Getting started

I've run into a few people lately that have wanted to get into photography professionally. I think that's great. I love to see new views and new ways to do things, and I love new ideas! Fresh blood is great, in my opinion. I don't think you need to go to college to become a great photographer. Most all of the greatest photographers in history were self taught, or had very little formal education in the field of photography. It is a trade, an art, where the technical parts can be learned, but only the greatest artists have it in them to make the greatest images. You can give someone a pencil and teach them to draw a horse, but it doesn't mean that person's horse is going to look realistic or even relatively like a horse!

I do want to share some thoughts I have on the matter of people getting started into photography. I think, that a lot of people are misguided by mainstream media and advertising to think that mega pixels are the end-all, be-all of cameras. The more pixels the better. This is not so. Unless you are planning to shoot the next billboard going up on I-80, you don't need a whole lot of pixels. A fair amount is good. I'd say 8 is a fair number.

We have a family picture above our fireplace that is a 24x36. It's huge. I can read my husband's atomic watch on it and tell you the exact second that picture was taken. It was taken on a 30D, which has 8 mega pixels. I doubt many people need a picture that is much bigger than that.
I think that some people think that more pixels will make their pictures better. This is not so.

If you'd like to get started, first you need to invest in a good SLR body. Sorry guys, no point and shoot will be able to cut it for very long. Nor, as you improve, will you be happy being stuck with that one lens that is stuck to your camera. You need a good SLR that you can change lenses on, that allows you to shoot full manual (that means you can choose your shutter speed, aperture, ISO and focus).

I'd recommend, if you'd like to keep your costs down to start, finding a good reputable dealer in your area or try Adorama or B&H for used equipment that they rate on a scale of wear. Both are very reputable companies. Beware of the businesses giving a "great deal!". When I first started out I got scammed into buying a camera I thought I was getting a great price on, but then the next day they called me and they told me that the camera wasn't "formatted", whatever that meant and that I'd have to pay major bucks to "standardize it". I still have no idea what that all meant, but I quickly cancelled my order and cancelled my credit card so they couldn't charge me a "restocking fee".

Don't ignore the fact that there are also many great local businesses that have great reputations and can be very helpful in helping you find the best first SLR for you and your needs.

Look for a body that is in good shape. I'm more familiar with Canons, so if you are looking for a used SLR I'd recommend a Canon 20D, 30D or 40D body to start, if you can get it with a kit lens even better. You can talk to a Nikon enthusiast to find out what's comparable for Nikons.

You can get a couple of excellent lenses to start with for little money. Lenses DO MATTER. You can have an excellent camera, and a crappy lens will ruin the picture. One I would recommend to start would be a 50mm 1.8. Don't let it's small price ($80-90) or plastic body fool you, this lens is a sweetheart! It's what's called a "prime lens". It won't zoom, you'll have to do that with your feet, but you can get some amazing depth of field (where some thing's in focus and everything behind/in front of it is blurred), and also can shoot in lower lighted settings.

Learn your camera. Get out and shoot a LOT! And READ a lot! Canon has a great website to help you learn to use your new camera, link here. Check out Erin Manning's tutorials with the Rebel Xsi (it can apply to any Canon SLR) in the Canon Digital Learning Center.

Many people make the mistake of thinking they need the latest and the greatest in the world of cameras, but really with a good body and a good lens you can do a lot of great stuff! Learn to work with and master what you have before investing in the next "big idea". This is really important. If you don't do this, you will find that you aren't getting the results that you want and throwing money after stuff that you think will help you. You will never really get what you want.

Editing programs are also nice if you plan to make your pictures better. You don't need to start with a $1500 program. Finding a program that will let you do simple editing is all you really need when starting out. Some things to look for are "does it let me lighten, increase contrast, clone or crop?" The trick is to get it mostly right in the camera, so that you don't have to edit much, if at all. That takes lots of practice, studying and knowing your camera and subject.

© 2009 Jennifer Klingensmith

Merry Christmas!

I wish to send a Merry Christmas wish to all of my clients from 2008 and thank you all for being such wonderful people. Thank you for a great year in portraits!

I'm hoping to be much more active in 2009 in having contests and give aways and also add to my available products line.

