Last week, I blogged about a new idea for blogs during this slower season. Today is the 1st official post! I have had a few of you email in some questions and I am excited to get started on this! If you missed it, I posted about starting to take questions from you guys and dedicating a blog post to answering them. I receive many questions and I think it is so important for everyone to know! Now I DO NOT know everything, far far far from, but I want to give my best input to help you! So here we go!

I thought this was a good question to start this series out on. I received the question:

For new Photographers starting out (who wants to take pictures of their own kids and an every day camera) what kind of camera/lens is best to buy and a good book to get started to understand the basics?

I have received this question a lot. Now, even if you aren’t going to run a business it is still great to have a good camera and lens. It will make a world of a difference in your pictures! I shoot with canon so my advice will be geared towards that (I just don’t know Nikon, but its still good) My 1st camera was a Canon Rebel xsi and a kit lens 18-55mm. (I shot my 1st wedding with this) I loved this camera and still have it to this day actually. It was a great starter camera. It took quality pictures for what I was doing at the time. Canon has many different cameras from entry level to professional and a wide variety of prices. For those just starting out, I think that the new rebel t5i is great but if you want 1 step higher without paying too much then the 60D is even better! (I have this one as well and it was awesome). The kit lens is decent, (18-55mm)  but the best lens to invest in is the 5omm 1.4 This is around $450 but is so worth the money. This is a prime lens (meaning it is fixed at 50mm) and is good for indoor shooting and lower light situations. The F stop goes all the way down to 1.4! (That gives you that bokeh – blurriness in the background of your pictures) The color and quality it gives is great for the price. Now, canon makes a 50mm 1.8 and its $99 but it is a cheap lens, (don’t go that route) the 50mm 1.4 is a TON better. It really would be worth the money. Once you get your camera, it is important to learn how to use it. I am mostly self taught, so trial and error and just reading my manual was the best for me. I also read a lot of great blogs, follow a lot of photographers and just googles things online. You wouldn’t believe what all is out there! I do offer mentoring sessions if you do want to get your feet off the ground 🙂 I hope that this was a little helpful for you! Everyone has different opinions on this and you really can’t go wrong with a DSLR, it will be better than most point and shoots.

Thats a wrap for week 1! Please send more questions to my email! kari@karimephotography.com I look forward to next weeks post!

xoxox