Becoming a Photographer on a Budget

Here is my little Introduction to the photographic section of Steemit. You can learn more about me on my first blog post https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@cryptomergent/greetings-steemit-peeps.

I studied photography a bit in high school back in the 90s, playing around in the darkroom with black and whites and I even took a college course at the University of Southeast AK in Sitka. I really loved photography but at some point in the analogue to digital transition I stopped taking photos. Around 2014 I decided I wanted to get back into it. At this point, I think I had forgotten all the technical skills I had learned in my school years.

First I needed a camera. I looked at the highest end cheapest cameras, I only had around $400 to spend. I really wanted a DSLR camera with various lenses and the whole 9, but decided against it. What I saw in the $400 range for a DSLR didn’t attract me. I started looking around at the best compact cameras. After reading many reviews I decided to go with the Sony RX100.

I decided on this model as it was affordable, compact, could shoot RAW and had great quality reviews. I liked the idea of having a compact camera because I travel a lot and prefer to be as light as possible. It has been a good experience and I am happy with my purchase. I started to sell my photos on Dreamstime hoping to make enough to eventually buy a more professional camera.

I have not earned much but have learned a lot and am slowly building my portfolio. The image quality I can get out of the RX100 isn’t stellar, try as I may. To push my photos to the next level I rely on editing. I couldn’t afford lightroom (which looks amazing) or any expensive photo software so I tried several alternatives. I ended up buying Pixelmatr for $20. I suppose there is a better alternative now (which I need to look into). I have been happy with Pixelmatr as limited as it is. Here is an example of a photo I just edited (before and after). This is a photo from Buddhist ruins in Ayutthaya, Thailand.

On this edit: I decided that I wanted a little bit of bokeh (blurred background) to make the Buddha standout. I simply used the marker selection tool selected my mid and foreground (around the buddha) inverted the selection used a 1% gaussian blur and then went back and forth between the foreground and back ground adjusting the light, contrast and saturation.

I edit all of my photos before uploading so it takes a lot of time. I do enjoy the process it is very satisfying to see the image come to life. I really look forward to getting to know more of the photographers here on Steemit! If any of you have any suggestions on how I can improve my work I would be very appreciative!

Here is my portfolio - https://www.dreamstime.com/geomergent_info

Thanks, Simha