If you want to shoot amateur content then you don’t have to spend a ton of money on equipment. Chef Jeff says that part of the allure of amateur content is its raw, real world feel. With that in mind, here’s a look at what you will and won’t need to buy in order to shoot great amateur porn.

Encounters with other photographers that shoot “amateur” content is always interesting to me because so many photographers really don’t have a clue about what shooting amateur content is all about, even the ones that shoot amateur content exclusively.If you want to shoot amateur content then you don’t have to spend a ton of money on equipment. Chef Jeff says that part of the allure of amateur content is its raw, real world feel. With that in mind, here’s a look at what you will and won’t need to buy in order to shoot great amateur porn.

Encounters with other photographers that shoot “amateur” content is always interesting to me because so many photographers really don’t have a clue about what shooting amateur content is all about, even the ones that shoot amateur content exclusively. I am simply astonished when we set up a shoot with another “amateur” couple and the husband or boyfriend arrives with an array of expensive cameras and lighting equipment. Using equipment like this to shoot amateur content is such overkill because part of what makes amateur content so great, in my opinion, is the lack of this same type of expensive equipment that professional photographers employ. The amateur element is lost when your end product looks like too much of a professional production.

Don’t get me wrong, I certainly envy the amateurs that can afford these five thousand dollar Canon SLR style digital cameras and synched lighting systems. But why do you need that kind of stuff for an amateur shoot? The whole systematic set-up and take down of arranging all the lighting and positioning of models for posed shots kind of takes the fun out of amateur shoots for me. What ever happened to the good old days?

LIGHTEN UP

Believe it or not, today’s digital cameras in the $2\’\’ to $4\’\’ price range are more than adequate to produce fantastic images for the Web. I am amazed at the high quality of images that I capture with, of all brands and makes, a Casio EX-3000. It’s more than two years old and I still can’t find a reason to buy anything else. I use a Kodak DC4800 as a back up, but it does not take photos anywhere near the quality of the Casio. A Casio… who would have guessed? At the time I purchased my camera it was priced at $\’\’\’.00, however the newest model (and from what I have heard, the better model), the Casio EX-5000, is priced as low as $4\’\’.00. Boy, have prices come down or what? More to the point: higher priced, professional level digital cameras take professional looking photos, and a major part of capturing the amateur element is capturing your images with the same cameras that amateurs would use; try shooting with your very first digital camera again and tell me that those photo don’t look more amateur.

HEY, DON’T TOUCH THOSE!

I don’t like to retouch any photos unless they are being used for graphics. Just go through your sets and delete the ones you or you model do not like. A big no-no is to retouch amateur photos; untouched photos has to be the single most important element to maintaining the amateur feel of your photos, as far as I’m concerned. Photos intended for logos or other graphics, such as banners, will require heavy retouching, but not the photographs intended for your image galleries. They should be left as they were captured: pure. When I do edit or retouch images I use PhotoShop and PaintShopPro, and for batch image processing I use JASC Image Robot.

FANCY VIDEO CAMERAS

CONCLUSION

How many amateur content producers are really having fun at their jobs? And for how many of us has shooting become a bit of a production? I admit, it can sometimes feels like a chore, but if you can always keep it fun then you will always be able to produce the truest and best kind of amateur content: the real kind. Professional equipment and posed shots are great for professionals that want to create professional looking photos and videos, not for amateurs who want to capture moments of spontaneous eroticism.

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Chef Jeff is Editor-on-Chief of TheAmateurVoice.com and a regular guest writer here at The ADULTWEBMASTER Magazine.