Photography can easily become an expensive hobby and is definitely an expensive profession.  The equipment used is high-tech and precise.  Like anything else, the best equipment costs more and any photographer would want to work with the best.

When people ask me about how they should go about getting started in photography my response always has to be “how much are you willing to spend?”  For the most part, hobbyists are in no rush and can acquire the tools slowly.  Assuming this is the case, the first thing I suggest they do is to buy a very basic camera.

“Basic” is the key.  In photography the camera itself is one of the least important tools in terms of needing the best.  Aside from a few new digital factors such as mega-pixels and sensor size, one camera doesn’t really differ that much from the rest.  Get one that’s solid and comfortable but put your first big investment in the lenses and other accessories.
 There are cases where this isn’t practical.  If you want to be a sports photographer then investing in the camera that takes 8 frames a second may be a good idea, otherwise reward yourself with a better camera some time down the road.

Your first lenses should be those that best suit your immediate needs.  A wide aperture lens for those wishing to get into event photography, a stabilized zoom lens for those into wildlife and a macro lens for those into flowers, etc.  With each lens get the appropriate filters.  Some basic starting filters are UV and skylight filters as well as polarizing filters.  If you are planning on shooting under heavy lights then, in some cases, a tungsten filter will be a necessity.

Lights may or may not be a good thing to purchase next.  A flash, for example, is a great tool but can often get in the way of a person learning the art.  It is often advised to avoid using a flash until you’ve learned how to compose pictures with available light.  This helps the photographer become more astute.  If you are looking to get into event photography then a flash may be an unavoidable purchase in which case aim to get one with a rotating and tilting head.  Along with the flash, purchase a bounce.
Most people making their own prints these days are setting up digital darkrooms.  For this you’ll definitely need a fast computer with a lot of memory because if you’re looking for serious quality you’ll be working with RAW images that can be a hundred megabytes in size.  As for a printer, invest in one that can hold actual rolls of paper as this will work out better for you in the long run.

By the time you have all of this, any other equipment you need will suggest itself to you.  Oh, before I forget, when you buy the camera and the lenses and the filters, make sure you get yourself a bag big enough to carry everything!

There really isn’t a whole lot of stuff that makes a basic camera work.  I mean, modern cameras have built in computers, light sensors, motors and digital cameras have CCDs and large screens.  All of those things are modern invention and aren’t really necessary to take a picture.  What a camera needs is a lens to focus the light and a way to block out the light before and after the picture is taken.
If you think this sounds too simplex then look into making a pinhole camera.  That would be nothing more than a piece of film in the back of a dark box, a small whole to let in light and then something to cover the hole with.  That’s a fully functional camera.

The shutter, the thing that covers the hole, is one of the two most important aspects in the science of photography.  (The other is aperture which, in a nutshell, is the iris of the camera.) 
Before learning about art and composition a photography student must know how to measure the light entering the camera.  Too much light will overexpose the picture and too little light will underexpose the picture.  The light can only enter the camera when the shutter is open.  The length of time that the shutter is open is referred to as the shutter speed.
Therefore, you should be able to see that by merely adjusting the shutter speed you can control how much the picture is exposed.  In a situation where the subject is lit by the sun, the shutter speed would have to be fairly fast.  If the subject is being lit by a candle then the shutter speed would have to be very slow. 

Recognizing what is fast and slow can take some getting used to since the typical photo is captured in a fraction of a second.  A sunlit photograph may be taken 1/250 of a second or even 1/1000 or 1/2000.  When the photo is taken with a flash the shutter speed is usually 1/60 or 1/90 of a second.  Incidentally, these numbers usually appear on a camera without the “1/” and instead are displayed as 1000, 250, 90, 60, etc.  For shutter speeds longer than a second it would appear 1’’, 2.5’’, etc. 
An automatic camera will set the shutter speed all by itself, but there are times when it is still worthwhile to adjust it manually.  Most obviously, there may be a time when you actually want an underexposed shot or an overexposed shot.  Sometimes the photographer may want to get creative and have a subject blurred by movement; to do this there would be a shutter speed of maybe a second or more (and the aperture closed tight to avoid over exposure) and the subject will simply move across the frame. 

