Sunset

I have never been the type to take pictures. One day I was at the Overlook at Raystown Lake in Huntington  and the sunset looked so pretty. So I took my phone out and just snapped this beautiful picture. I think for my first time it came out pretty decent. 

4 Reasons I Love Lightroom

In my one of my previous posts, Favorite Apps for Photographers, I talked about the app, Lightroom. Lightroom is the only app I use currently to edit my photos. The first thing I love about Lightroom is it allows you to see all the photos you are editing instead of all your photos you are editing mixed in with what is in your camera roll. Another thing I love about Lightroom is that if you forget to save what you are working on it's ok because Lightroom automatically saves any edits you made. Photoshop makes you save manually and if you forget then you lost all of your work. The third thing I like about Lightroom is when you click on a photo to edit the editing bar is already opened compared to Photoshop where the filter bar is opened. I care more about actually editing the photos and I don't really care about putting filters on. The last reason I love Lightroom is because they have an auto edit button. So, if I am really short on time I hit the auto button and it pretty much puts it where I want it. If it doesn't, it doesn't take that long to fix it to how I want it.

Not edited.

Edited

Edited

2019 Photography Trend

Everyone likes knowing what trends are going on and they like to follow them. I looked up photography trends and I found this blog. The blog has 10 photography trends for 2019, and I am only going to be talking about one. The trend that interests me, and I noticed I do it too, is pet photography. Everyone loves pets, so why not take photos of your pets and share them with the world. 

My bunny, Luke

Cody

Marley

My guinea pigs, Axel is on the left and Charlie is on the right.

Shylah

My DIY camera bag

As many of you know, I got a new camera lens. Well the camera lens doesn't fit in my camera bag with my other camera equipment, so I decided it was time for a new camera bag. I looked around online for a new camera bag and they cost more than what I want to spend right now. I also wanted the camera bag to be cute.  

Link for this camera bag

Then I went on pinterest and looked up DIY camera bag. I got ideas for what I wanted to do and how it should be done. At first I was hesitant on whether to do it or not. Then I was like just do it, the worst that could happen is it wouldn't look right and I would just start over. It took me 3 days to do it, mainly because I only had about an hour 1 or 2 between school and work to do it. This is the end result and I am actually really proud of it. I probably spent no more than $30 on it.

Bag I bought at Walmart

The inside of the bag after I finished it.

In the back, where you can't see very well is my camera body and new lens. Camera body is on the right (you can see my polka dotted camera strap) and my new lens is on the left.

Practice! Practice! Practice!

Practicing is always the key to getting better at anything. To become a better photographer, you have to practice. Now that the weather is warmer grab your camera and practice taking photos of whatever you think will look good. I did some practicing on Saturday, at Bald Eagle State Park and here are the photos. Let me know what you think.

Love the purple flowers!

Rare photo of my dad, he never likes his photo taken.

Yes it is blurry, but I meant for it to look like this.

Gift Ideas for Photographers

There is a lot of people that have photographers in their life. When their birthday or a holiday comes around and you don't know what to get them, get them something to do with photography. These 5 items are things that I think are useful and cool to have. 

Camera Strap

There is a lot of different types, color and brands of camera straps. Having a comfortable strap, that isn't itchy, is nice when taking photos. 

Strap 1

Strap 2

Strap 3

Backdrop

Backdrops aren't for every photographer. They are mainly for studio photographers or school portrait photographers. This website has a lot of backdrops and they are really unique.

Bokeh Masters Kit

A Bokeh Masters Kit is a set of filters that different shapes. This is great for photographers that are really creative and like to try new ways of taking photos.

Filters the kit comes with.

Photo using the heart filter.

SD Card Reader

This gift is great for someone who edits their photos or wants an easier transfer on their phone or IPad/Tablet. I have the SD Card Reader and I use it for my IPad. It is very easy to use. 

Apple Reader

Android Reader

T-Shirt
Why a t-shirt? Who doesn't love t-shirts?

Understanding Manual Mode

In Manual mode there is 4 things I change; the aperture, the shutter speed, the International Organization of Standardization (ISO), and the exposure. I am have a Canon Rebel t3i so I'm going to explain how I change everything on my camera, but it shouldn't be much different than other cameras.  

The Aperture
The aperture is probably the easiest to understand and remember. Depending on what lens you will use and what mm you are at will give you different aperture ranges. They range from f1-f22. The closer you are to f1 the more blurry the background will be. The closer you are f22 the sharper the background will be.

