So, you’ve purchased your camera (if you haven’t yet, check out my quick guide to buying a camera here) and you love it.  You’ve taken it out of the box, fixed the lens to the body, and you take your first picture. And you hate it. “What?  This isn’t what my photos should look like!” There’s a number of reasons you’re not going to like the first photo you take with your fancy DSLR.  Of course, you need to know how to use your camera- how to adjust the ISO, f-stop, and shutter speed.  And even before that, you’ll need to know what the heck those three things mean.  And you’ll need to play around with focus points and light metering and all sorts of stuff. That’ll take years. Trust me. What WON’T take years, however, is buying the right accessories.  That will take mere minutes on Amazon.com. The first thing you need is a little camera cleaning kit.  This’ll set you back a whopping four bucks.  It’s SO worth the four bucks, people.  Little clothes and a little brush and some special liquid to clean your lenses.  You just spent 600 dollars on a camera.  Spend another 4 to keep it properly clean. Then you need to buy an external flash.  This is a flash that bounces up or behind you or to the side of you instead of

I’ve got a new office, it’s time to show it off! The next scheduled Fancy Camera (DSLR) Starting Out Workshop is Sunday, March 18, 12-16:00 at Albertinkatu 9 (my new office)!  I have a new office, so it’ll be there- in my new office.  My new office is awesome.  I’m sure you’ll like my new office.  Almost as much as you like the workshop. I’m kind of excited about my new office. If you can’t make that afternoon- never fear!  Gather 2 other friends who are interested, and tell me when you can meet!  We’ll make it happen! Email or call to reserve your spot!  sarah(at)pikkuarkki.com, 050 349

The most frequent question I get pertaining to photography is “What kind of camera should I buy?” And I get it.  Buying a camera is a huge investment- not only in terms of dollars or euros, but in your memories.  If you buy a camera you hate, your photos will suffer.  And if photos suffer, scrapbooks suffer.  And if scrapbooks suffer, nostalgia suffers.  And no one wants nostalgia to suffer. No one. The trouble is that I’ve bought the raddest camera around (Canon 5D Mark II- it’s a professional camera.  I don’t recommend buying one until you really know what you’re doing.  It’s a POWERFUL machine), so I don’t look at cameras or lenses anymore.  I’d love to add to my lens collection, but that’s going to be a next year purchase.  This year I want to be solvent. And new camera models come out ALL THE TIME.  It’s kind of crazy how often Nikon or Canon releases a new hobby DSLR.  As far as I can tell, they’re the same old camera, just with new names.  So, in this post, I’m not going to direct you towards a particular brand or model.  What I WILL do, however, is give you guidelines- tell you what to look for when purchasing a new camera. The first thing you want to ask yourself is, “Self, do I have any intention of learning

A few people have asked about backlight recently, and since I a) try to answer questions from my loyal readership and b) am happy to find an excuse to look over photos from when there was actual LIGHT to backlight photos because it gives me hope that there will someday, once again, be light in this country- I thought NOW would be an excellent time to talk about backlight. Backlight is exactly what it sounds like- lighting your photo from the back.  It means shooting INTO the sun.  It means your background might be rather bright, but your subject is lit well. Here are some examples: Some benefits of backlighting your photos: 1.  If your subject is looking at you, then they are facing away from the sun.  No squinty eyes from looking INTO the sun.  Lovely, natural faces. 2.  Beautiful pastel tones. 3.  Convenient.  There isn’t always a huge rock or building to provide open shade.  You don’t have to put away your camera just because the light is too intense.  Just backlight. Jose Villa- a brilliant, brilliant photographer- takes it one step further when he backlights.  He tries to get something behind his subjects to break up the sun- branches from a tree, a fence, whatever.  Just so the backlighting isn’t so dramatic. For instance: Things to remember when backlighting your photos: 1.  You need to expose for

