Was walking on the path of a nature trail and there wasnt anything too interesting in terms of plants. There was all generic green vegetation until I cross a bridge and look to the left and see these hiding, yet standing out colorfully. I had to get some photos after the excitement I felt.
I've been inspired (in no small part due to your photos) to get a camera and start doing some photography. Do you have any tips for a beginner? Good cameras to get, things you wish you had known, that kind of thing? Your photos look so good!
Heyo! Welcome to the photography world! I'd glad I could inspire you a bit.
A few tips I've learned recently:
For buying gear, the actual camera doesn't really matter for beginners. Any camera will take good photos, even old ones.
If you're feeling sociable, go to a local camera store and try out some used camera. Pick one that feels good and fits your budget. Brand doesn't matter.
Last, if you get a camera with interchangeable lenses, spend more on a lens than the body. High quality lenses will continue to be great on newer, better camera bodies & make cheap bodies take amazing photos.
I've got two posts for more tips, check 'em out!
Okay, we've made it to the bottom of the post. My starter camera recommendation has always been a Panasonic G or GX body (GX1, GX7, G7, GX85, or even a G9 or GX9 if you're feeling very spendy) + a Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 lens, which is still one of my favorite lenses of all time.
Prefer a mirrorless camera over a DSLR. DSLRs are cheaper, but harder to learn. You can adapt DSLR lenses to mirrorless if you like using cheaper DSLR lenses.
idk... feels like, still wanna continue the moe and kawaii streak a bit longer around here.. and this Nendoro, I always wanted to show how awesome the printed background accessories when snap through the right setting... you can really see the hydra/poison dragon summoned by her huh?
As a photography hobbyist, I was excited to bring my camera to an eclipse viewing with some friends. My gear is far from ideal for astronomical photography, but I’m pretty satisfied with the results considering the limitations. Here’s a time lapse of my photos, along with some of my favorite individual shots under the cut.
These photos were taken on my Panasonic Lumix G7 using a 45-200mm lens. This lens had an 18-stop ND filter attached for every photo except the shots of the totality. Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to adjust the exposure when I took off the filter. The light loss from the totality was enough for me to be able to leave the settings as is.
While I would have loved to have a lens with a longer focal length, the wide field of view ended up being a blessing in disguise. The sun moves faster than you’d think when you’re trying to zoom in on it, and I don’t own a star tracker to keep the camera pointed at objects in the sky. Being zoomed out meant the sun would stay in shot for longer and I had to rotate the camera less to keep the eclipse framed. I was able to stabilize the time lapse by aligning each shot in post, but the human imperfections of my camera adjustments meant that I couldn’t completely prevent things from jittering around a little. This is most noticeable in the movements of the moon, since I couldn’t match the rotation exactly by hand.
I’m haven’t found a way to get Tumblr to support HDR for photos, so they’re unfortunately going to look a bit flatter than the time lapse video. The time lapse is in HDR though! If you have a device that supports HDR, that’s the best way to watch it.
Overall, I had a lot of fun during the eclipse. It was surprisingly photogenic, even with my less professional equipment. Nothing beats seeing the totality in person though, so I highly recommend making an attempt to see it for real if the trip is ever feasible. It’s definitely worth the effort!
Thank you for sharing your photos and videos! Jared and Gen looked so happy together yesterday <3. You caught such great moments.
An aside question, did you take all of your pictures with your phone or did you bring a camera? If the latter, what model/lens set up did you go with? I'm slated to go to my first convention ever in a few months, and I'm trying to figure out what to go with if I want to take photos. Not sure if I want something bulky, but I also don't know if phone cameras are good enough.
Thank you, and you're welcome!
Good questions, I should preface this by saying I am in no way a professional anything when it comes to videos/photos. Videos that have the better zoom (with the floating blue reflected light) were taken from my iPhone SE (not the greatest at photos/vids, but I didn't buy it for that.) My mom has an iPhone Pro that takes fantastic photos/vids, so I guess it depends on the quality of your phone.
The higher quality videos that have the annoying spotlight were taken from my Panasonic Lumix G7 with a variable 14-42mm lens. I'm kicking myself that I replaced my 45-150mm zoom lens in my camera case with my wallet (to save space). I didn't realize how much I would have wanted that, even sitting on the front row. Either way my case isn't too bulky, and I was able to keep my phone in one of the pockets.
(My biggest issue was having a bag large enough for one of the posters I got. That was a mess to haul around without accidentally bending it.)
Pictures for the first week. Normally there will be more, but since I started on Wednesday, it wasn't a full week. Since it was the first week, the biggest struggles were just learning the intricacies of my camera (Panasonic G7), like shutter speed, zoom, and focus. I also dabbled a bit with the color correction, which I'm still getting the hang of.
Note: The first 3 of these photos had to be compressed a bit in order to upload them to Tumblr, so there may be some color or artifacting weirdness.
It took me a while to decide to upload this but every time I see it it grows on me. Such a happy thinking space looking at how peaceful it looks and makes me feel. :D