Wife looking to get into photography, worth buying her a dslr?? sample pics inside

[Shanewilliams]

My wife is dying to break into photography and in my opinion shes pretty good. now alot of this could be me subconciously thinking shes good so i can keep happiness in my home. i just recently purchased myself a dslr, but she wants one of her own. would you friendly macrumors members please take a quick look at these pics and offer up your advice/opinions? Is the potential there for me to justify spending the money a dslr startup would cost?? now keep in mind these were taken with just a samsung digital camera.

 

[GoCubsGo]

You can't post two shots and wonder if there's potential for paying for a DSLR. If your wife wants to start a new hobby then an entry-level DSLR is indeed a good investment. The pictures you posted tell me nothing about whether she'd make it as a hobby photographer or even love the craft. I think her desire to start is the only reason to buy her a camera and perhaps a book to go with it.
I would look into the Nikon D40 or D90 and the Canon EOS 550D. What DSLR do you have? If it's a Canon buy her a Canon so you two can share lenses.

 

[oblomow]

If you can afford it and she wants one, buy it. It will give her a lot more freedom than a P&S. As Jessica said, get the same brand so you can share accessories (lenses, flashes, cable releases). Oh, and let her show her photos here.

 

[jackerin]

I don't see anything special in those pictures, but of course it's possible that she will grow as a photographer. What I would think more about is if she really wants a DSLR; it takes more effort to take that along when going out on a cold winter day than popping a point-and-shoot in the pocket. Maybe as an experiment you can let her use your camera for a while, if after a couple of weeks you see her going for the pocket camera first then you have your answer...

 

[RHVC59]

New DSLR in same lens family as yours, $400 to $1,500...
One more common sheared activity..
Spousal interest in new lenses...
More Gear...
Good will from spouse...
Marital Harmony, Priceless

Keep her happy

 

[gkarris]

...i just recently purchased myself a dslr, but she wants one of her own.

So get the same brand so you can share lenses...

 

[ComputersaysNo]

How come you already have one? And why don't you let her play arround with your camera for a while to try? She might not like the size or weight at all, or maybe... maybe she turns out better than you

 

[Shanewilliams]

How come you already have one? And why don't you let her play arround with your camera for a while to try? She might not like the size or weight at all, or maybe... maybe she turns out better than you

Oh, theres no doubt about that! Those were the only 2 pictures i had on my laptop that shes done recently, but shes been shooting with my old canon k2 for a year or so now. I was just curious to get some opinions on the photos.

 

[El Cabong]

Being good at something isn't a prerequisite for engaging further in it as a hobby. You don't buy an Xbox for your kids because you think they're pretty good at Halo and have a lot of potential for improvement; you buy one because you know they'll have fun using it.

It'd be one thing if you're planning to buy her a Leica S2 system or something in that price range, but if getting another, reasonably priced DSLR is within your means, why not get one for her?

 

[ChrisA]

My wife is dying to break into photography and in my opinion shes pretty good. now alot of this could be me subconciously thinking shes good so i can keep happiness in my home. i just recently purchased myself a dslr, but she wants one of her own. would you friendly macrumors members please take a quick look at these pics and offer up your advice/opinions? Is the potential there for me to justify spending the money a dslr startup would cost?? now keep in mind these were taken with just a samsung digital camera.

These are just ordinary snapshots of (I assume) her kid. You have to be quite good to shoot a photo of your kids that other people will like. In fact when I rate my photos I reserve fours stars for a photo "would be interesting to someone who has not attachment to the subject". That is my criteria for a "decent" photo. The second photo you posted has the potential to be that good but subject is dead center.


The BEST think you could get for here right now is a book or even better a class in photography. The camera used matter very little. get a DSLR if you like but at this point education, even if just reading a few books matters more.

Actually it's not going to cost all that much for the DSLR because I assume you'd share most of the system. You'd only need one of the more expensive lenses and one flash unit and so one. I would not buy two of the "kit" lenses. Buy her just a DSLR with a 35mm prime lens. Then if need be the two of you can swap lenses.

Don't just get thechnical books, the best ones are bif coffee table books of photos. get a stack of thae from the library and look to see which she likes. Then set out to emulate the style of those she likes. Shoot 100 images, bring them home and edit down to the best 5 or 10. Evaluate then make another self=-asignmant. Just keep doing that.

Art books are good too, thosethat talk about colors and composition in painting

 

[ComputersaysNo]

Posting photo's of family is somewhat difficult to get a reply on. For me, i just see a photo of a kid. It's not my kid, i don't know anything about her so it doesn't do anything for me. I don't get the same feelings as you have when looking at it.

So if i would say it is a very good photo, you would totally agree with me, even if it is not. If i say it is a crappy photo, then there is the chance that we wouldn't agree, and you might feel offended. It's very hard to let go the emotional connection and look at it from a strangers point of view.

The second photo is nice, just a good shot of something going on, somewhat romantic.

As for the camera, you only learn photography by doing it. photo's don't increase spectacular subjectwise due to a bigger camera.

Why a Dslr? Do you/she need the focusspeed (depends on the lens), higher noise-free iso's or depth of field (depends on the lens), the use of an external flash?

