Reddit mentions: The best photography equipment & techniques books

Astrophotography is a hobby in its own right.
For the budget you have listed, you would most likely end up buying a mount that is not up to the task.

I would suggest a nice pair of 10x50 binoculars and this book first.

If you are committed to getting a scope, then this is my suggestion assuming the $1000 budget is all inclusive meaning scope, accessories, and books.

1. Get a dobsonian. 8inches F4.5-5 10" or 12" would be nice but would blow your budget for the necessary accessories. Something like this would be a great place to start. Also nice would be the 10" Meade Lightbridge.
   
   2)The skywatcher comes with 2 eyepieces (25mm and 10mm IRC) THe light bridge comes with one. In either case I would invest in a NICE barlow like this one Barlows are an inexpensive way to improve your options. A 24 mm EP in a 2x barlow becomes a 12mm a 10mm becomes a 5mm. Its not as great as discrete eps in those sizes, but it is an economical way to get more versatility out of your existing eyepieces. I also can't talk enough about the Televue Panoptic EPs. They are affordable and incredibly nice. Eyepieces are something that will last through many scopes. I have 10 or so but only ever use about 3 of them.
   Get a Telrad or a Rigel finder. The Skywatcher has a finderscope, the meade has a red dot finder. Personally I hate red dot finders. I think they are complete junk. Telrad is the defacto standard for zero magnification finders, I prefer the rigel for its smaller size and built in pulse circuit. They are both about the same price. You will need to collimate your scope, a cheshire works great, or a laser collimator will do as well. Many folks use a combination of both. I have gone both ways, cheshire is fine, laser is fine, a combination of both is also fine. Accessories can go on forever, the only other must have that I can think of is a redlight flashlight. This is a good one or you can add red film to an existing flashlight you have or you can do what myself and many others have done and get an LED headlamp and replace the white LEDs with red ones.
   
   
2. books
   
   

• Nightwatch
  
• Turn Left at Orion
  
• The Backyard Astronomers Guide
  
• The Pocket Sky Atlas
  
• The Collins Guide to stars and planets as a pocket field guide I prefer this to the petersen field guide.
  
• The Ultimate Messier Object Log Its free! Has Telrad charts for all the Messier objects and you can download a PDF and print it out. A few years ago I printed a portion of the PDF out, laminated it and took it to kinkos and had it spiral bound. FANTASTIC resource and is my goto for finding messier objects.
  
  I would start with the backyard astronomers guide. Buy that first before you buy anything. It has some very good sections on scopes and observing that can help you answer some questions.
  
  

4. find a local club. Join it. ask questions and goto meetings. Check out Cloudynights.com. Remember that this is something you are doing for FUN.
   
   Lastly I always say go with a dobsonian scope. They are easy to setup and use and they force you to learn the sky. Once you are comfortable operating a scope and moving around the night sky, then I would think about investing in an equatorial mount and scope for astrophotography use.
   
   Good luck and Clear Skies!

So I scale my makeup up or down depending on my character. A more rough and tumble type guy obviously doesn't get as much as a bishonen or female. Remember to always start your makeup routine with a freshly washed face and an application of moisturizer appropriate for your skin type.

1st let's briefly cover the "why" for those unaware of the benefits. Sorry OP if you find this patronizing. Skip ahead to the next paragraph if you already know why makeup is suggested for guys in cosplay. In your costume, I'm sure you want to make a good impression in the hall and in pictures. Makeup will help with this because it will:

• Reduce oily shine from natural oils.
  
• Bring out facial features that get diminished in pictures or poor lighting (eyes, eyebrows, skeletal contours, etc), especially with colorful costumes and wigs.
  
• Even out skin tone (scars, birthmarks, acne, redness, tan lines, etc)
  
• adjust skin tone to be more complimentary to your wig color or closer to character.
  
• Re-contour your face to closer resemble character's
  
  All these factors means the makeup type, amount, and technique required is pretty variable from person to person, costume to costume, even convention to convention.
  
  -----
  
  I would say that bare minimum is a matte loose powder (I use Maybelline Shine Free) and a brown eye liner (any basic pencil that glides on works but I use Sonia Kashuk gel liner). Make sure these are applied to a clean, moisturized face. These 2 products will take care of the top two bullet points above. Powder will knock down the shine and allow you to control it as it pops up during the day. Brown eye liner will bring out your eyes without being as dramatic and obvious as black eyeliner. The eyeliner can also double as a brow pencil but I use a brow specific pencil most of the time for natural colors.
  
  Suggested tools for these products? The loose powder will come with a puff that you can use to apply. I would suggest a Fan Brush or Powder Brush to knock off any extra powder that gets deposited. For the pencil, you should only need a sharpener; some even come with one. I just have a cheap 2-hole metal sharpener I picked up at an art store. If you want to use the pencil on your eyebrow, a spoolie brush will help even out the distribution of product. If you chose the gel liner, it will probably come with a 3-inch long angled detail brush. It works but I found the bristles very stiff and the handle too short to get my hand out of the way so I can see what I'm doing in the mirror. I picked up a longer handled synthetic fiber angle brush to replace it and have been quite happy. Only other tool I can suggest is cotton swabs to slightly smudge the edges of your eyeliner to make it more natural looking.
  
  Before I get too far, an important concept for you starting out is that you want products that have a matte finish. If they don't, you'll get flash reflection in pictures with and look lighter (you know when you see to pictures of women where their face looks 4 shades lighter than their neck and body, that's flash reflecting back at the camera). Shiny/reflective properties in make up is not always apparent when buying or even applying. Steer clear of products with names like luminous, dewy, illuminating, radiant, or brightening. Other words that are tricky descriptors but more of a crap shoot are color correcting or satin, maybe some others that I can't think of right now. Powders, both loose and pressed, are notoriously tricky about this. Eyeshadow is very difficult to find in matte.
  
  -----
  
  The next step up from bare minimum is concealer and foundation to provide coverage and color correction. If you just have a few blemishes you want to cover, a simple combination of concealer on those few spots and powder may be all you want or need. If your powder has a bit of color as the one I linked above does, it will even provide a bit of coverage. There are multiple types of foundation and many hybrids in-between and will probably take a few tries to find the one you like in terms of coverage, color, weight, and finish which all tend to be quite variable, even within brands. In order of less coverage to more we have powder foundation, powder to liquid, liquid, and cream. I really like liquid because it tends to be buildable, that is; you can put on a layer, let it set and dry, then add another layer if you need more coverage. While I use primarily budget or drugstore bands for my makeup, I to get spendy with my foundation and don't regret it one bit. I use MAC Studio Fix and will likely buy more when I run out. I have a couple of different shades that I use to change my complexion to go with blonde wigs. I'm naturally black haired so blonde, white, or pink takes some work. It will take some playing around to figure out what you need for a specific costume but I use the loose powder in light and medium to help me adjust lighter or darker from the two shades of foundation I have. Beard shadow also falls into color correction. Most beard shadow is bluish in tone. Reach back to your middle school art class color theory and remember that orange is blue's complementary color. For our use, putting one on top of the other has a cancelling effect. I sparingly use a matte orange lipstick like NYX butter in Hot Tamale before I put on my foundation in areas where the shadow is really bad. I much prefer taking down beard shadow with a close shave but that's because my beard shadow isn't that bad and my double-edge razor gets much closer than an expensive ass 5-blade monster.
  
  Tools for foundation and concealer. I dot on the foundation with my fingers and spread with a foundation brush. The brush can leave streaks so a blender sponge can help diminish them. Just pounce up and down with light pressure before it sets. Don't press and drag. Your powder application will take care of the rest. Do not apply your liquid foundation with a sponge unless you want to waste foundation. It's a sponge. You'll end up with more foundation in the sponge than on your face. If you buy your concealer in a stick, it's probably all you need but mine is in a pot and I like applying it with a synthetic bristle brush for exactness and blending out the edges. I have a lot of moles on my nose and this helps me get it on each and every one.
  
  -----
  
  So here we are at contouring. You'll probably notice foundation with medium to high coverage really takes some of the depth out of your face. It looks a little weird but can be easily corrected with a matte bronzer or dark concealer to add in shadows. Use the bronzer or concealer to add re-emphasize shadows in the hollows of your cheeks, under your jawline, under your brow bone, etc. Start with your own face shape and then expand your horizons. You are essentially forcing the perception of shadows and depth. Play around with locations, shapes, angles to match your character. Your character have a round face while you have a long rectangular one? Try adding shadow at your hairline and peak of your chin to shorten your face. Get a very light concealer and you can do even more by forcing the appearance of highlights and bringing things forward. This is a good pallet for detail contouring and eyeshadow when you're ready to try that. The eye shadows can be used anywhere on your face for contouring.
  
  Tools: For bronzer, an angled blush brush will get you some nice blend patterns and lines. Cream concealers go on nicely with a synthetic brush or cheap wedge sponges. All said and done, I suggest getting one of the brush kits from Coastal Scents, ELF, or Sonia Kushak. /r/Makeupaddiction tends to like the budget Eco Tools as well.
  
