Amateur Photography

Most of the pictures that appear on my blog I take myself. Even though writing is my preferred medium, I decided to learn photography to strengthen my portfolio. I spend a lot of my free time practicing.

Or I should say, 'spent.' My camera's broken. It was fine until about two months ago, when my Nikon D3000 (whose name is Phillip) really started acting up. I'd had a few problems with it before, but now I can't adjust my shutter speed in manual mode (which kind of defeats the purpose of manual mode). I'm trying to have it fixed, but without freelance photography/advertising as a source of income, things are a little tight. It's a vicious cycle.   

So most of my pictures right now come from my iPhone 4S. I've put together entire news packages on my iPhone in a pinch, so it's a great tool to have, but I miss my SLR.

I use photoediting software called Lightroom. I highly recommend it. Adobe is the way to go, and Lightroom is more user-friendly than Photoshop, although a little more restrictive. Unless you're designing graphics, though, Lightroom is perfect. If you do have to resort to iPhone shots, I recommend an app called CameraPlus. Editing those phone shots in Lightroom will go a long way toward making them look more professional, too.

If you're interested in amateur photography, a great hobby to pick up if you love travel, I recommend looking on Pinterest to help you get started. Just in case you need a few tips, you can check out my own photography board, where I've pinned tips about DIY studio lighting, posing your subjects and backdrop suggestions: http://pinterest.com/carriebrew/photography-tips/.