Please help...I am so discouraged with photography?

Question

I have a great camera...Canon Digital Rebel SLR but I can't seem to take a decent pic inside. Can you recommend some inexpensive light I could buy to help. I have an additional flash attachment but it doesn't seem to give me much help.

Answer 1

photoworkshop.com/canon can give you some help. Also see if there is a Ritz or Wolfe Camera shop in your area. They have low cost or free seminars on how to use your camera.

Answer 2

Have all the 'right stuff' doesn't make you a great photographer. This is something I constantly see people struggling with. They believe that because they have an $8,000 camera, $12,000 in lights and backgrounds, $4,000 in accessories, etc that they should automatically be great.

Photography is an art just like anything else. Owning an easel and paintbrush doesn't make me a photographer. Even if I am using the world's finest brushes made of the most exotic horse hairs (or whatever it's made of). I still have to take the time to learn about color theories, the history of painting, spacial configurations, etc. Same with photography. Indoor photography shouldn't pose too much of an issue as long as you know what you are going to photograph and the theories of light behind it.

Granted, studio lighting will allow you to provide a more dynamic photo session, but you need to know the basics first. For all you know, correcting your problem is as simple as using a faster ISO or opening your aperature some to let more light in.

IF you are at the point where you know and understand all that and your photos still aren't turning out the way you want, always concider used equipment. If you don't want used and prefer brand new, Alien Bees does provide some very nice, inexpencive lighting.

Answer 3

Well, we live in the real world and so while when you are young you can be as spontaneous as you like, when you get older you do have to be practical. But, you should never let anyone convince you that you can't. Can't whatever, it doesn't matter. If you want to, if you have a passion, you can-even if not as a career. Photography is a tough career with a lot of competition. I would skip the photography degree and get a business degree or a photojournalism degree if you are any good at that. You can still take the photography courses as you like, or even minor in it. It just broadens your options. I began in photography working towards an art degree but recently switched to liberal arts so I only have one semester left. I still have the same end goal but if I had it to do all over again, I would probably have gone for a photojournalism degree and taken all the photography related courses that I could get. Alas, I don't want to start over now. @Cameron-no, life isn't about earning money. But love and happiness don't pay the bills.

Answer 4

Here are some tips for indoor pictures:

1. Use "fast" lenses, which mean lenses with a wide aperture. Prime (non-zoom) lenses are usually best for this. A good starter lens for this is the EF 50mm f/1.8. This runs under $100 and is a stellar value. You won't even need flash under many circumstances.

2. Any light can be used to increase the light in a room, but beware mixed color temperatures. Tungsten bulbs tend to have an orange cast, and florescent tends to be greenish. Mid-day daylight and flash are "white." If you are using a flash, order sheets of plastic called "gels" in CTO (color temperature orange) and "window green." If you are under tungsten lights, set your WB manually to tungsten and cover your flash with the CTO gel to match the light. If you don't do this, the areas lit by flash will be much bluer than the surroundings (in the tungsten case).

3. High quality flash attachments have swivel-heads so that you can bounce light off of a ceiling or wall. This will give you a softer, more natural light than direct flash. If your flash does not do this, there are inexpensive diffusers that can help, but these don't work as well as a nice bounce.

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

Buy the flash unit offered by Canon for your camera. Buy the off-camera flash bracket Canon offers and the necessary cables to attach it to your camera. If you buy something cheap you'll have something cheap that doesn't do what you need or want it to do.

Now sit in a comfortable chair and READ & STUDY the Owner's Manuals for the camera and flash. These units are designed to work together to produce excellent results BUT - you have to know how to use them. Just buying a flash and sticking it on your camera is a guarantee of failure.

Over the years I've taken literally thousands of excellent flash photos using a Minolta SRT-202 and a Vivitar 283 flash mounted on the bracket Vivitar sold for the flash with an off-camera sensor. Now I use a Minolta 360PX flash with my X-700. In both scenarios I read and studied the Owner's Manuals before using them.

Answer 6

I am a commercial photographer and I have to say that, even though I use lots of lights, assistants and computers, some of the best images I have ever taken were without artificial light or with so little flash as to be almost discernible.

So, it is not the flash. Perhaps you should consider a photography class, or if you have the resources, hire a photographer for private lessons.

P.S. This is NOT a solicitation; just my two cents.

Ed Carreon
www.carreonphotography.com

Answer 7

Do you have florescent lighting inside,this can cause pictures to come out with green tint to them.Have you checked your camera setting,I have had the same problem in the past only to realize that I had the wrong setting for the lighting.As far as an inexpensive light you could try (for lack of a better description)a mechanics light you know the ones that just clip on to the vehicle you will probably have to move it around being that they are very bright so you don't wash out your subject.

Answer 8

You can buy inexpensive or used lighting from camera shops or online sites (ebay, craigslist.org, etc). You want to be sure you have your camera on the correct settings for indoor pictures. If you can, a course at the local community college or camera shop would be a good investment. My first lights were those metal lamps you get from Lowes with daylight bulbs. They are very cheap and you can play w/ them and move them around to get an idea of how lighting works w/ your camera and subject.

Answer 9

It depends on the style of photo you want to take. Just using random lights from a hardware store can look best for some types of photos. If you want soft lighting, you can shine any type of light of a white wall, white cardboard, etc.

Hardware store lights can actually be very useful, since like photography lights they're made for mounting to light specific areas. They come with clips, stands, etc. Definitely a good, inexpensive way to experiment with lighting.

Answer 10

You're not being descriptive enough with your question. Your camera has a built in speedlight, which is more than adequate for most indoor shots. What mode are you shooting in? The best advice I could offer, given the limited amount of information provided is to read your camera's owners manual. And I'm not being sarcastic, I carry mine around with me in my camera bag everytime I go out shooting. A few things for you to read up on, flash compensation and flash modes. Believe me, you'll learn something.

Just for giggles, try putting your camera in programmed auto mode, (P) on your mode dial, set your shutter speed for 1/125 with an aperture of f/5.6. At 1/2 power (which is the default setting of the flash), you should have a good working range of around 8 feet. Go up on the power one stop to 3/4 and you double that range at the same aperture, up one more stop to full power and double that range. So, at full power you should be able to adequately light a room for 30 feet. While using a flash, the shutter speed will determine how much ambient light you will get in your shot. At your maximum sync speed (should be around 1/200 or 1/250 given the model of your camera, check the owners manual), you will only see what has been illuminated by the flash. In programmed auto mode, you can adjust your shutter speed up or down within the sync range, usually between 1/60 and 1/250, the slower you make your shutter speed, the more ambient light you will allow to expose in your shot. When you get close to your slow sync speed, 1/30 to 1/60, you will get some ambient light to be exposed along with your subject being lit by the flash that will have no effect on what the flash is illuminating. This usually creates more visually appealing indoor flash photographs, a balance between ambient and artificial light. But beware, any slower than 1/30 (with your camera's slow sync enabled), you will still run the risk of getting a blurred backgound, so be careful to support the shot steadily.

Stepping outside the realm of comfort in auto modes to semi auto and manual shooting modes can be intimidating, so read your owners manual. That is why your camera came with one. You get much better results when you are able to control a few settings on your own.

I hope this helps, and good luck.