Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons

I hear it every week. People want to find ways to save money on their photo hobby. While the economy is on a rebound and things are improving, I know it’s still tough for some of you. So here are some tips that might help you get more out of photography without breaking the bank.

1. Buy used. Photographic gear depreciates quickly. There are many reputable camera dealers who specialize in or offer used gear. All the big New York camera stores have a significant used gear department. Your local store may also have used gear. There are brokers like KEH which have a very good reputation in the used market. And then there’s always Craig’s List – which requires a little more care (to make sure you’re getting what you pay for) but there are plenty of options. If you buy an older, but high-quality piece of fast glass used, you’ll end up with great image quality at a reduced price.

2. Buy refurbished products. I’ve found some very good deals from Canon in particular on refurbished products. Most of the big camera stores offer refurbished items. These are returns that have been checked and restocked and are sold with a warranty in most cases. Many of the manufacturers also have refurbished items available for sale on their web sites. This can save you 15-20% and still give you a like-new item.

3. Buy gear that matches what your friends have and form a swap club. Agree that you will loan lenses and flashes, etc. in return for the same option. Maybe you buy the 70-200 and your pal buys the 400. You don’t need the 70-200 every day and he doesn’t need the 400 every day and since you have the same system, you swap. It’s a fun and safe way to use lots of gear without having to own it.

4. Rent. If you’re only an occasional shooter, then why buy? I know a guy who photographs birds once or twice a year. He bought a $14,000 telephoto lens that will be used 20 times maybe before he dies. He could have rented that same lens and kept most of his money in his pocket. All the big camera stores have rental departments and that is always my first choice. That way you can examine the gear you are renting before you walk out the door to make sure it’s up to snuff. There are half a dozen online rental companies. Some of these are better than others. Be sure to ask about how new a particular item is before you rent it and ask lots of detailed questions about the item’s condition. I recently rented a slider that was utterly useless because the tracks were all dinged up and the camera wouldn’t move smoothly across the rail. As long as you ask lots of questions, you should be fine.

5. Use the Internet. There are tons of how-to/DIY You Tube videos on how to make studio gear or get more out of what you have. There are several good blogs. My favorite DIY blog is Larry Becker’s Cheap Shots – http://larryscheapshots.com. Larry works for Kelby Media and is a great guy, who’s come up with some neat stuff.

6. One of the easiest ways to save money in photography is to get the most out of what you have. I seriously doubt that five percent of you reading this are utterly familiar with all your gear. You are probably using about 10% of its capacity. Before plopping down extra cash to get the next great thing, read and re-read your manuals for the gear you own. Practice with it. Scour online resources provided by your camera/lens manufacturer. Chances are you can do things with your current gear you didn’t even know you could do.

7. Save money on photo workshops and conferences by offering to volunteer in return for free admission. Sure, you have to work for your beans, but even if you only end up getting to attend a few sessions or are working in a session as a volunteer, you’re getting free info and getting exposure to other photographers for great networking opportunity.

8. Offer to assist a photographer you admire – for free. While most working pros already have assistants on staff, they can always use one more hand and you could be that hand. Then do what they ask, shut up and listen. You’ll end up with a free photo education and real-world working experience that puts you in front of your competition.

9. Learn to prioritize. I mean prioritize everything. There’s the obvious…. Prioritize gear purchases (Lenses over bodies, etc.) Prioritize your time. Prioritize your education. If photography is truly important to you, then maybe you could give up 15 Lattes a week in return for better gear or training.

10. Use friends, family as models rather than hiring pros. Learn how to do makeup and save money on makeup-artists. Find aspiring models and offer to trade prints for modeling to save modeling fees.

Everything costs something. There is even a cost to doing things on the cheap. Sometimes you do in fact sacrifice quality. But if you’re just learning or testing or experimenting, what does it matter if it’s only 95% of what it could be? When you get to the point where you are ready for prime time you can spend the money the pros do. And you’ll have it to spend because you used these tips.

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This Post Sponsored by:

lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/ Photofocus.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images.  Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDR Soft.

Mosaic — A complete solution for photographers using Lightroom who want to manage and share their photos.  You can easily view images with their iOS app or web service.  Plus your photos are backed up to the cloud with several plans to match your needs.

Gigapan.com. The revolutionary GigaPan EPIC robotic camera mount lets you capture and combine thousands of images into one incredible, interactive panorama. Save 10% with the code PHOTOFOCUS.

