Search Results label/using your camera

Fan Friday ~ Jade

February 12, 2010 By Melissa Filed Under blogging

Please welcome Jade from No Longer 25.

Now that I’m no longer 25, I decided that it’s time to make some positive changes to be more creative, more healthy and happier. I’m recording and reflecting on my day to day activities, including cooking, travelling, sewing, capturing, sledging, shopping, musing and haiku-ing. You’re welcome along, I’d love to hear your story too.

I’m a 26 year old girl living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in fact I am a Scottish stereotype. I’ve just bought my own domain this week – this is really exciting for me, although my boyfriend think I’m starting to get a bit geeky with the whole blog thing!

Melissa says–Bloggers have made the whole geek thing cool, trust me.

I’ve been with my lovely boyfriend Andrew for almost 6 years and I feel really lucky to have found someone who makes me laugh so much. I have a great family and I love to post about them and our get-togethers – they make me laugh a lot too! Basically I like to surround myself with people who make me laugh and really think – that includes the blogs I follow.

I work as a geophysicist and I get lot of opportunities to travel which I love. I really enjoy the experience of seeing other parts of the world and meeting people from other cultures, my favourite last year was my trip to Swaziland which was amazing. Travel also helps feed my other interest – I’m obsessed with taking photos and I recently started the 365 challenge.

Melissa says – Here she says some nice stuff about how the “Using Your Camera” series helped her. I’ll just summarize that for you: she liked it.

Then I bought a Canon 1000Dthis summer in Singapore and I got the 50mm prime lensfor Christmas.

Melissa says – And obviously she’s having a lot of fun with it. Crafting is the perfect thing to do with vegetables.

Thanks Jade!

If you would like to be featured on Fan Friday, send me an email at afamiliarpath at gmail dot com.

What’s your favorite camera?

November 28, 2009 By Melissa Filed Under photography

I get this question a lot, especially around this time of year. And, really, I’m not that qualified to answer it because, though I’ve had a lot of cameras, they’ve only been one brand. Canon. I tend to stick with what I’m familiar with. But, for those of you who have called and asked, here’s a list of my favorite Canon cameras just in case you need to put one on you Christmas list.

If you’re intimidated by a digital SLR and not ready to make that kind of commitment, you may like the Canon PowerShot SX20IS.

The Canon Powershot was the camera I got when I was too scared to get the digital SLR and it served me very well for 2 years. I loved the pictures that I got with this camera, though mine was the older version.

This camera has 12 megapixels, takes HD video and has image stabilizer which is very useful when you are really zooming in on something.

You can leave it on auto or you can learn more about its really wonderful settings by reading my using your camera series. It has some really great advanced settings.

Another bonus feature I found handy with this camera was the LCD screen that opens up and moves out. You can also tilt it. I found myself using it more often than I thought I would.

Want something smaller?

The Canon PowerShot SD1200IS is what my sister is getting for Christmas this year. Her requirements were small, easy to use and light-weight. Everyone wants something different from a camera, that’s why there are so many choices out there.

The Canon Elph has always been a favorite of mine because of its size. It’s small enough to carry in your pocket or purse. This one comes in colors and I love the blue.

It does not take video, but it does have a 10 megapixel resolution and a 2.5 inch LCD screen. It has a lithium rechargeable battery, another plus to my sister who was tired of buying batteries for her old camera.

Ready for something with more options?

Then I have to tell you about the camera I use now.

They’ve changed the Canon EOS Rebel T1i a little since I got mine two years ago. It now has a bigger LCD screen, 15 megapixels and it now shoots video (which seems a little strange to me for some reason). The advantage to this camera over the others is not only the advanced settings, but the ability to use a variety of lenses to help you get the shot you want.

I am a camera lover! I could get one every year for Christmas and not be disappointed. How about you? Do you have a favorite camera worth sharing?

Like this post? Subscribe and don’t miss a thing.