  -----
  My typical order:
  
  
• clean and moisturize
  
• primer/bb cream
  
• beard shadow concealment
  
• foundation
  
• concealer and contour
  
• powder
  
• eyes
  
• brows
  
• powder to set the eyes and brows
  
• chapstick
  
  -----
  Some resources:
  
  Goss
  
  Petrilude
  
  Kevyn Aucoin Face Forward
  
  Whew, I think this is my longest post ever. Hopefully it says what I think it does as I wrote it off and on through out the day and am to tired to proof it.
  
  EDIT: thought I should also specify that I'm a guy cosplayer and regularly use makeup in cosplay. This info is what I've collected through my 7 years of cosplay.

Well, I assume that you know much of the technical aspects of photography, I suggest reading into some resources that talk more about the art of photography, which by the way The Art of Photography by Bruce Barnum is an excellent book.

Everyone advances at their own pace, some have a talent, others are more slow and need to be more deliberate. For me, I have to work a little harder so that I could subconsciously take better shots.

Some tips.

Study some movies you like. Pay attention to the composition that they use as well as the lighting.

Take an art workshop, like painting. (or mooch off an artsy friend) Photography workshops like to delve into techniques and post processing, but other art forms like to do more on composition. you could learn a lot from the way painters think about composition.

Practice certain composition techniques. You don't have to do this on medium format, your digital setup will do just fine, especially if you are short on cash. Spend some time learning how use the "rule" of thirds (when shooting not cropping), "rule" of odds, negative space, texture, lines and shape. Spend a week shooting one aspect of composition. Every now and then start mixing up one or two aspects together. The idea is that you get these general concepts of photographic composition down to a subconscious level. My music theory teacher said this, "we learn these rules, so that we can learn how to break them." We have these "rules" of composition because we know what the human eyes prefer. Learning when use or break them can create a powerful composition.

Walk around with your hands in front your eyes framing the things infront of you, like a movie director would. Like this. You don't always have your camera on you, but you should still think about your photography. see something interesting? Frame it, play with it, and ask, is this a good shot?

Most importantly, write things down. Every shot you take, write down what you did. Write down what you wanted to get out that shot you just took, the settings you used, time of day, type of lighting, etc. On digital, we have exif data to tell us some of the stuff, but we still need to write down. I think your composition will get stronger as you learn what you want out of a photograph and being able to achieve it. Basically, knowing what your shot will be like, without actually seeing it (my ultimate goal).

I read that it is probably also best to shoot black and white exclusively, as it will force you to think about lines and textures even more, but I never did that, and maybe I am at a bit of a disadvantage for that. I don't know.

Like you, I am always striving to improve. I use these tips to help my composition as well. I like to think of every day as a chance to improve.

I hope this helps.

There's a lot to learn, most of it trial and error, but I'll give a few stepping stones, and one piece of advice.

Start here as far as lighting goes: Strobist

For more lighting, look up people like Joe McNally, Chase Jarvis, Zack Arias, and Dan Winters.

As far as posing goes, skim through various fashion magazines—there are lots of books out there about it as well. Any magazine that has quality portraits will help with posing, and lighting. But I wouldn't really spend any money on them.

If video training is more your thing (it is with me), then check out Kelby Training, and CreativeLive. Kelby Training is a subscription based model with some pretty big name photographers, and subjects that range from portraits, weddings, landscape, Photoshop, and copyright law. CreativeLive however, is a free live viewing, with a paid viewing later. Pretty similar to KT, but the one-time price can be a bit steep.

There are obviously A LOT of photographers out there so the few I mentioned just happen to be some of my favorites. And even though you mention portraits specifically, I highly recommend all three of [Ansel Adams' books.](
http://amzn.com/0821221841)

As far as models go you can check out Model Mayhem, but quality can vary... I don't know of any more professional services. I'd imagine people that cosplay would also be available regular modeling as well. This is one area I'm not too familiar with, except for MM.

Now for my advice: 1) Don't get caught up in the gear and 2) copyright your photos!

Buy what you need, one piece at a time. You might think that you need three lights; four different light modifiers; the latest Pocketwizards; a carbon fiber tripod; etc., but you really don't. One light, one shoot-through umbrella (you'll learn why shoot-through), and you'll be fine.

Copyright is a huge deal. If someone uses your photo without permission, and you didn't copyright, tough. The licenses can get pretty complicated, but as you begin going down the path of learning the legal side, you'll definitely learn more and more. Sadly, the legal issues are rarely talked about when people first start taking photos, but they end up being the most important.

Anyway, with any creative endeavor: have fun!

A nice camera bag if you need one. I have four right now, a big one for a full kit, a very small one that sees no real use, a medium sized old school shoulder bag that I use to pack my back up kit in and a modern messenger style bag that can hold my body and a few lenses/flashes, but usually just holds the body with a fifty and everything else I carry with me day to day (Ipad, phone, ecig stuff, papers, pens, change of clothes for kid, gym clothes etc.) The last is immensely handy as it functions as a man purse and allows me to carry my camera with me pretty much all the time.

Barring that I'd just go for a Amazon gift card and pick out some nice Photography books for inspiration. My last purchase was Steve McCurry the Iconic Photographs, Genesis by Sebastião Salgado, and Frontcountry by Lucas Foglia. All three are fantastic, McCurry's is of course amazing, but you probably seen a lot of his work. Salgado's is rich textured, black and white landscapes. The Arctic shots are simply mindblowing. But my favourite of these three is Frontcountry. Foglia captures such a mood and setting perfectly, the whole book is somewhat diverse, but works as a single piece perfectly.

The biggest tip I can give you is to pay attention to light. While you perceive the world as a bunch of 'things', you really need to pay attention to the light, and how it interacts with the 'things' in the scene. The tip on early/late day light is a good one, but should be treated as a guideline rather than a rule. You can make great photographs at any time of the day, but you may have to work harder when the light is less forgiving.

Check out this book by Bruce Barnbaum: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Photography-Approach-Personal-Expression/dp/1933952687/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474377504&sr=8-1&keywords=art+of+photography

It spends a lot of time talking about light and composition, which may be useful to you. It also focuses (ha!) a bit on film photography, but the general concepts of photography are universal, so the book is still very useful.

One other tip is to look at photographs. A lot. Look at good ones. Bad ones. Try to understand why the good ones are good, and the bad ones are bad. This will help you with composition.

Equipment is a tool; learn to use your tools well. Don't think buying the best tools will make you a better photographer. It may help, but learning how to photograph will help much more.

Good luck, and photograph. All the time!

I don't think there's a single answer to the question of "how much post-processing is the right amount?". I think it really depends on the type of photography and the photographer's vision. For example, for photojournalism, there are fairly strict rules about post-processing, in order to maintain the truth about the story, but for high art photography, the sky is the limit when it comes to post-processing.

Personally, I think as long as the photographer is honest about the amount of post-processing done, there are no limits, and the "right" amount of post-processing is whatever it takes to make the best picture possible. For example, I'm perfectly fine with with green screen photography. That type of photography necessarily requires a fair amount of post-processing, and not only is it a lot of fun, you can achieve shots that would be otherwise impossible.

I also want to respond to one comment made by the OP, where he answered "Yes" to the question: "Do you think Ansel Adams made great images by just using "in camera" negatives."

I think the OP needs to study Ansel Adams a bit, because that's not correct. Adams spent A LOT of time in the dark room, at least as much time as he did taking pictures in the first place. In fact, he wrote an entire book (The Print - https://www.amazon.com/Print-Ansel-Adams-Photography-Book/dp/0821221876) on the darkroom work required by his Zone System. There's even a quote of him saying darkroom work is 50% of the photographic process (http://expertphotography.com/10-photography-lessons-from-ansel-adams/).

To be fair, it's not to say proper camera technique isn't important. It absolutely is, and there's nothing wrong with challenging yourself to taking outstanding shots without post-processing. But similarly, there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing heavy post-processing to make fine art photos.

I'm not an architect but somebody who's moving focus into a design related field (who has a healthy interest in the field) - I'd get her the following.

To keep on her, a GOOD sketchbook, Mechanical Pencil, Pen, small Ruler and a Camera (a point a shoot should be fine) and a good backpack.

For the home, craft supplies and lot's of them, don't go to the store and buy them order them in bulk and online, get her a selection of cutting mat sizes and some scalpels and scissors and glue / tape, kid's want to create and they just love having the thing to hold and show off with.

Also book's there are lot's of really dry books on the subject but there are also wonderful ones as well, and also harking back to my suggestion of getting her a camera get her a book or two on photography - I live with a x100T on my at all times and it's taken so many pictures of interesting buildings new and old to serve as inspiration to me, I'd get this one for a start - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Read-This-Want-Great-Photographs/dp/1780673353/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500713320&sr=8-1&keywords=read+this+if+you+want+to+take+photographs

It's a older book but it's more about skill than it is the hardware she will learn a lot from just reading it to be honest.

> Do you guys have any tips on how to start?

Get a camera

Invest in a decent DSLR, just an entry level camera, doesn't have to be fancy, and just start playing around with it.

Learning

Depending on your learning style, whether it be in a classroom environment or more hands-on, start learning the fundamentals, like ISO, aperture and shutter speed and how they work together. There are plenty of books, blog posts and video tutorials online to help you.

I found this book helpful: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Read-This-Want-Great-Photographs/dp/1780673353/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Once you get to know the basics, see if you can find a local photographer who would be willing to let you assist them.

