Camera SOAK

[jrodrick4]

hi everyone,

After years of getting great prices from an upstart, young photographer, she raised her rates on us which pissed me off.

This last photo shoot of the girls was about $300, whereas it was under $100 each time before. And since we want really great quality photos of the girls every 6 months or so, it seems time for me to spend the money on a camera and do it myself.

Lots of people here take great photos. While the artistic part might take a while (or never come), I know I can certainly upgrade the quality of photos I get with my little SD450.

What I dislike about my camera:

1. When I push the button it takes a second or two to finally take the photo, and I miss the moment. I'd also like to take several photos in a row very quickly, which obviously my camera can't do.

2. Many of my photos seem blurry.

3. Like the photo below (by our pro), I want to have shots where something is in perfect focus but the other stuff is way out of focus. I'm sure it's a simple setting or technique, but I don't know it (or can't do it with my current camera).

[Skyman]

Welcome to the forums, I can't see the photo you attached which makes it hard to comment, but I suspect that most digital SLR cameras will be able to do what you want, although buying the best camera doesn't mean that your photos will be brilliant. Learning some of technical and artistic theories behind the craft of photography really will help. I can't comment on why your photographer has increased their prices but I suggest that if you keep coming back then their work must be good, and many many photographers under charge especially whilst establishing their business or learning the craft.

To specifically talk about your questions:

1 What you describe is called shutter lag, with cheaper cameras and older cameras, when the shutter button is pressed, the camera starts the process of measuring light to calculate exposure and focusing on a subject. The camera won't take a photo until both these tasks are complete and this delay is called shutter lag. for SLR cameras and most good compact cameras now shutter lag is virtually undetectible. Many of these cameras also feature a burst mode or the ability to take multiple shots. This is normally selected by the user and depending on the camera model can be several photos a second, although the faster cameras are mostly used for shooting action sequences such as sport.

2 Your photos could be blurry for a number of reasons and without seeing samples this is hard to pin down, however my feeling is that the lens of your camera has a small aperture (so it lets in a small amount of light) to compensate for this your camera is keeping the shutter open longer which results in your small hand movements being recorded in the photo as a blur (if you look closely at the photo you may be able to see the blur "moving" in a given direction if this is the case. The solution to this would be to set the camera to a more sensitive level (using a higher iso setting) or to use a tripod to keep the camera still, or to use a camera with a wider aperture (that will let more light in) as this will enable the camera to use a faster shutter speed which in turn eliminates any shake from the user showing up in the photo.

3 believe it or not this is related to point 2. On most cameras the size of the hole in the lens can be altered from a small hole to a larger hole. This is one of the technical foundations of photography and the concepts behind it can take a while to learn. I won't go into details here as there really are so many variables to how this works that you could fill a book.

Incidentally it is worth noting that more megapixels does not correspond to a better photo, and that if you are looking at SLR cameras, having a higher quality lens will really improve your photos, so it is often recomended to buy a cheaper camera body and invest the money in a higher quality lens to go with it.

I hope that helps and good luck with the photos. The photo critique forum here is great for getting feedback and tips whilst learning about photography, so post some pictures and when you get a camera write us a review, this helps other users like you wade through the sale jargon and buy the right camera for them.