**vtkendra**

jess08200

I am turning to you our resident photography expert.

I am buying my sister-in-laws Nikon D50 and 18-55mm lens.  She is really into photography and is upgrading her camera.

What do you recommend to buy so I can take some pictures in the house like you do?  I know that you gave us a link to a different post a little while ago, but don't remember when.

Any advice as well is warmly welcomed. TIA

Sofka

sorry to butt in, I'd buy a 50mm f1.8 (or f1.4 if you can afford it) portrait lens

DH also just bought a new flash, nikon sb 400, basically you attach it to the camera and you can rotate it so that when it goes off, it bounces off the ceiling, making for much better quality photos than when you point it directly at the subject

I was playing around w/ the flash this weekend but am not 100% sure I want it yet (it's $120).

 

jess08200

Thanks!  I will eventually buy some additional items for the camera, it was a stretch to for my DH to let me buy this.  I tried to get one when we found out I was prego last year, but he wouldn't let me.  (said it was too much money)

I just can't wait to get my hands on it and start experimenting with it.  I would always steal it from her and play with it.

The good thing is that if I want to get something for it, I will just find out what she had and then go from there. 

I just want things for backgrounds etc to use at home so I don't have to pay anyone to take professional pictures of DS anymore.

vtkgirl77

Hi there. Congrats on your new purchase. The D50 is a great camera. There are tons of resources out there but here are some things I would recommend to get started:

Read these lessons on composition written by a fellow bumpie. You can use these regardless of what kind of camera you have.

I would recommend learning how to use the manual setting on your camera. Here's a free 12-week course that a lot of the women have done. Scroll down the page a bit and there are links to PDFs that you can print out for each week.

Regarding indoor "studios" here's some information on my set-up. I use seamless paper and plexiglass.

As far as equipment, if you want to buy something, I would recommend a lens with a wider aperture (lower f-stop number). The 50mm f/1.8 is great, however, I'm not sure whether the Nikon lens will auto focus with the D50 so you would want to check that. Some of the lower-end Nikons do not have an auto focus motor in the body so you have to buy a lens that contains an auto focus motor. If you want to buy a lens, just ask the question on the photography board and some of the Nikon owners will tell you what to get.

But, if you don't want to spend any money to start with, I would highly recommend just learning about composition and how to use your camera in manual mode. Now that it's warmer out, you can take photos outside with natural light.

Also, come hang out on the photography board. There is so much great information there and the women are very helpful. 

jess08200

Thanks!

I know what I'll be reading tomorrow during lunch while I am pumping