To my opinion the best advise i can give is to take photoshoplessons after buying a Dslr. You will get the most out of your Dslr by good post-processing and shooting Raw. Setting your Dslr on Jpeg and no post-processing afterwards is pretty much useless, and will make you blame the camera...

Photographyclasses are to my experience just an expensive way of learning the manual of your camera. I've learned the most by reading photography-based forums, examine photo's that i like carefully, posting photo's on photography-forums and learn from the comments. (Flickr is nice to dump photo's, but getting funded comments looks almost impossible. Too much:'excellent shot, here's a heartshaped award.gif')

Google everything about how to use a histogram, why you should overexpose with very bright subjects (snow for example), or underexpose with dark objects/subjects/scenes (a black van or so).

When shooting raw and use the histogram wisely, then the only things you have to worry about when shooting are shutterspeed, aperture & iso. (and maybe whitebalance, but that can be easily fixed when shooting raw in postprocessing)

hopefully i was of any help

 

[GoCubsGo]

Oh, theres no doubt about that! Those were the only 2 pictures i had on my laptop that shes done recently, but shes been shooting with my old canon k2 for a year or so now. I was just curious to get some opinions on the photos.

I don't get it, do you want a critique of the photos, validation that they're good enough to buy a camera, or just an opinion from a pack of strangers on whether or not you should buy a camera for your wife? I choose buy a camera for your wife, let her have a hobby that keeps her happy and since you share her interest, nothing can go wrong.

 

[arkitect]

I don't get it, do you want a critique of the photos, validation that they're good enough to buy a camera, or just an opinion from a pack of strangers on whether or not you should buy a camera for your wife? I choose buy a camera for your wife, let her have a hobby that keeps her happy and since you share her interest, nothing can go wrong.

You'd think…

 

[TronPlayer]

My wife is a photography artist and these pictures you posted are just pictures, nothing more. I'm not trying to be rude but I would stay with low-cost equipment until she develops an artistic eye. Some people do, and some people never develop it.

 

[El Cabong]

My wife is a photography artist and these pictures you posted are just pictures, nothing more. I'm not trying to be rude but I would stay with low-cost equipment until she develops an artistic eye. Some people do, and some people never develop it.

Are you saying that most people who have DSLRs (even entry-level ones) do have an "artistic eye"? I would beg to differ (and why do you think they're called "entry"-level?). Even if the guy's wife never switches out of full auto, if she enjoys using an SLR more than a compact (plenty of reasons to), it's worth switching.

Google everything about how to use a histogram, why you should overexpose with very bright subjects (snow for example), or underexpose with dark objects/subjects/scenes (a black van or so).

Am I missing something? Won't overexposing already bright subjects just blow out highlights more, and underexposing dark subjects similarly fail to pick up detail? I think you have it backwards.

 

[ComputersaysNo]

I'm sorry but i'm not.

Put your camera on automatic and take a framefilling photo of something white, like a piece of A3 size paper. Now, under the same lighting conditions & your camera with the exact same (A) settings, take a photo of something black.

you'll notice that both photo's will look (almost) exactly the same grayish. That's because your camera was on automatic, and it tried to find an average exposure. (that is what automatic does, it makes an average exposure)

To have your subject correctly exposed, therefore you need to overexpose bright/reflecting objects, and underexpose dark subjects. You have to tell your camera that the subject is different from average.

I had to get used to this idea too

 

[El Cabong]

I'm sorry but i'm not.
[...]
I had to get used to this idea too

Maybe this is a Dutch/English thing, but maybe speaking in terms of camera settings (other than auto) will help.

When I take a picture of a high contrast scene, such as a sunset, I have to make a choice of whether to overexpose (increase aperture size, lengthen shutter) and capture darker portions of the frame, such as foreground in this case, or underexpose (decrease aperture, shorten shutter) and capture light sources and brighter objects such as the sun and clouds, respectively. HDR processing allows for the combination of different exposures into a single image to capture the full gamut of light intensities in the original scene.

I've attached several files to illustrate my point: one slightly underexposed photo taken at 1/200 s and one overexposed photo taken at 1/50 s, both at f/5.6 and ISO 100, as well as an HDR merge of five photos.

 

[Gold89]

Just get the SLR, imo it's impossible to 'learn' photography without easy accessability to full manual controls to learn about shutter speed/aperture/ISO. No P&S or superzoom I've come across is as easy to use in manual (if they have one) as any SLR. I also find the ergonomics help me frame images better.

 

[jb60606]

was anyone else expecting the "sample pics" to be pics of his wife?

 

[stagi]

New DSLR in same lens family as yours, $400 to $1,500...
One more common sheared activity..
Spousal interest in new lenses...
More Gear...
Good will from spouse...
Marital Harmony, Priceless

Keep her happy

Right on

 

[Gold89]

If you are looking for a photography book this one is highly reccomended: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Exposure-Photographs-Digital-Camera/dp/0817463003

 

[Chappers]

Does your wife know you're doing this - my feeling is that she doesn't. WHy not get her to chose some pics and then ask our opinion.

Or just buy her a dSLR - she deserves it.

Can we see some of your photos too? As a comparison.