Be watching in January for the 2008 Baby Contest where I will award one baby that I photographed in 2008 with a FREE First Birthday Session and complimentary 10x20 storyboard.

| Goodbye to a sweet friend |

Yesterday I learned the tragic news that a sweet friend and colleague had passed away in a horrible and violent accident. However she also died a hero, risking her life to save another's.

Julie Steiskal and I met for the first time when I got up enough courage to go to a get together a message board was having. I was new to the board. She didn't know me, but by the end of the day we were friends. We were there for two days doing discussions and shooting models. In the afternoon of the second day we split up and did an Avatar Shootout. I was so thrilled when Julie chose me to be her partner! She was fun and fresh and full of life and ideas and laughter. She was a nut. I immediately just adored her. We laughed so much that afternoon. Being silly and goofing off was never so fun.

There are tributes to her all over the Internet that I've read, and one thing is very clear, that no matter how small of a time a person spent with Julie their lives have been blessed/touched/ or changed. We will all feel a hole in our hearts and lives where she belongs. She was loved by many and a blessing to all.She was simple and wholesome and real. She was generous with her time, talent, love.Just the other week she sent me an email asking me where I'd been. Summer has come and I've become so busy, and she missed me. Wow, I was not expecting that. She was so sweet to write and check up on me. That still amazes me.

These are the words she wrote about herself on her blog, and I know with a surety that there were no pretenses put on in these words, they are genuine, they are Julie-

"we need a renaissance of wonder. we need to renew, in our hearts & in our souls, the deathless dream, the eternal poetry, the perennial sense that life is miracle & magic." e. merrill root

when i was six, i walked into the empty kitchen, looked behind me, stretched my arm as far as i could and borrowed my mother's camera for the first time. and when i was done with it, i quietly slipped it back on the counter and went back to my book with a smile on my face. today, as then, i find beauty in the eyes of those i love, in the details of God's creation, in laughter, in light, in wonder.

i like my garden. i like my front porch and my little old house. i like knowing my neighbors and i like crossing my street to get the mail. i like a good book, a movie that makes me laugh, a song that makes me sing. i like food. i like thai restaurants, good pasta and the tacos that come out of my kitchen. i like the smell of the grill on a warm summer night and i like my mother's cheesecake. i like the water. i like the smell of rain, the sound of a creek, the infinite possibility of a lake and the dampness of dew. i like falling asleep and waking up to thunderstorms. i like the sound of my nephew's giggle and the feel of his brother's hand in mine. i like that my family includes some of my best friends.

my life is both simple and complicated. it is a peaceful spring morning, it is a commute surrounded by people i don't know. it is finding the quiet in the chaos, it is knowing how to be alone in a crowd.

i think you, your child, your dreams are beautiful. i know that time is quickly passing. i want to help you capture the moments of your life that you never want to forget.

this is what i bring. this is who i am.

A woman with many talents and not only a phenomenal photographer but an enchanting writer as well.

Here are a few pictures I've taken of this dear friend. I will miss her terribly. Get togethers with other photographers will never be the same, there will always be an empty space where our friend could have been.

Julie pining over her imaginary boyfriend "Bill" on the other side of the door.

Laughing about it because she was so silly.

Then her serious look with the steel blue eyes.
Beautiful woman.
But a little slow.I love the picture she took of me under the sign, "good times, good times" as she wrote about our shoot out together.
These next two have horrible color, but I wanted to include them. This is from our last get together in April. I was so honored when she called me to ask me to be on the OSP committee for the GTG. The first was taken when I was mindlessly aiming my camera at her trying to adjust my exposure, I then noticed her making this face and quickly snapped off a shot before she stopped. Nut.

It was during that planning phase that we met and I had my first real taste of Mongolian food. I thought I had before, but not really. I couldn't bare to tell her the truth that I thought it was gross. I admired her steel stomach.
And here she is working it with the camera.


I will miss this beautiful smile.

And quirky sense of humor.

Goodbye my friend. God be with you 'till we meet again.

| Cuties |

These are my neighbors little boys. They are so cute. Duky and Supha. I know their names because one day they wrote them all over my driveway in sidewalk chalk. They love to play H-O-R-S-E with me and my oldest son. We have to often call them to come back and finish playing because we will get 8 of us playing and they lost interest in between their turns, but they won't give up! They like to try my tricky shots that I do.... left handed, eyes closed, over the head..... or bounced off of the ground into the hoop.... or backwards over the head shots. I like to make it interesting.




They have some awesome bikes.