Michi
I have no clue about camera types, or anything of the sort. But I am wanting to become a photographer. I know that I'll eventually have to learn through schooling or self taught. But I need a camera now to at least get some pictures out there, lol.
I found something at Walmart.com that I think would be alright. I'm not shooting pictures for a professional anything. I really just want to build up my portfolio first. So, I don't need anything fancy, but I DO need something better than a Kodak Easy Share, lol.
So here's the link, since there's too much to post here, lol.
Thanks in advanced to all who post helpful things. :)
http://www.walmart.com/Nikon-D40-Digital-SLR-Camera-18-55mm-Lens/ip/5607412
Answer
Nikon D60 is a great camera, and don't let anyone tell you it's only for beginners. The images that the D60 produces easily rival that of more expensive cameras. When you spend less money on the D60, you are sacrificing a few bells & whistles but not necessarily image quality.
It has all the manual settings you'd expect in an SLR and a very easy-to-navigate (and nice-looking) menu system. The LCD screen is big and bright, and the viewfinder is great as well.
What it's missing (at least when compared to higher end models) and why you don't necessarily need those things:
- No auto-focus on non-AF-S/AF-I lenses. Unless you already have a bunch of old Nikon lenses, this shouldn't be a problem. Just make sure any lens you buy in the future is an AF-S or AF-I.
- No Live View. This is only just becoming standard on higher end cameras and on the ones I have tried I have found it very "clunky" anyway. "Live View" is a hallmark of compact point & shoot cameras, and I think that's where it belongs... at least for now. SLRs are just made for shooting with the viewfinder. It just feels better on a camera like this. If you *need* Live View, look at the Sony SLRs. They seem to implement that feature best.
- Only 3 auto focus points. The D80 has 11, the Canon XSi has 9, blah, blah, blah. Three is enough for most people... heck, one is enough for most people. Yes, having more is nice, but honestly if you are a beginner and don't understand what the benefit of more AF points might even be, you don't need them.
- No exposure bracketing. A helpful feature for making HDR images, but even then it is not necessary.
Those are the biggies. I have my own little nit picks, like:
- No dedicated buttons for ISO or white balance (you can program the Fn button to do it, but it's nice to have a seperate button).
- RAW+JPEG setting only allows you to record a "basic" quality JPEG.
- The ViewNX software supplied with the camera sucks for processing RAW images. If you are going to shoot RAW, get something better like Nikon's CaptureNX, Adobe Camera Raw for Photoshop or Lightroom, or something similar. If those aren't in your budget, RAW Therapee is a great open source RAW processing application. It's light years better than ViewNX in this regard, and it is 100% free of charge!
Now for the major perks:
- The D60 inherits features like Active D-Lighting and Expeed processing from the (much more expensive) D3 and D300 pro SLRs, which the D40 and D40x do not have. Look those things up to see what the benefits are. D-Lighting is subtle, but effective.
- The new kit lens with VR (vibration reduction, Nikon's term for image stabilization) which allows for sharp pictures in lower light conditions when using slower shutter speeds. The D40/D40x have a non-VR version of the same lens. In my opinion, this is the best "kit" lens when compared to what the competition is currently offering (in terms of overall image quality).
- Auto focus assist lamp. Trust me, it's a simple little thing but you'll love having it.
- FAST auto focus (even with those three piddly AF points =)
- Big, bright LCD and viewfinder.
- Superb build quality. Feels much more "pro" in your hand than it's plastic-y competitors.
- Great high ISO performance. Perfectly usable shots at ISO 1600. ISO 3200 is worse, but you could still use it in a pinch and get decent results and small prints. I've printed a couple 8x10s from ISO 1600 shots that look fantastic.
- Which brings me to the most important feature: stellar image quality. Go find sample images online and see for yourself. Forget those chart & graph test shots. Look for real-world samples of real people/things -- that's where you'll really be able to see the D60 shine!
I love my D60. I have been shooting with it every day since I bought it a month ago and have no regrets. It truly is a great camera to learn on for the SLR beginner, but is just as good for those of us with a little experience who are on a budget and don't see the above "cons" as deal breakers. Just buy the thing and go make some beautiful photos
Nikon D60 is a great camera, and don't let anyone tell you it's only for beginners. The images that the D60 produces easily rival that of more expensive cameras. When you spend less money on the D60, you are sacrificing a few bells & whistles but not necessarily image quality.
