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photography
i wanna get into photography
how do i start..
what are good cameras
how do i get black and white photos
and are polaroids still around?
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Maybe give some free advice about: Random Weirdos?
check i your school
has a photography class.
thats what i did =)
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How you start depends on your ultimate goal, but as it is with everything else, you start by learning the basics. A high-school level photo class can tell you about the terminology and the essentials of photography, or for that matter you can just get a good book. There's no real substitute for getting out there and shooting pictures, though, so once you've got a fair understanding of what things like F-stops are, and what an ISO number is, and how aperture relates to depth of field, get a camera and start shooting.
As far as how you get started, it depends on what you want to do. Assuming you're talking about making a career out of it, a good way to start is to find a local studio that does "event" photography: things like high school dances, college parties, kids' sporting events, and so on. The pay is not good but it gets you some real experience. The next step up from there depends on what direction you want to go in - a journalistic photographer would take a different route than someone who does portraits or nature.
One of the easiest ways to make money at photography is to do weddings, but they can also be very stressful - after all, if you mess up, you ruin the most important day in someone's life! Don't even think about doing weddings until you have (1) at least two years of practical experience, and (2) a full set of backup equipment. You can sometimes practice for a "real" wedding by doing photos for a friend or relative at their wedding, in addition to the ones by their paid photographer (remember that it's his bread and butter - don't get in his way or otherwise make it hard for him to do his job!)
Equipment: I have a Nikon D50 digital, and it works well for me. I started with film because that's what was available when I started, but digital is MUCH easier and, since you don't have to actually print your pictures to see them, far less expensive in the long run. With a digital camera, you can shoot two hundred "practice" photos and print the ONE that comes out right! You probably don't want to get a film camera unless you're interested in pursuing photography solely as an art form (don't count on making any money at it for a while if that's the way you go).
Black and white can be easily produced from either color negatives or digital - simply have them printed in black and white. Once again, if you're going in the "serious art" direction, you'll want to be shooting on B&W film (probably only available in a specialty camera store these days) and, if you really want to get into it, you can even print it yourself. To do that, though, you're talking about putting up some major coin for darkroom equipment (not to mention the darkroom itself!) It's a terrific hobby and a noteworthy art form, but unless you're the next Ansel Adams you ain't gonna make a living at it.
Polaroid is essentially dead technology. Its only real purpose, aside from a novelty item, was to produce instant pictures - this is done with digital nowadays. They're still around, but they are pointless.
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Canon cameras are by far my favorite cameras.
I think the Canon PowerShot SD1000 might be good to start with, they are good quality and fairly inexpensive. (Around $200-$300)
Most digital camaeras have options where you can
make your pictures black and white, if yours doesn't you can do it in most photo editing programs like photoshop. I'm not too sure on polaroids, you can still buy them but it's probably hard to get film for them. They might have newer ones out now.
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