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I’m going to a community college for an associates degree in communications with a concentration in photography. Could I get enough money to buy a Canon 5D Mark II? ~$3,000. I’m planning to use it all throughout school. How would I go about getting loans or grants for this purchase?
My tuition is around a grand a semester, also.
I’m already paying tuition myself. I never applied for financial aid before. My parent can’t afford to help at all.

If a camera is required equipment for your program of study, yes, it is an Educational expense that is a legitimate use of a student loan. Getting the loan is not related to whether or not you have already paid for your tuition and fees. File the FAFSA at www.fafsa.ed.gov with your and your parent’s information and PINs and contact your school to make sure that your information is received later next week. How soon you get your funds will depend on their refund policy, however, so check that out with the financial aid office for disbursement dates before you contract for the camera and follow through with all the paperwork.

I need to do a presentation with three demonstrations of physics and the theme is going to be Photography. It doesn’t have to be completely photography related but something that will demonstrate the optics that is in photography. I was thinking about making a few camera obscuras as one demo but i need two more. Please help!

Camera obscura is great way to go.

I’ve made cyanotypes, and those are a great way to get a feel for how a photosensitive negative works. You can contact print negatives or make a photogram by simply laying an object on the paper and exposing it to light.
Albumen prints are some of the first negative materials, but not the easiest to reproduce.

Lenses can be fun on their own. If you have an SLR lens, you can hold it above a piece of paper, and by playing with distance and the focusing ring, it becomes a mini projector throwing an image onto your paper.

I have been told that Adobe Photo shop is the way to go but I really would like some input before I drop all that cash. I am looking into Portrait and nature Photography. I would like to use one program only and I want to be able to do all sorts of things, for instance, adding hints of color to B&W images, changing filters etc… Any input would be helpful. If anyone has used Adobe tips would be welcomed too! Thank you so much.

I liked and used Corel Photo Paint for several years. Photo Paint is compatible with Photoshop, in that any plug-in you can buy for Photoshop is supposed to work with Corel Photo Paint.

The two programs don’t work the same way — so when you’re learning one, you’re not learning the other.

In my opinion, Photo Paint is easier to use, and I prefer Photo Paint’s methods for selecting areas/masking.

However, there’s no substitute for Photoshop. Every photo magazine you pick up has a how-to using Photoshop. There are a million books on Photoshop in your local bookstore. There are several good online tuturials for it, also. You’ll ultimately end up using Photoshop one day; there’s no avoiding it.

For all the things you’ve said you want to do — adding color tints, adding filters, etc. — either program will work.

I already have a camera for my personal pictures and everything, but I need a nice high quality one for my Photography. And by affordable, like, $400 and less-ish? Giving out best answer.

High quality at low price = film camera.

Look at 35mm SLR’s from the following manufacturers:
Nikon
Pentax
Canon

I’m interested in purchasing a Photography quality camera with interchangeable lens’s like the ones i used in Photography class not the basic tiny digital camera. I can’t recall the the camera names. I don’t even know where to began. I just love how all pictures come out beautiful.
Also I know these cameras can get expensive…so what it the best quality in the lower price range.

The very top end are Hasselblad, but most people cannot justify a 60 megapixel camera that costs more than a new family car.

The most popular ones with a good user base are Canon and Nikon with the lower numbers e.g. D7 being more advanced than the higher numbers e.g. D70 or D700.

Pick a camera you are comfortable with and try to get to hold one in a real store.

The lenses are the expensive part but package offers before Christmas are usually good.

Sony has it’s Alpha range of cameras, but these use MemorySticks and have more unusual mountings as Sony see best!

I am purchasing a digital camera soon, one that is of the cheaper point & shoot variety with maybe some extra features that let me adjust photos more to my liking. I also have an SLR camera (not digital) that I found in my house that I’d like to start using as well. What’s a good book that covers the basics of photography (applicable to digital and non digital) and also maybe gives advice on the artistry of Photography?

Congratulations – very few people seem to realize just how much of a difference a bit of knowledge would make to their images!!!

I would suggest you head to your local library. I have read soooooo many different books, and each one had something new to offer.
If you really fall in love with one of them, you can always go and buy it then, but start off just reading whatever you can get your hands on.

