I am not a professional photographer and I barely class myself as an amateur. More like a hobbiest. At the moment I take photos for people at no charge for the experience, while slowly putting together a portfolio, in the hopes of one day actually charging people for my time; however my dilemma is that I don't have the equipment that I want (& possibly need) and being a stay at home mum I actually can't afford it (& do I REALLY need it?)
So I am currently using a D3200, lower end of the cropped framed DSLR and I pretty much always use the 35mm prime lens (which is basically like using a 50mm lens). I would like a full frame camera, as I really struggle getting good quality low light shots, even with the 35mm (as I so discovered during my volunteer photographer time at the food and wine expo). But does it make a difference if I were using it (or my 50mm prime) on a full framed camera? Next issue is that I would also very much like a 18 - 70mm lens (which is over $2500!!) so I have a good all round lens. My current lenses are the standard 18 - 55mm DX and also a 55 - 200mm DX (oh and a 50mm prime, which I also almost never use). Both the zoom lenses are actually quite slow when doing successive shots & I am not sure if it is because they are cheap or I am just a hopeless photographer? I actually quite liked (loved) the framing I got while using my dad's SLR camera, before it quietly died and gave me back an almost empty roll of shots :(
Anyway to the point, my big question is... Is it wrong for me to start charging people for my time so I can save up for some new equipment, when I know the quality of my work is not up to professional standards? I almost feel as though I can't get the shots that I want because my equipment is limiting, but maybe it is just me being lazy.. and unappreciative of what I have already? Thoughts?
Side note: I know that buying a FX lens would give me higher image quality, but it is actually the noise that I am concerned about with the cropped frame (& the fact I have to take 20 steps back, haha).
Also, a friend of my husband asked me to photograph their wedding. I didn't decline, but attempted (for 5 months) to encourage them to pay a professional as I don't have the equipment or experience, and now I am stressing out about it, because they kept saying that they don't mind if the photos aren't that great etc etc.. but I am so worried that I am going to ruin their special day and I am trying to gather as much experience and practice as possible until their special day!! Has anyone ever done this with the limited and low grade equipment such as mine?? & what were your results? Are you still friends with these people, hahaha.
First, you sound like you are doing a great job! I think we are in the same boat and use our camera's similarly. I have full-framed lenses for a crop sensor (my 35mm works as a 50mm). My experience with portraits in this situation is that I have to use a tripod and a very still subject to get the quality I would like given the fact that I don't have any lighting equipment. I have been wondering if I need to upgrade the base (camera) before I go an buy any more expensive lenses. Not sure you need to go full-frame, though.
I DO think you can charge for your photos at this point. I would NOT do the wedding unless you felt confident. That's a whole different animal, and I would say "I am flattered, but I really can't do that." PLUS, if you were going to do it for free, YOU would really regret it I think. Just my opinion, but I just did a lot of work on some photos I didn't think were high quality enough for a friend and while I know they love them--it took me a long time to make a book and such and arrange and edit. They paid for the book, but my time was the gift.
I would not buy a full frame body or even consider it yet. In the d3200 you have an excellent camera that can do a lot with time and practice. Do not buy the all round lens - do not throw money at this hobby. Stop and take stock. What do you want to do? What images are you desperate to take? You have two excellent prime lenses that are fast - the 50mm 1.8 is great for portraits on your body, the 35 is an excellent walk around lens. Use what you have and learn.
Noise is not a factor, work around the problem. Make it a feature. Process with grain
You will have loads of people encouraging you to spend but it is a Hobby. Good glass and lower end body is better than great body and average glass.
Learn with what you have got. You have a good range of lenses. Do you have a tripod? What do you process with? What shots do you want to take?
Try different techniques before spending. Find out the limitations of your equipment.
I would not do the wedding if you are not confident - take unofficial shots for them, it is a perfect time for you to practice and watch a pro.
When you look at a picture can you tell if it was taken on a full frame or a crop sensor? I don't know if it is possible to know just by looking.
I treated myself to the D7100 a few months ago and it is a beast, very capable. I had a go with a d800 with the lens you like. I could never justify the difference in cost for the outcomes I got. This is a hobby for me.
Whatever you decide good luck.
Hmmm good questions Bec! I took the plunge and upgraded my gear last year, before starting 365 and asking for advice! I am very lucky my husband was more than willing let me spend some money on myself, maybe because I hardly ever do!!
I think all the questions Spanner asks are important ones. And I think particularly important is - what type of light do you expect to work in? For me, I knew that birth photography was what I wanted to do, and I had done enough research to know that low light was a key factor (and lights and flash are not really options), and I knew enough about my gear to know that f3.5-5.6 lenses (which is all I had) and max ISO of 1600 (and very muddy at that) was completely inadequate. I needed BOTH aperture and ISO, and there was no way I could attempt this type of work, for free or otherwise, without it.
I am guessing both your prime lenses will be f1.8 or similar? And your camera will do 6400. So you are way ahead of where I was with my old kit - that's a pretty big range of light you can work within. I'm not sure what you use for processing, but I've found that shooting RAW and using Colour Noise Reduction (to get rid of all the pink and green dots) in Lightroom (which costs $150) gives pretty good results. I use Luminance NR sparingly as I find it just kind of smooths the texture and I lose too much detail. I think sometimes the grainy texture is just how it is and not always to be considered problematic.
