On the Other Side of the Camera
About 6 or 7 months ago – or maybe it was a year ago? – , my BFF, The Pioneer Woman, gave an online workshop on blogging. It was really interesting and she went into detail on a lot of different things from content to growing your site, but the part that I took to heart the most was her session on photography. She said that if you can make your pictures look clear – not even necessarily good, just clear – then it would take the look and feel of your blog to a whole new level.
A couple months later, I got my first advertising check in the mail and I used that check to buy a really great camera. So far, it has probably been the best thing I’ve ever bought in my life. Seriously. I bought it to improve the look of my site, yes, but also because Bean was getting ready to be born and I knew I wanted to have a ton of great pictures of him as he grew up.
Before I go into detail on the camera itself, let me put this caveat on this conversation. I am not a photographer. I do not pretend to be a photographer. I know very, very little about photography. But that is the great thing about a good camera. It can make your pictures look much better than they actually are!
My camera is an Canon EOS Rebel XS. And I love her. She is digital with manual controls so that you can choose to either let the camera be a point and shoot and do all the work for you, or you can fiddle with it until you’ve set all your settings yourself. That’s what I love the most about this camera. It will grow with me as my skill level increases. I used to use it as a point and shoot all the time, but now I’m getting a little better and can actually mess with stuff on my own.
At the suggestion of a photographer friend, we later bought a 50mm 1.8 lens to use for more detailed pictures. This lens is why our pictures of people are so clear. In layman’s terms (which is all I know), this lens blurs out more of the background and focuses on the image in front better. Its the reason some pictures look like you could reach out and touch the people in them. The only problem with this lens is that you can’t zoom or back away, so you really have to be able to move yourself around more than with a normal lens. That is sometimes a hassle, but its worth it for that perfect picture.
I get asked a lot about how I get such good pictures of Bean. Babies are really hard to take pictures of for me because they move so darn fast. But when Bean was ‘ittle bitty, I learned to put my camera on rapid fire shooting. So, when I hold down the button, it takes a bajillion pictures at one time. Usually out of that batch, there are at least one or two with a really great expression.
I haven’t used Photoshop yet. I don’t know how, for one thing. But mostly its because as a full-time working mom, I just haven’t found the time to work with my pictures. But if and when I ever get to that, I’m sure it will take them to a whole new level. If you are interested in Photoshop though, I’d highly recommend The Pioneer Woman’s photography blog. She gives simple tutorials that even I can understand.
For Christmas this year, Chris gave me the COOLEST present. I use Flickr to store all my pictures so they don’t take up space on our hard drives (I already filled one entire laptop with pictures and half of another hard drive. oops.). But when you blog as often as I do, the extra time it takes to upload pictures to Flickr is really a lot of time. So, Chris got me this thing called Eye-Fi card. Its an SD memory card that goes in my camera. Then, whenever I walk into our wireless network at my house, it automatically uploads the pictures straight to my home computer AND to Flickr. I don’t have to do anything. I can take pictures in my house, leave the camera on for a couple minutes, and they will instantly load in both places. Then, when I’m ready to blog, I can sit down and VOILA! There are all my pictures ready to use and I didn’t even have to do anything! The best part about the Eye-Fi is the price. $70.00 on Amazon and it save me hours of work at home. Totally worth the money.
I’m sure there are a lot of you out there who are much better with photography than I am, so if you have some handy photography tricks or pieces of equipment that you can suggest, feel free to leave that in the comments. I get asked about my camera at least once a day by readers and so I know a lot of you are interested. Like I said, I’m still learning, but hopefully I’ll get better and when I do, I’ll report back!
Hope you all have a great weekend! See you on Monday when I make a BIG announcement and introduce the first ever Reader of the Month.
(I’ll give you Twitterers a hint….@MindeeOFD…)
31 Comments
cori
I have to confess that I didn’t read all of the content of your post, But I promise I will later. I wanted to see the pictures of The Bean!, they are so cute, oh and you look lovely too!! Love the way The Bean’s little rolls above your thumb in the the 1st photo and his pudgy belly in the 2nd photo. Great photos, thank you for sharing.
Erin
Thanks for the tip about the wifi enabled SD card! That looks pretty. freaking. awesome. Now where’s the credit card….
PS, I love the picture of Bean waving his hands in the air. 🙂
Margaret
How funny – I just posted a four-part tutorial on manual photography. If you do start getting into Photoshop… well, let’s just say that you’ll probably be spending more time there than blogging. =) It’s like a black hole that I get lost in all the time, but it can take a good picture and make it excellent. I started out with the Canon Rebel (well, my husband’s) and he just bought me a 7D for Christmas. Your pictures are definitely getting better, though! I’ve always said it takes time and pictures pictures pictures. I wish Pioneer Woman had more photography how-to posts, her Photoshop tutorials have opened up a whole new world for me!
Claudia
Is the announcement going to be saying ” I WON WEBLOG OF THE YEAR!” ?
Lacy
I use that exact camera! It is awesome! Mine actually just broke. The CF slot broke. 🙁 I was devistated. Its alot of money to get it fixed too. I read that what happened to mine is common with the Rebel’s so be careful if you take the CF card out. But it is a great camera. I can’t wait to get mine fixed!
Karis
I have been reading you for pretty much fpr-e-ver and you make me laugh out loud on a daily basis at work (my coworkers probably think there is something worng with me)… Anyhoo… I was just on the PWub’s website and she gave you a shout out! I am sure you have already seen this but I had to share just in case.
