Hey all. For a while now, people have been asking me what I do to take and or edit my photos for my blog and instagram, so I thought I would make a post sharing everything I use.
Most people freak out when it comes to doing their own photos because it can get pretty pricy. To those people, I feel you! I am all about doing things on a budget. I have come to realize though, that when it comes to cameras and getting great, high quality photos, it is worth a little bit of an investment. By no means do you need to shell out thousands of dollars (unless you want to). I would say that in order to have a good camera and a good lens, you should save up $800 – &1,000. It will pay off in the long run.
For those of you using your photos for business purposes or blogging, it is important to consider how your photos are generally the biggest thing that customers will judge you by. Most people don’t go to a site or instagram account with dark or pixelated photos and think “I want whatever they are selling!”. I have gotten partnerships and collaborations before just because people were attracted to my photos. I am not a professional photographer by any means. I have a good eye for symmetry and composition but most of what makes my photos look so good is the camera and the way I edit the photos.
All of that being said, let me share with you some of the equipment that I use.
CAMERAS
I have both of these cameras for different purposes and they both perform amazingly. They are both great for taking portrait and landscape photos and the video quality is excellent.
The Canon
This camera is a step down from the Mark series and is a great compromise between higher quality than you really need and the cheap thing you get for your kids for vacation. It is very user friendly as it has a lot of different automatic modes you can switch between for action shots and portraits and such. I have the Canon Rebel T5i but apparently it is easier to find the T6 now and actually a better price than I paid for mine. Be sure to read the features to make sure it will suit our personal needs but I highly recommend it to anyone who needs to take good photos for their business, blog, boutique, art, etc. It also has excellent filming quality and was used by several professional YouTubers for their channels.
Here is the link to the camera and some fun accessories on Amazon.
Here is the link to the camera and some equally fun accessories at Walmart.
The Sony
I also own the Sony camera and love it. It is smaller and more portable than the Canon but it is more idea for a slightly different use case. If you are looking to blog or film on the go, this is a great one for you. It still takes excellent photos. I like to use it for events and vacations. It has an excellent portrait capability for bloggers and influencers. The quality of photos is ever-so-slightly less than the Canon but for small business owners, bloggers, and such, it would still be great. If you want to film sit-down youtube videos, I would suggest the Canon as it has some more advanced features for that.
Here is the link to the Sony on Amazon.
Here is the link to the Sony at Walmart.
LET’S TALK LENSES
I know that it may be tempting to just use the lens that comes with the camera but in full honesty, they aren’t ideal. Let’s say it would be the equivalent to putting cheap tires on your Ferrari. Lenses are what make your photos good. Yes, the camera is important but the lens is just as imperative. There are a lot of technical aspects that make lenses different but for this post, let’s keep it simple. If you are shooting portraits for your business or blog, you will want a 50mm or 85mm lens with an f stop of 1.4, 1.8. or 2.0. Just try to keep it lower than 2.5. This will allow your pictures to be brighter and or show up clearer in darker lighting situations. Don’t worry if that is overwhelming, I have linked two lenses for each of the two cameras I listed above.
If you chose the Canon camera and you want to do portrait shots then get this lens on Amazon or at Walmart
If you chose the Canon camera and you want to do product photos, videos, landscape shots, etc., then get this lens on Amazon or at Walmart
If you chose the Sony camera and you want to do portrait shots then get this lens on Amazon or at Walmart
If you chose the Sony camera and you want to do product photos, vlogging, landscape shots, etc., then get this lens on Amazon or at Walmart
Be sure to shoot in the RAW format. This is just a setting on your camera that allows the photo to be edited much better than if it is shot in the normal JPEG format. There are several great YouTube videos on the technicalities of this if you are interested.
Once you have purchased and learned your new camera, you can now start editing! Yay!
EDITING
You don’t need fancy editing software. I do use Lightroom because it is part of a bundle of software from Adobe that I use for other work things but you can get amazing editing results from cheaper and even FREE software. Even the latest update on the iPhone allows for pretty in-depth editing.
VSCO Cam app
Pic Tap Go app
iPhoto
If you don’t want to mess around with learning all of these apps then you can you purchase my pre-made presets. All you have to do is download the free Lightroom app for the phone or the paid Lightroom app for the computer, import the presets, and every time you edit a photo, just copy and paste the preset onto it and BAM! It’s edited. I even have three different style presets for different brands.
You can purchase them here.
ACCESSORIES
Be sure to always protect your equipment. It is an investment and you don’t want to scratch anything. Here are a few of my favorite accessories for storing and carrying the cameras as well as tripods.
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Thank you all so much for reading and please feel free to message me if you have any questions!
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