To Ram,
Thanks very much for your nice words. Of course Thomas Paul's works are a lot better and sophisticated, in whatever aspects of skill, experience and equipment. I shot all the pictures in daylight, but you can see very delicate artificial light in Thomas's photos. That's why I said it's really fantastic if that Thomas is this Thomas, so that there's much to learn from him from here( the server of
www.photo.net is a bit slow, i guess because of too huge an amount of large image files)
Na gut, let's see what the saint says.
If you only want to take photography as a hobby, be sure you don't need any "special" talent. Just keep learning and practicing, you can get great enjoyment when someday nice images recorded by your hands. You now have an SLR-like, good, why not start from here. In fact the only elements you have to well control are aperture, focus and speed shutter. If your camera gives you the freedom to control them yourself, it's just the right camera you need. As to other fancy features, you may need them later but not for now. Be sure to get a GOOD book and watch classic photography works from time to time. And there's also very good online toturial on
www.photo.net. When I say GOOD book I mean it. There are just too many people boasting about photography ( especially the wedding photographers in China, I bet you cannot find the brides' noses in most of their pictures. ), if you see a book starts with showing-off of fancy equipments, just leave it. Find a book which covers composition and lighting in depth. And watch any classic art and photography when you get a chance. Old paintings do helps. My idol is Ansel Adams, I visit his official website from time to time. I got the 5700 solely for convenience, so that I don't have to carry a variety of lens and don't need to worry about film ( too lazy
). If you have a budget of $600 and you do want an SLR-like DC, there are two solutions. 1. Wait for some time, I believe won't be too long, say, about half a year to one year. At least, the price of Sony 717 may well fall into your budget. In some aspects it's better than Nikon 5700: The focus ring and the big Zeiss lens. 2. Don't forget second hand market and grey market. You may get good luck there. Actually with $600 you can get a decent real 35mm SLR body, a decent 50mm standard lens, and a solid tripod( IMHO, tripod is more necessary and important than flash ). They are the BEST for a serious learner.
Hope that Helps.
To Ravish,
I failed to pick out a best from TP's album, he shots angles.
I wish I could take a nice picture like that but sadly the second link you added here is not my picture. It appeared on my page because I added a short comment to the picture.
Thank you anyway.
Regards,
Ellen
[ April 17, 2003: Message edited by: Ellen Zhao ]