More Information

The Shutter Speed
The shutter speed is represented by seconds. 1/125 means that you will take photos with the shutter open for 1/125th of a second. So if you have your shutter speed at 2", you will take photos with the shutter open for 2 seconds. If you have your shutter speed at 1/25th of a second or longer, I would recommend using a tripod. 

More Information

The International Organization of Standardization (ISO)
The ISO is what you change depending on light. The brighter the light is outside or inside the lower the number you want, like 100. The darker it is the higher the number you want, like 3200. 

More Information

The Exposure
The exposure is very simple, and you just have to remember that it's better for you want the arrow to point to 0. If the arrow points to a spot to the left of the 0, your photo will be underexposed (darker.) If the arrow points to a spot to the right of the 0, your photo will be overexposed (lighter.)

More Information

Can’t take photos because of cloudy weather? Try again!

I know what you are all thinking, “Sierra, we can’t take photos because the clouds will make our photos look dark,” But that’s not true. As I have said in previous posts, knowing manual mode is very crucial if you want to be a great photographer. If you shoot photos in automatic mode on cloudy days, you may very well end up with dark photos. If they happen to turn out darker than you want them to be, your other option is to edit them. These photos were taken on a cloudy and wet day.

F5.6, 1/320, ISO 400, No flash

Before photo was edited.

After photo was edited.

Next post will be about understanding manual mode. Stay tuned!

New Camera Lens

This past weekend I decided I wanted another camera lens so I bought one. I bought the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 lll camera lens. This lens is great for if you want to take photos of things from a far, like birds or any wildlife.  I haven’t had a chance to take photos with it until yesterday. So I decided to try to take photos of birds and I was really happy how the lens worked and how the photos turned out. I highly recommend getting a tripod if you are planning on using this lens because the higher the mm the more you notice your movement with the camera. I also recommend using the manual focus on the lens because when you are on the automatic mode it focuses on what it thinks you want focused on or it can’t find what object you want it focused on. 

Photo of the bird, using my 18-55mm lens, at 55mm. 

Photo of bird, using my 75-300mm lens, at 300mm.  

Photo of bird, using my 75-300mm lens, at 300mm.

My Photography Bucket List

When someone says bucket list they think things people want to accomplish before they die. I decided I wanted to make a bucket list for photography. This list isn't something I want to do before I die but more like something I accomplish in the next 5 years. By June 1, 2024 I would like to have this list accomplished.

Photography Bucket List
Moon
The stars
Fireworks
People Jumping
Sunrise
Rainbow
A snowflake
A waterfall
Creative/fun photos
The beach
A festival
Centraila, PA
Gettysburg, PA
Highland Park, Rochester, NY
Watkins Glen State Park, Watkins Glen, NY
Susquehannock State Park, PA
Tucquan Glen Nature Preserve, PA
Cherry Springs State Park, PA 

Example of creative/fun photo I want to take.

Watkins Glen State Park

What are your thoughts?

This thought has been on my mind for a while and I want to you what your thoughts are. I have been taking photos for almost 2 years now and most people love my photos. I have noticed things that kind of upset me and I don't understand why people do it. So when people post photos I have taken, they add filters to them. I take the photos, I think that I did a great job and they look fine. Then someone adds filters to them and I don't understand why they use a filter.

Do they not like my photos? Are they saying my photos are good just to make me feel better about myself? Are my photos not good enough? Do they just want the photos to look "cool?" Are filters just the trendy thing to do? Do people think they look better when they use a filter? Let me know what you think.

No filters

No filters

With filters

Spring is Coming, Slowly but Surely!

According to Newsweek, Spring started on March 20, 2019 and it will end on June 21, 2019. Well there hasn't been much of a spring yet but there is definitely blossoms on trees and flowers blooming. Some of the trees still don't have any leaves on them but I'm sure they will be on them soon. Hopefully the weather is less rainy and more sunny so all of us photographers don't have to stay inside. 

Trees starting to get leaves on them.

Moss growing on a tree.

Starting to blossom.

Grass after it rained.

First Time I took Photos at a Track Meet

Yesterday, I had the chance to go to a Track meet and take photos. I have never taken photos at a Track meet. I have taken photos at a football game before. I really had no clue what settings is best for photos of running people, so I did some research and the website I clicked on was very helpful. The website gave 12 tips and I used 2 of the tips. It said to have ISO at 800 or 1000 and shutter speed at 1/320th of a second. So when I got there I tried ISO at 800, shutter speed at 1/320 and I knew from previous research that the focus should be a higher number. So I changed my focus to F9. I think I did I pretty good job for my first time. 

All photos, ISO 800, Shutter Speed 1/400, and Focus F9