HUGE DISCLAIMER: This is not a photo thread!

Hey guys. It feels good to be posting more regularly on the MA forums. I searched the forums and found little or no information on concert photography (or even photography in general) - tips, techniques, gear-related queries, image processing, links to photographer's websites etcetera.

Photography in general is gaining popularity with more affordable dslrs these days. I got my kit a little more than a month ago so I'm pretty much one of the newbies in this scene.

My gear: Canon 60D, 18-135mm kit lens, f/1.8 50mm
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22210260@N06/

Hope there are more enthusiasts on these forums. So post away your experiences, gear info, links, tutorials etc. Let's refrain from posting photos or else this might get banned like all the other photo-related threads =/ Hope the mods are okay with this little step of mine.

Cheers,
Vince

Edit: Guess concert photography is too narrow a topic. Let's make it a general photog help thread.

Sorry, completely self-taught amateurism in my case. I'm all in support of this thread though, maybe I can learn a thing or two when the pros start posting.
I'm using a Canon EOS 550D and am really happy with it. Lens is the one that came with it. Good enough for me and my wallet.

I want to change my shitty 10 year old camera to something better, anything a newbie should watch for when choosing a camera?

Are you looking for a point&shoot or an entry level dslr? Also any budget restrictions?

Entry level. As for the budget, not really, just something that is not outrageously expensive

Well since you're starting off you have the choice of going with a DSLR with full HD video capabilities (a feature which is pretty handy) or go with a plain vanilla DSLR where you could shoot photos only. The plus side is that if you go for a cheaper camera body, you could splurge a bit more on getting higher quality lens. I'd recommend you going with the former coz video footage from a dslr is really slick. Some options that you could contemplate:

Canon 550D or the T2i with a 18-135mm lens: Would probably cost you around $800. The standard kit lens is the 18-55mm (~$599) but the one I mentioned earlier has a slightly larger zoom and is a good investment.

Nikon D90 comes with the 18-105mm lens. Another really good camera to start out with. It'll cost you around $1050.

Another Nikon worth checking out is the D5000 (~$600 with the 18-55mm).

If you feel that the zoom lens is a bit too much (an extra ~$300), you could start off with the 18-55mm and then later on, as and when your interest grows...you could keep buying lenses for different purposes. Besides, you can always buy second-hand lenses from your local camera store. There are plenty of opportunities.

I feel these are the good cameras to start off with. I've only mentioned Canon and Nikon coz I believe their service is much better than the other brands.

I've been wanting to get a decent, semi-professional camera for a while now(everyone knows that iPhones just don't cut it...). Anyone have any recommendations for something under $100?

I hate to say it iAm, but I don't think there's anything like that within the $100 range. You'll be hard pressed to find anything somewhat professional for less than $500-$600. Yeah, photography isn't cheap

I figured as much; any recommendations for something of quality on an affordable budget?

Look into used cameras, my camera (Canon Powershot g6) only cost around $100 and is adequate if you can't afford better.

Uhhuh. Well since you're restricted to the 'point & shoot' category, check out the nikon coolpix series. Definitely affordable and reliable.

I used to have a Nikon coolpix L20, avoid it!!

All the pictures come out blurry with an awful looking yellow tint. Maybe its something they've fixed with the later models, but just be careful when picking one is my advice.

^ Ok odd. Not that I've used it personally, I was told that it's a decent camera series. Must've been a defective piece?

Wedding photographer Seattle is professional wedding photographer. They did their job very carefully and decently. I like their portfolio. You may also visit their portfolio to see their work.

anyone have any advice for taking a picture taken with say an 8mp camera, and cleaning it up and making it clearer? iv seen people make a blurry picture more clear. I use gimp for my photo editing.

Well you have to keep in mind that use of filters to edit photos always means losing information, so you can't really improve the quality in the narrowest sense. If you are using gimp, you could try filters -> enhance -> unsharp mask for better contrast, filters -> blur -> selective gaussian blur for "cleaning it up" and filters -> enhance -> sharpen for, well, sharpening. Just play with the variables a bit and see if something improves. If not you are probably out of luck.

Weddings are one of the most sacred and loveliest of all the events in a person’s life. Every single aspect of wedding is a beauty, in itself.

It feels good to work with a professional wedding photographer for learning new techniques and tips for a beginner. To improve your skills about photography you have to work with them.

Mods, spammer alert.