Another idea that might give you some more lighting options is a speed light which you could bounce off ceilings or use off-camera with very decent results. That will only set you back a couple hundred, rather than thousands for new lenses or bodies.
You don't mention whether you edit/retouch your images after you shoot, and whether you shoot raw or jpeg. I mention this because the camera you have, the D3200 is a most capable camera, and paired with the 35mm f/1.8 should perform well even in low light especially with good noise mitigation in an editor. Also, while the 35 is good value for the money, it has significant distortion across the whole frame and needs to be corrected in an editor, especially with portraits I find.
If you are shooting jpeg, have you turned on the in-camera noise reduction capabilities?
While a full frame camera, the modern ones like the D610 anyway, will technically have better low light noise performance (same number of sensor points in a larger area allow for larger, more sensitive ones capable of pulling more light in, wider spaced too), it should not be apparent except in extremely poor light.
As Alison suggested above, a Speedlight (flash) can make all the difference especially for portraits. You do need to develop bounce and indirect lighting techniques however. Straight on shots will still be straight on shots (usually sharp, flat and featureless) whether built in or adjunct. The Meike MK910 is 25% the price of the Nikon top of the line SB910, and has practically the same feature set, the important Nikon iTTL especially. It has worked well for me.
Lenses? Yes, they make all the difference rather than the camera itself, given that you are using modern technology which you are with the D3200. And FX equivalent lenses will, in general, give you visibly superior performance on the DX camera especially with any edge imperfections cropped away by the camera. An excellent general purpose, inexpensive, standard zoom lens for the D3200 is the Nikkor 24-85, one of the "kit" lenses introduced with the original D600, and performs beautifully on DX cameras. Here are just two examples, cropped to 4:3, the first shot at the wide 24mm end and the second at the 85mm end, that I shot with my DX D7100. You could expect similar results on your D3200.
I cannot advise about charging or not, or whether to do the wedding or not, but if you are uncomfortable with either then I would certainly not do so. You should know when you are ready for that.
I will quickly answer that I shoot in RAW and process in lightroom. I tend to increase grain when processing, except for when I am shooting portraits, where I usually use luminance to lightly smooth out any grain.
I think the upgrade question stemmed from a shot ego, as I was one of three photographers at the expos and I was the only one walking around with a 35mm prime, some of the vendors actually had to do a double take to make sure I was an official photographer, as the other two photographers had the big speed lights, diffusers and hectic looking lenses.. I was also concerned that after processing my shots they looked a lot like some of the retro styled photos I post on here, not the crisp clean photos you normally see on event websites. (I have posted two shots from the event on my page 30 & 31/08/14 so you get an idea of what I mean) So I guess I will see how many of my shots will make it onto the marketing site :/
Lastly I know 100% I want to do portrait photography, specialising in maternity, newborn and children so what I have now works perfectly for that :) It is just events that I am unsure about. I really enjoyed working over the weekend, but like I said was concerned with the end result. Also Alison, I LOVE that you do birthing and labour.. It is something that I would like to have a crack at one day, as it is such a special and emotional moment, & I wish I hadn't been such a prude and organised a photographer for myself!!
@frankhymus You have answered my question perfectly!! As I am not 100% sure about doing event photography I should just save my wallet and purchase a speed light and see where it takes me and I can continue on building my portfolio & if I have to take a few extra steps further back due to the crop factor, so be it :)
Also, I re-processed the expo shots in B&W for this project, but gave the photos to the event co-ordinator in colour. Todays shots have far more grain, as the health and harmony expo lighting was more ambient compared to the food and wine expo.
@becpeterson Just don't be at all intimidated by "crop factor" or big lenses. If you are planning on doing portraits, consider the 105mm f/2.8 macro (or micro if you are Nikon) lenses from Nikon and Sigma. Both are beautiful lenses, both VR stabilized. Three lenses in one, a medium telephoto, a superb macro and a wonderful portrait lens with beautiful bokeh. I find the longer lenses perfect portrait lenses at least for how I shoot portraits. You can step back a little and not be totally in the subject's face. I have rented both, and like them both a lot. If I had to pick between them I couldn't. And didn't, since I went with a Tokina 100 f/2.8 for half the price, and beautifully clean and sharp. But it won't Auto Focus with your D3200 and is not image stabilized, so perhaps wouldn't work for you.
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I DO think you can charge for your photos at this point. I would NOT do the wedding unless you felt confident. That's a whole different animal, and I would say "I am flattered, but I really can't do that." PLUS, if you were going to do it for free, YOU would really regret it I think. Just my opinion, but I just did a lot of work on some photos I didn't think were high quality enough for a friend and while I know they love them--it took me a long time to make a book and such and arrange and edit. They paid for the book, but my time was the gift.
Noise is not a factor, work around the problem. Make it a feature. Process with grain
You will have loads of people encouraging you to spend but it is a Hobby. Good glass and lower end body is better than great body and average glass.
