What Photographic Equipment Do I Need To Make Great Photos?

Photography can be a very expensive hobby, if you let all the advertising hype that is out there shape your ideas about the kind of equipment you will need in order to make great photos.

I don't plan on spending a great deal of time making posts to this blog about specific equipment purchases that I recommend because what I have learned is that great photographs are not really about the equipment that you have. Of course, there is a point of reason on this subject though. The truth is that certain equipment will make a huge difference in your photographic output, and it makes a lot of sense to have high quality tools in your photo tool-belt if you want high quality results.

On the other hand though, you don't need the latest gear available to turn out beautiful and stunning photos. That is a myth that has been perpetuated to get consumers to do one simple thing, keep buying more photo gear at higher and higher costs to feed the photo equipment industry even more money than they have already made.

Now, let me be clear though. If you have wads of money and are anxious to find a way to part with it quickly, you can do that easily by buying into the idea that only the latest and most expensive gear will allow you to get the kind of photos that the pros get on a regular basis. But what I am trying to say is that if you are like the rest of us, and need to keep your gear budget under control, fear not, because you can definitely produce amazing work using equipment that costs much less than the latest and greatest on the market today.

In fact, just think about it. With all of the incredible cameras and lenses and other photo gear available for sale now, you would think that a steady stream of unbelievable photos would be produced by pretty much everyone who can afford the cost of the newest stuff. But just peruse the galleries of your favorite photo sharing website and you will see that the majority of what is posted there is still very ordinary, nothing really special, even though many of those folks are using the very best that money can buy.

Of course, if you are a pro, then get the best you can afford because your living will depend on the reliability of the cameras and other equipment that you use. And most likely, you will be subjecting your gear to much higher use under more difficult circumstances than the average person who loves producing photos as art for their own enjoyment.

With all of that said, in the next few posts on this blog I will discuss my reasons for choosing the equipment that I have so far and give some general recommendations that you might find useful if you want to create high quality photo art that you can be proud to share with others without breaking the bank. So stay tuned!