Shooting photos on a budget

In the current challenging financial market in today’s time with inflation causing rising costs of goods and services we understand the importance of budgetary constraints. This applies to the photography arena as well, regardless of whether you are a professional photographer or a beginner. Therefore, getting a tremendous digital camera, point-and-shoot camera or even Full Frame DSLR camera that gets great photos with a high-quality image reproduction is so important. So, getting camera gear like those cameras with a variety of lighting setups on budget, without spending a lot of money will most likely be hard.

You may have to deal with harsh lighting conditions such as too much natural light so you will want a camera that has a fast shutter speed to allow for less ambient and natural light to enter your camera’s sensor.

There are plenty of solid mirrorless camera options to choose from, including models from retailers such manufacturers as Canon, Nikon, and Tamron. You can look at camera body only models which would mean those are interchangeable lens cameras and can be used with any kit lens that fits your budget.

But we will take a look at some photography tips, tutorials and photography products later on which will help your photoshoot turn out great.

Photography Tips and Tutorials

• The first thing you will need is a good DSLR camera or even a point and shoot camera. However as these may start to creep up in price for new cameras, you should check out used cameras or refurbished camera gear, or digital cameras on clearance, which may have better options available at a lower cost which offsets the “used” aspect of the camera.

• Since you most likely have a smartphone such as an Apple iPhone, using the camera system on your phone can save you money as you wouldn’t be purchasing a camera or lens. One of the nice things about the iPhone is its ability to shoot photos in a RAW format. This allows for more tinkering with final exposure in your postproduction software such as Adobe Lightroom or photoshop. You can even make changes on the camera itself after you take the still image. Just click on the crop or edit button, and many post editing options are made available to you.

• Use your own DIY lighting setup which will save you tons of money. You may, however, want to purchase a reflector to use with your own lighting setup, a reflector is a nice addition to your camera gear as it redirects the natural or ambient lighting to your subject. This is a cost-effective way of getting great still images and videos while using your own lighting tools and gear. You can achieve studio lighting quality with a recommended Hot or Warm lighting bulbs.

• Or try schedule your photoshoot for a time of the day when there is an abundance of natural light sources that can be used to get a high-quality image. This could be from the sun, or just ambient lighting that is already present in your shooting scene. So, you save money by not having to buy your own lighting setup.

• If you are going to shoot stills handheld and are worried about shake and blur which is often found during handheld photography, you should look at some camera gear like a tripod. Having a tripod will increase the stabilization of your camera and help ensure that you get a smooth blur free exposure, while still being able to rotate the camera to get your right depth of field view.

• Try to avoid shooting in a wide-angle field of view as this may cause unwanted blurriness or degradation of the final exposure on a DSLR camera.

• Try using one of the budget friendly cameras recommended below to take product photos with. If you sell items on onsite retailers such as eBay, you want to have great image quality and be able to focus in on your product at close a close up distance. Try using a 90mm macro lens for some great product photography that you will love showing off on your social media page.

• Give manual mode shooting a try with your DSLR camera. This may be a little more advanced for beginners as professional photographers will use manual mode to control all the camera’s presets. This means that you can manually set the ISO number, the focal length, and aperture settings you want for your photoshoot. For example, when trying to get a wide depth of field view you want to set your aperture settings to a lower number, which keeps these types of photos clear, vibrant and more focused in on your subject.

• When looking for a background to set up for your product photography, there is no need to go out and purchase expensive background setups. You can easily create a simple blank background to get studio lighting type of backgrounds out of a thick piece of paper, which you can tape to the wall behind the product. Or consider showing off your product photos in environments where they will be used. For example, if you are trying to sell a laptop on eBay, try using your own background in an existing desk setting which won’t cost you anything.

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You can also use software or apps built into your smartphone like an iPhone for editing in post processing, which we also previously mentioned can be shot in a RAW format for more post processing editing of your exposure.

Product Ideas

Cameras

     Option #1

A great budget friendly camera like the Sony A5100 with the 16-50mm lens is a good way to start for beginners. This camera boasts a stunning 24.3-million-pixel, Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor, meaning every megapixel in your exposure is produced with good clarity and color vibrancy. Even though this camera was released almost 10 years ago, it remains today as a great starter DSLR camera for beginners at an extremely affordable price point.

This camera utilizes Sony’s patented E Mount system and provides a focal length of 1.5x maximum magnification, an ISO sensitivity range of 100-25,600 and shutter speeds of 30-1/4000sec, plus bulb.

The kit lens set up of this camera comes in with a 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 Power Zoom lens which can be used as an everyday prime lens to handle a wide array of photography scenes.

This camera can record videos in FHD or Full HD of 1980 x 1080p at 24FPS or 50FPS. There is also continuous shooting available at 6FPS.

Present on this camera is a 3” TFT LCD screen, however there is no electronic viewfinder or EVF on the camera. But the 3” LCD screen should suffice for beginners.

This is an extremely lightweight and ergonomic digital camera measuring in at only 4.4 × 2.5 × 1.9 inches, which makes it perfect to use for photography on the go.

The included battery is rated to get you approximately 420 shots before depleting the battery. However, if you are a Vlogger or taking images and videos while you travel, you should consider purchasing a spare battery for peace of mind.

Option #2

Another option for a wonderfully priced camera that you can afford while working with a budget is the Kodak Pixpro fz45. The camera comes in a cool looking red finish with a 16 Megapixel 1/2.3inch CMOS sensor which powers the camera’s image sensor. There is also a 2.7” screen to get a good view of the Full HD or 1080 x 1920 at 30FPS video recordings that this camera can take. This is great for during shooting usage, so you can concentrate on the viewing screen and properly focus in on your subject.

Another nice aspect of this camera is that it takes 2x AA batteries to power itself. So, you can use this on the go with having spare batteries and not having to worry about finding an outlet to re-charge the camera.

There are several shooting modes with easy access buttons to adjust your presets for your photoshoot. These include a P, M, Auto, Scene modes and a Panoramic mode is present as well.

This is an extremely lightweight and ergonomic camera with dimensions of (93.0 x 60.2 x 28.7mm) and weighing only 117g. So, it’s a perfect point and shoot camera to take with you on travel photography, landscape photography, or Vlogging on the go.

On the underside of the camera, you will find a Micro USB port to connect the camera to your PC or laptop, a tripod socket and the memory card holder. This camera is capable of handling memory cards rated at SDXC from 16GB up to 256GB and beyond. Having the Micro USB port is important, as the camera does not have Wi-Fi capability or bluetooth capability, so to transfer your still images and video recordings to your social media page, you will need to connect the camera to your PC or laptop.

There is a macro mode available which basically turns the prime lens into a macro lens. This allows you focus on your subject from distances as close as 5cm away from the front of the lens.

Final Thoughts

As we previously referenced the difficult economic times we are in and the there is a need to work with a tight budget for your photography photoshoots. Try utilizing the photography tips and recommended products to get those wonderful exposures which you will love to put up to show and share on your social media page.