Learn with what you have got. You have a good range of lenses. Do you have a tripod? What do you process with? What shots do you want to take?
Try different techniques before spending. Find out the limitations of your equipment.
I would not do the wedding if you are not confident - take unofficial shots for them, it is a perfect time for you to practice and watch a pro.
When you look at a picture can you tell if it was taken on a full frame or a crop sensor? I don't know if it is possible to know just by looking.
I treated myself to the D7100 a few months ago and it is a beast, very capable. I had a go with a d800 with the lens you like. I could never justify the difference in cost for the outcomes I got. This is a hobby for me.
Whatever you decide good luck.
I think all the questions Spanner asks are important ones. And I think particularly important is - what type of light do you expect to work in? For me, I knew that birth photography was what I wanted to do, and I had done enough research to know that low light was a key factor (and lights and flash are not really options), and I knew enough about my gear to know that f3.5-5.6 lenses (which is all I had) and max ISO of 1600 (and very muddy at that) was completely inadequate. I needed BOTH aperture and ISO, and there was no way I could attempt this type of work, for free or otherwise, without it.
I am guessing both your prime lenses will be f1.8 or similar? And your camera will do 6400. So you are way ahead of where I was with my old kit - that's a pretty big range of light you can work within. I'm not sure what you use for processing, but I've found that shooting RAW and using Colour Noise Reduction (to get rid of all the pink and green dots) in Lightroom (which costs $150) gives pretty good results. I use Luminance NR sparingly as I find it just kind of smooths the texture and I lose too much detail. I think sometimes the grainy texture is just how it is and not always to be considered problematic.
Another idea that might give you some more lighting options is a speed light which you could bounce off ceilings or use off-camera with very decent results. That will only set you back a couple hundred, rather than thousands for new lenses or bodies.
As far as charging goes ... this is a huge dilemma for me too! Very hard to know "when". I found this link in another article I was reading which you might find helpful ... http://www.elizabethhalford.com/the-business-of-photography/how-to-build-your-photography-portfolio-and-when-to-open-for-business-2/ I'm also planning to join AIPP as I know they have lots of workshops and mentoring available and I'm hoping I will be able to figure a lot of this stuff out with some guidance.
Anyways hope some of this helps?
If you are shooting jpeg, have you turned on the in-camera noise reduction capabilities?
While a full frame camera, the modern ones like the D610 anyway, will technically have better low light noise performance (same number of sensor points in a larger area allow for larger, more sensitive ones capable of pulling more light in, wider spaced too), it should not be apparent except in extremely poor light.
As Alison suggested above, a Speedlight (flash) can make all the difference especially for portraits. You do need to develop bounce and indirect lighting techniques however. Straight on shots will still be straight on shots (usually sharp, flat and featureless) whether built in or adjunct. The Meike MK910 is 25% the price of the Nikon top of the line SB910, and has practically the same feature set, the important Nikon iTTL especially. It has worked well for me.
Lenses? Yes, they make all the difference rather than the camera itself, given that you are using modern technology which you are with the D3200. And FX equivalent lenses will, in general, give you visibly superior performance on the DX camera especially with any edge imperfections cropped away by the camera. An excellent general purpose, inexpensive, standard zoom lens for the D3200 is the Nikkor 24-85, one of the "kit" lenses introduced with the original D600, and performs beautifully on DX cameras. Here are just two examples, cropped to 4:3, the first shot at the wide 24mm end and the second at the 85mm end, that I shot with my DX D7100. You could expect similar results on your D3200.
I cannot advise about charging or not, or whether to do the wedding or not, but if you are uncomfortable with either then I would certainly not do so. You should know when you are ready for that.
Good shooting!
I will quickly answer that I shoot in RAW and process in lightroom. I tend to increase grain when processing, except for when I am shooting portraits, where I usually use luminance to lightly smooth out any grain.
I think the upgrade question stemmed from a shot ego, as I was one of three photographers at the expos and I was the only one walking around with a 35mm prime, some of the vendors actually had to do a double take to make sure I was an official photographer, as the other two photographers had the big speed lights, diffusers and hectic looking lenses.. I was also concerned that after processing my shots they looked a lot like some of the retro styled photos I post on here, not the crisp clean photos you normally see on event websites. (I have posted two shots from the event on my page 30 & 31/08/14 so you get an idea of what I mean) So I guess I will see how many of my shots will make it onto the marketing site :/
Lastly I know 100% I want to do portrait photography, specialising in maternity, newborn and children so what I have now works perfectly for that :) It is just events that I am unsure about. I really enjoyed working over the weekend, but like I said was concerned with the end result. Also Alison, I LOVE that you do birthing and labour.. It is something that I would like to have a crack at one day, as it is such a special and emotional moment, & I wish I hadn't been such a prude and organised a photographer for myself!!
@frankhymus You have answered my question perfectly!! As I am not 100% sure about doing event photography I should just save my wallet and purchase a speed light and see where it takes me and I can continue on building my portfolio & if I have to take a few extra steps further back due to the crop factor, so be it :)