Post-production

Find a tool that works for you that allows you edit your photos. I use Lightroom as it allows me to organise and make adjustments to my photos.

Practice emulating others

Find other photographers whose work you like and try emulate them. I don't mean blatantly copy them as your own work but this helps you to practice shooting and editing in different styles. This helped me to understand what I did and didn't like about someone's work. You might also find your own style along the way!


> What helped you getting in to photography?

My grandfather was a keen amateur photographer and his father was an artist so I guess it runs in the family a bit for me. I used to draw and paint a lot but sometimes I felt impatient because drawing and painting takes time. Photography was a little more 'instant' and it allowed me a lot more freedom edit in post-production. I also live in London now so I don't have a lot of space to store physical art equipment. Photography allows me to be creative, expressive and capture things/people but without taking up too much space!


> What inspires you?

There are a number of photographers out there who inspire me. I primarily shoot weddings and portraits so I guess people and people in love inspire me :)

I looked at the handful of images on flickr. The images there are snapshots; possibly interesting to the people in them, but not bearing critical analysis. This is "someone with a camera," not a photographer. If he were 8 years old, it'd be more important to be encouraging. He appears to be in his 20s. He needs to spend 6 months learning about composition, lighting, and exposure, and then hit people up for critique.

If this simply sounds bitchy and negative to you, we're talking about very different things. If this guy wants to be a photographer, he needs to put in some learning time. This isn't arbitrary elitist nonsense, it's the difference between intelligently comparing Italian restaurants versus discussing the pros and cons of the menu at The Olive Garden.

At absolute minimum, beginning digital photographers should read, digest, and internalize a handful of basic books on the subject. Books like:

• Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson
  
  
• The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman
  
  
• The Art of Photography: An Approach to Personal Expression by Bruce Barnbaum
  
  
• The many Joe McNally books.
  
  And if he wants to get more serious, he should study books like:
  
  
• Chasing the Light
  
  
• Ansel Adams' three books, The Camera, The Negative, and The Print.
  
  
• The Magnum Contact Sheets
  
  
• Time-Life & Nat'l Geo photo series.
  
  
• and more
  
  He should go and see museum and gallery showings of great photographic work, and should study the work of at least 20 or so master photographers to the point of familiarity. (Seeing Robert Polidori's actual prints are completely different than looking at his shots on the web/in a book!) He should get his hands on magazines like B&W, Aperture, The British Journal of Photography, Focus, Blind Spot, 8, .. He needs to travel. He needs to shoot every day. He needs some understanding of darkroom work or digital postprocessing.
  
  Very infrequently does one become a really good photographer without studying fundamental design principles. Most great photographers are artists in several mediums. I've been shooting and developing/postprocessing since Gerald Ford was in office, and I consider myself a middling, journeyman photographer. Maybe in another five years I'll be A Good Photographer. The OP is at square one, which is fine. That's where everyone starts.

I run an 8" schmidt-cassegrain and from my backyard balcony on clear cool nights I can see some spectacular stuff in the city (some colours on Jupiter, the rings of Saturn if I am lucky, some larger nebula). If you don't want to spend a fortune, and are okay with something bulky get him a Dobsonian, the larger the aperture the better light collection and a better chance he can pierce through the light pollution of our city. Some Dobsonians can be broken down for easier transport.

For better viewing head to a park (nose hill, fish creek, etc.), or better yet out of the city (I know not feasible).

The U of C has an observatory south of the city towards priddis/millarville, and I believe they have open nights for amateurs that you and your son could visit to get taste for things. If you contacted the U of C they might be able to get you in touch with the people that go and you could car pool out there to see what its like. While there talk to the people on what to get him, and get some contact info help get things setup, they are super friendly as a community.

To feed his appetite you could buy him the The Backyard Astronomer's Guide which has tons of great info.

Edit: Forgot to say... When I got started it was with a reclining lawn chair and some binoculars, you can work your way up from there if he really stays interested.

I haven't tried it with gunpla, but I do have some experience with this method of resin casting (mostly with my own figurines, cosplay props for friends, etc.) It should work in theory, but there are a couple issues to keep in mind:

• If you're working thin pieces, the silicone mold tends to press together and create miscast and warped parts. I imagine this would be a huge issue when casting the psychoframe.
  
• If you're colouring transparent resin it can take a few tries to get the dye:resin ratio right, and it can be difficult to get a consistent colour throughout if you're casting in several batches.
  
• You'll probably need to buy a pressure pot in order to prevent air bubbles in the pieces.
  
• It's a huge, smelly, messy process.
  
  Like I said, it's certainly possible, but unless you're planning on doing this a lot it would be cheaper to just buy the second Banshee kit. If you're still interested, I highly recommend looking into Pop Sculpture as it's a fantastic book that covers the entire mold-making and casting process. The examples are for self-made sculptures, but all the techniques could easily be applied to gunpla. Hope that helps!

There are a few things you can get without much info; but it'd help if you know what sort of things he likes to shoot (and where - indoor, outdoor), as well as how long he's been shooting for! (If he has an online portfolio (especially flickr) that may say what camera/lens he uses etc in the metadata, or just show what subjects he likes if you don't want to ask!)

Your best option however might be a book; understanding exposure and the photographers eye are ones often mentioned here that are pretty universal to any model camera or photography subject. (I don't own exposure, but I believe it's pretty useful for most beginner to intermediate shooters, Eye is probably a little more intermediate+ (it's understandable to all levels, but you have to want to put the effort in to use it if you see what I mean!))

Whether or not this is ethical could be argued about all day and everyone has a different opinion. What I will say though, is that these photos are very cliché and overdone. You can find them in every beginners portfolio and they're never that great, in my opinion. A lot of people think they're being a hero by doing it, or they think it's edgy, but majority of the time it's just rude and tasteless. Unless the photos that you take of them are going to directly help them, and is the only way to help them, I don't think it's worth it. Just buy them a meal and move on with your day.


If you really want to get into street photography, try taking photos that candidly show what it was like to be at location at a certain point of time. Look at the work of Vivian Maier for great inspiration.

I would also suggest this book. Notice how each photo almost puts you in that location in the time it was taken.


I don't mean to sound like I'm shooting your idea down, but you can definitely become a better photographer through different means.

If you're going to be looking into the academic side of it, you will definitely be encountering some math. A degree in astronomy will be nearly tit-for-tat with physics majors in math classes. I'm not either (engineering, here) but from what I've heard they are very much alike.

I would say that starting at a community college is a great idea! Higher chances of boosting your grades and looking more attractive to other universities. If you do, maybe consider transferring to a larger, more prestigious school once you've got a a good foundation/GPA. Not necessary, but a great move if possible.

I got a book this past Christmas to fuel my armchair-interest in astronomy - I believe it was recommended by this subreddit too! Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/1554073448

Good luck!

Awesome! I kind of fell into the job. I was initially hired as a web developer, and didn't even know what BI was, and then got recruited by one of the BI managers and fell in love. To me, it is one of the few places in IT where what you create will directly impact the choices a business will make.

Most of what I do is ETL work (taking data from multiple systems, and loading them into a single warehouse), with a few cubes (multidimensional data analaysis) and SSRS report models (logical data model built on top of a relational data store used for ad hoc report creation). I also do a bit of report design, and lots of InfoPath 2010 + SharePoint 2010 custom development.

We use the entire Microsoft BI stack here, so SQL Server Integration (SSIS), Analysis (SSAS), and Reporting Services (SSRS). Microsoft is definitely up and coming in the BI world, but you might want to try to familiarize yourself with Oracle BI, Business Objects, or Cognos. Unfortunately, most of these tools are very expensive and not easy to get up and running. I would suggest you familiarize yourself with the concepts, and then you will be able to use any tool to apply them.

For data warehousing, check out the Kimball books:

Here and here and here

For reporting, get good with data visualizations, anything by Few or Tufte, like:

Here and here

For integration, check these out:

Here and here

Also, if you're interested in Microsoft BI (SSIS, SSAS, SSRS) check out this site. It has some awesome videos around SSAS that are easy to follow along with.

Also, check out the MSDN BI Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bi/

Currently at work, but if you have more questions, feel free to shoot me a message!

Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780673353/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Cgi1Cb5XKRJTX

I mean the title itself sounds pretty "clickbaity" but I did enjoy this book, it talks about perspectives and angles and technique. it's a pretty good and easy read.

or maybe even one of those photo challenge kind of books. I've never bought one but they're books that have like ideas and tasks in them and your job is to take a photo and place it in the book and that's how you complete the challenge. makes sense since she likes to make albums and such.

OK, I get asked this type of question a lot so I have some pre-fab answers for you:

>Someone asked me about teaching yourself art (which is the way I learned) I thought I would share my replay in case It might be helpful to some of you.

>Fundamentals (walk before you run):

>How to draw http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933492732/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 $30
Figure drawing for all its worth http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401411454&sr=1-1&keywords=figure+drawing+for+all+it%27s+worth $25
Color and Light (this book blew my mind) http://www.amazon.com/Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/dp/0740797719/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401411299&sr=1-1&keywords=color+and+light $15
Imaginative Realism http://www.amazon.com/Imaginative-Realism-Paint-Doesnt-Exist/dp/0740785508/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y $15

>Digital Painting:

>Digital Painting Techniques 1 – 6 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=digital+painting+techniques+&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Adigital+painting+techniques+ About $35 each = $210 total

>Also pick up some art books for games like Halo or Assassin’s Creed. There’s lots of great concept work in there to give you an idea of what to pros do.

