Want to take my own photos instead of hiring someone - How complicated?

Hi guys,

I'm starting my own fitness clothing line, here in my country it costs between 350-500$ for an hour to hire someone to take pictures outdoors which is over my budget.

I was thinking to learn it my self, I did read few articles and believe it's something possible to learn in few weeks with tranning.

My sister is a fitness model and she's the one who's modeling for my business so I also save a lot here, but my question is :

Does it possible to learn to take this kind of quality pictures in few weeks ?

https://www.instagram.​com/p/Bj0D_e5hCfb/

https://www.instagram.​com/p/BikTCrbHMwp/

https://www.instagram.​com/p/BjclMZMBkpw/

If so, what canon should I be getting? My Budget is anywhere from 1000$ - 1500$, I rather buy something good to get those pictures.

And one last question is, how do they get the blurry effect? as I understood the Aperture has to be low as possible? around F\2.8?


I really appreciate any kind of help! thank you so much.

Short answer is no, you can’t learn to take pictures like that in a few weeks. There is so much involved here, learning to use the camera, learning lighting, learning posing a model etc.Hire someone who knows what they are doing.

Larry Weinman wrote in post #18643127
Short answer is no, you can’t learn to take pictures like that in a few weeks. There is so much involved here, learning to use the camera, learning lighting, learning posing a model etc.Hire someone who knows what they are doing.

Hi and thank you for your reply!

Okay, since I'm not looking to hire anyone, do you recommend any tutorial or ebook to learn for beginners?

And one more thing, I'm about to buy Canon T7i including all the kit, does this camera is good for this kind of shots?

Thank you!

danielx111 wrote in post #18643156
Hi and thank you for your reply!

Okay, since I'm not looking to hire anyone, do you recommend any tutorial or ebook to learn for beginners?

And one more thing, I'm about to buy Canon T7i including all the kit, does this camera is good for this kind of shots?

Thank you!

The T7i takes excellent pictures, fully up to pro quality, depending on requirements.

But you mentioned getting a blurry effect. You want to make the background and foreground out of focus. As you say, this is done by selecting a large aperture, like f/2.8 or even bigger, like f/1.8. You get the greatest effect with a full frame camera and big aperture lenses. How much of an effect do you need? It could be expensive to buy until you are happy.

Since you have decided not to hire a professional photographer, I suggest you buy or rent some equipment and try some photography. Only then will you discover how practical it is to do your own. Anyway, you might really enjoy it, and maybe even change vocations.

Curious where you live, Daniel?

When I was about 9 & my mother lent me her camera, she said, "Be sure to have the sun behind you." For the crappy drugstore processing, gray on gray, we had then it was good advice. Note that neither of the shots you linked have used that advice, & are shot in the open shade. Set your lens at f/2.8, & start with that low contrast lighting.
https://morguefile.com​/classroom

Virtual Camera
Notice the background changes when you use his "Shutter and Aperture" settings!

Archibald wrote in post #18643164
The T7i takes excellent pictures, fully up to pro quality, depending on requirements.

But you mentioned getting a blurry effect. You want to make the background and foreground out of focus. As you say, this is done by selecting a large aperture, like f/2.8 or even bigger, like f/1.8. You get the greatest effect with a full frame camera and big aperture lenses. How much of an effect do you need? It could be expensive to buy until you are happy.

Since you have decided not to hire a professional photographer, I suggest you buy or rent some equipment and try some photography. Only then will you discover how practical it is to do your own. Anyway, you might really enjoy it, and maybe even change vocations.

Thank you for your detailed respond, I also just spoke to professional photographer and he told me if I buy Nikon D750 there's an automatic setting for those things, does it right? I saw this camera is quiet expensive but if it deliver high quality pictures and also have an automatic option I rather buy this model.

What do you think?

Thanks again!

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18643205
Curious where you live, Daniel?

I live in Israel, I spoke to two professional photographers here and their fees were so high, I really rather learn it by my self, even if it would take me couple of months, I'm not looking to take pictures of crazy views or anything like that, just outdoors photos with some models I'm in contact with.

Three thoughts from a business perspective:

You are starting your own business. Congratulations! That makes your time and energy much too important to be branching out into another field.

It might be time to review your business plan to see if there are other predictable expenses that should be included.

Instead of learning the specialized skills of fashion photography you might want to consider learning the universal skills of finding affordable vendors and making partners of them.

Best wishes for a great business launch!

I dont see how those pictures are complicated. I would recommend a used 6d.
To the op learn iso, aperture and shutter speed triangle. Then dont shoot in bright sun. Compose your picture and take several shots.

elitejp wrote in post #18643245
I dont see how those pictures are complicated.

Lighting is kinda boring and uncomplicated. That's about 1/10 of creating an image that is part of a brand catalog.

I didnt see anything in those pictures that suggested complicated lighting

From what he posted , yeah looks pretty flat and basic.. all is needed is a shady spot, a prettt girl, and LR.. or whatever software

Will first results be exactly that? Probably not but close enough(if basic exposing is understood)that some practice could have close enough.

T7i , kit lens and a nifty 50 could at least get him started.
Again i dont mean youll be a pro photog suddenly, just that if you do your homework , you could come close enough that it will satisfy your immediate needs for photos that look better than cell phone snapshots

For the specicfic look that you posted

danielx111 wrote in post #18643233
Thank you for your detailed respond, I also just spoke to professional photographer and he told me if I buy Nikon D750 there's an automatic setting for those things, does it right? I saw this camera is quiet expensive but if it deliver high quality pictures and also have an automatic option I rather buy this model.

What do you think?

Thanks again!

Bad advice.
On two counts.

- Don't think about buying more or different gear.
All DSLR's have automatic settings you can use. Nothing about the D750 auto setting is going is going to help.

- Concentrate on learning how to be a photographer. Although "automatic" will get you up and running, using Automatic settings will never offer results like those you linked to. Auto settings are a good place to start, but it is not what you have come hear and asked about. You don't need a forum, advice, or a class to set a camera to auto and let it make all the decisions.

If you don't have any camera/lens at all right now, look for either;
- A used 6D as already recommended, and an EF 85mm f/1.8 for portrait work. Far less $ than an f/2.8 zoom, faster aperture and better focal length for portraits.

- An even more affordable APS-c "Ti" or similar with the even more affordable EF 50mm f/1.8 STM (as recommended above)

Any camera should be able to take those pictures if you are outside with good diffused lighting, you don't even need a full frame.

A good crop body like any of the 24Mpx rebels, combined with the Canon 50 1.4 or the Canon 85 1.8, and a couple of Flashpoint flashes with an Xpro transmitter and cheap softboxes/stands would fit close to the budget and do this job easily, provided you also develop good post processing technique to punch up the results later.

$400 for body, $300 for lens, $200 for flashes, $100 for stands, $50 for softboxes, and $80 for trigger (USD amounts though, and on the used market potentially).

Just look for aesthetically pleasing photo areas with some protection from the sun (don't shoot in late morning through to early afternoon unless you are in the shade), then research both posing guides and learn a bit of GIMP or Lightroom for editing.

A better lens over the Canon, IMO, is the older Sigma DG 50 1.4 (non art) if you can find one of those. Slow to focus, but great IQ.

I will try to take my SL2 Rebel, that lens, and a flash or two this afternoon and show what kind of results you can get in Av mode with some tips on settings.

This was taken 8 years ago, my first paid senior portrait shoot with no real previous experience, with a 7D, 50mm and flash on the shoe. Nothing great, but comparable to the results that were posted as a goal. Had I researched posing concepts and worked more on the lighting, the results would have been better, so definitely read up as much as you can.