So, that person said to me (regarding every student being assigned the same camera model) “Is that because a person that might have a $3000 camera will take better pictures than someone with a $300 camera”? Hahaha…. I said “no”! I thought that was really funny!
I thought about that person’s remark and boy is he wrong! It does not matter if you have a $3000 camera or a $300 camera. The person with the $300 camera could take better pictures than someone with a $3000 camera.
For a professional photographer, it’s not just about point and shoot and just taking pictures. It’s about taking great interesting photos. It’s about getting that great shot with good lighting or good shadows and much more.
It all depends on your picture taking knowledge. If the $300 camera owner knows how to use and takes advantage of angles, knows how to use natural (outdoor) lighting and shadows, they will take better pictures than the person who is just pointing and shooting with their $3000 camera and does NOT know how to use natural lighting, from what angle would be best to take and get a great picture, etc. And this person had supposedly taken a photography class at one point in their life.
"INTRO TO BLACK & WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY" CLASS, 2011 FALL SEMESTER HAS ENDED
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 is the last day of my “Intro to Black & White Photography” class. Even though it’s been hard work, it has also been a fun semester. I learned how to develop film and how to develop photos. Of course, we learned about aperture, shutter speed, focusing, etc.
Some of our class projects dealt with shooting exercises like “Freezing”, “Panning”, “Depth of Field”, “Bracketing Exposures”, “Backlighting”, and assignments such as “Light & Form”, “Angle of View” and more.
CAMERAS
The camera each student was assigned and used for class was the Asahi Pentax K1000, 35mm SLR with 50mm lens. I’ve read that this camera is a great camera for beginning photography students. It has rave reviews.
They say that the Asahi Pentax K1000 cameras that were first made in Japan, compared to the ones made in China, are the best because, the *China made cameras, the top and bottom plate were made of plastic rather than of stamped alloy. The production line shifted to China during the K1000’s 21-year span.
BOOK
I really like the book our class used “A Short Course in Photography” 8th Edition by Barbara London and Jim Stone.
This book covers most all the basics such as a bit about film, cameras, lens, how to set-up your own photo lab, equipment used, and much, much more. I’m definitely keeping my book! Meaning, I’m not going to sell it back to the school bookstore.
FILM AND OTHER SUPPLIES
The film we used was 400 TMAX Black & White Negative Film. The paper we used to develop our photo’s on was ILFORD Photographic Paper, MGIV, Multigrade IV RC De Luxe, Pearl, 8x10. We also had to purchase some Crescent Board to mount our photos on and some ColorMount that goes in between the photo and the Crescent Board as well as Archival 35mm Negative Preservers.
BLACK & WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY LAB
It would be great to one day set-up my own black & white photo lab so that I can develop my own photos. Thing is, how much longer will 400 TMAX Black & White film be available (as well as all other film whether black & white or color)? I know there are other black & white films out there but, I’m used to the 400 TMAX.
Buying a photo enlarger along with all the chemicals needed as well as other supplies such as a black & white photo enlarger, timer, trays, developing tanks, film washer, film reels, dark room accessories, etc., it’s not cheap.
References
* http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/index-frameset.htmlAsahiPentaxK1000.html~mainFrame
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