I love
my camera and I love taking photographs. My favorite photos of my family are
ones that I have taken myself. My children’s smiles reach their eyes and I am
able to coax their personalities out of them during our photo shoots. This is
something that can be hard for a stranger to do. While I am not a professional
photographer – I am a mother who loves photography and who enjoys taking
pictures. I get asked all of the time about my camera and my camera accessories.
Purchasing a DSLR camera was a great decision and looking back at past photos I
only wish that I had bought it sooner.
For the
longest time I had a simple point and shoot camera and that was fine, until it
broke. When I went to replace my camera I knew that I wanted to upgrade and get
a really good camera. I did a lot of research, read a lot of reviews, and
played around with many different cameras. After a lot of time and
consideration I made my purchase.
I
bought myself the CanonRebel T3i Camera. I chose this camera after spending the weekend with my
parents who also own a Canon Rebel. I was on the fence about which camera to
get until I spent an afternoon playing around with the Canon. I found that it
was pretty user friendly and I was pleased with the picture quality. I wanted a
camera I could grow with. I did not want another point and shoot camera and I did not want a crazy expensive camera that was too difficult
to use and too expensive to be taken out and about. I am very happy with my
choice.
My Lens:
I
actually bought my camera as a body with a lens. The lens I chose to bundle my
Canon Rebel T3i with was the EF-S18-55mm lens. I use this lens a lot. I frequently use this lens for taking
photographs of product and food. I find that it is better with stationary
object than with live action shots. What I really love about this lens is the
fact that I don’t have to be far away from the object I want to photograph.
The
other lens I bought almost immediately after ordering my camera was the Canon EF 50mm lens. I chose this lens because fellow photographer friends had recommended
it to me as THE lens to use for taking portraits. It also gives you that great
out of focus blurry looking background – which I love. I have used this lens to
take pictures of my children over and over again. It is my go-to lens.
My Backup:
After
seeing my father on several occasions go to use his nice Cannon camera only to
discover he had no battery I knew that I would need to have a backup battery –
just in case. This purchase was one of my best camera purchases ever! I cannot
tell you how many times I have taken my camera out and started using it only to
discover my battery needed to be replaced. Since I purchased a battery charger kit that came with two addition batteries as well as a rapid travel
charger I have three batteries with me at all times and switching out a dead
battery with a fully charged one is never an issue.
As a mom
taking portraits and a blogger trying to get a great food photo there are
plenty of times that I would like to take a photograph and the lighting I have
to work with is not ideal. So instead of waiting for the right lighting I control
my lighting with the flip of a sleeve using my Fotodiox 5-in-1 Premium-Grade Professional Collapsible Disc Reflector. I use the soft silver reflector most often to bounce the light
onto whatever I am photographing. This has worked well for me so far and has
helped to provide a nice soft natural light.
My Accessories:
When my
camera arrived it came with a standard strap which I quickly decided to get rid
of. It was not very comfortable and I wanted to remove it almost as soon as I
put it on. I knew right away that I was going to need to upgrade my camera
strap. A friend of mine had purchased a Mod Camera Strap and told me that it was one that I needed to check out. I did,
and then I bought one of my own. It is exactly what I was looking for in a
camera strap. The underside of this camera strap is this soft material –
similar to the super soft minky fabric found on baby blankets. It is very comfortable
to wear for extended periods of time - in the cold and in the heat.
When I
bought my camera I was worried about losing my lens caps and scratching my nice
camera lens… so I bought a few extra lens cap savers that were cheap. Big
mistake, huge! Those cheap lens cap saves didn’t stick for very long and
eventually popped off at inopportune times. Since I had such great success with
Mod Camera Strap I decided to go back to the well and give the Mod Lens Cap Saver a try. These babies are not only super cute, but they work.
They have been on my camera for over a year now and have not popped off once.
They are fabulous.
I am still on the lookout for the perfect camera bag. I really want one that functions as a camera bag as well as a purse. I do not want to have to tote around several bags if I can avoid it. I also want a camera bag that is chic and stylish, one that I can wear to events and conferences as well as to the park when I get together for a play date. That isn't too much to ask, right?
Disclosure: This is not
a sponsored post. I purchased all of the products mentioned above for my own
use. These thoughts and opinions are completely my own and may differ from
others.
