canon sent us their new canon SL1 camera to borrow for a few weeks and experiment with around the city. we took it with us (with our 50 mm lens) on an afternoon walk in central park to explore and see the ducks! neither josh or i claim to be great photographers, and we’re both learning as we go, but we’ve been using our own canon rebel camera the last few years to document our life together with photographs and film and it is one of our favorite things. looking back at all our photos from over the years and being reminded of the memories we have made together as a family, it’s priceless.
readers often ask us what camera and settings we are using (you can find some of this on our FAQ page), but we have teamed up with canon to share a few tips we have learned over the past few years to share with you over the next few weeks! again, we aren’t professional photographers at all, but hopefully this will be helpful to some of you!
auto settings on dslrs are pretty great these days but learning to shoot manual a few years ago really changed our images. shooting manual allows us full control over our settings, like how much light we’re letting into the camera (the aperture) as well as control how much of the person or subject is in focus (depth of field). since it can be hard to get that perfect shot with a fast moving toddler like eleanor, it’s been helpful to really get to know our settings by heart so we can really capture the candid moment over fiddling around with the camera.
we prefer to find shade or take photos in the morning or a few hours before the sun sets to avoid the harsh midday sun and shadows. the light is more flattering around these times of day when we aren’t in direct sunlight! during this outing in the late afternoon, we were losing light pretty quickly as the sun was setting, so we used a lower aperture setting and a faster shutter speed. it’s also fun to really get down to the kids levels when we’re composing the shot… it’s always a whole lot more interesting to see what’s going on from their perspective. ;)
more photos below!
^^^baby on the move!^^^
^^^in addition to ducks, we happened upon the cutest little raccoon!^^^
^^^you know, sisterly love. ;)^^^
what tips or tricks have you found helpful when taking your camera out? anything you’re willing to share? ;)
*this post is sponsored by canon. as always, thank you for reading our blog, and thanks for supporting our sponsors!
^^^cutest cake toppers known to man.^^^
JOSH
JOSH