April 1, 2025 • 32 mins
#550 In Today’s Episode of the podcast I chat with YOU as I discuss important topics about photography that are essential for both beginners and experienced photographers. This episode's key themes revolve around the pricing of prints, motivation in photography, understanding lenses, managing photography business logistics, and addressing technical shooting challenges.
KEY TOPICS COVERED
- Pricing Prints - Raymond addresses pricing framed prints by explaining that the photographer's value comes from capturing moments and connections, not merely selling paper and ink. He stresses that pricing should reflect the photographer's time and expertise, with a guideline from the Professional Photographers of America suggesting a minimum charge of $50 for profitability.
- Motivation in Photography - Raymond discusses how lack of motivation often stems from not having a specific idea rather than a lack of interest. He advises photographers to set constraints and avoid self-editing during shoots to reignite creativity. He shares methods for photographers to overcome creative blocks by exploring new subjects or projects.
- Understanding Lenses - The episode provides a detailed explanation of different focal lengths, clarifying the role of lens compression, depth of field, and the effects of lens choice on photographic outcomes. Raymond suggests using specific lenses depending on the shooting scenario, like wide lenses for landscapes and telephoto for portraits.
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS & CONCEPTS
- Compression: Refers to the perceived distance between the subject and the background, which varies with lens focal length.
- Circular Polarizer Filter: A tool used to reduce reflections and glare, enhancing image quality by altering the light entering the camera.
DISCUSSION & REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- How can photographers better assess their work's value beyond material costs?
- What are some creative strategies to overcome a lack of motivation in photography?
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Connect with Raymond!
- Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
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Thanks for listening & keep shooting!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
raymond-hatfield_8_03- (00:00):
Somebody who's writing a book cannot both
write the first draft and editit at the same time.
The creation and the editingprocess are two entirely
different things.
What you cannot do is edit whileyou're shooting you.
You simply cannot make thatdecision because sometimes it's
simply the act of shootingdifferent things that will allow
(00:21):
you to see the world differentlyand then shoot new things that
you actually do like.
So you can't edit while you'reshooting, because there's a
really good chance that you'regonna miss out on all of those
bad photos that get you to areally good photo.
Hey, Raymond here from theBeginner Photography Podcast,
(00:42):
and today we have another photoq and a episode ready for you.
Photo q and a episode is whereyou submit your questions about
photography, about anything thatyou're struggling with, and I'm
gonna give you some answers tohelp you out.
If you have any questions thatyou want answered in an upcoming
photo q and a episode, then besure to join the Beginner
(01:03):
Photography podcast community.
What you can do by heading overto beginner photo pod.com/group.
It is a free and amazingcommunity full of photographers
just like yourself, who arelooking to learn and grow their
skills as photographers.
All right, so the first questiontoday comes from Timothy in the
group.
Timothy asks, how do you goabout pricing of framed eight
(01:25):
and a half by 11 prints?
My Canon Pro 100 quit feeding 13by 19 paper, but it will feed
eight and a half by 11 paperjust fine.
Okay, so, that means that youcan print up to eight and a half
by 11.
So how do you price it?
This is hard sometimes becauseit's like if you were to print
an eight and a half by 11 or aneight by 10 at CVS, it might
(01:47):
cost you two or$3, and you thinkto yourself, okay, so that's how
much an eight by 10 costs.
So if I were to sell it to, oneof my clients, let's just say
that I mark up the price doubleor even triple the price, that's
still less than 10 bucks.
But one of the things that Ithink is so important to
remember when it comes topricing prints, not even just
(02:09):
frame prints, but just printsthemselves, even if they're just
on photo paper, is that whatyou're selling is not paper and
ink.
That's what CVS, that's whatCostco, that's what Walmart,
that's what, all these other,print labs are selling paper and
ink, but that's not what you'reselling.
What you're selling is, is love.
(02:30):
What you're selling isconnection.
What you're selling is a momentin time.
What you're selling to somebodyis a part of their own life.
They reached out to you for areason to take these photos,
right?
If they were just simply lookingfor something to fill a spot on
the wall, they could do thatextremely easily and extremely
(02:50):
cheaply, by going to any storeand buying some cheap poster and
then framing it and putting iton the wall.
But that's not what they wanted.
They wanted somebody to createsomething for them that is gonna
show off that love, it's gonnashow off that connection.
It's gonna show off that bondthat they have with either their
family, their spouse, or eventheir pet.
So how do you price an eight by10?
(03:12):
Well, a few years ago, the PPA,the Professional Photographers
of America did a study and theyfound that if you want to run a
profitable photography business.
You cannot sell your eight bytens for less than$50.
That's the minimum that you cancharge.
And you're thinking, how is thatpossible?
How is charging a minimum of$50for a$3 print, essentially?
(03:38):
how is that the only way that Icould be profitable?
That's a great question.
That's fully understandable.
And the reason is, becauseyou're in business, that$3, that
it costs, whoever the print labis probably only costs them a
few pennies because they buy inbulk.
They buy a lot.
They're marking up the cost tothen send to you.
(03:59):
The biggest cost for you is yourtime as a photographer and a,
solopreneur, somebody who'sdoing everything themselves.
Your biggest asset is time.
The more time you spend onsomething.
Say, going to a website,uploading a photo, or even
before then, even just exportingit in the right size to make
sure that it's not, gonna beextra pixelated or whatever when
(04:20):
it's printed.
And then, uploading it, choosingthe right size, entering in all
the.
the shipping information andwhatever, getting it yourself,
making sure that it looks good,and then, if you're gonna frame
it yourself or whatever, all ofthose things take time.
It's not just the press of ashutter button, the button on
your camera and then you'redone.
(04:40):
It takes way more time thanthat.
I did a softball shoot, for, asoftball team here, local.
Right.
and I did the math, and again,I'm not in business for this,
but I did the math and I waslike, if I charge say$25 per
kid, that'll be enough to, tocover my time and that'll be
worth it.
And the total came out to about$400 and my wife was just like
(05:04):
$400 for an hour's worth ofwork.
That is insane.
Like, I wish that I could makethat, as somebody with a
master's degree.
And I had said, like, Iunderstand what you're saying,
but it's more than an hour'sworth of work.
It's the hours worth ofcommunication leading up to it.
It's the planning.
It's, what are your team colors?
It's all the Photoshop work,because for team photos, it's
(05:27):
not just, you take the photo andyou deliver it.
You gotta change out thebackground.
you gotta make a banner imagefor the entire team.
You gotta get their logos andstuff.
It's coordinating all that.
It's making sure that thebanner's the right size so that
it can be sent off to a printerso that they can print it.
And then it looks good.
It's delivering all thesethings.
It's uploading the photos to, mycloud spot gallery and sending
(05:48):
it off, making sure that mycloud spot store was set up
correctly for them so that ifthey wanted to purchase any
prints, it's all of thesethings.
Now, was it, 50 hours worth ofwork?
No, it wasn't, but at the sametime, I don't, as a
photographer, you're typicallynot working 50 hours a week
shooting, right?
