I have a bunch of stuff that I like to carry with me or have at my desk when I work – things I can’t really do without when I’m on the job. Here is the inside track on what I use when I am out shooting all the way to when I send out the final edited files. Some may be obvious, some not so much. Either way, here is the list of the top 5 things I use and depend on to make my photography thrive!
1. Obviously number 1 is my go to Camera, the Canon 6d. It’s a beauty. I love it because the image quality is just so good. Every time I have upgraded camera bodies I have always been impressed by the new image quality I can achieve, and this one still blows me away when I look through what I have shot. It performs great in low light, meaning I have little to no noise (graininess) when in a dark room or while night shooting. A great little secret is that this camera can connect via Wi-Fi to my iPhone, which comes in handy to do remote shooting, self portraits or I can even send a shot I just took over email.
2. My iPhone for a lot of reasons. Internet, Facebook, Instagram, the camera which I use a lot, connecting to my 6d like I just discussed, and obviously just for the phone/texting. Social media is so important these days in the photography market and to be able to keep on top of things and to be able to contribute while on the job is key. The camera and editing tools I use on my 8gig iPhone are fun, too. Lots of times I choose my iPhone over my 6d just for simplicity and convenience sake. Plus it’s really fun to shoot with.
3. Lightroom 5, where the magic happens. A lot of people think that Photoshop is still the tool to use when editing your photos. While it is a very powerful image editing software able to do some unreal things, Lightroom is my, and many other photographers’, tool of choice. Every photo is catalogued and is easy to find at a moment’s notice, any change you make to your photos can be undone and tweaked, even months and years after they were changed, and it’s really easy to use! I still use Photoshop from time to time to do things that Lightroom can’t, but those times are few and far between.
4. Facebook. Where would I be without Facebook. Sure it hogs a lot of my time, but it is where 95% of my referral business comes from. Most of my website and blog posts are advertised on Facebook to get the word out and I have even paid them to advertise and boost posts for me to get extra exposure. It really is a necessary evil for me, so as long as I can continue to hit a mass audience with samples of my work for free, I will continue to work with it and work on finding the best way to utilize this tool.
5. My go to lens, the Canon 70-200 2.8L. What a great pick up this was, second hand for way less than half retail price. My favourite is using it to shoot portraits. Zoomed all the way in at 2.8 compresses the depth of field so well and it makes my subjects pop perfectly. I recently had to hand it in to Canon for service for a loose barrel but thankfully they were able to fix it. I was doubtful. I would be a bit upset if I have to go on without it. If you are looking for a great zoom lens, pick this baby up. I almost passed on the opportunity. So glad I didn’t.
While proof reading this post I realized how many times I wrote “Facebook”. Maybe it should be number 1.