I want to become a professional photographer...what do I need to get started?

Here is a list of things professional photographers need ro know... 1. How to manage money and run a business 2. How to market and advertise your business 3. How to find customers 4. How your camera works 5. How to light a photograph 6. How to compose a photograph Selecting a good camera is important but remember... A camera is but a paint brush, it is more important who is holding the brush than which brush it is.  All decent cameras can take wonderful pictures in the right hands. Spend your time studying great lighting and composition because even a great camera can not fix bad lighting or composition.  And have fun with whichever brush you buy and use. Good luck.

Technology changes a lot, and a year from now, an updated model will probably be out. Perhaps start with a manual digital compact. You can get used to the controls, and while the depth is field is not as good, you can learn to experiment. And it's also MUCH cheaper and you can be sure that you really want to pursue photography. Also maybe attend a few photography classes (my local council held a few with pretty simple yet valuable advice, so stuff about rule of thirds, composition, lighting).

First, I would recommend you buy the camera from B&H, not Bestbuy. http://www.bhphotovideo.com Best in the business and will have everything you need. Which is a lot - you don't say what type of photography you're interested in doing, but you will need quite a bit of gear to do any of it, including landscape (people somehow think that one is easy.) You will also need the knowledge of how to take photos-I personally would like to kill the ad man who came up with "You push the button, we do the rest" - too bad the guy is already dead. It is not so simple as point and shoot. I assume this is what you're studying in college. Pay attention - this is hard. For a business you'll need: So: 2 bodies (3 is better) of the best camera you can buy, understand you will replace it often. Makes up for not having to buy film (I think in the end digital is actually more expensive than film.) Lenses to cover everything from wide angle to a big old zoom. You'll need portraiture lenses (50mm on an APS sensor, 80 thru 100 on full frame), a 70-200 is always useful, or if you need larger lenses 100-400. That last one weighs a ton. Batteries: spares for everything. Same with cards. A good bag for the lot of it. 2 Flash units with wireless. You can use a cord, particularly if you're doing studio tabletop, but the wireless is like heaven. Incident light meter-you can read your flash with this. Very helpful. Tripod - big one, the purpose is to keep the camera rock steady. Little cheesy lightweight ones don't do the job. Buy one bigger than you need, you'll grow into it. Reflectors: light discs, cards, aluminium foil sometimes. Also tons of other stuff: a small spirit level (architecture, tabletop), clamps, scrims, screens, stands, softboxes, clamps, clothespins, black wrap, duvatine fabric, the list can go on forever. It took me years to build my kits up. You won't do this overnight. For school, start with the Rebel (Ti3) if that's the best you can get. I personally find them tiresome and would go the next step up at least. But if you have no experience with more advanced models this camera will do. Understand you will need to work on the lenses - the kit lens is not great at all. Get a 50mm prime (fixed focal length) - I think it comes it 1.8 or 1.4. Then start building your lens selection as you need them. Which one you need will become clear as you use the camera. Good luck.

I do weddings and have the following camera ... an XSi (have had it for 5 years), a T1i (have had it for 2 years) and a 5DMkII (bought it this year). I use the Xsi as a backup still or my wife will shoot with it at weddings and the images (depending on the conditions) are still very good. I use the 5D as my main and the T1i as my second body with a different lens. The body isn't AS important as the lenses and proper knowledge. The T3i will last you at least 5 years.

Take a photography course Read photography books Read photography books Read photography books Read more photography books. Read photography magazines. Shoot every day. Always have a camera with you. Experiment with different genres of photography. Volunteer to assist photographers. Learn about the industry. Read photography books.

Before you even start thinking about the equipment you need to learn photography properly, then business skills, then marketing skills etc etc about 5-6 years should do.

I use exclusively Canon. It works for me. Lenses, and a decent body...once you understand what it all means. Don't go out and buy a bunch of stuff if you have no idea what it does or how to use it. 1. Learn the ins and outs of how to manage your money 2. Learn how to tell your friends they are gonna have to pay too. 3. Freebees are a NO NO!! Unless it advertising - sometimes -weigh who is really going to see it. Skill will come with practice but the three things above are what keep you in business. Welcome to a cut throat industry, and good luck!

I'm not a Canon fan, being a Nikon user, so I can't really comment on the cameras as I have no experience with the Canon ones. However, the body is not your biggest issue in regards to quality, but your lens. Thus you find lenses that cost $100 and some that cost $10000 dollars or more! A good idea is to get a body now that will take lenses that are compatable to whatever you upgrade to later. that way you can start building up your lens collection now and have it still be useful when you upgrade to pro equipment. The one thing I will comment on is your choice of SD card. Multiple smaller SD cards is a good idea. However, the one you have there is a class4 card, probably the slowest acceptable speed in a modern digital SLR. What you want to buy are class 8 or 10 cards as they are much faster. Why is speed important? The major issue is when taking many pictures in succesion, especially if the camera can do multiple exposures per second. The camera will slow don as it has to write pictures to the card as the buffer (especially in consumer cameras) is limited and it has to write to card before it can take more picture; thus the need for high speed cards (and why the top end professional cameras use CF cards as they are much faster than SD currently). I also personally prefer the Lexar cards- especially the professional range- they are class 10 but, just as importantly, you get to download free software that lets you recover any picture you have deleted on the card. Wait until you accidently delete a picture you wanted to keep and you will know how great that is!