>Visual design:

>Picture This (a very simple explanation on how all the components of a scene can tell a story) http://www.amazon.com/Picture-This-How-Pictures-Work/dp/1587170302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401412344&sr=1-1&keywords=picture+this $15
Essentials of Visual Communication (A detailed breakdown on how the human brain consumes an image and how you can use this knowledge to best communicate your ideas) http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Visual-Communication-Bo-Bergström/dp/1856695778/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401412394&sr=1-1&keywords=Essentials+of+Visual+Communication $30

>Structured Education:

>Digital Tutors (Perfect for learning a program) http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/index.php $50 a month or $515 a year
Ctrl+Paint http://www.ctrlpaint.com/ Free
CGMaster Academy https://www.youtube.com/user/CGMWORKSHOPS/videos?view=0&flow=grid

>Also I wrote on my blog “Become a better Artist Overnight” http://garretaj.blogspot.com/2012/12/how-to-become-better-artist-overnight.html where I take you through tried and true techniques on how to do focused learning revolving your sleep pattern. This is the way I did it (and still do it)

>Communities a must for getting feedback and ideas:

>http://conceptartworld.com/
>http://www.artstation.com/

>https://www.facebook.com/groups/400586640025350/
>https://www.facebook.com/groups/221278101324638/
>https://www.facebook.com/groups/awesomehorse/

>The final thing is you. You have to really want this, it’s not easy. Don’t buy this stuff or go to an expensive art school because you think it’s some kind of shortcut. The focus here is not becoming a good artist, but becoming a good student. Learn how to learn effectively, learn how to love learning, bust your ass, and always work on improving yourself.

>Do that and nothing can stop you. Or don’t.

Hope this helps

I shoot almost exclusively film, even though I have a good digital camera. If it works for you, then that's fine.

Personally, the only reason I'd start shooting digital again is for cost reasons, but at one or two rolls per week, I'm happy enough with the costs of film.

As for books, I flicked through Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs the other day and I thought it was a great wee book. It focuses a lot more on composition than on learning how to calculate exposure and other more technical things, which I think is a great approach. It has lots of example images to illustrate concepts.

I've read the 'holy trinity' (The Camera, The Negative, The Print) but I've found that I like Way Beyond Monochrome (second edition) much more. It's more modern and covers why multigrade papers are so awesome, Ansel only covers this slightly in The Print while WBM covers in in detail.

Also, for printing in general, Larry Bartlett's B&W photographic printing workshop is the best piece I've ever written. The technical side of things is covered better in other books (and here it's only covered in a few pages in the introduction chapter), but this book is a description on how a master printer approaches and prints several tricky images, as well as more normal images. I've read it several times and will most likely read it several times again.

The technical bits are easy, however. Better read photography books, for portraiture I really like the work of Inta Ruka (People I know is...magic) and Gregory Heisler (50 portraits).

• Mastering Composition
  
• Composition
  
• Picture This
  
  I didn't see any sites that particularly stood out to me, but a lot had good info. Some are simple and some have complex geometric breakdowns. Find what you like and works for you. I personally don't like the complex geometry approach, I have a short attention span and I would never spend the time planning a piece to that point, especially when I can get the same look with a simpler approach. Rule of thirds is the rule I fall back on the most, it never steers me wrong. Based on the two images you posted you have good instincts, don't get overwhelmed by all the rules and theories about composition. In the end, do what you think looks best. The more pieces you create the more you will develop your eye. Also, it is great that you are open to constructive criticism, some artists get so butt hurt that they cannot learn anything.

Everybody knows it but it still needs to be said: shoot, shoot, shoot.

Willief is spot-on in my opinion. An exercise I think you might find helpful is to give yourself assignments. Just like practice, or buying books about photography, it only works if you stick to it. You have landscapes, and your still-life work is coming along well too. I would say that in addition to portraiture (both studio and candid), you should consider other genres that 'put you out there' more, that are less under your control than your current work. Street photography instantly springs to mind - you don't have to live in NYC or LA to have amazing opportunities at street photography. If you're in a more rural locale, consider work like Frank's "The Americans," or Bruce Davidson, or even combine what you can do with what you want to learn, something like R.E. Meatyard.

When you want to push your landscapes farther, I would send you in two directions: Ansel Adams for technical mastery (if you haven't, read the holy trilogy, Camera, Negative, Print), and Minor White for artistry/composition.

You're already doing great work, keep on keeping on, never settle.

I'm a beginner too, and I recommend you Read This Book If You Want To Take Great Photographs by Henry Carroll.

It doesn't have a lot of technical stuff; this book talks about different techniques to take good photos (using different light, exposure, lenses, etc), and inspires you to be creative and to start shooting with your camera. It explains everything in a simple and effective way, and it's easy and entertaining to read.

My favorites are:
The Backyard Astronomer's Guide, http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/1554073448

A Guide to Backyard Astronomy (I found this one at a 2nd hand bookstore, not sure if it's still in print. This is my absolute favorite because of some great starhopping tours they put in the back)
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Backyard-Astronomy-Starhopping-Exploring/dp/187701933X

EDIT: Here's an example of one of the starhop tours in A Guide to Backyard Astronomy. http://imgur.com/a/enXLO
The icons clearly indicate whether the target is a naked eye, binocular, or telescope object.

Of course there's the ubiquitous Turn Left at Orion. I can't say much about it since I've never actually gotten around to reading it. http://www.amazon.com/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundreds-Telescope/dp/0521153972

Alternatively, check out http://eyesonthesky.com/
as well as Mr. Fuller's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/eyesontheskyDOTcom

The "Basics" playlists are damn good, and unlike a lot of other sources, the practical demonstrations on video make things super clear to understand.

Great question. I think about this a lot as well. As someone who was previously really bad at design and has gradually gotten a little bit better:

1. The book that really got me into this was Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few: https://www.amazon.com/Information-Dashboard-Design-Effective-Communication/dp/0596100167. Tufte has some really great work as well.
   
2. Any time I find a design that I like, I take a full-page screenshot and save it to a folder in my notes system. I have about 40 full-page screenshots that I turn to.
   
3. Five Interface Laws Every Software Designer Should Know: https://speakerdeck.com/roundedbygravity/5-interface-laws-every-software-designer-should-know
   
4. This great Quora Post on color science: https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-science-to-picking-colors-that-work-well-together-or-is-it-just-subjective/answer/Colm-Tuite
   
5. Ian Storm Taylor - Never Use Black: https://ianstormtaylor.com/design-tip-never-use-black/

Coworker: I immediately thought she should get a really graphic Batman poster. You could even get it framed if you have enough left over. Here are some from Etsy: 1, 2, 3, 4, this one's a little different.. but it's video game related so.. here! 5
____

Boss: A nice photography book would probably be a safe bet: 1, 2, 3, 4, last one is $5 over budget, but 5
__

Professor: I'm sorry I don't have more original ideas for him but here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
__

GOOD LUCK!!

Here's an "Intro to Tableau" Evernote link that has the detail below, but this is what I've put together for our teams when new folks join and want to know more about it.

http://www.evernote.com/l/AKBV30_85-ZEFbF0lNaDxgSMuG9Mq0xpmUM/

What is Tableau?

• What Tableau IS and IS NOT - Interworks/Dan Murry - Blog post - [2p]
  
• A New Approach to Business Intelligence: Rapid-fire BI - Tableau - [Whitepaper - 15p]
  
• What is Tableau - Quora - Forum - [12a]
  
• What is Tableau - Yusheng Huang - Video - [2:26]
  
• Tableau Software Overview - Tableau Software - Video - [2:20]
  
  
  Where do I get it?
  
  
• Desktop latest version - Download Page - Tableau
  
• Previous versions - Download Page - Tableau
  
• Tableau Public - Tableau
  
• Pricing overview - Tableau
  
  Now that I have it, how do I use it?
  
  
• Tableau Starter Kit - Tableau
  
• Tableau Training Videos - Tableau
  
• Data Analysis Fundamentals with Tableau - Pluralsight
  
• Big Data Analytics with Tableau - Pluralsight
  
• Enterprise Business Intelligence with Tableau Server - Pluralsight
  
• Data Visualizations Using Tableau Public - Pluralsight
  
• Data Science and Analytics in Context - edX
  
  
  How do I become involved?
  
  
• Tableau User Groups - Tableau
  
• Tableau Community Forums - Tableau
  
• /r/tableau - Reddit
  
  
  I want to know more
  
  
• Books
  
  • Tableau Your Data! - Dan Murray
    
  • Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals - Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
    
  • The Visual Display of Quantitative Information - Edward Tufte
    
  • Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data - Stephen Few
    
  • Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten - Stephen Few
    
    
• Blogs
  
  • VizPainter - IFTTT
    
  • Tableau Viz of the Day - IFTTT
    
  • Vizioneer - IFTTT
    
  • VizCandy - IFTTT
    
  • Tableau Zen - IFTTT
    
  • Tableau Renders - IFTTT
    
  • Tableau Love - IFTTT
    
  • Viz Ninja - IFTTT
    
  • Paint by Numbers - IFTTT
    
  • Jewel Loree - IFTTT
    
  • Jen Underwood - IFTTT (BI)
    
  • datadoodle - IFTTT
    
    
• Podcasts
  
  • Tableau Wanna Be Podcast - Soundcloud iTunes
    
  • Podcast your data - Stitcher iTunes
    
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  • More
    
    
• Job Market
  
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• Certification
  
  • Tableau
    

Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs. Great book. Not very detailed in technique and not niche - very good for beginners and getting an overall understanding of photography and the related physics and skills. This book can also be good for pros to get inspiration... the author is great at taking some skill/style that you thought you knew and sticking it in your face to look at again, and most of my friends (and a photography teacher in high school) said the book gave them a new perspective on photography.

