Greg Campbell
EF5
A cheap lens hood will do a very nice job protecting your lens from physical shock, and will offer a small amount of rain protection as well. Look for soft plastic or firm rubber. If you anticipate tripod blow overs, go for a rigid plastic model, it will probably offers a bit more high G protection by cracking to dissipate energy. At the least, get a UV filter - it will save your lens' filter threads from minor dings, and will offer some protection against bigger hits.
Some of the kit lenses out there appear pretty fragile, I'd think that any mechanical protection would be welcome. Older metal lenses are surprisingly tough. I recently body slammed my beloved 20mm FD into the ground when I slipped at the very end of a hike. The lens was face down, and the camera, tripod, and me all landed on the poor thing. After a bit of cursing, I inspected the lens, expecting to find a shattered filter and loose focuser, at the least. Fortunately, the only damage was lots of scraped anodizing and gouged aluminum, all on the sacrificial filter ring. After a short repair session with an emery board and magic marker, things look nearly as good as new, and the mechanicals seem unphased. I'm getting a set of rubber hoods for all my spendy lenses ASAP.
Try not to get sucked into the equipment trap. For now, use what you have and don't worry about getting that fancy L lens. High end equipment makes it a bit easier to get good shots, but is in now way a substitute for effort and ability. Master what you have, and when you reach the limits of your equpiment, you'll know it.
Haaving said that, I do suggest a sturdy tripod. Buy the heaviest and most rigid one you can afford/are willing to carry. Landscapes and low light situations require longish shutter speeds, and image quality will benefit greatly from the use if a good 'pod. Go to a camera store and play with the various heads. Some people prefer the tilt-pan layout, while others like the smoothness and 'pointability' of a ball head.
The rule of thirds, and many other compositional 'laws,' are general guidelines at best. Study and appreciate them, but please don't go around composing with the specific aim of following them. Instead, take your time (NOT applicable for tornadoes
) setting up your shots. Try different zoom settings, adding or deleting items from the frame. Try alternate camera positions, keeping an eye on how the foreground and background interact. Look at the image. Consider the flow and interraction of light and subject - you'll know when the composition is right. If the camera has a DOF preview, or auto DOF feature (focus on two subjects - the camera selects an aperture to keep both in focus), use and experiment with it. (This may be difficult, given the small viewfinder many DSLRs feature, but do try.)
Above all, go out and practice, critique, and think about your pictures. With 'free' images, the digital temptation is to blaze away and hope for a few 'good ones.' Don't. Pretend every exposure costs $5. If you plan your shots, they will ALL look halfway decent. At the very least, they will be properly focused and exposed. Not all your compositional ideas will work, of course, but that is exactly how you learn. Practice this now, and you will get very good at quickly composing good shots - the exact skill you'll need for chase photography.
-Greg
Some of the kit lenses out there appear pretty fragile, I'd think that any mechanical protection would be welcome. Older metal lenses are surprisingly tough. I recently body slammed my beloved 20mm FD into the ground when I slipped at the very end of a hike. The lens was face down, and the camera, tripod, and me all landed on the poor thing. After a bit of cursing, I inspected the lens, expecting to find a shattered filter and loose focuser, at the least. Fortunately, the only damage was lots of scraped anodizing and gouged aluminum, all on the sacrificial filter ring. After a short repair session with an emery board and magic marker, things look nearly as good as new, and the mechanicals seem unphased. I'm getting a set of rubber hoods for all my spendy lenses ASAP.
Try not to get sucked into the equipment trap. For now, use what you have and don't worry about getting that fancy L lens. High end equipment makes it a bit easier to get good shots, but is in now way a substitute for effort and ability. Master what you have, and when you reach the limits of your equpiment, you'll know it.
Haaving said that, I do suggest a sturdy tripod. Buy the heaviest and most rigid one you can afford/are willing to carry. Landscapes and low light situations require longish shutter speeds, and image quality will benefit greatly from the use if a good 'pod. Go to a camera store and play with the various heads. Some people prefer the tilt-pan layout, while others like the smoothness and 'pointability' of a ball head.
The rule of thirds, and many other compositional 'laws,' are general guidelines at best. Study and appreciate them, but please don't go around composing with the specific aim of following them. Instead, take your time (NOT applicable for tornadoes
) setting up your shots. Try different zoom settings, adding or deleting items from the frame. Try alternate camera positions, keeping an eye on how the foreground and background interact. Look at the image. Consider the flow and interraction of light and subject - you'll know when the composition is right. If the camera has a DOF preview, or auto DOF feature (focus on two subjects - the camera selects an aperture to keep both in focus), use and experiment with it. (This may be difficult, given the small viewfinder many DSLRs feature, but do try.) Above all, go out and practice, critique, and think about your pictures. With 'free' images, the digital temptation is to blaze away and hope for a few 'good ones.' Don't. Pretend every exposure costs $5. If you plan your shots, they will ALL look halfway decent. At the very least, they will be properly focused and exposed. Not all your compositional ideas will work, of course, but that is exactly how you learn. Practice this now, and you will get very good at quickly composing good shots - the exact skill you'll need for chase photography.
-Greg
