PHOTOGRAPHY — CHARISMA SHAH

About a year ago I started adding recipes & diy's to what was once my fashion design portfolio. Suddenly this little blog started, right as I was learning what it meant to be a spouse (still learning this!) and a cook and a designer and well many other things. I quickly learned that humble iPhone photos could only take me so far, so I started playing around with my Dad's old DSLR (circa 2008). To this day, I swear by it.

DSLR vs iPHONE

Phones keep getting progressively better camera technology but when I started this site I was still using the iPhone 4S. Ancient I know! My instagram was a mess of overly contrasted, grainy photos with unnecessary filters that were distracting rather than enhancing. Oh, and I really loved those black frames and the Nashville filter (for obvious reasons)! Although, quite great at the time, the 4S' rear camera was only a mere 8 megapixels to the Canon Rebel T1i's 15 MPs! On a tiny phone screen or even in the Instagram app, both look pretty great. However, on a laptop/desktop/computer the doubled resolution is pretty spectacular! I never knew that you could see each and every facial hair in my brother's scraggly beard! And so I became addicted to pictures on the DSLR.

Above: Left photo taken with iPhone 6, Right photo taken with Canon Rebel T1i.

Today I still use my Dad's DSLR (Canon Rebel T1i). Well, I think after kidnapping it a couple years ago, its pretty safe to say its mine...right? Its actually the oldest piece of technology that the HUBS and I own, but it takes wonderful pictures and is very easy to use. I am obsessed. If you ever see me with my camera, I am probably knee deep in tall grass taking "ant pictures" like this one below.

NEVER GOING BACK

With time, literally thousands of pictures, and lots of experimenting, I have actually started to realize that DSLR photography is SO MUCH MORE than just pointing and shooting. Seriously y'all these things can do wonders.

Up until about a year ago all my DSLR pictures were just taken in the the Auto or Landscape setting (including the two pictures above). But as I was looking at some of my favorite bloggers photos on Instagram, I realized the reason I loved these feeds so much was because their impeccable pictures. Each was bright, light and airy. So I figured they were just living in insanely sunny places like LA or Phoenix. These bloggers knew how to use their DSLR effectively to create these ephemeral vignettes.

I researched a little bit on photography only to learn that all those settings on the dial of your DSLR are actually SUPER useful. Manual photography manipulates the natural light present to create gorgeous pictures, something that for the most part can't really be done on a camera phone. Learning about ISO, shutter speed, and aperture is necessary, but your photographs will be even more stunning. Look out for another post about how to manipulate these for better photos coming soon!