Here are some excellent reads;

1. The Digital Photography Books, by Scott Kelby
   
2. Complete Digital Photography, by Ben Long
   
3. The Art of Photography – An approach to Personal Expression, by Bruce Barnbaum
   
4. The Photographer’s Vision, by Michael Freeman
   
5. Chasing the Light, by Ibarionex Perello
   
   In addition, this very nice article by PetaPixel has a nice breakdown of the best free online Photography Courses and Tutorials.

The above recommendations are very good starter telescopes, but if you really get into it you will quickly find yourself wanting something with more features (like a tracking motor, spotting scope, and adjustable tripod).

My first and only telescope is a 8" SCT (a Celestron C8 Deluxe). Familiarize yourself with the differences between a reflector, refractor, and catadioptric (SCT). The SCT design is a nice hybrid that combines advantages of both reflectors and refractors in a smaller package than either can offer. As others have said, get an equatorial mount, preferably a German equatorial mount (GEM) over a fork mount.

Look for something with a smooth and accurate tracking motor, but don't be wowed by fancy computers with databases and other bells and whistles. Buy a high quality set of star charts. A lot of my enjoyment comes from finding celestial objects by looking them up on paper and then learning where they are in the sky. Something is lost when you can simply tell a computer to point the telescope for you.

You'll also want to invest in quality eyepieces. Every optical element that light passes through on its way to your eye (or camera) affects the image. The best telescope in the world will still look like crap if you stick a crappy eyepiece on the end.

If you are interested in astrophotography, I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Edit: Gold? Whoa. Thanks Reddit!

Guess I can mention something that hasn't been said.

Master studies. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. Just like with photos and movies as mentioned by others. Find works of art you like, do your own "version" and ask yourself the same "why" questions. Pay attention to darks vs. lights. negative space. All those art clichés. They start to make sense after a while.

Also, for a quick run through of what works and what doesn't.

Picture This: How Pictures Work
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1587170302

Not an amazing mind blowing book. But a good reference for a lot of plain fact. Things we may not consider that much but seriously, they are simple and they are true and they'll give you something to look for in masterpieces, movies, photographs, you name it. Things to look for and understand. Trust me. It's very clever in its simplicity.

From Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland:

>The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot -- albeit a perfect one -- to get an "A". Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes -- the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

I like your pictures a lot. You are onto something. I think you have a good eye for photography. Keep shooting like this. Don't get distracted by post-processing your pictures now. You already know what is worth photographing. Your framing is good. Your work is better than most hobbyists after years of gear talk so be careful who you take advice from. The only thing you should be doing at this point is shooting a lot and buy some photography books, not the technical stuff or books about composition. Start with something general like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Great-LIFE-Photographers-Editors/dp/0316097934

Turn Left at Orion is often recommended. It seems to be great for learning about navigating and observing the night sky with binoculars or a telescope and what you can expect to see.

I have the Backyard Astronomer's Guide, which is extremely comprehensive and teaches just about everything such as navigating the night sky, information about the various types of objects, observing with the naked eye, binoculars, and telescopes, details about different types of telescopes and accessories and how to use them, and a few sections on astrophotography.

However, it is a bit hefty and not super cheap. And it doesn't include a detailed sky atlas (but it does talk about them).

Stellarium is a very popular planetarium program. It's awesome. And free!

Someone else might be able to point you toward something online, but for me, The Negative and The Print are pretty essential. Understanding the Zone System opens up a new world of possibilities when you're ready to progress past blindly following manufacturer recommendations for developing. :)

The Olympus 25mm (if that's what you have) is really, really great. I spent a year shooting almost exclusively with that for a 365 project, and came to love it (just wish they made a 17mm of the same quality).

There are two books I always recommend to anyone just starting out, as they really helped me: Understanding Exposure and The Photographer's Eye. Might be worth a look!

The best thing would be for his parent to read this book and make a decision based on that. I'd be a little concerned to set someone up with a GOTO or computerized scope if they aren't "good at the internets." The amount of finesse in getting it aligned and up and running properly is fairly high if you're not already experienced and/or patient.

The book steps you through the differences between the types of telescopes, specific recommendations for beginners at different price points, and how to use, clean and care for your optics. It also gives basic tips on stargazing and learning your way around the sky. I can't imagine throwing someone into the deep end without a corresponding book, unless they will be happy looking at the moon and bright stars or planets 99% of the time.

I’m a beginner myself, but here are some things that really helped me to understand the true basics:

https://tldr.photography/

I also bought this book, which gives you an insight of the art behind photography:

Read This if You Want to Take Great Photographs https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780673353/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_kxr5XO1i42ldv

What I recommend though, is practice, practice and practice! And never delete pictures, you’ll always make mistakes and learn from them, to improve you further as you go along.

Alex Webb and Matt Stuart are two of my favorites. If you're interested in a great street photography book that shows you many different styles, check out Street Photography Now. I find that books are really helpful for learning about other photographers, especially the greats. It's nice to have something physical.

This book is an interesting read. Not quite a “science” book per say but very fascinating.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0500516766/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

I have also been interested in this book, which I am actually considering as a gift for my own partner who is a doctor.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1905367872/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

Astronomy is an expensive hobby. I would start (for about $100) with:

1. An introductory astronomy book (http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/1554073448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368414312&sr=8-1&keywords=backyard+astronomer)
   
   
2. A way of identifying constellations, stars and messier objects (this can be an android app, a laptop application, or a sky chart--the backyard astronomy book will have one as well)
   
   
3. A pair of binoculars (10x50 or so, I have a pair of Baush and Lomb and they suit the purpose, here's one on amazon by Bushnell: http://www.amazon.com/Bushnell-Perma-Focus-10x50-Binocular/dp/B00005AXIV/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368414522&sr=8-1&keywords=bausch+and+lomb+10x50)
   
   Where you go from there depends greatly on your viewing habits/locations (e.g. will you generally be looking in light polluted skies or nice dark skies, any interest in astrophotography or just viewing? Do you want to spend a lot of time viewing the planets?, etc.).
   
   Also keep in mind that having a telescope with no accessories is kind of like having a car with nothing in the engine compartment. You also need a few eyepieces, a telrad or some other mechanism to help with spotting, and soon you'll want filters, a spotting scope, a CCD (if you want to do astrophotography), a better mount, etc.
   
   Anyway, I'd advise to start with those first 3 components and see how you like it. :)

Let's see, there was Understanding Exposure, which is especially helpful for people who have only ever shot digital b/c it explains so much of the basic functions of the camera that most people take per granted and can improve your pictures dramatically, another one of Peterson's books, Learning to See Creatively is also really good, I also like The Photographer's Eye. Another really good book if you're into B&W is Black & White: Photographic Printing Workshop, which was written for using enlargers in a darkroom but can equally be used with basic Photoshop technique, shows how to convert blah pictures into really amazing imagery using basic dodging and burning techniques. I'll post some examples of his later when I get home.

All of the comments sound like good advice to me too. Standardising the processing is a good plan also - to my mind there are far more interesting parameters to experiment with. I'd also endorse looking at Adams' zone system - The Negative, it's mainly intended for sheet film, but he's an easy read and it gives a really thorough grounding in what can be achieved with film - I'll bet it improves your digital work too

You've got a very graphic design here, but your shapes are not at all picked for emotional impact on the viewer.

You have some rounds, a lot of sharp edges, horizontals and diagonals without seemingly much purpose. As viewer, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be feeling when I look at this. It's a cute design, but all the hard edges make it somewhat uninviting and harsh.

May I suggest picking up Picture This, a book on shape language. I think designing purposely to evoke particular emotions in your viewers will really take your beautiful work up a notch.

Oh, and it's already been said, but the sheep isn't working as indicator of a dream. It's all too definite. Dreams are fleeting, surreal, soft - the hard borders in your dream path just read as path.

Hey /u/buffalogriller this is a really thoughtful answer! You totally get what I'm trying to do. Unfortunately, I'm only going to visit him and he doesn't live nearby enough for us to share a camera. I actually did think about giving him mine with a 35 mm lens... but it's my only camera.

I'm definitely going to give him my great Henry Carrol books to try and stir something up too (this one and this one)

There are lots of photography videos on YT for beginners and plenty of good books and I can recommend this one. The make of camera should not make any difference as they all have the same basic functions.