Drobo - Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.

You might be wondering why I’m about to spend so many words on a review for a camera strap.  Some of you are perfectly content to use the small strap the manufacturer tosses in the box or pick up a slightly better one at your local camera store.  Well, let me bring up an old adage… “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.”

I get nervous hanging a few thousand dollars over my neck or shoulder.  Especially since I’m the type of shooter who has to often juggle other things (additional gear, multiple bodies, small children).  Toss in the fact that my shoulders are much closer in width to a linebacker than a male model and you’ll quickly see how most straps make me feel uncomfortable with a camera hanging in a weird spot (with little stability).

Enter the Vulture Equipment Works.  I met the company’s founder at Skip Cohen University.  He seemed super passionate about his product and told me how he was inspired while sky diving in a plane.  He looked at the military plane he was on as well as the  special ops jump rigs.  Essentially, if the materials used were good enough to secure the top grade equipment and lives of military personnel, he thought they’d make an excellent camera strap.

So, while it may seem a little like overkill at first, here are some of the highlights of the strap system:

• The webbing material matches what’s used in parachute straps.  Designed to hold hundreds of pounds with tons of force applied.
• The carabiner clips are easy to attach and remove, but impossible to accidentally detach.
• The adjustable strap system is comfortable for people of all sizes.
• The camera attaches with secure webbing and a multiple lock type system.
• The strap is large enough that you can adjust its length to turn it into a car rig or mount the camera to other pieces of grip gear.

I saw the inventor swinging full DSLR rigs over his head like a rodeo cowboy.  The system is just that rock solid.  If you’re looking for what I believe to be the finest strap you can buy, check out the Vulture Equipment Works.  The product is a premium priced item, but think of how many thousands of dollars you have hanging on the other end.

Highly recommended.

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This Post Sponsored by:

lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/ Photofocus.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images.  Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDR Soft.

Mosaic — A complete solution for photographers using Lightroom who want to manage and share their photos.  You can easily view images with their iOS app or web service.  Plus your photos are backed up to the cloud with several plans to match your needs.

Gigapan.com. The revolutionary GigaPan EPIC robotic camera mount lets you capture and combine thousands of images into one incredible, interactive panorama. Save 10% with the code PHOTOFOCUS.

Drobo - Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.

A few readers have asked for some Apple oriented tutorials…  and I’d like to oblige.  I’m actually a big fan of iPhoto as a great tool for emerging photographers and hobbyists (and yes I like Photoshop Elements for the same reason).  Here is a short excerpt from a Lynda.com class I worked on.  Let me know if you’d like to see more.

This iPhoto tutorial shows how to improve an overexposed or washed out image with the Saturation control.   The amount of saturation you use is very subjective, but consider pairing it with the Definition slider.

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This Post Sponsored by:

lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/ Photofocus.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images.  Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDR Soft.

Mosaic — A complete solution for photographers using Lightroom who want to manage and share their photos.  You can easily view images with their iOS app or web service.  Plus your photos are backed up to the cloud with several plans to match your needs.

Gigapan.com. The revolutionary GigaPan EPIC robotic camera mount lets you capture and combine thousands of images into one incredible, interactive panorama. Save 10% with the code PHOTOFOCUS.

Drobo - Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.

We’re big fans of ThinkTank bags here at Photofocus. They make bags that are designed by photographers for photographers. I’ve never seen one of their bags I don’t like. But when I heard about their new line of bags designed for mirrorless cameras, I was excited to get my hands on one.

I picked the Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 30i Bag, which is the largest of the series. It will hold an iPad or other similarly-sized tablet and one medium to large size mirrorless body plus two to four lenses, and additional accessories or a small–size DSLR and one to three small telephoto lenses or primes. It is sized for the Fuji X–Pro 1, Leica M8, Panasonic GH3 or similar sized/smaller bodies. Small DSLRs: Canon Rebel, Nikon D3200/D5200, Sony SLT–A55/A37 or similar sized bodies.

As usual the bag is meticulously made, with top-shelf materials. It is very configurable and has a built-in rain cover. It can be worn on your belt or you can use the comfortable strap that comes with the bag.

As usual the zippers are incredibly well made and the whole bag just feels good in your hands.

At $69.95 it may seem expensive since it’s really quite small, but if you know the typical strength, quality and utility of ThinkTank bags you’ll understand that this is a good value.

The only feature I don’t understand about this bag is the magnetic closure. Which is a neat idea but it appears to be facing backwards.

