Monday, November 10, 2014

New toys

1960's fabric

New Toys


I am not the type of person that runs out and buys the newest toys. I still have the iPhone 4s and the only reason I contemplated buying a new iPhone was because I heard they improved the camera. That thought right there is what made me realize that it was time to make a change. 

In order to take pictures I had to wait for the perfect time of day when the sun shone into the apartment and I had one hour to work because the sun would fade. I actually love my apartment because it is sun filled but in order to take any pictures with my iPhone I had to have direct sunlight. 

Here is a picture that I took with my iPhone in indirect light. I also used the app Average Camera Pro which lets you lighten pictures as you take them. 


Here is a picture that I took in direct sun light and using the Average Camera Pro app. I was about to take a nap but then the sun came in and so I quickly set up and took pictures. 


That is definitely an improvement. Yet, I also cannot make either of these pictures larger then they currently are because they look like crap.  

The top photo of that fabulous 1960's fabric was taken at night and it was the very first picture I took with the new setup. I was able to make it larger without any change in quality. That there just blew my mind! I didn't have to wait for the sun to come up and shine in my apartment between the magic hours of 4-6PM. 

I realized that it was time to take Meandering Design to the next level because I was very uncomfortable with the photos that we have taken. I read a great blog post by A Beautiful Mess about the gear that they use (because they always have fabulous photos) and I added the Canon EOS 60D to my Amazon Wish List. That was in January and it was $899. 

I noticed recently that the price had dropped to $699 and I started really thinking about buying that camera. I talked it over with a friend who is a photographer and I mentioned buying it off of ebay. She said that a lot of photographer's sell their old camera when they upgrade to a new one. I wanted to buy used for two reasons 1) save some money and 2) because that is how we roll here at Meandering Design. 

My ebay search was, shall I say, challenging. After getting out bid a few times I decided to go the 'buy it now' route. I bought the camera and then received a message that it had been sold offline. Sigh. The next camera I bought I purchased from a camera dealer on ebay and the process was much easier. I ended up paying $540. If you are buying a camera on ebay I recommend buying it through a camera dealer! 

The next step was equipment. Based on conversations from my photographer friend I knew that I needed a tripod and a remote. I also needed a lens. I did some research and had some more conversations. In my research I read this blog post on the Fresh Exchange (who I follow) and I went with the Canon 50mm 1.4f. I did try to find it used but then I had a duh moment because while you may want to upgrade a camera you would probably buy additional lenses and not get rid of them. Also based on the Fresh Exchange recommendation I bought the Fotopro C41 Tripod.

This weekend I am going to spend taking pictures oh and making stuff because I will be at the Handmade Market at the Empty Bottle on October 12th from noon to 4PM. If you come early you can have breakfast with me at Bite Cafe next door.  

KMC 


Originally published  9/27/13

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