The K70 is a great camera as I have the same model bought it a few years ago and it's pretty damn good.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Read-This-Want-Great-Photographs/dp/1780673353/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LGKL8ZRUGMS0&keywords=read+this+if+you+want+to+take+great+photographs&qid=1573052581&sprefix=read+this+%2Caps%2C152&sr=8-1

I haven't been shooting very much lately, and been having trouble sleeping, so instead I've been spending time working on my website. In particular, I've been trying to make it faster, and I'm preeeetty happy with the results: fully loaded in a smidge over 1 second, speed index 589. Not bad!

On a separate topic, I'm going to Jackson, WY and Grand Teton National Park in mid-March, and I'm not quite sure what to expect, photography-wise. I ordered this Photographer's Guide to the Tetons and I'm thinking about renting a second X-T2 with the 100-400mm lens to bring along with my X-T2 + 16-55. Doubt I'll see any wildlife, but maybe I'll take some sweet telephoto landscapes with the 100-400. Would love to hear y'all's experiences if you've been there at that time of year.

Buy the book The Backyard Astronomer's Guide.

It will answer so many questions you have in getting started. It is a bit more expensive, but it will save you tons of time and money that you may spend on the wrong thing down the road. It's one of those books that comes in handy all the time when learning about astronomy.


It covers the basics of telescope types, what you should expect to see, what to avoid, where to look based on where you live, etc.


You need to learn a few things before you can fully enjoy a new hobby like this. It is a great book.

A black and white print is rarely black and white when done by a skilled developer. Usually, prints are toned so the dark areas are different shades of brown or blue or... whatever works best. They can be split toned so they the shadows are a different color than mid and highs. Making a print in black and white is an art, especially when using chemicals. It is also a little bit cheating--put anything in a selenium bath and it will look fantastic.

If you really want to see some interesting examples, get this book: Photographer's toning guide

This other guy wrote a book on it, too: The Print

For an absolute beginner shooting digital, Ken Kobre's Photojournalism and Bruce Barnbaum's The Art of Photography would be my pick, if only because those were the books I learned from in j-school.

For an intermediate film photographer who needs inspiration or thoughtful meditations on the medium more than they need inspiration, I am always going back to Vivian Maier: Street Photographer, Annie Leibovitz's A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005, and the exhibition book from Francesca Woodman's exhibit at SFMOMA/the Guggenheim. But I have an abiding interest in female photographers, self-portraiture, and the female gaze, so YMMV there.

I would recommend ["The Print"] (http://www.amazon.com/New-Photo-Negative-Ansel-Photography/dp/0821221868) by Ansel Adams. A techincally deep but easy to read book covering the zone system and how to capture different forms of light.

For thinking about photography Susan Sontag's ["On Photography"] (http://www.amazon.com/Photography-Susan-Sontag/dp/0312420099/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341440297&sr=1-1&keywords=sontag+photography) a great book on the meaning of photography.

Both are somewhat dated, but are the basis upon much has been written since. They are the touchstones.

If he's more of a reader get About Looking by John Berger

Its a great book that talks about why we take pictures of the things we do and much more.

If he's more interested in looking at actual photographs, I would recommend a number of books

Genesis by Sebastiao Salgado

Magnum Contact Sheets

The Americans by Robert Frank

The Last Resort by Martin Parr

Grand Teton is a pretty easy park to get around in. There are many pullouts to overlooks on the main roads that kind of circle the area. Just driving and finding those pullouts will get you to all the classic Teton locations.

Check out these books too. The first one is a photo guide that should give you some ideas. The second is Lonely Planet's guide. This is the best book for learning about the area (I've read them all).

https://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Guide-Yellowstone-Tetons-Joseph/dp/0811735559/

https://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Yellowstone-National-Travel-ebook/dp/B01DZ5M9K0/

This book came recommended to me and I absolutely love it. It will specify some good targets for every time of the year.

As far as software, on my computer I currently use:

Backyard EOS (Costs a bit but is more or less necessary for capturing images with a Canon DSLR, you can set up sequences with specified times, mirror lock delays, save frames as flat, dark, light or bias, and even focus with a live view through the camera).

Sharpcap
DeepSkyStacker
Stellarium
Registax
PixInsight
Photoshop

Some cool online resources:
Photoshop DSO processing.
PDF DSO Guide.
Astrophotography Youtube Tutorials.
Forrest Tanaka's Youtube Channel.

An 8" Dobsonian reflector telescope, such as the Orion XT8i with Intelliscope to help you find your way around the sky. $640.

The book NightWatch, $20.

The Backyard Astronomer's Guide, $30.

A planisphere. Get one appropriate for your latitude. $10.

A comfortable camping stool for sitting at the eyepiece, or your back will quickly complain. ~$30.

SkySafari for your iPhone/iPad, $3.

A pair of good binoculars, 8x50 or 10x50, $120.

A nice wide-field (62-degree) eyepiece, like the Explore Scientific 24mm. $140.

That's about $1000.

One more thing to add: a dark sky. Priceless.

> Is there any recommendations for books on getting started in Astrophotography

If you're in the northern hemisphere, this book is a great introduction to a host of enjoyable targets. It also includes brief discussion about the typose/sizes of scopes that may be best used for each target, and some acquisition and processing thoughts and tricks.

Afraid I don't have any input on the other two questions.

Sixties Design A fun romp through the sixties curvy day glow design bent
Eames: Beautiful DetailsDefinitive Eames Book.
Industrial Design Raymond Loewy My favorite all time designer.
Infrastructure by Brian Hayes Not Sexy, but necessary.
Industrial Design A-Z, Taschen Everything by the letters.
PreFab HousesGood, if dated a little on prefab potential
1000 Chairs Bible of chairs
Things Come Apart They destroyed it beautifully for you
Trespass Street Art photographed and credited
Type Vol. 2 The Taschen site-order version comes with a digital code for Hi-Res digital downloads of each plate. Not sure if the amazon version does. Still worth it either way.
D&AD 11 All the D&AD books are a real tight look at that years best and worst commercial work.
Logo Design 2 I'm sure this has been updated, but good enough and much cheaper now.
DDR Design I have a soft spot for bolshevik propaganda forced into design.
1000 Retail Graphics It is what it says it is, not much more. Good for brainstorming, but not really inspiring.

The /s makes all the difference :D

Good to get an explanation out. If anyone's interested, this book is great. It even got me to do significant math before I went out in the field to help get the best shots I could. It was from an era before all the fancy point and shoot toys we have today that clutter /r/space with shots from their systems. (Not being critical, it's cool to see the shots, but there's an art that's being automated and it's worth reading a book from the end of the film era!)

Especially with landscapes, but really with all kinds of photography, I can't recommend the book How Pictures Work enough.

It's not a photography book, but it is a fabulous and very simple to understand, book on composition and how/why different shapes and colors make us feel the way they do. It's not a one-stop bible by any means, but it's an excellent resource to get you going.

Ansel Adam's books are amazing. The Camera and The Negative are really good. The Print is also good but not really relevant to a hybrid work flow. Still neat reading though.

The Art of Photography: An Approach to Personal Expression
by Bruce Barnbaum

Also, even experienced photographers can get something out of devouring a slew of books on composition. Many of them cover the same subjects, but I find value in the different photographic expressions they use. The library is the best way to go through a bunch of these, and even if your library doesn't have a particular book they can usually get it through interlibrary loan.

Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators- by Mike Mattesi

Probably my favorite drawing book ever. Focusing on force and motion rather than stiff posing.

Picture This: How Pictures Work- by Molly Bang

Not really a drawing book per se, but a great book about layout and constructing an image all told with simple shapes and colors.

Composition is a very broad and extensive topic, and throwing a few sentences in your direction won't help you much. So, instead a link to some basic info and the advice to look for good books. And while you are at it, look for books about the usage of light in photography.

After having said that I can't help but give you indeed some personal advice.
Think about your pictures before taking them: what is the main subject of your picture. What objects do you want to have in your picture. Why do you want them in your picture. Do they actually make your picture better, or are they distracting from the main subject. Is the place I stand at really the best place for this picture or should I move a bit.
Basically, think about every element you see in your viewfinder (or LCD screen).

Oh, gotcha. I understand now. Then yeah, get him a telescope and he'll appreciate it. More than anything it shows that you pay attention to him and care about his hobbies. Also, be sure he has a copy of Stellarium (it's free) and for future presents you can get him copies of The Backyard Astronomer's Guide and Turn Left at Orion not to mention the countless accessories that are available in the astronomy world. Just pop back over to /r/astronomy if you need more ideas!

Edit: Stellarium link

My favorite educational book on photography is probably "The Art of Photography: An Approach to Personal Expression" by Bruce Barnbaum.

My favorite book on portraiture is "50 Portraits" by Gregory Heisler and for landscapes it's "Treasured Lands" by Q.T. Luong.

All of these have a big focus on film photography.

Another good set is Ansel Adams trilogy, The Camera, The Negative and The Print, which you can get used on Amazon for about $20 for all three books. However, they focus primarily on large format cameras, black and white negatives, and darkroom printing, so unless you're doing specifically that, I'd go with The Art of Photography above.

Seriously, it appears the author doesn't know, or doesn't care to optimize for digital photography.

> "I think that a well exposed image on film has a “fullness” in a way that the still limited dynamic range of digital cameras don’t really allow without pulling back the highlights in post."

"Without pulling back the highlights in post"?! Why would you not bring back the highlights you want in post?

