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Updated January 2012

Thought I’d take a few minutes to answer some common questions about photography.  I’ll have to come back when I have more time & I’m not in NYC to add photos.  Feel free to leave more questions in the comments & I’ll try to answer them when I can.   Happy photographing!!

What camera do you own?
I’ve owned a half-dozen point & shot (P&S) cameras before getting my first dSLR in 2007, a Nikon D80.  After 3.5 years & nearly 40,000 photos, I upgraded to a Nikon D7000 in November of 2010.   I subscribe to the theory that there is so much technology changing in the camera world that bodies are fairly disposable & new technology will make them obsolete in 3-5 years.   My new Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-TX10 still goes with me everywhere in my purse & I use our Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5A when I need a smaller P&S camera with a super zoom lens.

What lenses do you own?

A whole post all about my lenses or….

I take 95% of my photos with the Nikon 18-200mm lens.  I don’t shot professionally or do many portrait type of photos, but I want to capture life- our friends, our family, our dogs, our travels, our adventures.  I need something with the most versatility- wide angle to telezoom.   I have owned several prime lenses- the 50mm and 35mm, but found I rarely used them.  I did purchase a super-cheap 300mm for our trip to Africa for the safari & I have a 18-50 macro with a larger aperture that I use for functions and events like parties or indoor (low lighting) types of situations.  I have a super wide angle lens, but rarely use it because the pano feature (photo stitching) in Photoshop is so great.  Again- I highly suggest getting a cheaper body & a better lens for most beginners.

What type of camera bag do you have?
I’ve been through a few, but my favorite is the LowePro Slingshot (100/200/300).  It is comfortable, functional, roomy for extras so I don’t have to carry a purse, easy to grab the camera without taking the bag off.  For our long trips, I have graduated to a Lowepro Compu DayPack since I generally take along our laptop and at least one other lens for our big trips.  I’ll admit that recently, I’ve taken to simply throwing my camera into a big purse if we’re going out for the night or on a local adventure- it fits (since I don’t take any extra lenses or a flash very often) & the cameras are remarkably robust these days and can take a licking and keep on ticking (plus mine is insured on my home owner policy as a rider).

What else do I need?
Nothing!  I’ve bought lots of toys- the most widely used is the wireless remote & the Joby Gorillapod.  I rarely break out my fancy tripod & have never used all the filters (well, I’ve used the polarizing filter about 3 times).  I occasionally use my flash, but I need to spend more time  learning how to properly use it instead of use throwing it up there on top of the camera.  As the candles get better as ISO handling, the less often I will be using a flash.  I do suggest that you have your camera/equipment insured through a rider on your homeowner’s insurance.  It’s pretty cheap on a yearly basis & lets you photograph with abandon without fear or worry.

How long have you been doing photography?
I’ve loved photography since I was a child, but I didn’t really get serious until I bought my dSLR in July of 2007.   I went through periods of more and less seriousness for a few years.

How do you develop your photos?
Well, since the advent of digital photography, there is no longer a traditional darkroom.  I do shot photos in RAW, which is an unadulterated & unprocessed format.  You can shot JPEG photos, but I prefer to control exposure, contrast, white balance, and many other factors that that impact how a photo looks.  I use Adobe’s Lightroom to develop my photos- even more than a digital darkroom, it’s a database that keeps track of all my photos with keywording & organizing.   It’s the most amazing program & 95% of my photo editing, post-processing & touch-ups are done in here.  More recently I’ve been using a few actions in Photoshop & I make my collages in Photoshop.

What about Photoshop?
Photoshop is really expensive & there are tons of free programs that will do most of the basic features that beginners will need.  A great alternative is Photoshop Elements, about $70 and a stripped down version of the full Photoshop CS5 with just about everything most people need (or at least work-arounds to do everything).  Again- I do most of my work in Adobe Lightroom to organize and “develop” photos (adjust exposure, brightness, contrast, white balance, saturation, clarity, noise reduction, cropping, local adjustment brushes, etc.)

What do you do with your photos?
Other than making an appearance on the blog, quite a few photos end up in our yearly album from My Publisher.  I’ve been creating albums for each year of our marriage & think they are the perfect place to keep & share all your photos.  There are several alternatives to My Publisher & I recommend you do something (anything!) to make your photos accessible for the long term.  I also make one big album for each of our big trips (Brazil & Argentina, South Africa & Mauritius, and New Zealand).

Where do you store your photos?
As part of my typical workflow, I “select” which pictures are keepers & develop them in Lightroom.  Those that I want & are important are exported for the blog (resized for web and collages) and exported for our yearly album (full sized for print).  Most photos then get uploaded to Flickr for long-term storage/backup & use on the blog.   I have a Pro account which gives me unlimited uploaded & I guess I’m stuck paying them a few bucks the rest of my life to store my photos online.  For several years, I backed up all photos on a hard drive & also burned them to a DVD.  However, as I take more photos & the file sizes get larger, it’s become a futile task to burn several DVD’s a month.  All new originals are stored on an external hard drive and my snazzy iMac automatically backs those up to a 2^nd external hard drive.  Once a year, I take a 2^nd back up out of the fireproof, vandalproof safe & back up all of my originals and edits to another source that stays safe year round. I have also recently started backing up my entire computer to the online backup server Mozy.

Where did you learn?

Assuming, I’ve learned anything!  I love looking at blogs for inspiration & new ideas.  I read a few books, including Understanding Exposure & a few local classes to get started on the fundamentals of photography.  Lots and lots of practice, lots and lots of bad photos to get some keepers.

What do you recommend I read/watch/attend?
There are many more website & places online than even a few years ago, I suggest you figure out what works for you.  I started out with a few fundamental books on photography, and took a few evening classes in Houston.  I took a course on BetterPhoto.com, but it’s very expensive & it wasn’t extremely beneficial to me personally.  The thing that has been the most useful to me is the videos on KelbyTraining.com.  There are videos on every possible subject related to photography from blogging to business to Photoshop help & a yearly subscription is discounted with a membership to NAPP.  Compared to workshops or other online courses, a subscription to KelbyTraining is a bargain & offers an incredibly wide range of courses on tons of topics with frequent updates and lessons for all levels.  You can re-watch any part of any lesson on specific topics if you just need a refresher or to learn a certain technique.

What type of camera should I buy?

Both Nikon & Canon (and Sony) make phenomenal cameras & it’s just a personal preference IMO as to which one feels better in your hands & which one produces pictures/colors/tones more to your liking.  Read reviews, get the cheapest camera with the features you need & want, be ready to upgrade it in a few years when technology leaps forward.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Going to do a nice, long holiday run in Central Park!