Is an entry-level DSLR good enough for portrait photography?

Question

I'm looking into starting a small at home portrait photography business mostly as a hobby for now, and I'm wondering if the camera I have now (Nikon D3000) is good enough for portrait photography.

I've heard from a few friends who do portraits, weddings, etc. that most of the "photo magic" is really just handled in Photoshop, and how the camera is actually used, and the camera is not the only thing to think about.

Is there a flash or some other add-on I should purchase that will help the camera? I just have the onboard one now. I've signed up for a few classes at our local college, however they won't start for a month, so I want to get a head start on what I should look for in equipment.

Is this camera simply sub-par for this sort of work? Is there a better entry level camera I should look into?

Answer

Yes, it's "good enough" for someone getting started in portrait photography. Almost everything you'll need to learn is camera-agnostic. The one technical limitation that comes to mind with the D3000 is that the body doesn't have an autofocus motor, so you'll need to be using lenses that have AF motors in order to get autofocus.

From a lighting perspective, most folks doing portrait photography use an external lighting source of some sort such as a speedlight. You'll want to use this off-camera, which means either a flash sync cord or a radio trigger of some sort. That said, it's also possible to create good portraits using only natural light, it's just harder since you have less control.

There are cameras that would offer slightly easier controls, or flash triggering built into the camera, but they're a couple steps above entry level which is what you specify in your question. You'll be able to learn the basics of portraiture with the D3000.

Check more discussion of this question.