That's the thing with digital: the version that the camera generates, or the initial processing you see when you first open the image in post, is but a mere suggestion, that's not "the way it should be", it doesn't reflect the potential of the image, it's just "one possible interpretation", which has deliberately exaggerated contrast applied. The file has more potential and it's your job to tweak the tone curve to your liking.

So simply using the "straight out-of-camera" interpretation says nothing about the potential of a digital image, and it's misleading to make judgements based on that.

Furthermore, there's such a thing as optimizing exposure for digital, just as there is for film—after all, Ansel Adams wrote an entire book on optimizing exposure for film—and the two approaches, surprise, are not the same. If you just ignore how or refuse to optimize your exposures in digital, and then compare your results ... well then, sure, it's quite possible you'll draw some erroneous conclusions.

So anyway, I was not impressed with this article. That is not to say that one may not have preferences, may not have workflows that they enjoy more, may not enjoy one process more because it's more natural to them, and so on, so I have no problem with the idea that someone may prefer to shoot film. But the claims made in the article simply don't hold up to scrutiny.

Upvoted both for the scope recommendation (yeah, a 6" Dob would be as decent a scope as you can get for $300) and for the advice to try them at a star party. Let me put it another way: at this stage, you don't need to buy a scope, you need to learn about scopes and what you can see with them. Once you know more, you can decide what scope is good for your circumstances (what you can do with the same 6" Dob in a big city vs the country side is very different).

Read [this book][http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/1554073448]. It will take you to much higher level of understanding of amateur astronomy. You may decide to buy a bigger or different scope, you may decide to be content with a 6" Dob or you may drop it. All of these happen. A book such as the one quoted will help you figure out which is the right thing to do for fewer $$ than scope. Enjoy.

I'm in the same boat except I'm an editor trying to improve my motion design work. I've been reading about design and trying to find ways to practice. I started with Karen Cheng's How to become a designer without going to design school blog post because she's aggregated a lot of great resources there.

So far the best book I've read that she references is: Picture This: How Pictures Work which well illustrates some fundamentals about design and composition.

I'm also taking the first Mograph Mentor online class which has been a great experience but costs money.

Ansel Adams is the original HDR. Seriously. He has an entire book dedicated to the art of bringing out the desired, pre-visualized dynamic range of a print, via in-camera and darkroom techniques.

Of course, his images don't look like ass.

What you also can do is read AA's zone system books (The Negative especially) while thinking about what he says in terms of tools that are familiar to a digital photographer. It may or may not be helpful depending on your background, but if you are at all into history of photography it'll be worthwhile.

I think reading about the zone system now is far easier because more people are far more familiar with curves, contrast, loss of detail at the extremes etc. from their first-hand experience (with quick feedback delivered through the screen) and free experimentation in the digital age.

Well, I'd suggest not limiting your search to books strictly about DSLRs, since photographic lenses and the theory behind them were around for a century or more before digital SLRs came along. Your points of information are applicable to all lenses, not just those designed for DSLRs, so books about lenses and theory for film cameras (SLR, rangefinder, etc) will have the required info as well. Expand your search. There really is nothing that new, here.

Ansel Adams' The Camera has an excellent section on lenses that covers most if not all of the info you're looking for. There are also sections on different camera formats, different shutter types, etc. Adams was the original camera nerd, and the book is pretty detailed on all the subjects you mention.

Past that, ask your specific questions here. There are lots of us who know the answers or can direct you to a reputable source.

What is it you want to know? Hell, I've got a copy of The Camera on the table in front of me right now. Can transcribe if you want. Just let me know what you're looking for.

Edit: If you want to get really technical, look for a copy of Applied Photographic Optics by Sidney Ray

If you really want to know about HDR, go pick up copies of Ansel Adams' The Camera, The Negative, and The Print. I'm not even a big Ansel Adams fan, but the dude understood HDR before it was 'cool.'

And I agree with goose_of_trees: The HDR technique here is mostly used to take boring shots and make them look terrible. Good HDR should be invisible to the viewer - they should be captivated by the content first, and if extending the dynamic range of the image will enhance that, then it is appropriate to do so.

Books on composition. Start with this, move on to this and this, and when you feel you're ready for more advanced stuff get this.

The world is full of people who spend thousands of dollars and years of their lives taking technically perfect photos of their cat. Don't end up like them.

For inspiration I really enjoyed Street Photography Now by Sophie Howarth.

I can warmly recomend this book OP.

http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Photoshop-Restoration-Retouching-Edition/dp/0321316274

Also could you post the raw high dpi scan, I'd love to take a crack at it.

I cant believe no one has mentioned this yet, but The Art of Photography is a beautiful book which covers a variety of topics. Total game changer once i started reading it!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Read-This-Want-Great-Photographs/dp/1780673353

This book is an amazing starting guide that will help her get a lot out of her present.

You may also like this book. I got it for my father last year for Father's Day and he loved it.

Ansel Adams "The Camera" is pretty neat.

Like this one: 'The Camera' by the one and only Ansel Adams. It's a fantastic intro to the theory and basics

https://www.amazon.com/Ansel-Adams-Camera-Photography/dp/0821221841/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502140237&sr=8-1&keywords=ansel+adams+the+camera

"The Photographer's Eye" has been suggested quite a few times here, for good reason I think. Quite enjoyable and informative.

Try this. Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780673353/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_4l06ybNTSSPHW

A lot of different photographers and styles in Street Photography Now!. Great book too.

If you’re interested in dashboard design, I can’t recommend this book highly enough.

http://www.amazon.com/Information-Dashboard-Design-Effective-Communication/dp/0596100167

You can model in Sculpey with an aluminum wire armature, separate arms, legs and similar pieces then make small keys and keyholes using epoxy putty. Then you can mold each part separately in silicone, cast into them using epoxy resin or similar polyester material. It is actually a very involved and time consuming process. Please check out this book and similar to have a better idea.

https://www.amazon.com/Pop-Sculpture-Figures-Collectible-Statues/dp/0823095223

You should know about the rainbow that appears at Yellowstone Falls, viewed from Artist Point, around 9:30-9:45 AM, daily.

There's a whole book called Photographers Guide to Yellowstone and the Tetons that you can buy.

As for wildlife, your best bet is probably to ask the rangers what areas are hot at the time you are there.

here is a great book on sculpting figs

The one that I have, which is also incredible, is The Great LIFE Photographers.

his other book "Face Forward" is also good. Amazon as a few of the pages in preview https://www.amazon.com/reader/0316287059/ref=rdr_sb_li_sims_1&state=01111

Photography is not about lenses and expensive equipment. It's about light and composition. You can take good pictures with a phone camera and lousy ones with an SLR.

Please read this book written 150 years ago, and still holding true.

First few lines in the preface outline what I mean:

> ... Nine out of ten photographers are, unfortunately, quite ignorant of art; some think manipulation all-sufficient, others are too much absorbed in the scientific principles involved to think of making pictures; while comparatively a few only have regarded the science as a means of giving pictorial embodiment to their ideas. ...

Improve your photographic skill before you think about dumping a whole lot of money into it.

For something more recent I recommend The Art of Photography.

Just bought the book! So cool! http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500516766

Side note: one of my favorite books I read in college when taking film courses was Ansel Adams the Camera. I learned heaps about what's really happening in a camera and how to control it.

Does anyone have experience or own this book?

https://www.amazon.com/100-Best-Astrophotography-Targets-Telescopes/dp/1441906029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537816644&sr=8-1&keywords=100+astrophotography+targets

I just picked it up on amazon, and despite being advertised as having full color images (which would be very helpful considering the subject material), all the images are in black and white and look like they were simply photocopied (very poor quality). I sent it back to amazon and I'm waiting for a new copy, but I'm curious if I'm missing something...

a good book for the next one - https://www.amazon.com/Information-Dashboard-Design-Effective-Communication/dp/0596100167

Anything by John Hedgecoe. While they may be old, they are still usefull.

Also this book is good.
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Photography-Approach-Personal-Expression/dp/1933952687

> What makes pantone any different than going to a hardware store and getting their paint swatches for free?

Because Pantone is guaranteeing not just the color ink is right, they're guaranteeing that the print is right. Those are two totally separate things.

There are about a million different ways to fuck up a physical print. Open up some art books and compare the pictures of the same piece of art. You'll see all kinds of range of colors on the page. Consider, one of the reasons art collectors place a premium on lithographs is because one of the things you pay for when you get a lithograph or other "pure ink" facsimile of a piece of artwork is the guarantee that it will continue to actually look like the same thing according to the people that are the ones that define what "it" actually is.

Thanks.

Here is a book for you:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1780673353/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524516759&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=how+to+take+better+pictures&dpPl=1&dpID=41PClKtt49L&ref=plSrch

One of my favorites is Genesis By Sebastiao Salgado. I have the big hardcover published by Taschen.

just like this book!

https://www.amazon.com/Things-Come-Apart-Teardown-Manual/dp/0500516766

I highly recommend The Art of Photography by Bruce Barnbaum.

For anyone interested someone on a previous thread where this image came up said that it can be found in this book:

Things Come Apart: A Teardown Manual for Modern Living

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0500516766/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_9wQ7wb3Q1HT0D

You should try 'The Photographer's Eye' by Michael Freeman.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Photographers-Eye-Composition-Photographs/dp/1905814046

Inserting examples...

