Magazine quality image

[Johnsonanna02]

I have a canon SL1. I’ve taken some AMAZING photos on it! I’ve been asked to take photos that will be posted in a magazine but want to make sure that the quality of the SL1 is good enough. If so, what suggestions are there for the best quality? It will be in an Agricultural magazine so my subjects will be cattle.

[cicopo]

It's easily up to the job as long as you don't need to crop deeply & shoot in large fine jpg or better yet RAW or both. The editor of a magazine I contribute to prefers that I send him the RAW files but he has used lots of my jpg's too. I've had photos used in a major magazine many years ago shot with a 3.2 Megapixel Olympus C3030 camera. You're task is to get nice exposures in sharp focus. This puts some of the emphasis on whether you have a good lens (or lenses) but the body is more than good enough. 

[ScottyP]

It's getting the cattle to sign a model release that will be hard. 

[Waddizzle]

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@Johnsonanna02 wrote:
I have a canon SL1. I’ve taken some AMAZING photos on it! I’ve been asked to take photos that will be posted in a magazine but want to make sure that the quality of the SL1 is good enough. If so, what suggestions are there for the best quality? It will be in an Agricultural magazine so my subjects will be cattle.

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One secret to sharp photos is to grab as much light as you can [wide aperture], as fast as you can [fast shuttter speed], with as little effort as possible [low ISO, preferably ISO 100].

Practice.  Use a high quality lens.  Practice.  Use the fastest shutter speed that is practical.  Practice.  Using a wide aperture lens allows more light to enter the camera, both during focusing, and when you take the photograph.

Shoot at ISO 100 as much as possible, but do not be too afraid to raise the ISO some.  Practice.  Find out what the ceiling is for the highest ISO that you consider “acceptable.  With an SL-1 i would expect that setting to be around ISO 400 or ISO 800.

[Johnsonanna02]

Thank you! I will be sure to get a photo release hoofed.

[Johnsonanna02]

Thank you all so so much!!

[Waddizzle]

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@Johnsonanna02 wrote:
Thank you all so so much!!

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Our pleasure.  

BTW, if you do not use post processing software, like Canon’s Digital Photo Professional that came free with the camera, then i suggest that you begin using it.  Shoot photos as RAW, not JPEG, and clean them up in post.

[kvbarkley]

This goes without saying, but if you do shoot JPEG, make sure that the camera is in "Large Fine" mode to get the most pixels and least compression.

[ebiggs1]

"The editor of a magazine I contribute to prefers that I send him the RAW files but he has used lots of my jpg's..."

Wow, I never run across that.  They have all been jpg in my experience.

[ebiggs1]

"I have a canon SL1."

It will be fine.  You don't need to shoot Raw format but I would just because it is so simple anymore.  You do need to post process and edit your shots anyway.  If they are like to ones I have experience with, they will want a specific size.  There may be other conditions they want, too.  Truth is most magazine photos are not real 'high' quality.