So you have to take that intoaccount as well.
(06:09):
Like how many shoots can you doand then how much do you need to
earn to survive?
And that was the number that Icame up with.
So does it seem like a lot tosell one, eight by 10 print for
$50?
Sure.
It may seem like it, but what ifyou're only selling, four in a
week?
That's only$200 that's cominginto you, is that worth all of
(06:30):
the work that it's gonna take toget that done?
Anyway, these are just things toconsider when it comes to
pricing your work, and also as aphotographer, you kind of gotta
make these things up on yourown.
You're in charge of yourbusiness.
Nobody else is telling you howto run it.
You get to be in charge.
There was a wedding photographeryears ago.
I completely forget who it was,which is a shame, but they said
(06:52):
that their goal in life was tobe able to just go to a wedding
and photograph whatever theywanted, whether it just be
shoes, people's outfits, youknow, whatever, anything that
they wanted with no expectationsof receiving anything else.
And that's because, again, youare running your own business.
You can do whatever you want asa business owner.
(07:13):
You can make those decisions andyou have to make decisions that
are going to keep you inbusiness long enough to keep
doing it.
So there you go.
I hope that that helps answeryour question, Timothy.
Again, when it comes to framing,adding the frame, that is an
additional cost, that is anadditional time as well as you
have to put it all together andyou're probably gonna deliver it
(07:33):
too.
So take those things intoaccount, when coming up with
pricing.
Again, Tim, I hope that thathelps.
Okay.
Next question here comes fromJohn.
John asks, how do you motivateyourself when you just don't
feel in the mood forphotography?
Man, John, I love this questionbecause one, it's honest, right?
(07:55):
There is so many times we buythis camera, we're so excited
for it.
We imagine that it's gonnachange our life, it's gonna take
us to all these amazing places,which it can.
But sometimes then life gets inthe way and the camera goes on
the shelf for longer than youexpected it to, and then, you
kinda lose that motivation.
So how do you get back in themotivation of shooting and
(08:16):
getting excited creatively?
And like I said, I've been thereand I have found that for me,
lack of motivation is not a truelack of motivation.
What it is, is a lack of somesort of specific idea.
So what I mean by that is thatwhen you have a camera in your
hand, if I were to hand you acamera and I would say, go
(08:37):
ahead, go shoot somethingamazing, your brain would just
kind of overheat, it would belike, what?
Something amazing.
Oh, okay, let me look around.
Where am I?
What is amazing?
What would be worthy of beingconsidered amazing?
And there's so many differentideas.
There's so many differentpossibilities of things that you
could shoot, ways that you couldshoot it.
(08:58):
That again, your brain wouldjust short circuit.
And even though you haveseemingly infinite number of
things to shoot.
It feels like you have nothingto shoot because you're waiting
for something to come along.
That is amazing.
But if I were to hand you acamera and I were to say, go
photograph blue birds, yousuddenly know exactly what you
(09:23):
need to go do.
You know that you need to gofind some trees, you need to go
find somewhere in nature.
You need to be looking uptowards blue birds.
You need to be listening and youhave a clear idea of what to
shoot.
Now does that mean that bluebirds are, something amazing to
shoot?
Not necessarily, but I've foundthat again, when I'm in some
(09:44):
sort of creative rut or I needsome sort of motivation, what I
do is I give myself veryconstrained limitations because
once I'm there and I startshooting these, within these
constraints, say birds, suddenlyI realize, oh, there's a
squirrel right there.
Actually, I'm gonna photographthat squirrel too.
(10:04):
Oh, as I'm looking up, Look atthe way that the light is coming
in through these, these brancheshere, and then I'll try to
photograph that.
Maybe it's a little too tight.
You don't get an idea of scale,so then you kind of back up.
You get something wider.
You try a different focallength, you try a different
angle.
And then before you know it,it's like one idea sparks
another, and then that sparksanother, and then you just kind
(10:25):
of keep going.
which is kind of like, freeassociation within photography.
And if you stick to that idea,if you keep going with that,
you're going to find images.
that you love.
You're gonna find, compositions,you're gonna find subjects,
you're gonna find things that,you really enjoy shooting.
And that motivation is slowlygoing to come back.
(10:46):
But here's a tip, because one ofthe things, again, like if I
were to say, go shoot somethingamazing, everything that you
look at, you would immediatelydecide, is this amazing?
Yes or no?
And nine times outta 10.
The answer is gonna be no.
Right?
Because it takes work to createsomething amazing.
But when you go out with aspecific task of trying to get
(11:08):
that motivation back, and byessentially just doing free
association shooting, shootingone thing which leads to
another, which leads to another,which leads to another, what you
cannot do is self-edit thephotos while you're shooting.
Meaning you can't look at a birdand say, that's not a good
looking bird, or I don't likethat light, or this isn't an
(11:31):
interesting tree.
Somebody who's writing a bookcannot both write the first
draft and edit it at the sametime.
The creation and the editingprocess are two entirely
different things.
So what you need to do is go outand shoot everything that
catches your eye, anything thatsparks an idea, anything that
(11:51):
grabs your attention, anythingand everything, shoot it.
And then it's not until you gethome that you are then allowed
to put those photos on yourcomputer or your iPad, whatever,
and then judge those images.
You can judge them to yourheart's content for sure.
Once they're on a larger screenand you're not actively
shooting, that's fine.
(12:12):
You can decide then that youhate all of them, whatever.
But what you cannot do is editwhile you're shooting you.
You simply cannot make thatdecision because sometimes it's
simply the act of shootingdifferent things that will allow
you to see the world differentlyand then shoot new things that
you actually do like.
(12:32):
Sometimes it takes a lot of badphotos to get to a good photo,
so you have to allow yourself totake those bad photos to get to
the good photo so you can't editwhile you're shooting, because
there's a really good chancethat you're gonna miss out on
all of those bad photos that getyou to a really good photo.
So don't look at the screen.
(12:52):
Just go out, shoot, enjoyyourself, spend time in nature,
whatever it is, and really bepresent.
Slow down.
This is photography.
It is not brain surgery.
It is photography.
Have fun with it.
All right, John.
Hope that helped.
All right.
Next question here comes fromDelaney Delaney acid.
(13:14):
Are there any good charts orgraphs that help explain lenses?
The millimeters confuse me somuch.
Ooh.
I specifically remember a numberof years ago, I specifically
remember, when I was gettinginto photography and, the first
digital camera that I had was aCanon xt.
(13:34):
It was like eight megapixels andit came with the kit lens, the
18 to 55.
And I remember reading onlineeverybody saying, you gotta buy
the 50 millimeter, 1.8, thenifty 50.
This would've been 2006 or so,maybe 2007.
And my first reaction was, oh, Idon't need that lens.
My current lens goes from 18 to55, 50 millimeters is in there.
(13:55):
I don't need to spend the extramoney on a 50 millimeter lens.
And what I learned, obviously,as time went on and I did end up
buying the, the 50 millimeter1.8, the nifty 50, what I ended
up finding was that when itcomes to lenses, the focal
length or the millimeters is notthe end all be all.
