How you got Started in DSLR Photography

What’s really funny is how I even got into photography. I’ve always loved looking at photos but never really cared for taking them. Back in 2009 when we got our tax return my fiancée wanted to get a high end camera to start doing glamour shots to add to her hair stylist career. Well I decided ok ill split our return and she buys what she wants and I get what I wanted, so she wanted DSLR.

So I surfed net, looked on eBay and found a Canon XSI bundle with 5 lens I thought was great combo... So I bought that and some cheap lighting kit with her part of return. When it arrived I started messing around with the Canon XSI and started to realize how much I liked taking photos and at the time I thought wow these are spectacular, and other around me said the same.

So that got me more interested, Then I found POTN (Photography-on-the.net) and wow did my world change, I realized my beginning photos weren’t all that great and I had a lot to learn (still do).With finding POTN I started reading and learning more techniques, better way to compose, and how to get the most out of my equipment, which I am still learning.

Someday I hope that my amateur photography can become a full time career, doing studio work, maybe weddings and more. Who knows were the future will take me but I don’t want photography to become like any other job and get mundane and have all the fun of it go away.

In February 2009 I received a decent tax return and stood in Circuit City for an hour looking at the Point and Shoots. My financials weren't going to allow a DSLR, nor did I want to dive into that arena. I was hesitant that the hobby would be worth it and wanted to work my up to a DSLR should I discover a passion for it. So I purchased a Canon SX10 IS.

Fast forward to December 2010. I had fallen in love with photography and decided to apply for credit at Dell. I was instantly approved and ordered a Canon T2i with kit lens, the 55-250mm, and 50mm 1.8. Done! I remember one of my early shots of the coffee shop on the local boulevard at night. The improvement over the P&S was night and day. I was amazed...and hooked after that.

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Worked in video production for over 25 years. Digital stills are simply video that doesn't move.

Exposure to the work of great videographers helped me grasp composition. Relatively easy transfer of training for post processing.

Great reading these stories. I'm just a hobbyist but my interests in photography stemmed a while ago.

About 7 years ago, my mom bought a XT/350D to take sports photos of my brother and me. Of course her having that camera, I'd play around with it here and there and I really enjoyed the idea of it. I took film photography classes in high school and college and I loved working in the developing film and working in the dark room (finished photos just seemed so gratifying).


I studied abroad last semester so I bought a 1100D kit on Black Friday, which basically got my creative gears running and my current addiction to photography. I sold off my 1100D recently for as much as I paid, and bought my current 60D.

These little things led me to where I am today. I'm really still learning a lot and trying to do as much as I can. That recent past is the reason why I still hold on to a very capable 350D.

While in College I did a course that one of the end results were that they told you what possible you are best suited for and my own was Photography I remember as a young boy we went on a family vacation and picked up my Aunts Film camera and shooting away she and others said that I took good pictures I still have a few of those somewhere in a Album and coincidentally my first job was at a studio where I did video and audio then moved to a bigger studio again TV related all about video , then my third job was a technical position repairing water heaters but next door there was an old guy who ran a photo studio shooting stills I spent much time over by him good film days and he shot Nikon , Got into IT then and about 2007 I got back in touch with a old school mate who was into photography and I purchased a Samsung P&S and caught the bug all over again a year later got my XT and haven't looked back yet the same school mate and I opened our studio over a year ago and have done some Weddings , Studio work and events .

David

Always had a lot of interest in photography, I even decided to do it in school when I was 14, Im now 30, I had taken some photos on a holiday where a car rally happened to be taking place. I shot with rolls of film and decided to try and develop them in school as part of a project. Well it worked and worked really well, I managed to make myself 10 A4 sized prints of these amazing cars.

Thats really how it all started for me, now its spiralled out of control these days and I spend so much of my money, but I dont mind, i enjoy it and can afford it.

Now to shop for the next L lens

In the late 70's early 80's I was into taking surf pictures of my Friends. I took photography classes in High School. I sold off the cameras and lenses in the mid 80's. I didn't get back into photography until December 2008 when I got my 1Ds Mark III and L lenses for Christmas. I don't really take as many pictures as I did before, but every now and then I pull out the camera and take some pictures.