In any event, there are lots of little places to put batteries, chargers, memory cards, cleaning cloths, blowers and more.

My favorite feature is the built-in tablet carry slot. I can see myself more and more just going with this one small bag and the Fuji X100s, iPad or my Olympus OMD body with several lenses and the iPad. It’s a dream come true for those who want to travel light, but still have the protection for their gear they need.

As an avid mirror-less supporter I applaud ThinkTank for coming up with a solution that works.

Highly recommended.

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This Post Sponsored by:

lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/ Photofocus.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images. Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDR Soft.

Mosaic — A complete solution for photographers using Lightroom who want to manage and share their photos. You can easily view images with their iOS app or web service. Plus your photos are backed up to the cloud with several plans to match your needs.

Gigapan.com. The revolutionary GigaPan EPIC robotic camera mount lets you capture and combine thousands of images into one incredible, interactive panorama. Save 10% with the code PHOTOFOCUS.

Drobo - Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how HDR tone mapping can be applied to a single image for dramatic effect. The image can then be finished using a tool like Photoshop, Lightroom, or Aperture to get final results.

Be sure to check out the HDR Learning Center for more on HDR.

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This Post Sponsored by:

lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/ Photofocus.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images. Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDR Soft.

Mosaic — A complete solution for photographers using Lightroom who want to manage and share their photos. You can easily view images with their iOS app or web service. Plus your photos are backed up to the cloud with several plans to match your needs.

Gigapan.com. The revolutionary GigaPan EPIC robotic camera mount lets you capture and combine thousands of images into one incredible, interactive panorama. Save 10% with the code PHOTOFOCUS.

Drobo - Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Shutter speed 1/125 | Exposure: 6.3 | ISO 100
Canon 240105@97MM
Post-processed with Silver Efex Pro and Photoshop

I find when photographing people – controlling light is the key.

I often see photographers diligently re-positioning their strobes to control the light – but rarely controlling the dark.  Negative fill can make or break an image.  Light is a pesky fellow – it can bounce around a room, reflect of odd surfaces, and light your talent from angles you never expected.  That is where negative fill come in.  Large pieces of black foam core or black reflectors, which block stray reflections and absorb ambient light from your strobes.

I usually try to place this negative fill as close to my subject as possible – sometimes so close that I require Photoshop to hide or remove it.  Usually the closer it is  – the better it works – however sometimes placing your negative-fill too close can actually throw light on your subject.. Black is black – but bear in mind different surfaces have different levels of reflectivity – so you may get different results from a piece of foam core vs. a black pop-out reflector.  And when it comes to fabrics satin, muslin, felt and velvet will all give different results.

Test shot — Model: Brynn
Canon EOS 5D Mark III 
Shutter speed 1/125 | Exposure: ƒ4 | ISO 100
Canon 240105@47MM

In this shot I wanted quite a dramatic contrast between the light and dark areas…so in addition to using negative fill, I lit using a single strobe modified with a 1 X 3 strip box and fabric grid. I did a test shot without the model first to ensure that there was no stray light.  I then positioned her and the light and took meter readings at her cheek, shoulder, and hip. During the shoot I had her selectively rotate parts of body to vary the amount to light falling on her face and torso.

Everything was shot Camera Raw and a “bit to the right” – Which basically meant I over-exposed the image about one stop.  I know that way I could still bring back the details in the highlights and maintain very clean shadows.

In post I converted the image to Black and white with Silver Effects Pro and placed a vignette over the image to further control the shadows

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This Post Sponsored by:

lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/ Photofocus.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images.  Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDR Soft.

Mosaic — A complete solution for photographers using Lightroom who want to manage and share their photos.  You can easily view images with their iOS app or web service.  Plus your photos are backed up to the cloud with several plans to match your needs.

Gigapan.com. The revolutionary GigaPan EPIC robotic camera mount lets you capture and combine thousands of images into one incredible, interactive panorama. Save 10% with the code PHOTOFOCUS.

Drobo - Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.

It’s one of my favorite things to do. I get to give stuff away and give people a chance to live out their photographic dreams…

Everyone else gets at least hope out of the deal!

Today I announce the winner of a Canon 5D MK III and Drobo 5D

Congrats to: @WGeorgeCook 

Mr. Cook please e-mail me at photofocus@me.com with your postal shipping address and phone number and you will receive your prize shortly.

Didn’t win? There are more contests open. Just check our OPEN CONTEST page on Photofocus.