(14:16):
There's so much more that goesinto your lens choice that goes
into, creating a great photothat goes into, the image than
just the millimeter.
So let's talk about that for abit.
There are several types of focallengths.
We'll kind of stick to the, themain ones.
There's ultra wides, there'swide, there's standard, standard
(14:38):
telephoto, and then telephoto,six types of lenses.
But you can pretty much get allof them with just just a few
lenses.
So an ultra wide would besomething between 15 millimeters
and 24 millimeters.
A wide lens would be somethingbetween 24 millimeters and 35
(14:58):
millimeters.
A standard lens is somethingbetween 35 and 50 millimeters.
A standard telephoto lens issomething between 50 and 85
millimeters, and then atelephoto lens is a hundred
millimeters or more.
A standard lens is called astandard lens, which is again,
about 50 millimeters.
(15:19):
It's called that because the waythat the image is, rendered
closely represents what and howthe human eye sees as far as
compression goes.
And what I mean by compressionis that the longer the
millimeter.
The more compression there is.
So anything over 50 millimeters,your subject is going to look
(15:41):
closer to the background thanwhat they actually are.
Anything wider than 50millimeters, your subject is
gonna look further away from thebackground than what it actually
is.
I try to picture for a moment.
There's a very famous scene inthe movie Jaws, and this has
become known as the push pullshot.
It's called the push pull shot.
(16:02):
it's when I don't even rememberhis name.
It's been so long since I'veseen the movie.
The dad in the movie, the maincharacter of the movie is on the
beach and he realizes thatthere's a shark in the water.
The camera moves in very closeto him, but as the camera is
physically moving closer to him.
The lens, they're zooming out.
So his face stays about the samesize in the frame, but it looks
(16:25):
like the background is gettingfurther and further and further
away.
It creates this reallyinteresting distortion effect if
you watch severance, on Appletv, it's the same sort of effect
that they do when people getsevered, when they go through
the elevator, it starts reallywide and then the camera pulls
back as it's zooming in.
So it looks like the backgroundis coming up real close, to the
(16:48):
subject.
Okay, so that doesn't haveanything to do with millimeters.
Like why are we talking aboutthis?
It is important because,specifically in portrait
photography, that's what, themajority, I would say of the
people in the group here areshooting.
if you want a headshot or aportrait where the background is
out of focus, what you're gonnado is you're gonna use a longer
(17:09):
lens, a more of a standardtelephoto lens.
Something in the 85 or eventelephoto range, a hundred
millimeters.
That way you can more easilyblur out the background because
you see less of the background.
It looks like it's real close toyour subject because of the
compression, but really it's,it's still far away.
(17:30):
So you can make sure that thebackground is out of focus.
If you try to take the sameportrait at, say, 24 millimeters
rather than 85 millimeters, yoursubject's face is gonna look
distorted.
It's gonna look longer, and thebackground will just be more in
focus.
And that can be reallydistracting for portraits where
there, you know, where yoursubject's face is, is the main
(17:52):
subject of the photo.
So I hope that kind of helps toexplain why you would use some
lenses, with differentmillimeters more so than just
being able to zoom in onsomething or get wide enough to,
to capture it all.
cause I think that that's,that's the more understandable
part.
If you want a wide shot with alot of stuff in it, yeah.
(18:14):
Grab a 24 millimeter lens.
If you want more of adocumentary reporter look, get a
35 millimeter lens.
If you just want a standard viewthat looks very similar to what
the human eye sees, get a 50millimeter lens.
If you want a great portraitlens, get an 85 millimeter lens
and if you want a telephotolens,'cause you're shooting
stuff further away, get a 100millimeter lens.
(18:36):
That's the easy part.
It's talking about thecompression.
And the depth of field, right?
How much is in focus?
Those are the two things thatchange.
So the longer the lens, morecompression, more depth of
field, the wider the lens, lesscompression.
So more weird distortion.
And the background is more infocus.
So again, Delaney.
(18:56):
I hope that that helps.
Oh, and I guess, I guess I, Imentioned earlier that you can
kind of get all of those focallengths with like three lenses.
Pretty much every camanmanufacturer has what's called
the golden trifecta.
They have some sort of wide,ultra wide lens.
They have some sort of doeverything lens, and then they
have a telephoto lens as well.
So with Canon, they have a 15 to35, 2 0.8 lens that covers
(19:18):
everything from ultra wide towide.
Then they have a 24 to 70 thatcovers all of the standard
range.
It goes from wide to standardtelephoto, and then there's a 70
to 200 that captures all of thetelephoto range right there.
So within those three lenses,you can get just about all of
the focal lengths that you wouldneed.
So again, hope that helps.
(19:40):
Alright, next question herecomes from Maria.
This is more of a business focusquestion.
She says, Hey Raymond.
I had a bride send me back herwedding photography contract a
week ago, but I still haven'treceived her deposit, which is
required upon contract.
The wedding isn't until October,but how long do I wait until I
nudge her for the deposit?
(20:01):
Great question.
If you're new to this, you wantto bring an air of
professionalism right?
To, to your work, especially inthe world of wedding
photography, where oftentimeswith, smaller weddings, you're
the only professional who's beento multiple weddings.
You're also looked at as likethe planner.
So, planning a wedding isstressful enough as it is.
(20:23):
You want to bring this cool,calm, collected confidence and
professionalism to all of yourcommunications.
But if you're new to this, howdo you do that without the
experience?
Right.
Totally get it.
So the way that the wholebooking process works for me is
that I get an inquiry.
I then have to have some sort ofconversation with them, whether
it be a phone call or anin-person meet.
(20:45):
I just wanna learn a little bitmore about them, who they are,
what makes'em tick.
What this does is it serves twothings.
It's one, a way for them todecide if I'm gonna be the right
fit for them, but it's also away for me to decide if they're
gonna be the right fit for me.
So, congratulations, you'vealready decided like we're gonna
be a good fit.
(21:06):
I'm gonna send you a contract tosign.
Here's the contract with all thedetails so that they can decide
right then and there if this isgonna be right for them.
They say, yes, this soundsgreat.
They sign the contract, but theyhaven't put down a deposit yet.
Now the deposit holds theirwedding date.
They can still have a signedcontract and you not shoot their
(21:27):
wedding because if they don'tpay you anything, you're not
obligated to show up.
So the way that my workflowworks is that once a contract is
signed, they immediately get aninvoice.
That invoice has the deposit onthere.
They need to pay that invoicebefore their date is booked.
So what I do is when I receivethe contract, I have an email
(21:49):
that goes out immediatelyafterwards and it's all
automated.
That says something to theeffect of, Hey, I got your
contract signed.
Thank you so much.
Now you're only one step awayfrom holding your wedding date.
And that is to pay your deposit.
Once your deposit is paid, thenyour wedding date is officially
locked in, so be sure to pay thedeposit at your earliest
(22:13):
convenience.
You have to stress that theirwedding date is not locked in
until the deposit is paid.