I think this post is more of a “life lesson” post than a simple photography post.  So, everyone- EVERYONE- gather around. Ps.  This is not posted because I’ve had a bad experience.  On the contrary.  My mother always taught me, “Save it for the car.”  That is, if you have something bad to say about someone, keep it to yourself until you’re in the car and you’re SURE no one can hear you.  If you forget it by the time you get to the car, it wasn’t worth saying.  If you remember in the car, it STILL might not be worth saying. Here’s the lesson- be nice.  All the time.  Nice. Smile at the cashier.  Say thank you to the bus driver.  Hold the door open for strangers.  Tip your waiter.  Wave to the mailman. Because you never know who they are.  You never know who they know.  You never know who’s watching you. Imagine this:  someone cuts you off to get into the bus faster than you.  You swear, you spit, you stick out your tongue.  You make it known in a very immature fashion that this person has made you angry. Then you turn up to the wedding you’re shooting the next week and he’s the father of the bride. Awkward. Or imagine this:  Someone is considering hiring you, Googles you, finds your blog, your Twitter feed, your

Starting Out Workshops have been scheduled!  So, bust out your point and shoot or fancy camera and let’s get learning!

Here’s a friendly reminder that I really cannot emphasize enough. Direct sunlight?  Not a good idea. Blotchy shade created by trees?  Also not a good idea. Intense backlight?  Better, but not awesome. Backlight broken up by some leaves in the background?  Better, especially considering this was shot at noon in a VERY SUNNY PLACE.  (Note:  Don’t shoot at noon.  Not a good idea) Nice, safe open shade?  Always a sure bet, especially at high noon in downtown Phoenix. Europeans!  I’m back!  If you’d like to schedule a Starting Out Seminar, contact me at sarah (at) pikkuarkki.com

I know the tempting thing when choosing a place to hold a photo shoot is to find an exotic location with all sorts of cute backgrounds. But I’m here to tell you that cute backgrounds aren’t the most important thing. These photos were taken outside a strip mall coffee shop during a Starting Out Seminar I taught a couple of weeks ago. The simple background allowed the relationship between mother and daughter to come out.  There weren’t any colors to clash with their awesome coordinating outfits.  The light that was reflecting off the sidewalk (read: ugly concrete) in front of Evelyn and Ellissa provided awesome natural reflectors. I can’t imagine I’d have liked this photo any more if had been in front of a fancy-schmancy farmhouse.  Or a mansion.  Or the jungles of the Amazon.  It’s a simple photo about the relationship. I’m not the only photographer who thinks this.  My photography idols also prove this point here and here. For more Starting Out tutorial posts, head here.  To book your own Starting Out Workshop, email me at sarah (at) pikkuarkki.com .  (Remember, have work will travel, so if you want a workshop, we’ll make it happen!)

This quote from Ira Glass has really stuck with me since I read it: “Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s

Okay, the third Starting Out Post in a row!  Crazy, right? Well, what can I say?  I just love photo tutorials.  And I might be too lazy to go and find my card reader to upload newly taken photos to form a blog post with newly taken photos and newly occurring stories. And thus we have the third Starting Out post in a row. With old photos. Nevermind. Today’s topic is pretty stinking simple- GET BETTER. If you don’t look at your past photos and cringe, then you haven’t gotten better.  I, for one, look at my past photos and want to HIDE UNDER THE TABLE. Example A from one of my first trial photo shoots back, back, WAY back. Notice the complete over processing: Notice the complete lack of appropriate exposure (it’s back when I CONSTANTLY forgot to change my shutter speed when I changed light- I thought I’d NEVER get it!) They weren’t ALL bad, of course.  In fact, apart from being overly processed, this still remains one of my favorite photos ever taken: It’s just that 1/100 or so photos was actually GOOD. But I read blogs of photographers who had LOTS of GOOD photos.  And sometimes I got REALLY discouraged.  ”I’ll never be as good as them- I know that.” But Denise said, “I will.  I’m going to be as good them someday.” And I marveled