Also don’t forget the online resources, there are countless tutorials to watch and read.
All the big camera manufacturers like Canon, Nikon and Olympus etc have learning or "school" sections on their web sites, full of worthwhile tips.

I’m new to Photography and I meant another photographer who told me he sales some of his work at galleries.

How do you submit to Galleries?
How do you find them?
Do you have to pay to submit anything???

I would really appreciate the help here!

his is something I have done for a long time. The first place to start is at any local galleries. Visit the gallery to see the type of art they display. They may or may not be a "fit" for your work. You will usually always have to pay rental according to how much space you want to have, plus the gallery will take a commission from anything you sell, usually 40%, so you have to price your work to make a profit after the commission is taken out.

To get into galleries in different parts of the country, the easiest way is to go to Google and type in these words…

call for entries

This will bring up many sites and galleries seeking work for submission. It is simply a matter of following the requirements of the gallery. There will usually always be a theme they want photos to meet. Yes, there is in most cases a fee you must pay to submit your photos, whether they are chosen to be in the showing or not. So be prepared to lose some money in submission fees. If your photo(s) is selected to be in the gallery, it can mean you may have to send a print yourself and they will frame it, or you may have to print and frame it yourself, or some galleries will print your high resolution digital photos themselves. I prefer to have prints made by my lab so I know the quality is what it should be, but then, if it does not sell, you have to arrange for return shipping. If the photo sells out of the gallery exhibit, again there will be a commission to the gallery.

This can be a lot of work, but also a labor of love. It is very gratifying to have your work acknowledged by the art community. In time, you will fall into the "clique" and will be having galleries contact you with calls for entries. I have received two this week already, plus I have works submitted to 3 different exhibits around the country.

One word of reality though. Do NOT expect to get rich, or even make a living doing this. I know of NO one that makes a steady, living income from selling photos through galleries like this. So don’t quit your day job! lol Most photographers supliment their income with the usual portrait or wedding work, or just have other "real" jobs for steady income. I have sold as many as 4 photos in a couple of weeks, and have also gone for months and sold nothing.

So this is really something you do for the love of it and to be a part of the art community, don’t go into it expecting to make any real money.

I’m planning on starting my own photography business with many different types of photography, from Sports, landscape, and even portraits. I plan on starting at schools for High School sports and then working my way up eventually. Does anyone know what a yearly salary could be averaged or anywhere close? Thank you so much!

If you are self-employed you can pay yourself anything you want.

To establish what you charge for shooting and prints, you will have to do a P&L sheet which includes your fixed and variable costs as well as the cost of capitalizing your business.

If you figure that you will have to generate cashflow that is about 5x what you want in your pocket at the end of the day you can do a rough estimate of your fee schedule

Remember to include replacing your camera body every 18-24 months and your computer(s) every 2 years as well as upgrading your photo software

To pay myself $80,000 a year (before taxes), I have to generate just over $250,000 in cash flow.

I like taking pictures but I really want to learn Photography. Should I take courses for it? What courses should I take just to learn basic stuff for photography?

Start out by getting a decent point & shoot and just start taking pictures of different things. Play with the settings, try different views, look for interesting things to photograph. There are several good beginner books out there to help give you pointers and ideas. Go to the library and the bookstore and flip through some until you find one you want to read. Once you get into the hobby a bit and think you will stick to it, then consider getting a more expensive camera. As far as classes, check out any local colleges in your area since many have community development classes that are free or cheap for people to take. Sometimes your local arts center will provide free or low-cost classes. You can also call some local camera stores in your area and see if there are any clubs or classes you can take part in. Local camera stores are also pretty good about helping you pick equipment and resources.

I am really into photography and am studying it at degree level at the moment. I enjoy fashion photography but I am aware that this is THE hardest Business to get into and it is very unlikely, with all the stiff competition, that you would become successful.
What other category is, not easy per say, but generally easier to get into, with a good wage?

Thanks in advance.

Easiest to "get into" is portrait and wedding (general high st. photographer).
Easy as you just set yourself up – stick a few ads in papers and the like and away you go.
Whether or not you get customers (and hence a "good wage") is a different matter.

Fashion is fickle and the magazines tend to use people they already know, to get into it is a lot of hard work pounding the streets to the publishers/fashion houses.
Same with any other type of photography which involves being published in magazines etc.