So to answer your question.
How long do you wait until younudge her for the deposit?
The answer is immediately, sendher some sort of email that
says, Hey Brian, I got yourcontract back.
It looks great.
As a reminder, your wedding dateisn't officially locked in until
(22:36):
you pay the contract or pay thedeposit, rather, here's a link
to pay the deposit.
And then your wedding date willbe locked in and you'll be ready
to go.
Please pay it at your earliestconvenience.
Thank you so much, Maria.
And that's it.
Now, if they still go a fewweeks, I would say then, wait a
week.
If they don't pay it within aweek, get on the phone call.
(22:59):
Just to see if there's anyissues.
Sometimes life gets busy.
I've called brides before andthey're like, oh my gosh,
totally meant to do this.
Spaced it, so sorry.
Thank you so much.
And then they'll just pay it.
It's usually no issue.
I've never had a couple book mesign the contract and then ghost
me after that fact.
So again, it's usually some sortof timing or they forgot, or
(23:20):
just something like that.
Just try to be there to providehelp and it'll get done.
All right, so again, Maria, letme know if that makes sense.
Lemme know if that helps.
All right.
Next question here is from Kyle.
Kyle says, I'm new tophotography and I'm really
struggling to pick a camera.
Any suggestions between a fullframe or A PSC for beginner?
(23:41):
What about brand?
Any help is appreciated.
I.
Well, first of all, Kyle, itsounds like you don't have a
camera yet, and yet you're doingso much research that now this
question between full frame andA PSC is, is coming up and that
brings a lot of decision fatigueinto the equation, right?
Making sure that you make theright decision.
(24:03):
But here's the thing that I'velearned about photography, and
after talking with literallyhundreds of photographers,
beginner photographers aboutthis exact experience that, that
you're going through right now,the first camera that you buy
does not matter.
It doesn't matter.
Because there's no way to knowexactly what kind of things that
you want to shoot in the future.
(24:24):
So therefore, you can't knowwhat camera will be the best
tool to achieve the thing thatyou want most.
So the best route forward is tobuy the cheapest camera that you
can right now.
Shoot as much as humanlypossible with it.
Shoot all kinds of stuff.
Shoot nature, kids, families,weddings, portraits, stock
(24:45):
photos, food, photos, petphotos, go birding, do all of
the things with it, because whatyou want is to figure out, well,
what do you like to shoot?
Once you figure out what it isthat you like to shoot, you will
have gained enough experiencewith that camera that you'll
know exactly what aspects of anew camera are most important to
(25:06):
you, and then from that point,you'll be able to upgrade to a
camera that is perfect for you.
The camera body is so, so, so,so much less important than the
lenses that you choose.
A lens is made outta glass.
You can go through three or fourcamera bodies before.
You need to upgrade your lens.
(25:26):
So don't worry about the camerabody.
In fact, don't worry about it somuch.
Just go to Facebook Marketplace,type in, digital cameras.
Find something like a CanonRebel or a Nikon d, I don't
know, 30 something hun.
Something with four digits.
Or a Fuji XT 30 or Fuji XT 20,any of those cameras are gonna
(25:48):
serve you fantastic for thefirst three to four years of
your photography journey.
Fantastic.
And again, within that time,you'll be shooting a lot.
You'll be gaining experience,you'll be learning what it is
that you want to focus on sothat when the time does come
that you outgrow that camera,you'll know exactly what
(26:09):
direction you need to go forwhat camera to buy.
But guess what?
Sometimes you buy a camera, youshoot, and then you realize, you
know what, maybe photographyisn't exactly, the hobby or the
thing that I really wanted toget into.
Would you rather only spend,say,$300 getting into this hobby
and now you sell that thing, or$2,600?
(26:29):
Save as much as possible.
In the beginning.
Buy a used crop sensor camerawith a kid lens.
Maybe buy a 50 millimeter 1.8 aswell.
They're only about a hundredbucks, and that will be a great
camera to learn manual, get thebasics and understand what you
want to focus on in the future.
So there you go, Kyle.
Okay, last question that I gothere is from Jason.
(26:51):
Jason says, how does one preventlens glare when shooting
landscapes?
I recently added a lens hood tomy camera, but I'm still getting
some glare, sad face emoji.
I want to avoid having toeliminate it in Lightroom.
Thanks.
Well, Jason, getting a lens hoodis a great first step,
especially when you're shootingtowards the sun.
(27:12):
You can get the direct sun raiseinto the lens.
They bounce around it causesglare, doesn't look that great.
Adding the lens hood will help,but it doesn't remove it
completely.
When you're shooting landscapes,oftentimes light comes from
below.
Remember, the way that yourcamera captures light is just
reflections of sunlight.
(27:33):
So if you see green grass or ablue lake, the reason why you
see it is because the light isbouncing up from it to your
eyeballs.
So light is coming fromliterally all 180 degrees semis,
spherical of your lens out infront of it.
So reducing the amount of bouncethat the light takes within your
(27:55):
lens is how you cut down on lensglare.
You got the lens hood.
It's not working.
What else can you do?
There are a few things that youcan, do that you can consider.
One thing is to shoot away fromthe sun.
Right.
So don't shoot directly towardsthe direction of the sun.
That's gonna help a huge amount,but sometimes I get it, you
(28:17):
can't.
Or again, you get thosereflections from, from water or
from, a rock or something thatis going to cause glare.
So removing those reflections orthat glare, the way that you do
that is with a polarizer filter.
Polarizer filters are worththeir weight in gold when
shooting landscapes andpolarizer filters are one of the
(28:39):
few things that like we haven'tbeen able to replicate within,
Lightroom.
We can use all these digitalfilters, radio filters,
graduated filters, linearfilters that can replicate
things like neutral density,different colored filters,
different effects, but polarizerfilters, again, are one of those
things that we haven't been ableto replicate digitally.
(29:02):
Not very well at least, andtherefore they're still
incredibly important when you'reactually shooting.
The way that a polarizer filterworks is that it changes the
direction that light enters thecamera.
Maybe you've had a pair ofpolarizer sunglasses.
polarizer sunglasses are hugefor, for fishermen, for people
who do stuff in the snow, spendtime on the lake.
(29:25):
And the reason is, is'cause itcuts down on the reflections,
cuts down on the glare, andyou'll notice that when you put
on polarizer filters, suddenlyif you're out on the water, it's
not just blinding white light,you can kind of see into the
water.
So you can do the same thing foryour camera by putting on a
polarizer filter.
(29:45):
If you wanna make it super easyand relatively inexpensive, just
you know, search Amazon forpolarizer filter.
The next step up would be acircular polarizer filter.
A circular polarizer filterallows you to spin the polarizer
filter to adjust the way thatthe light comes into the camera,
so you can essentially turn it,all in one direction so that
(30:09):
it's, quote unquote off, andthat the light is entering the
lens normally, or you can turnit completely the opposite
direction to cut out as muchlight reflection or transmission
as possible.
That can really cut down oncontrast glare, obviously.
