I've heard good things about GIMP. I do use photoshop, but it's not my primary processing tool--Lightroom is. (And Lightroom is a LOT cheaper.) It's also an Adobe product, designed specifically for photography.
One of my favorite things to do is spontaneous portraiture--portraits that *don't* involve someone sitting for me. And I've done a couple things in the past several months where one friend of mine would be body painted by another friend, and then I'd come photograph the person who was body painted. I do similar things with a friend who does cosplay as well... and since I don't really have a studio, we go find a place that's an interesting background, and if the weather is nasty we choose one with a roof.
Something that helped me a lot when I was feeling stuck was that I got into some photography circles on Google+. There are a TON of photographers there, and most of them are very willing to share techniques and ideas. It's a lot of fun to see a cool photo, find out how the photographer did it, and then work on figuring out how I could make it happen.
Another thing it's important to remember is that you don't need expensive equipment to take good photos; you can do a LOT in post-processing, and you can also do things like bounce light off someone's white shirt if a specific shot doesn't have quite enough light. And some of my lights are just halogen work lights from Home Depot that cost about $8 each, for instance, and I put together a modular backdrop frame out of PVC pipe for about $25 that can be big enough for a couple tall guys or small enough for a basket of kittens. DIY photography is a whole genre and there are TONS of ideas out there.
Oh, and there are people doing a lot with what they call iPhonetography, and there's at least one e-book out there on how to do it well.
And my very favorite thing? You can find good manual lenses for CHEAP on eBay. If you're willing to forego autofocus, you can get some seriously good glass for not very much money, and good lenses can make a huge difference. If you want to do portraiture, I suggest a 50mm 1.8 (or 1.4 if you can find one). And the nice thing is that a 50mm 1.8 will work for landscapes too; my very first book cover is a shot taken out at the ocean with a 50mm 1.8 lens, 'cause that was the only one I had brought.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2014-01-04 07:33 pm (UTC)One of my favorite things to do is spontaneous portraiture--portraits that *don't* involve someone sitting for me. And I've done a couple things in the past several months where one friend of mine would be body painted by another friend, and then I'd come photograph the person who was body painted. I do similar things with a friend who does cosplay as well... and since I don't really have a studio, we go find a place that's an interesting background, and if the weather is nasty we choose one with a roof.
Something that helped me a lot when I was feeling stuck was that I got into some photography circles on Google+. There are a TON of photographers there, and most of them are very willing to share techniques and ideas. It's a lot of fun to see a cool photo, find out how the photographer did it, and then work on figuring out how I could make it happen.
Another thing it's important to remember is that you don't need expensive equipment to take good photos; you can do a LOT in post-processing, and you can also do things like bounce light off someone's white shirt if a specific shot doesn't have quite enough light. And some of my lights are just halogen work lights from Home Depot that cost about $8 each, for instance, and I put together a modular backdrop frame out of PVC pipe for about $25 that can be big enough for a couple tall guys or small enough for a basket of kittens. DIY photography is a whole genre and there are TONS of ideas out there.
Oh, and there are people doing a lot with what they call iPhonetography, and there's at least one e-book out there on how to do it well.
And my very favorite thing? You can find good manual lenses for CHEAP on eBay. If you're willing to forego autofocus, you can get some seriously good glass for not very much money, and good lenses can make a huge difference. If you want to do portraiture, I suggest a 50mm 1.8 (or 1.4 if you can find one). And the nice thing is that a 50mm 1.8 will work for landscapes too; my very first book cover is a shot taken out at the ocean with a 50mm 1.8 lens, 'cause that was the only one I had brought.
Have fun!!!