I'm having rather a tough time getting good photos lately. I'm not sure if it's the winter light, my camera going haywire, or a combination of both, but many of my photos are too bright and/or quite blurry! Of course I'm certain some ISO adjustments or the like could improve the situation, but I'm just not informed enough about photography to be sure how to solve my issues. A new lens may be in order...grrr...but enough of me complaining!
What I'm really saying is, please forgive me if these photos seem a bit off to you- they do to me too. I feel like my blog, my YouTube channel, and my uhhh self have gotten off to rather a slow start this new year. Still, I had some good news this week, and bought myself a new dress to celebrate that news, so things are looking up! I just need to actually focus instead of letting myself get distracted by the sludge. Are you aware of the sludge? It's that slow, creeping, tired feeling that whispers "watch this instead of doing laundry..." or, "you can sew that next weekend..." and, "just lay here on the floor and play with the cat all day..."
I am rather fond of playing with our cats, but somehow the work needs to get done! So I'm going to try harder this week. It is Monday after all, what better day to start fresh? I've got some videos to edit, and some scheduling to do, but then I will continue to cuddle my cats. Where is the balance and where can I get some?
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| Jacket: Vintage, Fab Gabs (Etsy) Skirt, Clutch, Gloves, Scarf, Flower pin: Vintage Fishnets: Amazon Shoes: Remix Beret: Target |
The colours in your outfit really pop against that muted bluey-green of the trees. Photos look good to me! Hope you find some motivation, it can be in short supply at this time of year x
ReplyDeleteThank you Porcelina! I thought January was supposed to be all hooray new goals and new-year-energy but mostly I find myself wanting to hibernate instead! ;)
DeleteVery pretty! I love the light blue with the burgundy - it's such a pretty, unexpected combination.
ReplyDeleteAnd do you have a DSLR? If you're leaving everything on auto, you might be able to get better results if you play around with the "exposure compensation" setting.
Thank you Jessica! I do have a DSLR and I usually leave it on the "no flash" setting which I think is auto just without the flash, but I could be wrong. I'd really like to take a class on how to really make use of my camera since I have virtually no photography training!
DeleteIf it's too bright and quite blurry, have you checked your aperture? (F-stop?) A low number, eg f1.8, will indicate a very wide aperture, and that means the lens lets in more light and only a small part of the scene from front to back will be in focus, the rest will be blurred. If you raise it to f4-f8, it'll let in more light and you'll have a deeper depth of field (in-focus area).
ReplyDeleteIf you tell me your camera model, lens and settings, I might be able to troubleshoot it for you :-D
Thanks Mim! I have a Nikon D5200 with the kit 18mm-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens on it most of the time, and the setting turned to automatic with no flash. I actually have my wonderful photographer (my mum) take my photos for me so I'm not the one holding the camera usually. I like to keep is easy for her since I am already asking for a favor just doing photos, so that's why I've never fussed with using manual and setting the iso and such for each location. We do have a 35mm f/1.8g lens I want to start trying to use too to see if that helps!
DeleteHmm, with that maximum aperture you're unlikely to have a problem with ultra-shallow depth of field. It might be that the lack of light is leading to a slow shutter speed, and you're getting some hand shake. Do you know what shutter speed the blurry photos are taken at?
DeleteFor portraits, it'd be worth getting a longer lens (say, 85mm). That would blur the background a bit, and make you more of the focus. Though I admit I prefer the flexibility of a zoom, so a longer zoom would be my choice, not a prime.
I unfortunately don't know the shutter speed for these as it's just set to automatic (with no flash) and chooses by itself :( I have been doing some research to survey what cameras/lenses some of my other favorite bloggers are using and it seems a 35mm lens is popular and while a fixed lens would be such a change from what we're used to, it might invite interesting experimentation so I'm looking forward to trying that out!
DeleteI like all the colours in these photos. Don't be too had on yourself. A bit of hibernation time is needed in January!
ReplyDeleteThank you Kate-Em! This week I finally feel like I am waking up and hopefully that will continue ;)
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