When experimenting with the various shutter speeds on your camera it’s important to keep in mind that the shutter speed and aperture work together.  Usually, when you adjust one you must also compensate by adjusting the other. 

Also, try to get your head around the idea that a lot can happen in a second.  A photo taken at less than 1/60 of a second can easily blur due to camera shake and the subjects movement. 

Great nature pictures are often made possible by telephoto lenses. Thanks to new technology, lighter and more powerful lenses are coming into the budgets of more photographers. Below you will find a few tips that should improve your chances of getting sharp pictures with your handheld telephoto lens.

Use High Shutter Speeds
High shutter speeds are necessary to get sharp pictures with your telephoto lens. When you magnify an image, you also magnify the affects of camera movement. You can counteract this by using a fast shutter speed, giving slight movement little chance to blur your image. A good rule of thumb is to shoot at a shutter speed of 1/focal length or faster. For example, if your zoom lens is set at 200mm, shoot at a shutter speed of 1/250 or greater.

Use High Speed Film (ISO 400+)
High speed film (ISO 400+) is more sensitive to light. That means less light is needed to get the same exposure (compared to say a 100 or 200 speed film or low ISO setting on your digital camera). Less light amounts to higher shutter speeds that freeze both camera and subject movement.

Use a Wide Aperture
Use a wide aperture when you want to isolate your subject and throw a distracting background out of focus. Apertures like f5.6 or wider will usually do the job, especially if your subject is located a good distance away from the actual background. If your subject is a person or animal, focus on the eyes. It is often better to frame the subject against a dark colored background in order to capture the greatest degree of detail in your subject.

Use a Tripod
You should use a tripod whenever you can. Nothing beats a strong, heavy tripod in delivering sharp telephoto shots. Invest in a high quality tripod (like a Gitzo, Bogen, etc.) and your pictures will show it!

Eugène Atget

The story of Eugène Atget, is a remarkable one – a true photographic pioneer and it is only today that the impact of his 30 year work can truly be seen for what it was. He captured the essence of Paris of a bygone era. Eugène Atget was born in Bordeaux in 1857, but soon became an orphan and was raised by an Uncle, until he was of an age that he could be sent to sea as a cabin boy. His early years formed the basis of his quest to capture life as it was. Strangely enough hardly anything is known of his personal life, or his day to day existence as a photographer preferring to keep his life private. A memoir called Eugene Atget Life, was publish.

Eugène Atget did not remain at sea, but instead as a young man turned to acting, in the French provincial towns, and then went on to perform in Paris. Atget was not a gamely young man, and would thus be relegated to playing villains. As he got older, he turned his sights to art, and fraternized with the painters and intellectuals of his day, even putting his hand to painting, a few were found in his studio at death.

Eugène Atget turned his attention to photography, after he purchased photographic equipment and glass plates for film development - and, thus started his career, which spanned some 30 years. His subject was old Paris and it suburbs – this included photographing houses, chateaux, streets, the great monuments of Paris – capturing history before it disappeared and the day to day lives of the people who lived there. He was a man that had vision, with a sharp mind, focused on portraying that which a beheld through his lens in its truth for what it was – enlightening and sensitively drawing the beholder in.

Oddly, he was to find that photography was no more rewarding in the financial sense – but at least it gave him a sense of satisfaction. Eugène Atget would haul with great difficulty his equipment around Paris and Versailles, to photograph that which caught his attention. It was not until a print was purchased by Luc-Oliver Merson, for the princely sum of 15 francs that Atget realized some reward for his efforts. This encouraged him to continue until the famous playwright Victorien Sardou took an interest in his work in 1888, and suggested that he turn his attention to photographing the slowing disappearing Paris of the time. He achieved recognition and was supported financially by some of Paris’ prominent citizenry. Painters of the day would purchase his photographs as studies to produce their artistic works.

His outdated large format view camera was the instrument he used to capture the streets, Paris gardens in the early mornings when the light was at its best. Some of his pictures included the storefronts and public places of this 19th century city just before it was demolished to make way for urban growth. WW1 soon put paid, to what he had achieved almost destroying him in the process.
Eugène Atget died in 1927, and if it were not for modern photographers Berenice Abbott and the great Man Ray his work would have been lost for all time.