how much time do you spend learning photography before becoming semi pro?

costademaria wrote in post #9863590
learn Photoshop. only that will make you an advanced photographer. don't buy expensive lenses unless you are not sure what exactly you need. and take always your camera with you and experiment.

cheap camera+50mm+Photoshop is the recipe

but if you want to know exactly what you need to become an advanced photographer-here is the list of the stuff which sooner o later you will buy
1.camera XTI at least
2. good ultrawide+normal+telep​hoto lens
3.all fastest possible prime lenses at- 24mm 28mm 35mm 50mm 80mm 100mm Macro 125mm 200mm 300mm
3.teleconverter 1.4
4.good PC with good Graphic card
5.Ips monitor with monitor calibrator
6.own printer with printer calibrator
7. 2 studio flashes with diffusers
8. 1 or 2 or 3 flashes
9. at least 4 fastest possible memory cards at least 8GB each
10.Photoshop books
11. Smugmug, Flickr or other online album service Pro subscription
12. own domain name

and much more. many will disagree but look at their equipment and see for yourself.
and an understanding wife

why do I need prime lens?

nicksan wrote in post #9863665
Really?
Learn something new everyday in here...

you doubt that learning photoshop will make you an advanced photographer ?

what about knowing your gear, photoshop is part of the gear. an instrument to express yourself in thousands more ways. ok, those who are lazy can go with the windows Paint

picard wrote in post #9866531
why do I need prime lens?

i believe the word Prime itself contains the answer.
you need them because you need outstanding sharp pictures to separate you from the crowd and this together with a good idea and composition makes a good photo.

but think the other way. why the hell they sell these so called prime lenses when we have zooms? there should be a reason, what you think?

50,000 shutter clicks...I do that many in six months. Guess I am a semi-pro.

Some people learn faster than others....I would estimate that if you really work your butt off and practice and study constantly and assuming you have any kind of an eye for photography to begin with...that in 2 years minimum a person could achieve high enough quality photos that they could be considered of minimum professional quality...random wild @$$ ballpark statement of course...

Why do I need a 50mm lens?

costademaria wrote in post #9863590
learn Photoshop. only that will make you an advanced photographer. don't buy expensive lenses unless you are not sure what exactly you need. and take always your camera with you and experiment.

cheap camera+50mm+Photoshop is the recipe

but if you want to know exactly what you need to become an advanced photographer-here is the list of the stuff which sooner o later you will buy
1.camera XTI at least
2. good ultrawide+normal+telep​hoto lens
3.all fastest possible prime lenses at- 24mm 28mm 35mm 50mm 80mm 100mm Macro 125mm 200mm 300mm
3.teleconverter 1.4
4.good PC with good Graphic card
5.Ips monitor with monitor calibrator
6.own printer with printer calibrator
7. 2 studio flashes with diffusers
8. 1 or 2 or 3 flashes
9. at least 4 fastest possible memory cards at least 8GB each
10.Photoshop books
11. Smugmug, Flickr or other online album service Pro subscription
12. own domain name

and much more. many will disagree but look at their equipment and see for yourself.
and an understanding wife

Damn...guess I'm over-qualified. May be time to start selling off some gear...

argyle wrote in post #9868315
Damn...guess I'm over-qualified. May be time to start selling off some gear...

LOL! I'm with you there. I'm going Pentax dude!

thats why i said-Take a look at their gear i guess i am a bit overloaded too