My Camera Bag + More Books

Something that never seems to fail to bother me is when a photographer is secretive about their “equipment”.  I see fantastic photographs by a photographer and think “I wonder what lens they used…”  No matter how much you know your camera, some lenses just yield certain results.  I find more and more that I like when photographers annotate their photos with the camera and lens used (or focal length), shutter speed, aperture and ISO.  When you first delve into photography these things probably don’t mean anything to you.  They didn’t to me.  But over time I’ve come to appreciate it as it tells me more about what the photographer was doing to capture that image in just that way.  Now, you may argue that knowing the shutter speed and aperture does not guarantee you will get the same image if in the same spot, and this is true, but what it does tell you is where to begin.  If you have an idea of the time of day an image is shot, these numbers can be very helpful.  Aperture for instance can tell you about why a background is nice and blurry (shallow depth of field –> large aperture –> small f-stop number, i.e.f/1.8), or why rushing water is so smooth (greater depth of field –> small aperture –> large f-stop number, i.e. f/22).  But that is something you become more familiar with over time.  It’s not something to necessarily concern yourself with at the beginning.  When starting out I think it’s most important to learn the basic functions of your camera and learn to feel comfortable taking photos with it.  And this holds true for DSLRs or point-and-shoots, because point-and-shoots these days can yield some wonderful results!

Alright, so the point of this was to share with you what I have in my “camera bag” (I say “camera bag” because I don’t actually own a camera bag…why?  I have no idea).  So here is a run down:

• Canon 60D body
• Canon XTi body (needs a new shutter, going to convert to infrared)
• Canon EFS 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 II (“kit” lens)
• Sigma DG 28-300mm 3.5-6.3 {I’m using this lens a lot right now}
• Canon EF 50mm 1.8 II
• Bower Super Wide 0.42x with macro filter attachment (fits kit lens)
• Neewer Super Wide 0.45x with macro filter attachment (fits 50mm lens)
  
• Quantaray QDC 900WA Speedlight
• QSX 66oITM tripod
• Infrared Remote
• Tethered Release
• Vivatar ND8 Filter
• Vivatar CPL (circular polarizing) filter
• Green.L Gradual Gray filter

And I think that’s about it.  I feel like I’ve forgotten something, but can’t figure out what.  I am hoping to add a 28mm 1.8 lens soon, but prices went up a few hundred after the earthquake in Japan, so might have to wait a little while on that one.  I’d also like to add a wide angle in the near future…but those are a little more as well.  OH!  Some L-series lenses would be awesome, too!  If only I had unlimited funds.  Thank goodness for BorrowLenses.com!

So I also wanted to talk about a few more photography books I have bought over time and recommend.  Have you ever heard of Scott Kelby?  He’s a photography/Photoshop guru!  He writes for the everyday person, staying away from technical jargon that might have you glazing over.  I think he is an author for every kind of photographer, but most especially for those of you just starting out.  His digital photography book series deals more with the “what equipment should I use” and “how do I get that shot” kind of stuff, and not really the basic functions of the camera.  You can usually find that in the beginning of most photography books.  I must admit, I usually gloss over those sections, but I’ll be talking about a book later this week that is great for this.  For now, let’s talk about these books by Scott Kelby.

The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby is a fantastic book about everything photography.  He tells you about all the equipment, what it’s for, how it’s used, etc…  Lenses, tripods, remote releases, filters, all of it.  All of the chapters are based around shooting like a pro.  Using backgrounds, where to focus, shooting waterfalls and sunsets, basically taking a situation and walking you through how to photograph it.  (It is also mentioned on the books cover “Great for point-and-shoot digital camera owners, too!”)

The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2 by Scott Kelby is written in his same great style, but expands on more of the topics important to wanting to shoot like a pro.  There is a lot more information on lighting, using flashes and studio lighting like hair lights and light meters.  Other chapters deal with shooting portraits, landscapes, macro and weddings.  Just all around good information.  Both of these books I read cover to cover.

He has a third book in this series, The Digital Photography Book, Volume 3, but I haven’t had a chance to read all of it yet, but so far it’s shaping up to be great as well.  I would recommend this set of three books to everyone.

I also recommend his books on Photoshop and Photoshop Lightroom (he has books for each of the versions I believe, as well as for Elements).  The instructions in these books are well laid out and easy to understand.  He walks you through every step with photos along the way.  When I was first teaching myself Photoshop, his was the first and only book I bought on the topic.