My Camera & Photography

As you all know I'm in love with photography, and one of my most precious possessions is my Camera. I've always loved taking photographs, but only over the last 10 months or so did I start to give it more of my attention. I get lots of comments about my photographs so I though it was time I dedicated a post with more detail about my new hobby.

I take all of the photographs on my blog with a Canon 500D DSLR. I did do an original post when I bought it back in September. I really wasn't sure which camera to get, being a complete newbie with so much to choose from on the camera market it was hard to know which one to choose. Everyone I knew had a Canon and highly recommended them so I headed to Jessops and after help from the Sales Advisor I decided to go with the 500D. At the time I purchased the camera, I also bought a remote, a tripod, and a UV Filter. I bought the tripod and the remote for doing self portrait shots and I'm really glad I purchased them. A UV filter is also a great little thing to have, as it serves a dual purpose in my eyes. In the case that you do leave your lens cap off, you still have the UV filter there to protect your lens, and the main purpose of the UV filter is to reduce haziness that can sometimes be produced by Ultra Violet Light.

Source

Until Christmas 2010 I used my standard kit lens for all of my photographs, then I received a 50mm f1.8 Lens to use for close up shots. I now swap between the two lenses and still think that my kit lens is really really good as it allows me to get all of the shots I'd like to take with just one lens. The main difference is that my new lens allows me to take photographs with amazing depth of field. This refers to when an object in the photo is really sharp and clear, and the background is completely blurry, or vice versa.

Example Images taken with 50mm f1.8 lens

It can be really confusing learning the in's and outs of photography, there's so much to learn, on the whole the automatic modes are fantastic for beginners, but to get the best use out of your camera you need to start playing around with some of the manual, or "Semi- Automatic" modes. My camera has a great mode for beginners which is called "Creative Auto" which allows you to very easily get to grips with some of the main functions of the camera, however the two other modes that you should try to use are the Shutter Priority and Aperture Priority, these are displayed as AV and TV on my Camera. I really want to go on a short photography course, but until then I really love this and recommend that if you're interested in photography you should try and track down a copy of this magazine: Getting Started in Digital SLR Photography. Its a great introduction to photography and explains everything you need to know to get started.

In terms of the size of my photographs and editing software I use to add effects to my photos. I try wherever possible to not use the flash in my photos, although sometimes in low lighting this requires a very steady hand. You can really see a big difference in a photograph when the flash has been used. It really bleaches the colours in the photo and doesn't give a true reflection of the colours you are trying to capture. I also resize all of my photos manually before I upload them to Blogger. I use a programme on my Macbook called "Preview" and I adjust the size to 800 x 533. I then upload them to Blogger and select "Original Size."
I use a really old template which allows me to have my images so large, but if you use one of the new Blogger templates, I don't think you can have them so big without altering the HTML and widening your central column. In terms of adding effects to my photos, I never "distort"my photos, so I never airbrush my photos or anything like that. I like to add a vintage effect to some of my shots, or a vignette, and I do this by using various different photo editing software programmes.

So I think that covers everything! If you have any more questions please feel free to ask and I'll try to answer them as best as I can! I hope this has been useful. I can't recommend this camera highly enough, I think its absolutely amazing. I should also mention that it also records HD Video aswell as taking breathtaking photographs.

EDIT: As of January 2012 I also use a Canon 600D.