9 Comments

Using Your Camera (guest post by Emily)

August 26, 2009 By Melissa Filed Under using your camera

I asked my friend Emily to do a guest post in the Using Your Camera series this week. I actually did a call for guests posts on the Blog Frog and no one jumped in so I had to email a few friends and beg. Emily recently got a DSLR and her pictures have blown me away. Eggs. Chickens. Children. It seems anything she photographs is stunning. So, I asked her to share what she has learned about photography since she began shooting with a DSLR. Here’s what she had to say.

……….

Melissa is risking it all this week by asking me to jump in and do a guest post. I know very little, but hey…I’m willing to share the little that I do know.

In February I was blessed with a rockin’ camera. A Nikon D300. At the time I had never even looked through a viewfinder of a DSLR camera….uh, I also didn’t even know what a DSLR camera even was! (or what a viewfinder was.) (psst…it’s the little square that you look into, not the screen)

I knew that the ladies taking fabulous shots of their kids all had one, so that was the direction I wanted to go!

BTW: DSLR stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex camera. Clear as mud? Good. We’re all on the same page.
I just wanted to take pretty pictures…So, I started from ZERO and now I’m pretty comfy with my Big Daddy camera. (Big Daddy refers to GOD, who gave me my camera and the fact that it’s carpal tunnel syndrome heavy)

A few things that I’ve learned that seem basic, but are really important…

1. It’s super hard to take fabulous pictures in direct, bright sunlight. Shade is your friend.
Why? It’s because of these things called eyeballs. They don’t appreciate direct sunlight and end up getting scrunched up and make the person look, well, scrunched.

The best…BEST….absolute best time to take a lovely portrait is in the early morning or late in the day. To test this theory of mine try this little experiment. Place your child near a tree in your yard that has different amounts of sun exposure. I would bet you a box of Andes Mints that if you compare the photos of your darling at 1pm and 7pm~dusk…you’d be surprised that indeed…your child’s skin is a totally different color! Oh, and they have lovely color in their eyes at dusk.

I’ve learned that I practice on inanimate objects during peak sunlight hours at my house. I save the great shots of kids for after dinner. (where I say cheerily, “Who wants to be my model tonight?” and hordes of children literally RUN to me….or not.)2. DSLR cameras use 2 kinds of lenses. Prime and zoom lenses. I have both, and I switch them out often. If you got a kit lens with your camera, it’s a zoom.

~Prime lenses are also called FIXED lenses.
~Zoom lenses zoom. (Told you I wasn’t an expert)

Zoom lenses allow the photographer to stand in one spot and the camera will do all the work and as long as you can focus on an object/person…it’ll get you there. Zoom lenses are fun for trips and days when you don’t know what you might be photographing.

Prime lenses make the photographer move because the lens is fixed at one focal length on your camera. The photographer (you) MUST move and compose your shot in your viewfinder. It’s work ladies. It’s not for the lazy, but for portraits they’re amazingly clear so I try and only use a fixed lens when I’m taking portraits.

I’m the proud owner of 3 lenses, so I’m not an expert. Some photographers have dozens of lenses, but do research for YOUR camera and find out the top 2 lens choices of great photographers…what do THEY use. Then, save your pennies (…and scout Ebay, I did!).3. Get Photoshop. The End.
Photoshop takes a great snapshot and intensifies and revolutionizes it! (Oh, and 98% of professional photographers use photoshop. Dirty Little Secret that I didn’t know until I started digging into this camera business. I felt lied to! It’s part of the industry and it’s totally legit. )
You can do tons of fun things to your photographs like this….This is simply a quick snapshot taken in 5 seconds. I liked her smile in this, so I took it to photoshop and added a cool texture to the background and sharpened the picture and voila…much more scrap-worthy.

To show what Photoshop can do, I would have to come back and blab on and on another day. Thanks for letting me ramble. If you enjoyed my rambling you can read my blog HERE.

……….

Melissa here. Thanks Emily! If anyone is interested in a few Photoshop tutorials I might be able to talk her into doing a few here. Express your interest in the comments below as a means of persuasion.