Photography Equipment

I've gotten a few questions about what Emily and I use for photography, so I figured I'd post something here.

Basically, there are two questions here. The first is "What do you use?" and the second is "What do I need to do to take better pictures?"

We use a Canon Digital Rebel XT (aka 350D) with a Canon Speedlite 580EX flash. Most of the time, a Tamron 28-75 mm f/2.8 lens mounted on the camera. We also have a battery grip so it is easier to handle. The whole setup looks like this:



This is an 8 megapixel camera, but that's not the most important thing. As far as I'm concerned, the flash has had the biggest impact on the quality of pictures we take. Photography is about capturing light, so you should really pay attention to where the light comes from (sunlight, overhead light, flash, etc) and what you use to capture that light -- the lens. The flash we have has an adjustable head and we keep it pointed at a 45 degree angle to the ceiling to get a nice soft light.

The biggest problem with point and shoot cameras is their flash. Try turning your flash off and you'll be surprised at the results you get.

There's lots of advice on the internet about photography. Ken Rockwell has good advice about cameras and photography here.

The final bit of advice I have is to take a lot of pictures using the maximum resolution your camera offers. Memory is cheap on digital cameras and you'll probably run out of battery before you fill up a reasonable size compact flash card. You increase the amount of good shots you get by taking more pictures. The maximum resolution advice is given because when you do get a good shot, you'll probably want to print it. If you want something bigger than a 4x6, you'll need some resolution to get a nice large print.

-- Chris