And then that'll give you moreflexibility when it comes to
editing.
So give it a shot.
Polarizer filters or circularpolarizer filter as well if if
(30:33):
you wanna spend a few extrabucks and have more flexibility.
So there you go.
That is how you prevent lensglare when shooting landscapes.
Point the camera away from thesun.
And get a polarizer filter.
Jason.
I hope that that helps, and thatis all the time that we have for
today's photo q and a episode.
(30:54):
Like I said, I hope this episodehelped you learn something about
photography and if you have aburning photography question
that you want answered here inthe photo q and a episode of a
podcast.
Be sure to join the free andamazing beginner photography
podcast communityonly@beginnerphotopod.com slash
group.
(31:14):
Again, beginner photopod.com/group.
That is it for today.
Until next time, remember, themore that you shoot today, the
better of a photographer youwill be tomorrow.
Talk soon.
Somebody who's writing a book cannot both
write the first draft and editit at the same time.
The creation and the editingprocess are two entirely
different things.
What you cannot do is edit whileyou're shooting you.
You simply cannot make thatdecision because sometimes it's
simply the act of shootingdifferent things that will allow
(00:21):
you to see the world differentlyand then shoot new things that
you actually do like.
So you can't edit while you'reshooting, because there's a
really good chance that you'regonna miss out on all of those
bad photos that get you to areally good photo.
Hey, Raymond here from theBeginner Photography Podcast,
(00:42):
and today we have another photoq and a episode ready for you.
Photo q and a episode is whereyou submit your questions about
photography, about anything thatyou're struggling with, and I'm
gonna give you some answers tohelp you out.
If you have any questions thatyou want answered in an upcoming
photo q and a episode, then besure to join the Beginner
(01:03):
Photography podcast community.
What you can do by heading overto beginner photo pod.com/group.
It is a free and amazingcommunity full of photographers
just like yourself, who arelooking to learn and grow their
skills as photographers.
All right, so the first questiontoday comes from Timothy in the
group.
Timothy asks, how do you goabout pricing of framed eight
(01:25):
and a half by 11 prints?
My Canon Pro 100 quit feeding 13by 19 paper, but it will feed
eight and a half by 11 paperjust fine.
Okay, so, that means that youcan print up to eight and a half
by 11.
So how do you price it?
This is hard sometimes becauseit's like if you were to print
an eight and a half by 11 or aneight by 10 at CVS, it might
(01:47):
cost you two or$3, and you thinkto yourself, okay, so that's how
much an eight by 10 costs.
So if I were to sell it to, oneof my clients, let's just say
that I mark up the price doubleor even triple the price, that's
still less than 10 bucks.
But one of the things that Ithink is so important to
remember when it comes topricing prints, not even just
(02:09):
frame prints, but just printsthemselves, even if they're just
on photo paper, is that whatyou're selling is not paper and
ink.
That's what CVS, that's whatCostco, that's what Walmart,
that's what, all these other,print labs are selling paper and
ink, but that's not what you'reselling.
What you're selling is, is love.
(02:30):
What you're selling isconnection.
What you're selling is a momentin time.
What you're selling to somebodyis a part of their own life.
They reached out to you for areason to take these photos,
right?
If they were just simply lookingfor something to fill a spot on
the wall, they could do thatextremely easily and extremely
(02:50):
cheaply, by going to any storeand buying some cheap poster and
then framing it and putting iton the wall.
But that's not what they wanted.
They wanted somebody to createsomething for them that is gonna
show off that love, it's gonnashow off that connection.
It's gonna show off that bondthat they have with either their
family, their spouse, or eventheir pet.
So how do you price an eight by10?
(03:12):
Well, a few years ago, the PPA,the Professional Photographers
of America did a study and theyfound that if you want to run a
profitable photography business.
You cannot sell your eight bytens for less than$50.
That's the minimum that you cancharge.
And you're thinking, how is thatpossible?
How is charging a minimum of$50for a$3 print, essentially?
(03:38):
how is that the only way that Icould be profitable?
That's a great question.
That's fully understandable.
And the reason is, becauseyou're in business, that$3, that
it costs, whoever the print labis probably only costs them a
few pennies because they buy inbulk.
They buy a lot.
They're marking up the cost tothen send to you.
(03:59):
The biggest cost for you is yourtime as a photographer and a,
solopreneur, somebody who'sdoing everything themselves.
Your biggest asset is time.
The more time you spend onsomething.
Say, going to a website,uploading a photo, or even
before then, even just exportingit in the right size to make
sure that it's not, gonna beextra pixelated or whatever when
(04:20):
it's printed.
And then, uploading it, choosingthe right size, entering in all
the.
the shipping information andwhatever, getting it yourself,
making sure that it looks good,and then, if you're gonna frame
it yourself or whatever, all ofthose things take time.
It's not just the press of ashutter button, the button on
your camera and then you'redone.
(04:40):
It takes way more time thanthat.
I did a softball shoot, for, asoftball team here, local.
Right.
and I did the math, and again,I'm not in business for this,
but I did the math and I waslike, if I charge say$25 per
kid, that'll be enough to, tocover my time and that'll be
worth it.
And the total came out to about$400 and my wife was just like
(05:04):
$400 for an hour's worth ofwork.
That is insane.
Like, I wish that I could makethat, as somebody with a
master's degree.
And I had said, like, Iunderstand what you're saying,
but it's more than an hour'sworth of work.
It's the hours worth ofcommunication leading up to it.
It's the planning.
It's, what are your team colors?
It's all the Photoshop work,because for team photos, it's
(05:27):
not just, you take the photo andyou deliver it.
You gotta change out thebackground.
you gotta make a banner imagefor the entire team.
You gotta get their logos andstuff.
It's coordinating all that.
It's making sure that thebanner's the right size so that
it can be sent off to a printerso that they can print it.
And then it looks good.
It's delivering all thesethings.
It's uploading the photos to, mycloud spot gallery and sending
(05:48):
it off, making sure that mycloud spot store was set up
correctly for them so that ifthey wanted to purchase any
prints, it's all of thesethings.
Now, was it, 50 hours worth ofwork?
No, it wasn't, but at the sametime, I don't, as a
photographer, you're typicallynot working 50 hours a week
shooting, right?
So you have to take that intoaccount as well.
(06:09):
Like how many shoots can you doand then how much do you need to
earn to survive?
And that was the number that Icame up with.
So does it seem like a lot tosell one, eight by 10 print for
$50?
Sure.
It may seem like it, but what ifyou're only selling, four in a
week?
That's only$200 that's cominginto you, is that worth all of
(06:30):
the work that it's gonna take toget that done?
Anyway, these are just things toconsider when it comes to
pricing your work, and also as aphotographer, you kind of gotta
make these things up on yourown.
You're in charge of yourbusiness.
Nobody else is telling you howto run it.
You get to be in charge.
There was a wedding photographeryears ago.
I completely forget who it was,which is a shame, but they said
(06:52):
that their goal in life was tobe able to just go to a wedding
and photograph whatever theywanted, whether it just be
shoes, people's outfits, youknow, whatever, anything that
they wanted with no expectationsof receiving anything else.
