Another question popped up this week that I’d like to address. In my last post we talked about “Why we live where we live” (thanks to all of those who shared their journey and stories by the way) and today it’s about my work. I get asked all the time about the equipment I use for my blog photos, but this week I got a lovely message from a girl who specifically asked me about this campaign I shot for Wallis. She asked me what camera I used to take those and to ask advice on whether she needs a “big camera” or as what we call it a DSLR to start a blog.
Lets get the obvious out of the way here. These particular shots were taken with my iPhone 8 Plus. No portrait mode, no filters – just plain old regular daily snap mode we all use. I did boost the sharpness, some colour and detail with an app called ‘snapseed’ while these images were on my phone, but that’s it. Isn’t the quality impressive? Do I always use my phone for campaigns and blog photos? NO. I use my Olympus Pen with a 45mm lens and 17mm lens for wider shots. I love this camera at the moment as I’ve found a few settings that really work for me and that reduces so much time on final editing. I prefer using a semi-professional camera for my blog photography and most of shots on the blog are taken with that, apart from an odd iPhone shot of New York streets in this post and an odd scenery shot here. Read on…
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The Instagram campaign I shot for Wallis was a paid one and I would have never even consider shooting it with the iPhone, but it was what worked best for that specific project. Why? The 45mm lens gives you lovely bokeh – blurred background and stunning detail, but sometimes it misses out on a lot of gorgeous backdrop. Like beautiful tall buildings, trees. The 45mm lens will only capture a part of a wall unless the photographer moves back 20 meters. My 17mm lens will capture most of the surroundings similar to a phone, but sometimes iPhone’s automatic settings work just as great. We tried shooting the look with jeans with the 45 lens and it wouldn’t take in all the buildings and skyline in the background. Only a couple of windows if that makes sense. PS how gorgeous is this Wallis top I’m wearing?
So to cut the long story short, do you need a big expensive camera to start a blog? NO. With today’s smartphone technology and people in general preferring a less “perfect” editorial shot to a more regular daily outfit snap, you really can get away with a camera phone. Most people start off with something like a phone or dad’s old camera and then build up to the standard that they like with time. I prefer shooting with a camera as it’s a bit more creative and bokeh is beautiful in portrait fashion images, though I’ll never say no to a phone camera if that’s what works for a specific project and location. It’s all about the angles. lighting and backdrop at the end of the day.
Hope this helped.
PS! Which images do you prefer? The ones shot with my camera or phone?
Tatyana x
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