Hello Everyone, my name is Mike (Julie's husband), I hope you don't mind me crashing the party but photography and image editing is something I know a little about.
Modern day cameras from a quality company (canon, panasonic, fuji, nikon, sony etc) are all capable of top quality images. Nearly all (almost without exception) offer macro, an amount of optical zoom, and more and more are offering image stabilisation (very useful for handheld use) any camera over 3 mega pixels is capable of producing a good image that can be printed at A4 size on glossy paper.
That does not mean you will always get good pictures.
It is true to say that modern cameras do give you a better chance of getting better images more often. It is also true to say that someone can get better images from a 5mp camera costing £150 than someone else using a 10mp £500 camera. There is an element of skill involved.
Sorry I'm waffling, and should get to the point
Don't get to hung up on which camera, just make sure it is a recognised camera brand, and then take a bit of time to learn and understand the settings and how they affect the images you are getting.
Then think about things like backgrounds, if you have a portfolio full of images that are busy or with people in the background, this can easily spoil a decent picture, however good the colour, lighting and focus.
Hth There are some good photographers on this forum so I'm sure you will get more info, otherwise feel free to pm Julie and I will gladly try to help more.[/
cheers for the info, thats grt bless ya
Carrie x
