A conversation with a friend

[Sashka]

Well, a former co-worker.  She got fired from her position as an administrative assistant last year, and then decided she would be a photographer.  You know how that turned out.  Spot color and blurry faces as far as the eye can see…  Now, just to clarify – I am not a photographer!  I got a DSLR several years ago just so that I could get better pictures of my fast-moving kids and pets, and do some astrophotography.  I’ve learned a lot, but I only do it for me, not for anyone else, and certainly not for money.  She, however, is doing senior shoots, family shoots, etc., and charging people money for it.  Yesterday she messaged me and we had this exchange –   http://imgur.com/Nmszo8P

 

That explains so much.  I should have known.  And people pay her…  (I would link to her business page, but it doesn’t seem to be there anymore.  She’s still doing it though, just posting the photos on her private page.)

[Bill]

It happens all the time.  New(er) and better dSLR’s really empower people to reach sometimes unobtainable goals.  It’s not that they can’t be a good photographer, it’s just they think that all you do is point and press a button and the camera does all the magic for you.  It just doesn’t happen that way.

Yes anyone can take pictures with a camera, but are they any good?  Just like a gun, anyone can pull a trigger and shoot a gun, but can you hit the target?

I have no problem with anyone using an entry level camera, but when your charging people for photos, no matter the camera you use, you better be able to provide good images.  Again, you can use you iPhone for all I care, as long as the shots are sharp, in focus and good.

Her camera is on the older side, 10MP single processor [Digic 3] , looks like it came out back when Vista was newer, so it’s at least 5-6 years old, by my guess.  The good points to that camera is that it will take lenses that are better quality then the kit lens that it came with.  I have a T3i I use a secondary backup, and I can put any of my “L” series lenses on it just fine.  Her XS can shoot RAW, I doubt that she is, but the camera does have that capability.

The real down side to using that camera is that it only has 7 focus points and a top frame speed of 3fps.  If she were trying to capture those fast moving objects like you, she may have a problem.  The other downside is, this is a consumer level camera, not made rugged enough for the  everyday photographer.

It is also a crop sensor, not a full frame, so you have to take the 1.6 x the focal length when using lenses that are not designed for APS-C [crop-sensors]. Basically saying you loose about 60% of the image due to the crop sensor.  This is good and bad.  Good if you are using a long lens to zoom in, because it “appears” to give you more focal length.  For example a 200mm lens on that camera would give you the appearance of a 320mm lens (200mm X 1.6 focal length =320mm).  Now it’s not actually 320mm, it looks that way due to the sensor is designed. The bad thing about crop sensors is when trying to get wide-angle lenses, a 24mm appears the same a 38mm and 50mm appears the same as 80mm and so on.

Maybe you can suggest to your friend to take some courses that are provided online, many of them on youtube and many are free.  Community colleges and other groups offer training for free or very little cost and a lot of them are hands-on and small groups.

Here would be my suggestion for her.  Learn your camera, if it’s a cheap one, so what, learn it and what it can do.  All the features options and adjustments.  I am sure she is probably shooting in Auto, start off slow and maybe try to have her move over to the other modes like TV[shutter priority or Timed Value] or P[Program mode] and eventually moving up to M for for manual where you have a ton of control over how the images are shot.

Have her try this link Canon for reference.

[ebi]

isn’t there a camera phone coming out that’s like 41MP? I foresee someone doing a pro shoot on one of those soon…

[Sashka]

I apologize for the confusion – it is I, the non-photographer, that has the Rebel XS.  Just for me, not for business (and I do shoot Manual, often RAW, have learned the features and capabilities over several years, etc., and would love to get a full-frame camera when I have the money to do so, even though it’s just for personal use).  The fauxtographer is using a point-and-shoot Sony Cybershot, and she’s asking me why my photos are good.  I facepalmed.

[Jones]

Tell her it’s because you own a DSLR. 😉

 

..not really.

[Sharra]

The 41 MP Camera phone is the Nokia Lumia 1020. Fautographers are driven by more MP = better fauxtos.

[ebi]

The more the MP, the larger their monstrosities.

[Bill]

@Sashka – no worries, I may have misread that, easy to do, but your friend still needs to wake up.

Tell her that there is an new all in one app that she can download where all you have to do is imagine the photo in your mind and the app will compose and edit the photo without even taking the shot.  It’s called MindFauxto.

[nesgran]

Doesn’t the Nokia just downsample to 8mpix anyway to get rid of some noise?

[Sashka]

@Bill – Ha!

I did talk to her a little bit about aperture, depth of field, ISO, etc.  I told her that most of the photos she was asking me about were shot with my 50mm f/1.8 lens, which she said she’d “look into” (not with a cybershot you won’t).  I couldn’t think of a polite way to say “but really it’s because you need to learn.  A lot.  And then learn some more. And practice.  A lot.”  I take stuff like this – http://imgur.com/a/FfqkB – semi-competent but unremarkable (some of those are older, that newborn is almost two now and I wish I had had better skills then), and she has no idea how to I do it, and people pay her with actual money.  I just… buh…

 

[Sashka]

(To be fair, after some research, cyber-shots come in a wider range of qualities than I thought and I have no idea which one she has.  Doesn’t make her work any better, but I just wanted to acknowledge that.)

[fstopper89]

Sashka, you have some nice “snapshots” (not really shapshots, they are technically very good!) The only one I wasn’t crazy about was the baby, but as a new photographer with limited equipment a newborn shoot isn’t easy. Your images are crisp, colorful, and you have an eye for composition. That’s sad she is using a point-and-shoot. The problem is these people don’t realize how much goes into it and how much different types of equipment make a difference. Before I had a DSLR, but was interested in photography, I always saw really nice photos and wondered “how the heck did they get it to look like that?” Speaking a lot on shallow depth of field, crisp eyes, sharp motion photos, the images that didn’t require flash to be bright and vibrant. I was well-aware I wasn’t able to get images like that on my point-and-shoot. I think it was the curiosity and the drive to get images of that quality that led me to learn.

[Sashka]

Thanks.  Yeah, the baby (he’s mine) was born in December and our house is shaded and dimly lit even on bright summer days.  Alas.  I did all I could.  🙂  And I just realized that the photos I picked are pretty centered, I promise I don’t always do that.

I’m interested to see if she will ask me more.  I’d like to see her try to improve of course (I’m really not the right person to ask, but I guess I’m less intimidating than a pro or something).  She’s not the only fauxtographer friend I have either.  Since the first one doesn’t have her business page up anymore, I’ll give you this one instead – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shiloh-Flint-Photography/258277934223882

[Bill]

@Sashka – this one makes me feel bad for the pretty girl Overly soft and noisy

This one is – why are we trapped inside this stupid snowglobe.

Am I’m not sure if she is true with this list she has  >  List  <

 

You picture look wonderful.  I think they look good.  It sounds like you are thinking like a photographer and putting your best or better images out there and not everything that comes out of your camera like others.  I like.

[fstopper89]

I think Shiloh has the potential to become really good. She seems to have some cute ideas, but can’t quite execute. The best friends mini session has cute interaction between the little girls, but they are snapshot-quality.

This set https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=571664432885229&set=a.333590073359334.119146.258277934223882&type=1&theater isn’t bad. They look flat though, but they are sharp and have nice connection with the subject. If you’re good friends with her, see if you can nonchalantly offer some advice. Maybe say you want to practice photography skills with her and take pictures of each other and subtly share ideas like “Oh I love that I can just increase my ISO a little so that I can get better exposure” or “I like to shoot wide-open for portraits to get that shallow depth of field” or something like that. She’ll probably be interested.

[Author]

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