Last week I was eating lunch with some of my blogger girls and we got to talking about cameras and when and if we should upgrade. When I first started, I had a Rebel T1i and a little over a year ago when I started taking my blog and my photography more seriously, I upgraded to a Canon 60D and a 35mm lens. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with them, and I actually love the camera, but Kelly just upgraded to the Canon 5D Markiii with the 50mm 1.2 lens and it’s amazing. Do I need it, no, but gosh I want it! It’s a bigger camera and I love the way it works, I got to shoot Kelly last week with it and I really didn’t want to hand it back over.

But, anyway back to that conversation.. we all get questions from readers asking what camera we use and while I’m always happy to share, I always think that I should also give you a little disclaimer. So here it is! Just because you invest in the fancy camera and the fancy lens, you’re not guaranteed to have gorgeous images. You absolutely must learn how to work your camera’s manual setting and master the editing process in Lightroom.

There’s countless times that I’ve heard of bloggers who have gone out and bought super expensive cameras and are mind-boggled why they’re photos don’t look like their favorite bloggers’ photos do. Any blogger with gorgeous images will tell you that it’s not just about the camera — a lot of the work is done in post-processing within Lightroom. If you shoot in RAW, editing is required because the images that come from the RAW files are not the same as what you see with your eye. They’re a bit dull actually, so editing is essential! But shooting in RAW makes it so much easier to Lightroom because you’re working with so much more data than a JPG file. That’s a whole different subject though.

So my advice to you is to buy the camera and lens that you can afford. Don’t bust your budget to get the Markiii if you have zero experience with photography. Master the basics and upgrade when you feel that your skill level needs it. The entry level Canon Rebel is a great place to start and I highly recommend getting the 35mm lens (instead of the 50mm) for and camera that has a crop sensor and isn’t full frame. It’ll give you a wider angle than a 50mm and is generally more versatile. I’ve loved it for traveling and it also takes better outfit and lifestyle shots than my old 50mm did!

Are you thinking about purchasing a new camera? What questions have you had? What are you looking at buying?

image via

Over the past few weeks I’ve gotten a whole lot of questions asking how I edit my photos, so today I’m sharing some tips and tricks to editing your photos in Lightroom. A little over a year ago my friend Kelly finally showed me how to use the basics of Lightroom and it was 100% a game-changer for my blog. I thought that I needed to pay a professional photographer to get photos of that caliber and all it took was a little bit of editing.

With the internet being such a visual place, having beautiful photography will help your blog stand out in the crowd. Better photos also get shared and re-pinned more which will in turn drive more traffic to your site. So, basically what I’m saying is that photography can be a huge asset in growing your site, so it’s worth taking the time to practice and hone your skills.

So, let’s get started, shall we?! My first suggestion is that you shoot in RAW instead of JPG. The RAW files are much bigger and hold a lot more data than JPG which makes it easier to make subtle changes in the color, hue and tones in an image without it looking overworked. The files are much bigger and also only readable by certain programs. Last I checked Apple’s iPhoto and Photoshop do not accept this type of file, so before you go shooting in RAW, make sure you have Lightroom.

I get Lightroom through Adobe’s Creative Cloud. It’s super affordable and I always have the latest version. Plus I can install it on multiple devices so I have it on my desktop and laptop.

Now for editing! I always start by moving my images from my SD card into a folder on my desktop. Then I drag those into Lightroom from there. That way I have the original copy in case I mess up or delete something. When you drag images into Lightroom it will give you the option to either Copy or Add them to Lightroom. ALWAYS choose Add! This just temporarily puts them into Lightroom. Copying them makes a second copy of that huge file and adds it to Lightroom and over time this can cause Lightroom to run very slow.

Once your images are imported, you can see them in the Library and edit them under the Develop panel. So open the Develop tab and select an image.

1. SHARPEN: I always start by upping the Sharpening to 50-65. This will make the edges look crisp like a professional shot.
2. PRESENCE: Under here I bring Saturation to 5 and Vibrance to 35. Occasionally I’ll use Clarity, so play around with it and see what you like.
3. TONE: I change the setting here quite a bit. In the image you can see that I bring down the Highlights, bring up the Shadows, bring down the Whites a bit and bring down the Blacks a lot. Again, everyone has different preferences on how they like the colors and shadows to look in their images, so play around here.
4. EXPOSURE: Each photo is different, so while most of my photos have the same settings. The exposure changes more than anything else depending on the light in that particular shot. So tweak the exposure until it’s at a place that you like. Here the photo was a bit dark, so I brought up the exposure quite a bit, but sometimes I leave it at 0 and even go into the negatives (though I try to avoid going negative!).

