“What camera should I buy?”
Oh well, if only I had a penny for every single time I’ve been asked this question… To be honest, I probably asked it too, at some point.
It was also one of the very first subjects I’ve stumbled upon in photography school, when one of my teachers asked: “do you know what the best camera is?” Well, guess what, the answer wasn’t Nikon and it wasn’t Canon either (for the Sony crew: it wasn’t Sony either!”)— the best camera is the one you have on you at the right time; because you can own the most expensive and performant camera on the market, but if it’s not within your reach when you actually need it, then it won’t bring much. And it goes the other way around too — if something phenomenal happens, but you only manage to capture if with your phone — that image still has a lot of value, if you’re a good photographer — chances are, you’re the only one who’ll ever know you took it with your phone!
So if you’re just starting out with photography or if you’re thinking of starting a business, especially if you’re thinking of starting a business, actually, you should probably not buy a camera and by now you must be thinking — “what is she saying?!” — but bare with me! Why did I emphasise “especially if you’re starting a business?” — well, because photography, just like any other business has to make sense financially too — you have to make a profit and starting out you should only invest where it’s absolutely necessary and once the money starts coming in you should spend it wisely — otherwise we’re talking about a hobby — a very expensive hobby, I might add.
Back to “do not buy a camera” — chances are, you are reading this on your smartphone — so, there you go! A smartphone should be enough to get you started and trust me, this is one of the best trainings you can get: you can learn really fast to focus on the composition and train your eye, plus you’ll always have it on you, giving you the opportunity to never miss any eye catching scene. Better yet, If you want to go deeper into the art of photography, go buy yourself a cheap analog camera and some film and start shooting — learning not to waste any shots because you only have 36/24/12 is absolutely one of the best ways to learn. If you already have a DSLR or a mirrorless camera — even better: learn your camera by heart and start understanding how it works.
There’s some exceptions, like sports photography, where you need some high performance zoom lenses or wedding photography, which you…yeah, a smartphone won’t cut it… In which cases I advise you to invest more into lenses than the actual camera and if you’re on a budget, look into second hand lenses, because they’re a pretty safe bet.
However, if you’re just starting out and want to take pictures of flowers, some landscape or even portrait, start training your eye with the camera that you already own and play with the light and the composition. You’ll be surprised of what you can achieve if you focus.
Even better, try shooting black and white to take the focus off the colour and pay more attention to your subject and the composition. (PRO tip: during some of my shoot I set my camera to shoot in BW, so I only focus on the composition, because the RAW pictures are in colour anyway).
By the way, many smartphones nowadays have the option to take RAW pictures (I use one called ProCamera on my iPhone), which is really helpful when editing. RAW images, also called digital negatives have a wider dynamic range, making them more flexible when editing. Some smartphones also offer the option to set the exposure time and the ISO — which is another fascinating playground — use it! Same goes for a DSLR if you own one: explore your camera.
Pay the most attention to the light — take your pictures next to a window for example or if you want, choose a subject — like a tree or a house or even a person and take several picture of it/them: one in the morning, one in broad daylight and one when it’s cloudy (for example) and see how the light changes your subject.
The first layer of a good photograph is always the composition. It’s the composition that should be complemented by beautiful editing and not the other way around.
I hope this inspires you to grab your already owned camera and start using it passionately, everyday and everywhere!
Oh, by the way! Brand designer Lisa Jacobs and I launched a podcast recently on photography and brand design! You can listen to it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.