> James Nachtwey Inferno [examples]

> Sebastiao Salgado Migrations out of print. [examples] Also see Africa [examples] and Genesis [examples]
>
> Robert Doisneau Paris [examples]
>
> EDIT: Also see Fan Ho [examples]. The books go in and out of print but a third is available for pre-order.

All exposure meters are built to work with reference to a certain reflectivity—specifically 18%, hence the grey cards of that tone—with the idea that with the indicated exposure and “normal” processing of film and “normal” printing in the darkroom the area of the print corresponding to the metered area will have the same reflectivity.

For an averaging meter it's the whole scene that's measured. With a spot meter it is a small area. So, spot meter off a shadow and, without adjustment, it will come up at 18% grey and the highlights will be blown. Spot meter off a bright area and the shadows will block up.

Meter off a shadow area and then reduce the exposure by a few stops, and we can get the shadow to not quite block up and still show detail. The full explanation of this is in Ansel Adam's book The Negative, and the technique is known as the Zone System.

I'd recommend Making Faces or Face Forward.

My favorite PS book is Adobe Photoshop Restoration and Retouching by Katrin Eisman. It's not CC specific. I read an older edition about 12 years ago when I had PS 7. After upgrading from CS4 to CC, I bought Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers by Martin Evening, but I've only spent a few minutes in it to understand some new features.

I have this book! It’s called Things Come Apart

Here’s an amazon link to the book

The classic textbook series is by Ansel Adams. I'd recommend The Camera, although there will be more information in there about large format cameras than you will probably need. It's still useful to understand the concepts, so i'd skim those sections.

The series continues with The Negative and The Print, i believe. I took 3 semesters of photo in school, so i was comfortable enough with that to skip it since i mostly shoot digital and have my wet process done in a lab anyway. For someone who doesn't have a firm grasp of photographic processes, i'd recommend these books.

I have read the Ansel Adams books, I liked them a lot. I currently shoot in digital, but the knowledge from those books will always be applicable no matter what you shoot. The first one in the series is: http://www.amazon.com/Ansel-Adams-Camera-Photography/dp/0821221841/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374611977&sr=1-3&keywords=ansel+adams

I have also taught a few people how to shoot, my suggestion, whatever book you choose, is to learn each topic separate from each other, take some time to practice it, and understand the concept completely before moving on to the next. Don't be afraid to shoot, you will take some crappy photos (I still do my self), learn from them, delete them, and try again. That is the nice thing about digital cameras. More importantly have fun with it. Cheers

The Ansel Adams series

Camera

Negative

Print

Learn how to use the camera at your own pace then learn about processing at your own pace. And finally printing if you want to do that at your own pace.

There's basically a whole chapter devoted to this in the classic Ansel Adams book, The Negative.

Basically you take the meter reading and add a few stops. But I don't live in a place with snow either, so my personal experience isn't the best.

These all come from the book Things Come Apart. I've got it on my shelf a few feet away--great book!

This.

https://www.amazon.ca/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/1554073448

r/knolling might be close

Also this book:

Things Come Apart: A Teardown Manual for Modern Living
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0500516766/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_1aBvDb0VT6Q59

http://www.amazon.com/Pop-Sculpture-Figures-Collectible-Statues/dp/0823095223 !!

One of the canonical books on large format photography is The Camera by Ansel Adams.

The Print, The Negative, and The Camera by Ansel Adams.

http://www.amazon.com/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundred-Telescope/dp/0521781906

http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/1554073448/ref=pd_sim_b_3

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Information-Dashboard-Design-Effective-Communication/dp/0596100167

street photography now http://www.amazon.com/Street-Photography-Now-Sophie-Howarth/dp/0500289077

magnum stories http://www.amazon.com/Magnum-Stories-Chris-Boot/dp/0714865036/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405497514&sr=1-1&keywords=magnum+stories

hcb masters of photography
http://www.amazon.com/Henri-Cartier-Bresson-Masters-Photography/dp/0893817449/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405497537&sr=1-9&keywords=henri+cartier+bresson

Ansel Adams: The Camera
Ansel Adams' Autobiography

http://www.amazon.com/Print-Ansel-Adams-Photography-Book/dp/0821221876

And step two.

Hah! I've been googling a bit earlier and found a few things around. The

Sculpey site, FAQ

Sculpey site, user tips


Amazon (uk) link, Pop Sculpture - Tim Bruckner

Amazon (uk) link, Babes, Beasts and Brawn Sculptures

Also, there appear to be hundreds of vids on youtube

Information Dashboard Design

Which one of these are you talking about?

https://www.amazon.com/Information-Dashboard-Design-Effective-Communication/dp/0596100167
https://www.amazon.com/Information-Dashboard-Design-At-Glance/dp/1938377001

I'd suggest this book !

James Nachtwey Inferno

Sebastiao Salgado Migrations out of print. Also see Africa and Genesis

Robert Doisneau Paris

EDIT: Also see Fan Ho. The books go in and out of print but a third is available for pre-order.

There's a book full of this kind of stuff , Todd McLellan: Things Come Apart

This is the book you need I think: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Photography-Approach-Personal-Expression/dp/1933952687

A humble suggestion that has helped me tremendously: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Photography-Approach-Personal-Expression/dp/1933952687

The Camera, The Nevative and The Print by Ansel Adams. The Camera in particular is still relevant today; and these three books are essential reads for anyone who still shoots film.

Here to second The Camera.

Grab a copy of Molly Bang's How Pictures Work.

Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few

http://www.amazon.com/Information-Dashboard-Design-Effective-Communication/dp/0596100167

Non-mobile:

• Mastering Composition
  
• Composition
  
• Picture This
  
  ^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

As I understand it, you generally need to sculpt or have someone sculpt you a generic figure intended for this kind of mold.

At the very least, I haven't seen anything like this pre-made.
As far as a figure ideal for chopping up and using for this... nothing occurs to me off the top of my head.

I'm planning to sculpt a base/master figure and casting it to get something similar to their work flow. The only issue is I'll need to work out an alternative to the Poly Putty they are using in the video. (I'm thinking casting and sculpting in wax after reading this: book. A substance I can both mold AND carve? I see little wrong with that!

edit: well that's odd, my comment was marked as spam.

DO NOT buy the 50 mm. not yet at least. its too long for dx.

first thing you need to do is to get this.
http://www.amazon.com/Ansel-Adams-Camera-Photography-Series/dp/0821221841

study this book. don't even bother with lenses unless you want something for low light. in that case you might want to get this

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/606792-USA/Nikon_2183_AF_S_Nikkor_35mm_f_1_8G.html

but get the book first.

some info about zoom vs prime
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHDEA7jEkoY

I get asked a variant of this, which is "are those the real colors?" I wrote an article to answer the question.

I'm reading a fascinating book now called Coloring the Universe: An Insider's Look at Making Spectacular Images of Space about the creation of those incredible images from space. I never realized that the photos started out as b&w images with no color at all. It's a great explanation as well of the limitations of eye sight. And there are the two books Ansel Adams wrote on post processing, The Print and The Negative.

If we're talking about photography as an art form, then this question is equivalent to asking a painter if they mix their paint, or only use them as they come out of the tube. It's a stupid question (not that I would tell a viewer that), but it comes from the newness of this medium as an art form and to some extent, the insecurity of photographers themselves.

How familiar are you with modern photography, exactly? Have you ever enlarged prints in a darkroom or looked at the various wet-lab digital print options? Have you ever tried processing giant sheets of color film?

4X5 film has mostly been rendered obsolete by tilt-shift lenses on medium format digital, and even your D3200 will outperform it if you're stitching a panorama. 8x10 color is very tricky to process due to thermal considerations and sheer size, and at $5+ a sheet with the cost of home development, that $5,000 MF body starts looking good real fast.

And that's if you don't need flash. The bigger the body, the more power you need. My 300Ws battery strobe the size of a jam jar would require a 4000Ws pack-and-head system - and a generator.

>I want a store front with a big gallery in an area where the rich and middle class all hang out at. I want to show my work and create a small section for a guest artist to show off his or her work.

You want something that doesn't exist. Malls are dead, art purchases are down, and no photographer can afford the rent on a decent gallery. Maybe you'll sell a few big prints at someone else's gallery...at 50% commission, until they, too, shut their doors.

You wanna make bank? Get work for H&M.

> I believe in doing things right at the scene instead of repairing bad photos.

I know someone who got her start in photography working for Ansel Adams.

Ansel Adams spent a lot of time in the darkroom. In fact, he wrote the book on it.

And he spent most of his time on tedious commercial crap.

Here's a stab at answering this one.

In the context of b/w negative film density refers to the darkness of the dark areas, which will be highlights in the print. Increasing exposure increases density, as does increasing development. Each film/developer combination can produce a maximum density and has a minimum density (film base + fog caused by developer).

At the same exposure a high speed film will build more density than a low speed film.

Adding development time will increase density in highlight areas (and effective film speed) but will also have undesirable effects (increased contrast and grain, for example).

For a given scene, a film will have an optimal combination of exposure and development time that will accurately reproduce it the way the photographer intended. Fine-tuning the relationship between exposure, development, negative density and the final print is the whole point of the Zone System. For more information see The Negative by Ansel Adams (especially chapter 10) or The Zone VI Workshop by Fred Picker.