When you’ve edited all of your pictures, you’ll need to export them to JPGs so you can upload them to your site. Go back to the Library tab and highlight all the images that you want to export in the film strip view at the bottom and then hit the ‘Export’ button. A new screen will pop up and here can select the export location. I typically make a new folder and rename my photos for SEO purposes. It also allows you to choose a size. I always choose twice the width of my blog column. Why? Retina screens need the double width to display images crisply! Make the resolution 72 and check the box that that says ‘Don’t Enlarge’ and then Export them! You can see the progress of your export in the top screen. Once it’s done you can go upload them to your site.

These settings are by no means the only ones. All of us are attracted to very different image styles, so know what you like and study images with that style and play around with the different settings until you get what you want. Here’s a few things to think about to if you’re looking to get a specific image style…

If you like photos like Happily Grey, notice that they’re not super saturated, so don’t bring up the saturation and vibrance as much. Try going up on the blacks too to get a softer, grey look.

If you love moody images, like Adventures in Cooking, shoot your photos in darker setting with lots of shadows. Up your whites and lower the shadows to create a moody image where the whites pop.

Like really bright, light images? Up your exposure — just make sure you don’t over expose them because that doesn’t look good either.

I hope that helps! Feel free to ask me any questions below!

Disclaimer: I use a VSCO FILM preset alongside this editing process to edit my photos. If you’re looking for a very specific style, I highly recommend the VSCO FILM packs for Lightroom. They’re easy to use and look great and are far more versatile than the phone app.

If you’ve looked into photo editing software for your blog, you’ve probably become aware that some of the best programs out there aren’t exactly cheap. Even if you do decide to purchase them, they can be confusing, difficult and frustrating if you’re not educated in how to work them. I’m so excited to share a new one with you today and I think you’re really going to love it!

Yes, there are plenty of affordable photo-editing programs out there, but there’s really only one you need to know about — BeFunky. I was recently introduced to it and I’ve been incredibly impressed with the power behind it and the options for editing!

It’s online, so you can also access it from anywhere which is a huge bonus. It not only allows you to easily edit your photos and save them straight to your computer, but it also allows you to create gorgeous collages and grids that are perfect for Pinterest-worthy images!

You can use BeFunky for free, or upgrade to get access to all of the editing features for a mere $4.95 a month or $24.95 for a whole year (that’s 58% savings!). Guys, that’s a steal! Programs like Photoshop & Lightroom will cost you a lot more.

before

after

I tested it out last week and it’s a breeze. I was easily able to remove blemishes, soften wrinkles, add highlights to my hair to give more dimension, and add a soft red color to my lips because I forgot to wear lip gloss that day. I typically don’t like over-editing, but these little changes help make the image pop without changing my appearance. You can also easily edit the colors, exposure and brightness to get your image just right! Here’s the before and after.

I also tested out the collage maker for an upcoming post. Since Pinterest is a huge driver of traffic, creating images like this is great for step-by-step blog posts (think food, DIY, etc.). BeFunky offers a ton of different templates and all you have to do is drop in your images and text and resize the boxes to your liking! Once you’re done, you can save to your computer or other easy options like Facebook or DropBox.

If you’ve been looking for a good option for photo editing, but don’t want to break the bank, this is the perfect platform! So, go ahead and pop over to BeFunky and try it out for yourself!

* This post was sponsored by BeFunky, as always, all opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that keep The Fox & She running!

First off, sorry I missed the photography tutorial last week! Life got in the way. And you also might notice that you’re at a different URL today! After talking with some of my friends, they asked why I had two different blogs, and to be honest, I don’t know why, I was already talking about The Fox & She on Blog Better, so it made sense to just combine them. So from here on out, all posts for Blog Better will be found here!

I’m back today and excited to share with you guys the last of three basic manual photography tutorials and this one is my favorite. Aperture! Also known as F-Stop, is my favorite of the three pillars because, to me, it’s the most obvious one to see. Aperture also plays a part of how much light makes its way to your sensor, but it also changes the depth of field of a photo which is an incredible thing to master as a blogger.

So let’s start basic. Aperture refers to the hole which through light passes into the camera. When you change the size of this hole, you are changing the amount of light that’s let into the camera. So depending on your lighting situation, you may choose a different aperture, but the reason you’ll mostly use it for is to change the depth of field in your image.

I keep saying depth of field, so what does that mean?! It refers to how much of your exposure is in focus. A shallow depth of field (smaller f-stop number) will only focus on the objects in the foreground and leave the background blurry and a wider depth of field (larger f-stop number) will produce an image with more of the background in focus. Seems easy enough, right?

The tough part about this is that the way it’s easy to get confused. A smaller aperture or hole, is actually a higher f-stop number while a wide aperture (bigger opening) actually has a smaller f-stop number.

