Basic equipment for some genres of photography

Serious photography as an hobby is an expensive affair. To build a decent kit of basic equipment itself will require some good amount of investment. Hence, it is very important to understand what basic equipment are exactly needed for one to start pursuing this hobby seriously and make an optimal investment on the right equipment. These basic equipment also depends upon the genre of photography one is interested in. Of course, a camera is a must for any photography, since this is the main equipment that captures your images. Though good image is possible in any type of camera, but, if you are a serious photographer, it is important to have a camera that gives you more control in creating your images, so that you create them and they just don't happen by chance. Thus, cameras with interchangeable lenses becomes a must. Single lens reflex (film SLR, kind of obsolete now a days) or Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) or Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens (MIL) cameras fall into this category. These cameras, apart from allowing you to change the lenses, also have good controls on the camera body and also on the compatible lens, that will give you that needed control in creating your images. Adapting to a lighting situation and to create images in a variety of ways within the boundaries of the light conditions becomes possible with these cameras and their lenses. Which lenses and camera bodies or other equipment(s) to buy depends on the genre(s) that one wants to pursue. Some common genres are listed below and the basic equipment needed is also explained. The listed equipment are based on most usage in that particular genre. It is possible that there might be a few instances within the genre, that other equipment may be used. Such one off usage equipment are not mentioned in this blog. This blog will also not talk about which brands and which models to buy. This is left to the readers to research on their own and choose based on what they think their money's worth is. The object of this blog is to provide a beginner in serious photography a reference to what kind of equipment to acquire for a certain type of interest. So, here it goes .....

Landscape

The main characteristics of a Landscape photograph is sharpness throughout, a wider angle of view and rich colors. For sharpness throughout the image, narrow apertures (high 'f' nos ) are needed, which will slower the shutter speeds. Since details are also needed in every bit of the frame, a low ISO is also needed. This also adds to the slower shutter speed. To keep the camera in a stable position, considering slower shutter speeds involved, a good tripod becomes a must. Any of the camera bodies, SLR, DSLR (Dx and Fx), MIL, any model from basic to very advanced, should all be fine (all of them provide at least lowest ISO as 100, which is generally good, a decent pixel size and good control over exposure). Since the angle of view in most cases is wider, a wide angle lens (zoom or prime) might be needed. Ultra wide angle lenses are also important, but they can be added to the kitty after mastering with the wide angle lenses. All of these lenses should allow aperture to go down to at least f/22. One other important equipment is the filters. Polarizer filters (preferably circular polarizers commonly called CPLs) are a must to start with. These filters will increase the saturation of the colors and also give control over reflections (to some extent, you can choose to have or not have a reflections in your images). CPL will have an outer circular ring, which on rotating, will give control over the amount of saturation. This is very useful to control the richness of the blue sky color. Neutral density (ND) filters (they are more like xRay films and cut down the light by a certain amount) are also important if one needs to use slow shutter speed in bright conditions, for creativity reasons. There is also a graduated neutral density (GND) filters, that has a graduated opaqueness and can help in cutting various amount of light gradually within the frame. This is useful to deal with scenes with both a very bright and very dark areas, like sunsets. ND and GDN filters can be added later to the kitty after mastering the basics of landscape photography with camera, the wide angle lens, CPL and the tripod.

Low light / Night / Star trails

Low amount of light itself the main challenge of this genre of photography. Hence, slow shutter speed and high ISO becomes an important parameter, which means the camera body should have good control on setting slower shutter speeds, at times, even going to 30 mins to an hour and also very good noise performance at high ISOs (1600 and above). Similar to Landscapes, then lenses need to be wide angle or ultra wide angle. Also, a good tripod is a must since slower shutter speeds are invariably needed for this genre of photography.

Indoor and Outdoor Portraits

Bokeh or Blurry backgrounds as well as well lit subjects are a prominent features of Portraits. A good telephoto fast zoom lens or a standard fast lens are typically favorites for Portrait shooters. A 70-200 mm f2.8 and a 50 mm f1.4 or a 35 mm f1.4 or a 85 mm f1.8 are the lens that every portrait photographer will be carrying. Weather indoors or outdoors, they also have some basic lighting system that involves a static or camera controlled light source with other accessories like the soft box, reflective umbrella, light supports etc. The camera body is mainly driven by the quality of the end images needed. Most of the times, prints are made and physical albums are created, hence a good quality of image needs to be produced. Many of the SLR / DSLR / MIL bodies do give good image quality and should be sufficient.

Wildlife / Birds

This genre is somewhat similar to Portraits, except for that, the subjects are far and most of the times cannot be illuminated by artificial light. They have to be shot in natural light. A fast long telephoto zoom / prime lens is very important. The focal length can be anywhere from 70 mm to 800 mm and an aperture f2.8 or F4 or F5.6 might at the minimum, be needed. The ISO performance of the camera body upto 800 should be good since this is also one of the parameters that can be used to freeze action. Most of SLR / DSLR / MIL cameras bodies could work for this genre. A tripod or a monopod is also a necessary equipment to have since there are situations, especially in bird photography, where the camera will require stability. A bean bag is another important accessory that is needed for wildlife photography. This will provide necessary stability to the camera where tripods become cumbersome to use.

Macro

Magnified views of the subjects is what macro photography is. This is achieved by shooting as close as possible to the subject as well as using a telephoto focal length range. Special macro lens are available that allows to have a shorter distance between the subject and the lens. The most popular macro lenses are 85 / 90 mm f2.8 and 100 / 105 mm f 2.8. Flash or other lighting system is also important depending upon what kind of macro photography is done. For product macro photography, since it is done indoor, a static or camera controlled light sources with appropriate other accessories is needed. For nature macros, since it is outdoors and sometimes in low light conditions, a camera controlled flash might be needed. A ring flash is more popular with nature macro photographers. Regular flash guns can also be employed to good use in nature macro photography.

Summary

A summary view of the equipment is given in the below table which can be used as a quick reference.