Practice in the Zoo

A safari in Africa is an incredible experience and a unique setting for wildlife photography. But better start practicing to shoot animals in a zoo before you buy a plane ticket! In the zoo you do not need to spend endless time waiting for the animals to show up. The animals are much easier to spot when they walk on green grass in the zoo compared to the brownish-grayish colors of the savanna. In addition, you can get much closer to the animals than you could (or would want to) in the African bush. You can try out different compositions and all the functions of your camera. A zoo is like a "sports field" where you can practice wildlife photography.

Meerkat

Still, it's not trivial to take good pictures in a zoo. Try to shoot from an angle so that you won't see any walls or fences. You will get the best results on a bright, sunny day - if the animal is in the sunshine and the background is in the shade. It helps to use a large aperture (low f-number) to blur the background. You can see the effect of these tricks in the meerkat photo - there are no distracting fences, bars of a cage, or people visible in the background.

Once you have mastered taking photos of animals in the zoo you can consider taking photos of wild animals. But keep in mind that there is a huge difference between taking a photo of an animal in the wild and one of an animal in a controlled environment. The challenges of getting good shots of truly wild animals are often overlooked! In most circumstances you will need a good tele lens to get a good pic of a wild animal. There are exceptions - in some national parks (e.g., Ethosha National Park, Namibia) you might get close enough to the animals to get a good shot with a standard lens.

Free Online Photo Editors

To edit your photos without having to download and install software, you have a choice of several free online photo editors, for example Picnik and Photoshop.com. While these online editors don't have all the functions, features, and bells and whistles of photo-editing software, they are easy to use, can be used from any computer with an Internet connection, and - best of all - are free. They are great tools to learn and practice photo editing online in your browser, without the complexity of photo-editing software.
These online photo editors are often bundled with special features. For example, Picnik can be used to edit photos that you have uploaded to Facebook and Flickr. Photoshop.com comes with 2 GB of disk space to store and share your photos.

Go Analogue!

A surprising and rather counterintuitive result of the fast progress of the digital imaging technology is that it makes shooting film more attractive! The quality of film scanners has improved considerably in the last decade. Thus, if you drop a roll of color print film at a store (e.g., at Costco) you can get a photo CD with high-resolution digital images for a few dollars ($2.99 at Costco, to be precise). Add to that the costs for processing and prints (many stores charge less for prints from film than for prints form digital images) and it will still be less than 10 bucks!

Azalea

As you can see in the flower picture, these low-cost scans have a very pleasing "look", including great colors, a lot of per-pixel detail and sharpness. No need for post-processing - you can directly post them on the internet or email them to your friends! If you use a fine-grained film and drop it at a photo lab that is scpecialized in high-quality scans (such as NCPS) you can get a maximum resolution of 20 to 24 megapixels from a 35 mm film, comparable to the latest state-of-the art full-frame digital SLRs - for a fraction of the price!

These days you can buy a good used film SLR with a kit lens for a lot less than $100. In contrast, a digital SLR - even a used one - will cost you several hundred dollars! Unless you are shooting thousands of photos per year, a film SLR will be a lot less expensive than a digital SLR! A lot of people who use film SLRs use digital point-and-shoot cameras to take snapshots and use their film SLRs to take high-quality photos.

Don't buy a camera

The most "extreme" version of Photography on a Shoestring is not to buy a camera! You have several options to shoot photos when you don't have a camera:

1) You can probably borrow one for a day. You could ask a relative or a friend and explain to them that you would like to use his or her camera for a special day, e.g., visiting a botanical garden or attending a wedding. They might not lend you their expensive SLR gear but an inexpensive camera will do. Just remember to return the camera promptly! For example, I used my mom's camera on a vacation when I was an undergraduate and didn't have much money to spare.

2) If you are lucky you might be able to get a camera for free or for a low price when somebody you know buys a new camera and doesn't want to keep his old equipment. Usually it doesn't hurt to politely ask what they'll do with their old camera. Just don't be a pest. A free cell phone camera from your phone company would also qualify as a free camera. Some cell phones include pretty good cameras.

3) An alternative would be a cheap disposable camera. They don't cost much and they deliver a very reasonable image quality.

4) Some camera stores rent equipment. You can rent a high-quality SLR to take advantage of the superb image quality for a photo tour without having to blow your budget.

Visit a Botanical Garden

Glasgow Botanic Gardens

A great place to practice taking pictures of flowers and plants are botanical gardens. You'll find blossoms at almost any time of the year. Most - though not all - botanical gardens are open to the public and some of them don't even charge an entrance fee. Visit at a day when the light is good and when it's not too crowded and you'll have plenty opportunities to shoot photos of colorful plants. (And you can learn a thing or two about plants, too!)

For close-up photos try to fill the whole frame with the blossom. Shoot a macro of the little details of the plant. If you don't own a macro lens, just stick to the plants with larger blossoms. Or you can take a pic of the whole plant. Try to keep the composition simple!

Don't blow your budget!

Making a Peach Pie
Photo by Elaine31

"The strength of an image lies within the photographer and not with the equipment."
-- Bruce Percy

How do you know if you can afford your camera gear? It's simple -- if you can pay cash and still pay your rent, then you can most likely afford your gear. If you have to charge it to your credit card, then you can't afford it. Once you buy a camera on credit, you'll have to pay sky-high interest rates on your credit card balance and you'll have even less money in the future.

You still can take good photos even if all you can afford is a basic point-and-shoot camera. Some people make great pics with cell phone cameras! If you take a look at Elaine31's photos that she took with her used point-and-shoot camera, you'll agree with me that imagination and creativity rather than technical perfection make a good photo.

Read Bruce Percy's thoughts on this topic.

The Art of Photography

"The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it."
-- Ansel Adams

You do not need to spend a lot of money to take good photos. It took me a long time to appreciate the fact that my camera matters a lot less than my photographic skills. This shot was made with an obsolete Fuji A303 and it turned out to be my most popular picture on Flickr. It is way more important to learn about photography and to develop an artist's eye than to buy a fancy new camera.

Read Ken Rockwell's excellent article on this topic: Your Camera Doesn't Matter