It has all the manual settings you'd expect in an SLR and a very easy-to-navigate (and nice-looking) menu system. The LCD screen is big and bright, and the viewfinder is great as well.
What it's missing (at least when compared to higher end models) and why you don't necessarily need those things:
- No auto-focus on non-AF-S/AF-I lenses. Unless you already have a bunch of old Nikon lenses, this shouldn't be a problem. Just make sure any lens you buy in the future is an AF-S or AF-I.
- No Live View. This is only just becoming standard on higher end cameras and on the ones I have tried I have found it very "clunky" anyway. "Live View" is a hallmark of compact point & shoot cameras, and I think that's where it belongs... at least for now. SLRs are just made for shooting with the viewfinder. It just feels better on a camera like this. If you *need* Live View, look at the Sony SLRs. They seem to implement that feature best.
- Only 3 auto focus points. The D80 has 11, the Canon XSi has 9, blah, blah, blah. Three is enough for most people... heck, one is enough for most people. Yes, having more is nice, but honestly if you are a beginner and don't understand what the benefit of more AF points might even be, you don't need them.
- No exposure bracketing. A helpful feature for making HDR images, but even then it is not necessary.
Those are the biggies. I have my own little nit picks, like:
- No dedicated buttons for ISO or white balance (you can program the Fn button to do it, but it's nice to have a seperate button).
- RAW+JPEG setting only allows you to record a "basic" quality JPEG.
- The ViewNX software supplied with the camera sucks for processing RAW images. If you are going to shoot RAW, get something better like Nikon's CaptureNX, Adobe Camera Raw for Photoshop or Lightroom, or something similar. If those aren't in your budget, RAW Therapee is a great open source RAW processing application. It's light years better than ViewNX in this regard, and it is 100% free of charge!
Now for the major perks:
- The D60 inherits features like Active D-Lighting and Expeed processing from the (much more expensive) D3 and D300 pro SLRs, which the D40 and D40x do not have. Look those things up to see what the benefits are. D-Lighting is subtle, but effective.
- The new kit lens with VR (vibration reduction, Nikon's term for image stabilization) which allows for sharp pictures in lower light conditions when using slower shutter speeds. The D40/D40x have a non-VR version of the same lens. In my opinion, this is the best "kit" lens when compared to what the competition is currently offering (in terms of overall image quality).
- Auto focus assist lamp. Trust me, it's a simple little thing but you'll love having it.
- FAST auto focus (even with those three piddly AF points =)
- Big, bright LCD and viewfinder.
- Superb build quality. Feels much more "pro" in your hand than it's plastic-y competitors.
- Great high ISO performance. Perfectly usable shots at ISO 1600. ISO 3200 is worse, but you could still use it in a pinch and get decent results and small prints. I've printed a couple 8x10s from ISO 1600 shots that look fantastic.
- Which brings me to the most important feature: stellar image quality. Go find sample images online and see for yourself. Forget those chart & graph test shots. Look for real-world samples of real people/things -- that's where you'll really be able to see the D60 shine!
I love my D60. I have been shooting with it every day since I bought it a month ago and have no regrets. It truly is a great camera to learn on for the SLR beginner, but is just as good for those of us with a little experience who are on a budget and don't see the above "cons" as deal breakers. Just buy the thing and go make some beautiful photos
best lighting for self portrait with canon digital camera?
LuvlyBee
okay, so i have to do this self portrait for photo class and i need help doing it
my biggest problem is the lighting. my teacher really didn't teach us anything about how to arrange light, nothing! i know there are different types of lighting: Rembrandt, Broad, Butterfly, etc, but i can't seem to do them right. every time i do a picture I just look weird!
which lighting is best for someone of african american descent? i's say i'm a more medium brown over dark brown.
so your help would be greatly appreciated
advice and tips in:
makeup
lighting
hair styles
smile vs no smiling
backdrop/ background
another note: i have a canon powershot sd750 digital elph, so any settings on the camera i should do that you think would help, would be greatly appreciated as well.
Answer
You probably don't have the lighting to even setup in any of the lighting diagrams anyway. So I'd just totally forget about all for now.
I'd keep it as simple as possible. If you have something like a clamp light, the kind you can get at walmart or home depot, that would be optimum. The kind you can screw in a regular style light bulb and had the metal reflector on it. A good sturdy clamp is very good to have, or someone to hold it. Get a flood bulb about 120 or 150watts. Brighter is better.