And that's because, again, youare running your own business.
You can do whatever you want asa business owner.
(07:13):
You can make those decisions andyou have to make decisions that
are going to keep you inbusiness long enough to keep
doing it.
So there you go.
I hope that that helps answeryour question, Timothy.
Again, when it comes to framing,adding the frame, that is an
additional cost, that is anadditional time as well as you
have to put it all together andyou're probably gonna deliver it
(07:33):
too.
So take those things intoaccount, when coming up with
pricing.
Again, Tim, I hope that thathelps.
Okay.
Next question here comes fromJohn.
John asks, how do you motivateyourself when you just don't
feel in the mood forphotography?
Man, John, I love this questionbecause one, it's honest, right?
(07:55):
There is so many times we buythis camera, we're so excited
for it.
We imagine that it's gonnachange our life, it's gonna take
us to all these amazing places,which it can.
But sometimes then life gets inthe way and the camera goes on
the shelf for longer than youexpected it to, and then, you
kinda lose that motivation.
So how do you get back in themotivation of shooting and
(08:16):
getting excited creatively?
And like I said, I've been thereand I have found that for me,
lack of motivation is not a truelack of motivation.
What it is, is a lack of somesort of specific idea.
So what I mean by that is thatwhen you have a camera in your
hand, if I were to hand you acamera and I would say, go
(08:37):
ahead, go shoot somethingamazing, your brain would just
kind of overheat, it would belike, what?
Something amazing.
Oh, okay, let me look around.
Where am I?
What is amazing?
What would be worthy of beingconsidered amazing?
And there's so many differentideas.
There's so many differentpossibilities of things that you
could shoot, ways that you couldshoot it.
(08:58):
That again, your brain wouldjust short circuit.
And even though you haveseemingly infinite number of
things to shoot.
It feels like you have nothingto shoot because you're waiting
for something to come along.
That is amazing.
But if I were to hand you acamera and I were to say, go
photograph blue birds, yousuddenly know exactly what you
(09:23):
need to go do.
You know that you need to gofind some trees, you need to go
find somewhere in nature.
You need to be looking uptowards blue birds.
You need to be listening and youhave a clear idea of what to
shoot.
Now does that mean that bluebirds are, something amazing to
shoot?
Not necessarily, but I've foundthat again, when I'm in some
(09:44):
sort of creative rut or I needsome sort of motivation, what I
do is I give myself veryconstrained limitations because
once I'm there and I startshooting these, within these
constraints, say birds, suddenlyI realize, oh, there's a
squirrel right there.
Actually, I'm gonna photographthat squirrel too.
(10:04):
Oh, as I'm looking up, Look atthe way that the light is coming
in through these, these brancheshere, and then I'll try to
photograph that.
Maybe it's a little too tight.
You don't get an idea of scale,so then you kind of back up.
You get something wider.
You try a different focallength, you try a different
angle.
And then before you know it,it's like one idea sparks
another, and then that sparksanother, and then you just kind
(10:25):
of keep going.
which is kind of like, freeassociation within photography.
And if you stick to that idea,if you keep going with that,
you're going to find images.
that you love.
You're gonna find, compositions,you're gonna find subjects,
you're gonna find things that,you really enjoy shooting.
And that motivation is slowlygoing to come back.
(10:46):
But here's a tip, because one ofthe things, again, like if I
were to say, go shoot somethingamazing, everything that you
look at, you would immediatelydecide, is this amazing?
Yes or no?
And nine times outta 10.
The answer is gonna be no.
Right?
Because it takes work to createsomething amazing.
But when you go out with aspecific task of trying to get
(11:08):
that motivation back, and byessentially just doing free
association shooting, shootingone thing which leads to
another, which leads to another,which leads to another, what you
cannot do is self-edit thephotos while you're shooting.
Meaning you can't look at a birdand say, that's not a good
looking bird, or I don't likethat light, or this isn't an
(11:31):
interesting tree.
Somebody who's writing a bookcannot both write the first
draft and edit it at the sametime.
The creation and the editingprocess are two entirely
different things.
So what you need to do is go outand shoot everything that
catches your eye, anything thatsparks an idea, anything that
(11:51):
grabs your attention, anythingand everything, shoot it.
And then it's not until you gethome that you are then allowed
to put those photos on yourcomputer or your iPad, whatever,
and then judge those images.
You can judge them to yourheart's content for sure.
Once they're on a larger screenand you're not actively
shooting, that's fine.
(12:12):
You can decide then that youhate all of them, whatever.
But what you cannot do is editwhile you're shooting you.
You simply cannot make thatdecision because sometimes it's
simply the act of shootingdifferent things that will allow
you to see the world differentlyand then shoot new things that
you actually do like.
(12:32):
Sometimes it takes a lot of badphotos to get to a good photo,
so you have to allow yourself totake those bad photos to get to
the good photo so you can't editwhile you're shooting, because
there's a really good chancethat you're gonna miss out on
all of those bad photos that getyou to a really good photo.
So don't look at the screen.
(12:52):
Just go out, shoot, enjoyyourself, spend time in nature,
whatever it is, and really bepresent.
Slow down.
This is photography.
It is not brain surgery.
It is photography.
Have fun with it.
All right, John.
Hope that helped.
All right.
Next question here comes fromDelaney Delaney acid.
(13:14):
Are there any good charts orgraphs that help explain lenses?
The millimeters confuse me somuch.
Ooh.
I specifically remember a numberof years ago, I specifically
remember, when I was gettinginto photography and, the first
digital camera that I had was aCanon xt.
(13:34):
It was like eight megapixels andit came with the kit lens, the
18 to 55.
And I remember reading onlineeverybody saying, you gotta buy
the 50 millimeter, 1.8, thenifty 50.
This would've been 2006 or so,maybe 2007.
And my first reaction was, oh, Idon't need that lens.
My current lens goes from 18 to55, 50 millimeters is in there.
(13:55):
I don't need to spend the extramoney on a 50 millimeter lens.
And what I learned, obviously,as time went on and I did end up
buying the, the 50 millimeter1.8, the nifty 50, what I ended
up finding was that when itcomes to lenses, the focal
length or the millimeters is notthe end all be all.
(14:16):
There's so much more that goesinto your lens choice that goes
into, creating a great photothat goes into, the image than
just the millimeter.
So let's talk about that for abit.
There are several types of focallengths.
We'll kind of stick to the, themain ones.
There's ultra wides, there'swide, there's standard, standard
(14:38):
telephoto, and then telephoto,six types of lenses.
But you can pretty much get allof them with just just a few
lenses.
So an ultra wide would besomething between 15 millimeters
and 24 millimeters.
A wide lens would be somethingbetween 24 millimeters and 35
(14:58):
millimeters.
A standard lens is somethingbetween 35 and 50 millimeters.
A standard telephoto lens issomething between 50 and 85
millimeters, and then atelephoto lens is a hundred
millimeters or more.
