment with the flash, and note the differences when you use / don't use it. Grey days love flash, and so do interiors. Dappled shades and textures can be stunning in real life but look messy and ill-considered if you haven't got the lighting right when capturing them.
Once you've moved from happy snapper to seasoned amateur, you might be thinking about getting a rather special digital camera. Not one that costs thousands - that's for professionals. But unless you're a genius, it must be said that a better camera does, on the whole, make for better photography... so check these sexy little creatures out. Once you've used on, you'll want it to be your pet forever...
Nikon D60
The Nikon D60 Digital SLR has won awards for wonderfulness and is considered to be a fine transition camera for amateurs looking to become experts. It has a 10.2 megapixel sensor, which is a very good thing, and costs around £330. A 2.5 inch screen makes viewing shots easy. The built-in flash will sort out your gloom photography good and proper.
Canon EOS 450D
The Canon EOS 450D Digital SLR can do more than most other cameras in the price range. It has a lovely weighty feel to it so you'll feel like one of the black/white camera artists of old, and as well as loads of features, its 12.2 megapixels will give you some super-detailed images. And hey, you can crop photos before uploading them! Good if you don't have Photoshop. The only drawback? It's a touch over £400.
Samsung GX - 20
The Samsung GX20 Digital SLR has a FABULOUS lens, and so it should, since it costs around £550! Look upon its beauty and drool elegantly. The Samsung GX20 Digital SLR is a great regular camera for anan intermediate photographer. We like.
Sony Alpha 900
The Sony Alpha 900 SLR Full Frame is more for the intermediate or casual photographer than a pro, but you'd have to be a bloody rich casual photo-artiste as it costs over a grand and a half. It has a cool lens and a neat digi zoom which, unlike most digi zooms, doesn't suck. The 24.6 megapixels are pretty sweet, too.
Olympus E-520
The Olympus E-520 DSLR Camera with 14-42mm lens. This one takes lovely, excellent-quality photos and you can view the photographs you've taken on it's 2.7 inch screen. This basic SLR is simple, does the trick and costs under £400. Something to buy with the money from your first photographic commission, then!
So there you have it - a few mooky tips for taking avant garde photos, and a list of the juiciest camers out there - even if you can't afford them now, there's nothing like a little camera pr0n to lust over!.
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This article was compiled with the help of Crowdstorm, one of those nifty sites that let you compare different products and come to some sort of a decision about them...
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