There's an Erin at the bottom of the garden

This just turned out to be a short project on a particularly nice day, I went for  ramble around the garden to look for various sources of interest, I wanted to produce a few really good quality images that I took time and effort to edit. For this shoot I used my standard Canon lens and the zoom lens for taking the image of the bird. 

Portraits of my dog

This is a small project I've been wanting to do for a while now, and being back home from uni has given me the excuse to do it. I decided to approach this with a typical portrait approach. I used my portrait lens and framed the images in a way that is recognisable to the technique of portraiture. This is something different to regular animal photography as I wanted to give my dog more a more humanoid, emotive look through the framing of the image and lens type. Using my bedroom for the shoot was a conscious choice as the dark wood floor, dark walls and contrasting white furniture give almost an industrial look, it complements my dogs fur tone also. 

The kit I use at the moment

I do feel its kinda important to give specifications of the kit I use for the images I take. Obviously I will do posts updating on any dramatic kit changes or kit additions that I have bought myself. Being a student at Lincoln, I'm very lucky in the sense that I can borrow from a large amount of kit absolutely free of charge. This broadens my photography opportunities and gives me the chance to play with a variety of lenses before choosing my favourites, ones appropriate for a project in question or ones to purchase with my own money 

The 500D body 

But first of all, the body of the camera, as its kind of an important part haha. I was very lucky in the first month the of uni as I had the opportunity to buy a CANON 500D !!! in great condition with two lenses for £250 from a fellow student. Kinda felt guilty as It was such a good deal felt a bit like stealing to be honest, a canon 500D body on its own costs around £180 on its own anyway. As mentioned previously, my university has a great store of kit, although we can book it out free, we have to book in advance, have it for a limited time and fill out a form if we take it off campus or keep it overnight, therefore freedom is very limited. Although this is alot of good equipment for free, having my own camera enables me to be much more creative and spontaneous, and photography is all about regular practice and freedom. I would defiantly say it was an investment, it took a frightfully big chunk out of my student loan (sorry mum!. Actually, not sorry, I'm paying it back..... b*******). But in then end I have a fantastic quality camera, three lenses (I added another one to my collection, which I will talk about in a bit) and the ability to use it whenever I need. I would strongly recommend students taking photography to get there own bit of kit, even media students in general, as understanding the basic principles of photography, lenses and composure will look pretty good to employers, as they seems to want all round good eggs as employees at the minute. 

Anywayyy, back to the camera itself, I knew already that canon is a good standard brand to choose, and the 500D being a highly versatile camera, with sharp image quality and HD video recording. I needed a good foundation to add lenses to, as the lens makes all the difference to the quality of the images and the final product. Investing in a reliable body is definitely a good starting point. Here is a link that talks more about the camera body: http://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/product_finder/cameras/digital_slr/eos_500d/

The Lens's 

With the purchase of the camera body from the fellow student, the deal came with two basic lens's, great for beginners. First of which is the affordable telephoto zoom lens, the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III. It has a 4x telephoto zoom and is pretty good for wildlife and sports. This is a lens I'm less experienced with, and I am yet to try it out on location. My goal over summer is to practice more with this zoom lens and create set-ups that are a little more out of my comfort zone. Hopefully, heading home from uni will give me a better chance of utilising it as I live in the countryside, where wildlife is abundant. Here is some more information on the specifications etc. http://www.canon.co.uk/lenses/ef-75-300mm-f-4-5-6-iii-usm-lens/

The second lens in my kit is the Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens. Along with the zoom lens, this cake included in the £250 deal from my fellow student. This is a pretty standard zoom lens that is very flexible. This is my go-to lens for casual photography where a portrait or zoom lens is most likely not needed. This versatile lens has a wider angle than most lenses, therefore generating a greater sense of perspective. Here is a link to find out a bit more information on the specifications http://www.canon.co.uk/lenses/ef-s-15-85mm-f-3-5-5-6-is-usm-lens/

My third lens in my kit is the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens. This is probably my favourite lens at the moment, its wide aperture allows for high quality portraits and good low light photos. This wide aperture brings the subject into more focus, allowing for a greater shallow depth of field. Also as it allows more light in; there is less motion blur and you can capture better images in low lit environments. This lens is mainly used for portraits as it has a similar perspective to a human eye, however I like to use it whenever I want to take an image that uses the shallow depth of field as he main technique. Here is another link which has a bit more information about the lens: http://www.canon.co.uk/lenses/ef-50mm-f-1-8-stm-lens/

I hope this has been fairly helpful to gain an insight into the kit I use. I will update any changes if I have bought any different kit myself. However kit I borrow from the University I will mention in the posts I use it in.  

An afternoon with Connie

A large amount of casual photography is kind of expected for the majority of the summer as I have no set work from university. Obviously come September, more professional images are expected. This series of images was just a bit of fun, photos of the local architecture and my friend Connie make this collection pretty casual. Also, some food photography of some cake, because is was mighty good cake. 

An evening explore/gander in Lincoln

This isn't exactly a post intending to showcase my skills or add to a portfolio as such. Its simply a series of some pictures which I think look good, this is something photographers shouldn't forget, as the basics of picking up a camera and taking it on a journey; taking a few images is vital. Photography is freedom, and sticking to the rules of the studio or pre-planned images can be stifling. Its often nice to just take random images that may not be completely perfect, but the experience and the setting of taking them was memorable. 

For this series of images, I went on a late summer evening ramble with my boyfriend. This was a pretty spontaneous event as we decided to just pick a direction and walk. As the sun was setting, the lighting was somewhat challenging although giving a relaxed look to the images.