A standard lens is called astandard lens, which is again,
about 50 millimeters.
(15:19):
It's called that because the waythat the image is, rendered
closely represents what and howthe human eye sees as far as
compression goes.
And what I mean by compressionis that the longer the
millimeter.
The more compression there is.
So anything over 50 millimeters,your subject is going to look
(15:41):
closer to the background thanwhat they actually are.
Anything wider than 50millimeters, your subject is
gonna look further away from thebackground than what it actually
is.
I try to picture for a moment.
There's a very famous scene inthe movie Jaws, and this has
become known as the push pullshot.
It's called the push pull shot.
(16:02):
it's when I don't even rememberhis name.
It's been so long since I'veseen the movie.
The dad in the movie, the maincharacter of the movie is on the
beach and he realizes thatthere's a shark in the water.
The camera moves in very closeto him, but as the camera is
physically moving closer to him.
The lens, they're zooming out.
So his face stays about the samesize in the frame, but it looks
(16:25):
like the background is gettingfurther and further and further
away.
It creates this reallyinteresting distortion effect if
you watch severance, on Appletv, it's the same sort of effect
that they do when people getsevered, when they go through
the elevator, it starts reallywide and then the camera pulls
back as it's zooming in.
So it looks like the backgroundis coming up real close, to the
(16:48):
subject.
Okay, so that doesn't haveanything to do with millimeters.
Like why are we talking aboutthis?
It is important because,specifically in portrait
photography, that's what, themajority, I would say of the
people in the group here areshooting.
if you want a headshot or aportrait where the background is
out of focus, what you're gonnado is you're gonna use a longer
(17:09):
lens, a more of a standardtelephoto lens.
Something in the 85 or eventelephoto range, a hundred
millimeters.
That way you can more easilyblur out the background because
you see less of the background.
It looks like it's real close toyour subject because of the
compression, but really it's,it's still far away.
(17:30):
So you can make sure that thebackground is out of focus.
If you try to take the sameportrait at, say, 24 millimeters
rather than 85 millimeters, yoursubject's face is gonna look
distorted.
It's gonna look longer, and thebackground will just be more in
focus.
And that can be reallydistracting for portraits where
there, you know, where yoursubject's face is, is the main
(17:52):
subject of the photo.
So I hope that kind of helps toexplain why you would use some
lenses, with differentmillimeters more so than just
being able to zoom in onsomething or get wide enough to,
to capture it all.
cause I think that that's,that's the more understandable
part.
If you want a wide shot with alot of stuff in it, yeah.
(18:14):
Grab a 24 millimeter lens.
If you want more of adocumentary reporter look, get a
35 millimeter lens.
If you just want a standard viewthat looks very similar to what
the human eye sees, get a 50millimeter lens.
If you want a great portraitlens, get an 85 millimeter lens
and if you want a telephotolens,'cause you're shooting
stuff further away, get a 100millimeter lens.
(18:36):
That's the easy part.
It's talking about thecompression.
And the depth of field, right?
How much is in focus?
Those are the two things thatchange.
So the longer the lens, morecompression, more depth of
field, the wider the lens, lesscompression.
So more weird distortion.
And the background is more infocus.
So again, Delaney.
(18:56):
I hope that that helps.
Oh, and I guess, I guess I, Imentioned earlier that you can
kind of get all of those focallengths with like three lenses.
Pretty much every camanmanufacturer has what's called
the golden trifecta.
They have some sort of wide,ultra wide lens.
They have some sort of doeverything lens, and then they
have a telephoto lens as well.
So with Canon, they have a 15 to35, 2 0.8 lens that covers
(19:18):
everything from ultra wide towide.
Then they have a 24 to 70 thatcovers all of the standard
range.
It goes from wide to standardtelephoto, and then there's a 70
to 200 that captures all of thetelephoto range right there.
So within those three lenses,you can get just about all of
the focal lengths that you wouldneed.
So again, hope that helps.
(19:40):
Alright, next question herecomes from Maria.
This is more of a business focusquestion.
She says, Hey Raymond.
I had a bride send me back herwedding photography contract a
week ago, but I still haven'treceived her deposit, which is
required upon contract.
The wedding isn't until October,but how long do I wait until I
nudge her for the deposit?
(20:01):
Great question.
If you're new to this, you wantto bring an air of
professionalism right?
To, to your work, especially inthe world of wedding
photography, where oftentimeswith, smaller weddings, you're
the only professional who's beento multiple weddings.
You're also looked at as likethe planner.
So, planning a wedding isstressful enough as it is.
(20:23):
You want to bring this cool,calm, collected confidence and
professionalism to all of yourcommunications.
But if you're new to this, howdo you do that without the
experience?
Right.
Totally get it.
So the way that the wholebooking process works for me is
that I get an inquiry.
I then have to have some sort ofconversation with them, whether
it be a phone call or anin-person meet.
(20:45):
I just wanna learn a little bitmore about them, who they are,
what makes'em tick.
What this does is it serves twothings.
It's one, a way for them todecide if I'm gonna be the right
fit for them, but it's also away for me to decide if they're
gonna be the right fit for me.
So, congratulations, you'vealready decided like we're gonna
be a good fit.
(21:06):
I'm gonna send you a contract tosign.
Here's the contract with all thedetails so that they can decide
right then and there if this isgonna be right for them.
They say, yes, this soundsgreat.
They sign the contract, but theyhaven't put down a deposit yet.
Now the deposit holds theirwedding date.
They can still have a signedcontract and you not shoot their
(21:27):
wedding because if they don'tpay you anything, you're not
obligated to show up.
So the way that my workflowworks is that once a contract is
signed, they immediately get aninvoice.
That invoice has the deposit onthere.
They need to pay that invoicebefore their date is booked.
So what I do is when I receivethe contract, I have an email
(21:49):
that goes out immediatelyafterwards and it's all
automated.
That says something to theeffect of, Hey, I got your
contract signed.
Thank you so much.
Now you're only one step awayfrom holding your wedding date.
And that is to pay your deposit.
Once your deposit is paid, thenyour wedding date is officially
locked in, so be sure to pay thedeposit at your earliest
(22:13):
convenience.
You have to stress that theirwedding date is not locked in
until the deposit is paid.
So to answer your question.
How long do you wait until younudge her for the deposit?
The answer is immediately, sendher some sort of email that
says, Hey Brian, I got yourcontract back.
It looks great.
As a reminder, your wedding dateisn't officially locked in until
(22:36):
you pay the contract or pay thedeposit, rather, here's a link
to pay the deposit.
And then your wedding date willbe locked in and you'll be ready
to go.
Please pay it at your earliestconvenience.
Thank you so much, Maria.
And that's it.
Now, if they still go a fewweeks, I would say then, wait a
week.
If they don't pay it within aweek, get on the phone call.
(22:59):
Just to see if there's anyissues.
Sometimes life gets busy.
I've called brides before andthey're like, oh my gosh,
totally meant to do this.
Spaced it, so sorry.
Thank you so much.
And then they'll just pay it.
It's usually no issue.