Keep up the good work! ~Karis
Dandy
The eye-fi card is the coolest thing ever!
Have you considered doing a blogging type tutorial? The one of PWS blog was incomplete when I went to find it. I really want to have a grown-up site 🙂
Sarah H.
I was just thinking a few weeks back that your pictures are always really good. Thanks for sharing the info! I do a lot of photo editing…in Photoshop or just on picnik.com and it’s one of the reasons I kind of gave up on blogging…I’d spend HOURS uploading and editing pictures and like 10 min writing. I don’t even really like writing…at all…and the photo editing was just so much more fun! So I decided to just do what is fun. I mean I already have a full time job…no need to come home and do more “work” if I don’t want to!
Christina
I use the XTi…and I have the 50mm 1.8, but somehow (it may or may not have involved a certain 9-year-old I know) it is broken. Wah! I need to send that in.
Your shots are cute…I like your picture-taking face. 🙂
Casey
I just got the Rebel XSi for christmas for the same reason…I wanted to take better pictures of my cakes and my extremely fast moving children! I love the camera! It’s so easy to use and produces such amazing photos!
Your blog looks great!
Kim
I’m really happy to know that you like the lens and the Eye-Fi, both were items on my maybe-wish-list. I have been amazed at the improvement in the quality of my photos after getting a good camera. It’s nice to take a photo that actually looks like what it does in person.
Erin
A really good book for beginning Photoshop users is Photoshop-Just the Skinny by Stephen Farnow. I have used Photoshop for about 10 years and still pull some good tips from there. It may be a place to start once you decide to tackle Photoshop. It is a really fun program!
Abby
cool camera! PW’s photography blog really makes me want a better camera!! Do you know how to find her blogging seminar online? I looked it up on her confessions page but didn’t find it. I just got started with this blogging thing and am slightly obsessed :o)
Abby
p.s. Bean is so stinking adorable!!
Ashley
Your photos are great! I’m saving my nickels and dimes (and hoping for a decent chunk of change on my tax return) so that I can buy myself a nice dSLR and 50mm/1.8 lens…absolutely can’t wait.
Your pictures are great!
Rachel
Wow, that eye-fi cards sounds amazing! I am such a technophobe, I never know about these things!
Ashley
I NEED AN EYE-FI!! Thanks so much for mentioning it!!!!!!!
Mindee@ourfrontdoor
Hey Katie – where would one find that workshop of PW’s? I couldn’t find the magical word combo that would make Google give it up.
Katie
I couldn’t find it again either! I looked everywhere for it to post with this blog post, but I couldn’t find it online. Let me call my BFF and see if she can give me the website. (and by call my BFF, I mean harass PW on Twitter…)
Jennifer
Um had no idea about the Eye-Fi…We are purchasing tomorrow!! 🙂 Thanks for blogging about it! Would love to get into photoshop too but it seems so overwhelming. Maybe one day!
Rachel
I have the xti with the same lens your talking about and i LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Because it uses a shallower depth of field (makes the background blurry), its perfect for portraits.
I love yours and PW blogs, and your Bean is very cute. 😀
Katie
Yeah….shallower depth of field….that’s what I meant…. (I don’t speak the photographer lingo very well!)
Heather in ND
Okay, I’ll admit… I’ve only been reading your blog for a week or so… but yesterday and today I spent a long, long time reading all of your blog posts. Yep. You are now bookmarked and I am going to look forward to reading your blog every day…. cuz you seem really cool…and the Bean is super cute… and you make me laugh… and I really like reading the posts about his daycare because I work at one.
Thanks for adding a little spice and laughter to my day. Have a good weekend!
Kathie
Hi! I happened in on your blog the other day and just wanted to say thanks for the post about the Eye-Fi. I’ve never heard of it before, but I know what’s going on my Christmas list now!! LOL 🙂
the domestic fringe
I’m so bad with photography. It’s a wonder anyone reads my blog! I’m also bad with my storing my photos properly. I have no space left on my computer and have been considering an external hard-drive. This Eye-Fi thing sounds good and easy. Never heard of it before….thanks.
-FringeGirl
Kristine
I don’t comment often, but I wanted to let you know that I read this blog daily, and have since before you had the Bean. I love the pictures (and wondered how you got such nice ones!) but I really enjoy your wit, humor and comments on daily life. I’m about to be married myself (at 23, no less) and I take a lot of what you say into consideration. Thanks for being an awesome blogger!
I have a little blog myself…not that I’ve updated it in ages, but it does exist. 😉
Jennifer
So i just finished reading your blog from start to finish…ok i read all the marriage confession posts. I’ll read about Beanie another day (like during work when i should be working). You and I have our birthdays about a week apart :-). Looking forward to hearing your big announcement!
Heather Ben
Thanks, that card looks cool! I got a Rebel Tsi for christmas and am just now learning to use it. Haven’t started with photoshop, though I wish I had more time to do so. 🙂
Lori @ I Can Grow People
I have camera envy.
Chandra
I don’t use Photoshop either, but I do really like Google’s Picassa program. It organizes my photos, and has editing features that come in handy without having to deal with all the extra junk on PS. Every photo I take has the Auto Contrast and Auto Color ajusted on it, and most have the Saturation bumped up. I am also in love with the blemish-retouching feature. 🙂 Best of all, it’s FREE!
Courtney
Eye-fi card is really cool. Apparently you can get 200GB of storage at Google and a few Eye-fi card.
Oh and Katie, love your shirt. Purple always looks great on redheads. The Bean is adorable as always too.