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

I've always had an interest in photography but it wasn't until digital camera technology became affordable that I finally took the plunge. I bought a Canon S1 IS in 2003, primarily because I was afraid the weight of an SLR would discourage me from taking pictures. While the S1 was a beast in and of itself, I kept it for nearly four years and really enjoyed taking pictures with it. Since then I migrated to an SD 1100 IS (wanted to go lighter) before I picked up my T2i in 2010. Now I am saving my coins for a 7D and someday, maybe, a FF body as well. Photography will always be a hobby for me, I just wish I would have taken the SLR plunge ten years ago. I never realized I would completely disregard the weight of an SLR once I realized how much control I have over my shots.

My favorite shot with the S1 taken during my honeymoon.

Purchased a Panasonic point and shoot in 2007 and that got me clicking away. Got a Canon 30D off ebay a year later and upgraded to a 40D a year after that. But 2008-2009 was an on and off again affair, until I came back from holiday with pictures I was pleased with and got some very nice comments from friends. From then on I took it more seriously and since 2010 I have had the Sony Nex-5, Fuji X100, two Leica M6s, and currently own a Leica M9 and Canon 5D classic. I went a while without a DSLR whilst owning a small digital system and a film camera, but I missed using the viewfinder, weight and size of a DSLR would you believe!

I have shot film cameras of various types since the early 1970's growing up. I decided to give digital a try to eliminate the need for buying, carrying and developing film, so started with a Canon Powershot G3. The camera worked well on a couple of trips, but I became frustrated with the shutter lag during a whale watching trip in Hawaii -- it was impossible to capture a surfaced whale due to the long shutter lag. I also did not like composing shots while holding the camera away from my body, and most p&s cameras (including the Powershow G3) had a useless or no viewfinder.

After that, I decided I liked not having to deal with film but needed something without shutter lag and with a real viewfinder, so it was time for a dSLR. In 2006 I bought a Rebel XT and Sigma 17-70mm lens. Since then my upgrade path has been XT -> 40D -> 7D -> 5D3 (still have the 7D), along with various lens additions and upgrades.

Well to me it was just a coincidence, I was traveling to Chicago and I was really impressed by the
beauty of this city, the bridges, the architecture, the mix of old and new, etc......so I jumped to the nearest camera store and bought a Rebel 2000, the seller told me that Canon was ahead of Nikon, and directed me on a Canon, so after a while the digital cameras made their appearance and got the Canon S-60 wich was a very nice camera, but I meanly shot just for fun, until It broke cause I left it in the car at -38 celcius a few times, it still working but there is something about the screen.

Last year I purchased a T3i and climbed up to the 5D mk II and looking for the mk III
I shoot for pleasure, not a pro, even if sometimes I get some money, it's mainly has a hobby.
There is so many thing to learn, that I just go with the flow, and getting a little better, specially
when working with Lightroom 4

Boy I am old and going back way further than most of you. I started with an Argus C3 in about 1955.
I later, 1964, got a job at Hallmark Cards in the Tooling area. A few years later they asked for anyone interested in joining the Photography Department so I submitted a portfolio and was accepted. But for reasons unknown, I declined and stayed in Tooling. It turned out to be the right decision, I guess, because Hallmark does not have a photography staff anymore. Just another one of the cuts.
But they did ask and I did say yes to become an, On Call, photographer. That is a guy that does the jobs the real photographers don't want to.
At any rate photography has been my hobby for 50 years. I really don't want to make it a job, than or now.
The move to DSLR is just one more of the so-called improvements in cameras over the years and a normal progression. There will be more, so stay tuned.

I bought my first SLR in 1975, the Canon EF you see to the left of the post. My first DSLR I bought in 2006, in a tentative move to see if I thought 10 Megapixels was good enough to replace my color slide workflow. That was a 400D, and then the avalanche began...

While taking a trip to New York City, i took my Kodak P&S. Unfortunately, some of the pictures were awful and a few were usable, or worth to keep. Back in Miami, my sister (which went with me to NYC) and I decided that we need a better camera. So, I went to the closest Best Buy and got myself a t3. Then I bought flashes, lenses, etc...the photography bug bit me. At any rate, it has become an amazing hobby, but I don't use the camera as much, since I work full time and I go to college, but hopefully I only have 5 weeks before I graduate!

I started with DSLR Photography (Redel_500D) because your SLR (Rebel_300) was getting old.