I've never had a couple book mesign the contract and then ghost
me after that fact.
So again, it's usually some sortof timing or they forgot, or
(23:20):
just something like that.
Just try to be there to providehelp and it'll get done.
All right, so again, Maria, letme know if that makes sense.
Lemme know if that helps.
All right.
Next question here is from Kyle.
Kyle says, I'm new tophotography and I'm really
struggling to pick a camera.
Any suggestions between a fullframe or A PSC for beginner?
(23:41):
What about brand?
Any help is appreciated.
I.
Well, first of all, Kyle, itsounds like you don't have a
camera yet, and yet you're doingso much research that now this
question between full frame andA PSC is, is coming up and that
brings a lot of decision fatigueinto the equation, right?
Making sure that you make theright decision.
(24:03):
But here's the thing that I'velearned about photography, and
after talking with literallyhundreds of photographers,
beginner photographers aboutthis exact experience that, that
you're going through right now,the first camera that you buy
does not matter.
It doesn't matter.
Because there's no way to knowexactly what kind of things that
you want to shoot in the future.
(24:24):
So therefore, you can't knowwhat camera will be the best
tool to achieve the thing thatyou want most.
So the best route forward is tobuy the cheapest camera that you
can right now.
Shoot as much as humanlypossible with it.
Shoot all kinds of stuff.
Shoot nature, kids, families,weddings, portraits, stock
(24:45):
photos, food, photos, petphotos, go birding, do all of
the things with it, because whatyou want is to figure out, well,
what do you like to shoot?
Once you figure out what it isthat you like to shoot, you will
have gained enough experiencewith that camera that you'll
know exactly what aspects of anew camera are most important to
(25:06):
you, and then from that point,you'll be able to upgrade to a
camera that is perfect for you.
The camera body is so, so, so,so much less important than the
lenses that you choose.
A lens is made outta glass.
You can go through three or fourcamera bodies before.
You need to upgrade your lens.
(25:26):
So don't worry about the camerabody.
In fact, don't worry about it somuch.
Just go to Facebook Marketplace,type in, digital cameras.
Find something like a CanonRebel or a Nikon d, I don't
know, 30 something hun.
Something with four digits.
Or a Fuji XT 30 or Fuji XT 20,any of those cameras are gonna
(25:48):
serve you fantastic for thefirst three to four years of
your photography journey.
Fantastic.
And again, within that time,you'll be shooting a lot.
You'll be gaining experience,you'll be learning what it is
that you want to focus on sothat when the time does come
that you outgrow that camera,you'll know exactly what
(26:09):
direction you need to go forwhat camera to buy.
But guess what?
Sometimes you buy a camera, youshoot, and then you realize, you
know what, maybe photographyisn't exactly, the hobby or the
thing that I really wanted toget into.
Would you rather only spend,say,$300 getting into this hobby
and now you sell that thing, or$2,600?
(26:29):
Save as much as possible.
In the beginning.
Buy a used crop sensor camerawith a kid lens.
Maybe buy a 50 millimeter 1.8 aswell.
They're only about a hundredbucks, and that will be a great
camera to learn manual, get thebasics and understand what you
want to focus on in the future.
So there you go, Kyle.
Okay, last question that I gothere is from Jason.
(26:51):
Jason says, how does one preventlens glare when shooting
landscapes?
I recently added a lens hood tomy camera, but I'm still getting
some glare, sad face emoji.
I want to avoid having toeliminate it in Lightroom.
Thanks.
Well, Jason, getting a lens hoodis a great first step,
especially when you're shootingtowards the sun.
(27:12):
You can get the direct sun raiseinto the lens.
They bounce around it causesglare, doesn't look that great.
Adding the lens hood will help,but it doesn't remove it
completely.
When you're shooting landscapes,oftentimes light comes from
below.
Remember, the way that yourcamera captures light is just
reflections of sunlight.
(27:33):
So if you see green grass or ablue lake, the reason why you
see it is because the light isbouncing up from it to your
eyeballs.
So light is coming fromliterally all 180 degrees semis,
spherical of your lens out infront of it.
So reducing the amount of bouncethat the light takes within your
(27:55):
lens is how you cut down on lensglare.
You got the lens hood.
It's not working.
What else can you do?
There are a few things that youcan, do that you can consider.
One thing is to shoot away fromthe sun.
Right.
So don't shoot directly towardsthe direction of the sun.
That's gonna help a huge amount,but sometimes I get it, you
(28:17):
can't.
Or again, you get thosereflections from, from water or
from, a rock or something thatis going to cause glare.
So removing those reflections orthat glare, the way that you do
that is with a polarizer filter.
Polarizer filters are worththeir weight in gold when
shooting landscapes andpolarizer filters are one of the
(28:39):
few things that like we haven'tbeen able to replicate within,
Lightroom.
We can use all these digitalfilters, radio filters,
graduated filters, linearfilters that can replicate
things like neutral density,different colored filters,
different effects, but polarizerfilters, again, are one of those
things that we haven't been ableto replicate digitally.
(29:02):
Not very well at least, andtherefore they're still
incredibly important when you'reactually shooting.
The way that a polarizer filterworks is that it changes the
direction that light enters thecamera.
Maybe you've had a pair ofpolarizer sunglasses.
polarizer sunglasses are hugefor, for fishermen, for people
who do stuff in the snow, spendtime on the lake.
(29:25):
And the reason is, is'cause itcuts down on the reflections,
cuts down on the glare, andyou'll notice that when you put
on polarizer filters, suddenlyif you're out on the water, it's
not just blinding white light,you can kind of see into the
water.
So you can do the same thing foryour camera by putting on a
polarizer filter.
(29:45):
If you wanna make it super easyand relatively inexpensive, just
you know, search Amazon forpolarizer filter.
The next step up would be acircular polarizer filter.
A circular polarizer filterallows you to spin the polarizer
filter to adjust the way thatthe light comes into the camera,
so you can essentially turn it,all in one direction so that
(30:09):
it's, quote unquote off, andthat the light is entering the
lens normally, or you can turnit completely the opposite
direction to cut out as muchlight reflection or transmission
as possible.
That can really cut down oncontrast glare, obviously.
And then that'll give you moreflexibility when it comes to
editing.
So give it a shot.
Polarizer filters or circularpolarizer filter as well if if
(30:33):
you wanna spend a few extrabucks and have more flexibility.
So there you go.
That is how you prevent lensglare when shooting landscapes.
Point the camera away from thesun.
And get a polarizer filter.
Jason.
I hope that that helps, and thatis all the time that we have for
today's photo q and a episode.
(30:54):
Like I said, I hope this episodehelped you learn something about
photography and if you have aburning photography question
that you want answered here inthe photo q and a episode of a
podcast.
Be sure to join the free andamazing beginner photography
podcast communityonly@beginnerphotopod.com slash
group.
(31:14):
Again, beginner photopod.com/group.
That is it for today.
Until next time, remember, themore that you shoot today, the
better of a photographer youwill be tomorrow.
Talk soon.
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