I have a Nikon D40, if I get a reliable lens will they take more professional photos?

I'm planning on taking wedding portraits and I need the best quality I can get. My budget is low and could only afford about $1, 000 until the wedding. I don't think this will get me a good enough Camera and Lens. Please help me!

Added (1). No, this is another friend's question. This one has nothing to do about the Senior Photo one. I'm sorry for the misleading circumstances. She has a Nikon D40 and would like lens advice. I have a D3000 and was thinking about upgrading.

That depends on what your skill level is. Better equipment won't raise your skill level, that's up to you. Better equipment will only mean sharper photos and you're correct, the lens is extremely important to the finish product. But that still doesn't mean your skill level will be better.

Whoa, hang on a minute! In your other question you ask about senior portraits, now you are talking about WEDDINGS?

Please do NOT ruin a couple's special day. If you have no clue about cameras etc, you have NO business doing weddings. Portraits are fine, they can always be re-done, but you can't do that with weddings.

Learn first… A LOT… Then consider wedding photography.

P.S. You might like to refer to your other question for the answers re cameras.

Give a beginner a $45000 hasselblad with another $10, 000 lens and his or her pictures will turn out mediocre

give a professional a $10 disposable kodak film camera and his/her pictures will look exponentially better.

you see what I'm getting at? The camera and lens do not make the pictures look professional, it is the photographer BEHIND the camera that makes the true difference. Now, having a good lens can make all the difference in the world, but only if you know what you are doing.

either way, you need to learn a bit

As noted, the photographer is the critical factor, not the equipment. Having nice equipment makes taking photographs enjoyable, but a really dedicated photographer with a good eye for composition, light, and circumstances is going to get great pictures with a piece of junk camera. If your budget is a $1000 you should certainly be able to find equipment that will give you satisfying results.

I recently moved from film to digital, and was working with an old Sony my father bought about ten or twelve years ago. When it was new it was consider a good camera, but the technology has moved on since then and-as a fairly accomplished film photographer-I found the limitations of an old point and shot automatic digital very frustrating. I bought a new DSLR camera body about a month ago (using my old film camera's lenses to cut cost… I didn't have anything like $1000 to spend) and I'm learning how to use it. There are a lot of bells and whistles. The owner's manual explains how to turn each feature on or off, but does not tell you how these features interrelate with each other. Some features are familiar from my film days, but there are a whole range of features that have nothing to do with what I'm familiar with, so, I'm in a learning curve to figure out what I'm doing with the new equipment.

You sound like you have some of the same problems I'm facing learning HOW to use the features on your camera to the best advantage. Might I make a suggestion? I went out and bought the Digital Photography Workbook for Dummies. What it does is walk the reader through a series of exercises using the different features on the digital camera and explaining how they interrelate to each other… What reaction each action causes. I've only run through a few exercises so far, but already see an improvement in my work. The book costs something like $30 and working on HOW you take photographs might do more for the quality of the photographs you take than any equipment you might buy.

Like I said… Just a thought…

Go to a library and borrow a good book about the basic principles of photography. That should teach you how to take better quality pictures and show you what more to get for your craft. Having the best equipment doesn't necessarily mean you'll get fabulous pictures automatically. You have to know exactly what to do in every situation.

The 105mm f/2.8D AF Micro Nikkor lens has long been a classic choice for 35mm film macro, close-up and even portrait photography. On DX format (APS-C) digital cameras it further expanded its preference among Nikonians. In February 2006, Nikon announced its engineers had further enhanced it. This announcement was just in time for the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) International Show. We had an opportunity to try it at the show in Orlando, Florida. "Further enhanced" turned out to be quite an understatement.