Newbie Intro + Seeking Advice. HI ALL!

[GhostDDan]

Greetings all!
I am the proud owner of a Nikon D5100 since July 2012 with the following kit lenses and speedlites
1) AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR
2) AF-S DX Zoom 55-200mm f/4-5.6 G ED
3) SB-910

I've been stalking the forum on and off for quite sometime and I finally decided to create an account here I hope I would have a great experience with the pros here and it's my new year resolution to take more beautiful pictures.

With that, I would like to seek my very first help!
I'm into portrait photography as well as miniatures photography. Let's go down to my portrait help first. I am a huge fans of cosplay events especially. I am in love with one of the photographer's shoots and I managed to gather that he is using Nikon D300, 17-55 & 70-200 lens with flash at aperature mode F2.8.

I would really really love to learn his style of photoshoots. Can anyone advise me if getting a AF-S DX 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED would be good for such portraits shots? And how to get such nice flash light on the subject! I own an Firefly Aurora but I dont get such effects!

Thank you and have a happy new year


Samples of the photographer's shots [ His Site: flickr.com/photos/awe4alex/sets/ ]

 

[RhysCheng]

a lens wont help u get a good shot. maybe better bokeh and image quality. botom line, u have to practice and 'guess-and-check' till u get a result u like.

if u use a 18-55, 17-55 and 70-200 to shot the same way, the only thing that changes is the depth of field.

so dont bother getting a lens.

 

[eleveninth]

just ask him how he does it.

 

[GhostDDan]

Woooh okay, I always thought lens are the key factor to having those pro shots.

What about body? Only more chim stuffs or affects a lot on pic quality.

Another question don't mind, with lens that gives different depth of lens, does it means I can make the background so blurry that it becomes a nice smooth background?
Sorry if it sounds weird

 

[SkyStrike]

Woooh okay, I always thought lens are the key factor to having those pro shots.

What about body? Only more chim stuffs or affects a lot on pic quality.

Another question don't mind, with lens that gives different depth of lens, does it means I can make the background so blurry that it becomes a nice smooth background?
Sorry if it sounds weird

Sorry, not to be rude, but in short: Good Gears with bad skills will only give you good quality crap. True, there is a limitation to the equipment you own, but if you have yet to hit the barrier, you don't need to upgrade.

Next, to get the blurry background. There are 2 ways (to what I know...) to do it.

1) One is use a zoom like you 55-200 and make sure your subject's distance to the background is far. With this, you can even have the background blur with your 18-55 at 55mm. (The background blur to me is called Out of Focus). Using this method, it's harder to get the blur with the background distance when it's close.

E.g. Keeping the distance between you and your subject, the more you zoom, the more blur the background... How smooth the background is will varies. You have to experiment it yourself to get the "best blur".


2) Use a large aperture lens. With this large aperture, your background will be also blurred out nicely. But the quality of blur is (imo) better than the previous method. But usually, such lens does not come cheap. One cheap lens with large aperture would be 50mm f1.8. But the wide open performance may be soft... (some people call this the "bokeh shot", but it's just a good quality blurred background.)

Many folks I know would like to get a tele lens with large aperture as it combines the both and gives them a super dreamy blurry background. But these lenses (as mentioned) are not cheap. (e.g. 200mm f2).


Then again, nice smooth background itself is a subjective matter. Some may think it's smooth, others may think it's bad. Not everyone shares the same thoughts. If it's good enough to you, that's all it matter

*You can't get everyone to agree with your art. But be willing to accept comments and critiques positively and you will get far.*

 

[Rashkae]

I don't see anything in his shots that you can't do with your gear. The only thing he does is photoshop

 

[Zeisser]

Practice more with your equipment learn to understand them before embarking on purchases.
To emulate others is good to a point but ultimately you control your ability to produce images
to your liking. Develope your own style go shoot more.

 

[macxenon]

I don't see anything in his shots that you can't do with your gear. The only thing he does is photoshop

I concur.

 

[chillicutter]

Hello GhostDan!

Welcome to CS.

 

[XavierShoot]

Hello GhostDan
Welcome to CS!

 

[daredevil123]

Woooh okay, I always thought lens are the key factor to having those pro shots.

What about body? Only more chim stuffs or affects a lot on pic quality.

Another question don't mind, with lens that gives different depth of lens, does it means I can make the background so blurry that it becomes a nice smooth background?
Sorry if it sounds weird

The Key Factor to creating great shots is to build up your skills. Having expensive lenses or cameras will do nothing for you if you do not know the basics of how to use them to acheive what you want.

I suggest you spend some time, effort or money to learn these skills.

BTW welcome to Clubsnap.

 

[nulbonklr]

Greetings all!
I am the proud owner of a Nikon D5100 since July 2012 with the following kit lenses and speedlites
1) AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR
2) AF-S DX Zoom 55-200mm f/4-5.6 G ED
3) SB-910

I've been stalking the forum on and off for quite sometime and I finally decided to create an account here I hope I would have a great experience with the pros here and it's my new year resolution to take more beautiful pictures.

With that, I would like to seek my very first help!
I'm into portrait photography as well as miniatures photography. Let's go down to my portrait help first. I am a huge fans of cosplay events especially. I am in love with one of the photographer's shoots and I managed to gather that he is using Nikon D300, 17-55 & 70-200 lens with flash at aperature mode F2.8.

I would really really love to learn his style of photoshoots. Can anyone advise me if getting a AF-S DX 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED would be good for such portraits shots? And how to get such nice flash light on the subject! I own an Firefly Aurora but I dont get such effects!

Thank you and have a happy new year.

I find your gears are good enough.

Just need to go out and shoot, practice more.

 

[nitewalk]

I think your gears are fine. Need to use them first before getting more. It was almost 2 yrs from when i first got my camera till i first bought a UWA lens. It was kit lens all the way.

 

[mds80]

Hey welcome to Clubsnap!
Great to see a fellow D5100 user . I have been using the D5100 with the kit lens and 55-300mm and I can vouch that these lenses cover almost every situation. Since you're set up is similar, just take a while more to discover what you're lacking and how a new, different lens will be able to complement your current set up. Btw a cheap and good lens for portrait photography would be the 35mm F1.8. It costs around $330 whereas the 17-55mm F2.8 around 2K I believe. The 35mm is a fixed focal length but great for starting out. Probably the next lens on my shopping list.