Hey guys, i want to start photograthy coz i find it fun i took some photos in the snow on thursday ( http://www.bigfootdesigns.co.uk/snow ) and i want to know how to start high quality pics, i made a start with my £50 digi camera

Thanks
Nicholas-c

if you want high quality pics, you need a D/SLR if you want photos like the pros because of all the manual features avaliable, but from those photos you have a lot to learn, and i can see an SLR will throw you in at the deep end before you have learnt to swim. I say stick with the camera you have for now and read tutorial sites on how to do different shots with you camera before you go SLR, they set you back around 500 quid here, thats before buying all the different lenses you will need ranging from 90 quid up to £8000 possibly more. Then theres flash guns around £300. You also have filters around £30 upwards. SLR photography IS EXPENSIVE i stress that point, its not worth getting into an SLR untill you have reached a certain level with you current camera. You will be very dissapointed if you start trying to take photos with an SLR hoping they will look professional. I can promice you now they will not.

Check out http://www.panicatthepixels.com for inspiration its mine and a friends photography site. All photos were taken with a DSLR (Nikon D50)

We have only been into SLR photography for around 6 months. And both had resonably high quality compact cameras before our SLRs.

ok kool, well im saving up for a new PC and i think i will buy a high-quality camera afterwards or at the same time, then i will wait for some snow

just out of interest, what do you think about my current photo angles?

They are very very over exposed.

Photography is as much talent as it is art. However, with plenty of experience anyone can take proper good looking images.
Your angles are in some cases quite confusing, and makes is hard to make out the object photographed.
There is no set rulebook regarding what angles to use, but it's important to emphasise the object/view or else the photo might lose it's personality.
http://www.bigfootdesigns.co.uk/snow/P1290027.JPG is quite well done, I can see you want to create a sense of depth in this image.
However, I'd try and fit in the whole house to make the picture complete.
Many of the pics taken, for instance http://www.bigfootdesigns.co.uk/snow/P1290024.JPG does not serve a purpose. A snow covered lens is not something people will queue up in the Tate Modern to see... Or maybe it is..
Hope I taught you something buddy...

ye but what do u expect with a £50 camera

just been looking at prices of the D50 and ouch that's alot of money

and ye, the complete snow pics are a bit dull, but i was experimenting, i was going to go up onto the open fields coz they were pretty thick snow, but as u can see it was getting dark

Well if you want a professional camera, the D50 was voted the best entry level DSLR. Before you start photography you need to know that your going to keep on doing it, and get better at it. Theres no point spending 500 quid on a camera and then in a coupple of weeks you get bored with it or you never progress your skill. AS you get better you have to be able to purchace more lenses to achieve the look you want in your photos, that also costs a lot of money. I my self have just spent out £600 on a 170-500mm Lens for motor sport photography as its something I want to get started in.

You need to have a lot of time to spare to be able to go to events or go to places you want to photograph, you wont get better just taking pictures of snow in your backgarden every year.

and by looking at you profile, i see that you are only 16. and for a 16 year old without a job and only earns his money from pocket money im guessing here, but to get all the things you need its going to take you a hell of a long time to save up for all of this. Ive been into photography with a DSLR for around 6 months now and ive spent around £2000 on equipment in the past 6 months. I did say in my last post, photography aint cheap.

And NASHY, you mean Underexposed. not over exposed

It's not what most people think that when you buy an expensive SLR you will automatically make great looking photo's.. You can make just as good a picture with a $50 compact as with a $500 DSLR... it just depends on your creativity.

The camera is just a tool to express something!

It's not the camera that takes great photographs...

Unless of course you want to do indoor shots without flash, wideangle or tele perspective, or be able to blur the background, or...


However, if you can't spend $500 for a DSLR (plus $XXXX for additional lenses), a good model to start with would be a compact with full manual controls, like a Canon A series, or maybe a Fuji S5600 which offers 10x zoom, decent image quality and raw support (raw files can be processed using the free s7raw program) for £130.