A few people have been asking me what equipment or how I get the photos that I get. I used to say that equipment didn't matter, but I now believe that's wrong. It does depend on the equipment, and how little you fiddle with it in order to concentrate on capturing the moment. It all comes down to how you see the photograph after it is taken, after the post processing is done, how it shows up on a website or in a frame, and what story it will tell, all before you even take the shot. If you're totally preoccupied with all your cool new gear, your fancy flash unit and gels, getting white balance right even before you take a shot, you're going to get distracted. That's not to say all this gear is good, but you have to really practice it so that it's second nature on how to use it all, in order to really get the pictures you want. That said, I know plenty of awesome photographers that use a nice medley of gear really well, so well that they can give 100% of their concentration to the composition. For me, I keep it extremely simple:
Equipment:
Nikon D700
Nikon 84mm f/1.4
Nikon 20mm f/2.8
Settings:
Camera body:
Aperture Priority
Auto ISO (200-Hi.2)
Min-shutter speed (1/100s for the 85, 1/30s for the 20)
RAW lossless
Lenses:
85mm: f/1.6 - f/2.8 for most shots, landscapes get f/8 +
20mm: f/2.8 - f/4 for most shots, landscapes get f/8 +
That's it =) I set all the above, and all I need to play with is aperture, which even stays consistent unless I am changing what I'm shooting. I rarely take any other lenses out anymore, except a macro lens when I need an extreme closeup.