I think the easiest way to remember it is that the lower the number, the less in focus the background will be. This also means more light is let in because the opening is much bigger. As the f-stop number goes up, things get more in focus and let in less light. Go ahead and take a few practice shots if you’re still confused. I’m a visual person, so practicing always helps me!

The reason this is my favorite pillar of photography is because it makes my blog photography look a lot more professional and interesting. It gives photos a more artistic or creative feel and I really love that. I want my people to be drawn in to my content and photography is the easiest way to do that. For outfit shots it can help draw attention to you or even specific details in a photo. I typically shoot at a 3.2 for full body shots and 2.0-2.8 for detail shots. I used to shoot on 1.8, but my face and feet were always blurry and I figured that I had a bad lens, but then realized that it was user error. I really love that blurred background, so I always shoot as low as I can without sacrificing on quality or sharpness. Here’s a few examples and you can see the aperture below it.

f/2.0, 1/1000, ISO 160

f/4.0, 1/320, ISO 160

When it comes to lifestyle images, like food, I usually go around 3.5 to make sure everything on the plate is in focus. Sometimes higher if I’m shooting a whole bunch of things from above. Again, more examples with food.

Also, I should mention that not all cameras have apertures this low. Some only go as low as 4.0. If you’re really wanting to get that depth of field, there’s two lens I recommend — a 50mm f/1.8 is a great starter lens and really affordable (at least for Canon, I can’t speak to the Nikon version). I have since upgraded to the 50mm f/1.4 and just added a 35mm f/2.0 to my collection and that’s my new go-to. I shoot everything with it. It has a slightly wider angle which makes it a lot more versatile for shooting different scenarios. The images come out super crisp and I highly recommend it if you’re wanting something nicer and more versatile.

Okay! Now you should have a really solid base of your manual settings! I’d love to hear from you guys? Do you have any questions or things you’re trying to figure out?! Feel free to leave questions below and I’ll do my best to answer!

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post on ISO, so today we’re moving onto the second pillar of photography, shutter speed! If you’re not familiar with what that means, shutter speed is the unit of measurement which determines how long the shutter stays open when capturing an image. Shutter speed works in tandem with aperture to determine how much light reaches your sensor.

Shutter speeds are expressed in fractions of a second or whole seconds. With each shutter speed increment, the amount of light that is let in is halved.

So how do you go about selecting a shutter speed? Generally speaking, the faster the shutter speed, the better because the faster the shutter can open and close the crisper, your image will be. The best example of using a fast shutter speed is capturing action without it blurring. For fashion, lifestyle and food shots, I’d say that as bloggers, we typically want things to be really crisp and sharp, not blurred. So I always get my settings to a place where my shutter speed can be fast.

The longer your shutter remains open, the more likely it is that you’ll get a blurry image and that’s because humans are human. Even if you’re sitting ‘perfectly still’, some natural body movement will happen and those little movements can make your image blurry.

Long shutter speeds can be used to capture movement — think car lights at night or pouring a jug of lemonade. There are definitely times when a slower aperture makes a photo more attractive. You should consider using a tripod though to take away that human error I talked about earlier.

But for everyday shots and most of your blog pictures, you’ll probably want them to be crisp, so I typically keep the shutter speed as fast as possible to maintain a crisp image, but don’t be afraid to change it when the lighting situation calls for it. A good rule of thumb I once heard was to look at your lens. Let’s say you’re using a 50mm — don’t let your shutter speed go below 1/50. I even think 1/50 is pretty low and usually the lowest I’ll go is 1/150. Pull out your camera and change the shutter speed to see the difference in real life.

Yes, shutter speed plays just as important of a role as film speed and aperture, but I think of it as the fine-tuning. I typically set my aperture (coming in two weeks!) first and then base my film speed of that and the available light and lastly I change my shutter speed. As I’m shooting, I’ll change it up or down a bit as the light source changes. If you look through your viewfinder, you’ll notice a meter at the bottom and if you roll the wheel either direction, you’ll see that the little notch moves. Ideally, you want it in the middle, but do note that sometimes the light meter can’t read the situation perfectly (backlighting is tricky because of this). For the most part, it’s pretty accurate, but there’s plenty of times where you’ll have to take a few test shots, and decide whether the image is properly exposed or whether it needs more or less light and adjust from there. At the end of the day, the light sensor is a machine and can’t predict some of the things the eye can see, so use your own judgement!

Now it’s time for you to practice. Pull out your camera and check out the light meter when you look through the viewfinder and play around with the changing the shutter speed to see what happens. Like most things, practice makes perfect, so keep practicing and playing with your manual settings. The more you use them, the more familiar you will become with them!

Questions? Leave them below, I’m happy to answer! And if you’re looking for what kind of camera equipment to invest in, I’m sharing my favorites here!