You'll need to set the timer or have a remote or have someone push the button. I think as long as you compose and light the shot, that qualifies as a self portrait in my book.
You probably should have something kinda dark in the background. Shooting it at night with a uniform, not distracting background behind you is good. Even outside works, so long as there aren't any stray lights around or in the background. Turn a little to one side or the other and point the light to the side of your face that is not facing the camera. You'll probably want it 4 or 5 feet away from you, focused on your face as much as possible. You may have to move it a little closer to make it less dispersed. You want one side of your face lit pretty well and the other side almost not at all BUT you want your other eye to show up some. You almost have to aim the light at your short side eye so that it carries across the bridge of your nose enough to light the broad side eye a little. The broad side is the side that's facing the camera. This should light pretty much just your face and maybe a little of your hair. This is all you really want lit.
Camera settings... flash defintely off. You want to set the exposure value (EV) to -1.0 to start with and put it in just a regular mode. If this isn't working well for you, you might have to try night portraits but I'm not sure if you can turn off the flash in this mode. If you can, then maybe start there. Set the ISO to 100 and take a pic or two. The picture is going to kind of dark. You want it to be but you have to have the shutter speed to support a still shot. If the shutter is slower than 1/60 sec, and the shot is pretty much just showing your face, maybe turn the ISO up a couple notches. Ideally it would be around 1/125 sec. This is where the brightness of the light factors in. You can also change the EV if its too bright to -1.3 or whatever works. This also speeds up the shutter some, so try to only change one thing at a time.
I'd keep the expression somber / serious, the makeup slightly heavier than normal OR just lipstick... not sure how your complexion is. Hair almost doesn't matter at all. You want it to be pretty much black behind you. You don't need to define too much when the majority of the portrait is dark. You can crop this how you see fit, or zoom in to take the shot. You can put yourself however you see fit in the finished picture. If you want to look isolated, make yourself small. Lots of negative space that way. If you want yourself bigger and more focal... make it look more like a headshot.
Good Luck.
You probably don't have the lighting to even setup in any of the lighting diagrams anyway. So I'd just totally forget about all for now.
I'd keep it as simple as possible. If you have something like a clamp light, the kind you can get at walmart or home depot, that would be optimum. The kind you can screw in a regular style light bulb and had the metal reflector on it. A good sturdy clamp is very good to have, or someone to hold it. Get a flood bulb about 120 or 150watts. Brighter is better.
You'll need to set the timer or have a remote or have someone push the button. I think as long as you compose and light the shot, that qualifies as a self portrait in my book.
You probably should have something kinda dark in the background. Shooting it at night with a uniform, not distracting background behind you is good. Even outside works, so long as there aren't any stray lights around or in the background. Turn a little to one side or the other and point the light to the side of your face that is not facing the camera. You'll probably want it 4 or 5 feet away from you, focused on your face as much as possible. You may have to move it a little closer to make it less dispersed. You want one side of your face lit pretty well and the other side almost not at all BUT you want your other eye to show up some. You almost have to aim the light at your short side eye so that it carries across the bridge of your nose enough to light the broad side eye a little. The broad side is the side that's facing the camera. This should light pretty much just your face and maybe a little of your hair. This is all you really want lit.
Camera settings... flash defintely off. You want to set the exposure value (EV) to -1.0 to start with and put it in just a regular mode. If this isn't working well for you, you might have to try night portraits but I'm not sure if you can turn off the flash in this mode. If you can, then maybe start there. Set the ISO to 100 and take a pic or two. The picture is going to kind of dark. You want it to be but you have to have the shutter speed to support a still shot. If the shutter is slower than 1/60 sec, and the shot is pretty much just showing your face, maybe turn the ISO up a couple notches. Ideally it would be around 1/125 sec. This is where the brightness of the light factors in. You can also change the EV if its too bright to -1.3 or whatever works. This also speeds up the shutter some, so try to only change one thing at a time.
I'd keep the expression somber / serious, the makeup slightly heavier than normal OR just lipstick... not sure how your complexion is. Hair almost doesn't matter at all. You want it to be pretty much black behind you. You don't need to define too much when the majority of the portrait is dark. You can crop this how you see fit, or zoom in to take the shot. You can put yourself however you see fit in the finished picture. If you want to look isolated, make yourself small. Lots of negative space that way. If you want yourself bigger and more focal... make it look more like a headshot.
Good Luck.
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