Hubby is even more of a techie geek than I am (yes, that is possible), so he's often an early adopter of new technology in the world of social media. When Twitter entered the scene, Hubby was there signing on with an early account. When Google+ was there to challenge Facebook's share of the market, Hubby was signing up for an account. So, it stands to reason, when Instagram first made it's debut, Hubby was there with an early account. After he "played" with each one to see if it had value, he would encourage me to sign up for my own account on each. I have often ended up being a "semi-early" adopter through his influence. In the case of Instagram, I was excited about it until Facebook bought the company. That soured me on the idea and I removed the app from my iPhone...
...until a couple of weeks ago.
I was at the wedding of two good friends who are great amateur photographers and Instagram users. At regular intervals throughout the reception, Hubby was taking photos with his iPhone and then post-processing them on the spot. Periodically, he'd show me his creations. Then he'd quickly post them to Instagram. I was intrigued. So I started playing with taking some photos at the reception. I had to load the Instagram app back on my iPhone so I could play with post-processing photos I was taking. Before I knew it, I found myself deeply immersed in the creatively inspirational world of Instagram.
This isn't the first time this has happened.
Several years ago, I had a similar phenomenon happen when I was corresponding with a fellow photographer blogger, Jen at Muddy Boot Dreams, whose work I greatly admire. She offhandedly mentioned how much of an inspiration the Flickr community was for her creativity. I took her advice and joined the world of Flickr. She was right. I found myself feeling like I was in a master's class of photography on a global scale. It was wonderfully inspiring for me and pushed me in my work and my creative eye. I ended up adopting new techniques of post-processing which led to me finding a completely new way of digitally painting my photos. It opened up a whole creative world for me. All because I acted on the advice of a fellow blogger.
I am finding that Instagram is doing the same for me. I am pushing my photographic eye and my creativity at just the right time when I feeling like I needed to be more creatively challenged.
There are some Instagrammers (IG'ers) who are iPhone only contributors that are really pushing themselves creatively. I have to admit, I'm not quite that brave... yet. My Instragram gallery is a mixture of shots from my DSLR cameras and iPhone. Maybe someday I'll take the brave leap into iPhone only.
For now, I'm thrilled to be discovering the work of some really brilliant IG'ers. Some are also bloggers, so I've gotten the bonus of discovering some beautiful blogs along this journey!
If you'd like to join me on Instagram click here
The roses featured in this post are "Cherry Parfait" all from the same bush. This is the most spectacular display it's put on since I planted it probably about 4 or so years ago.
These photos are beautiful! Can't get into Instagram, though it seems like a good fit for me, since I'm such a photo-oriented visual person. Blogging and FB are as social as I (so far) have the inclination to be.
ReplyDeleteLovely! Do you know about Snapseed? I love it! It's like a tiny PSE program for my iPhone.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful roses! I don't have an Iphone, so I guess I'll be late to this party too....
ReplyDeleteCindy, gorgeous shots....I do love instagram, but I have a android.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't use data, so I can't always upload the photos, unless there is WiFi..so I've ignored it for awhile.
But the filters you can use are amazing....I do love that look.
Girl, you are the one who showed me how to use textures...and that opened a entirely new world.
Isn't techie-ness grand.
Jen
Oh my, what beautiful roses. Your photographic talents are amazing. I'd love to join the techie-world. Perhaps someday. But should you be so inclined, I'd love to know some of your photography secrets. Camera? Lens? Settings? Just a thought for a "girl" with a Canon, Nikon, tele lens, macro lens and still trying.
ReplyDeleteCamera: I shoot with either my Sony A77 DSLR or my iPhone.
ReplyDeleteLenses: When I'm shooting with the DSLR I use the kit lens (4.5-5.6/75-300) or a nifty Minolta 35-70mm/3.5-4.5 that fits on Sony like all Minolta lenses do.
Settings: To get shallow depth of field (that's what causes the blurry background) I put my camera in aperture mode and push the number down as low as my camera will allow it to go. I usually shoot in auto-focus mode. I use the trick where I get the auto-focus to focus at the right point and continue to hold down the shutter button halfway then frame my shot and push down all the way to get the capture.
Secret #1: When shooting, I concentrate most on getting the right focus on my shots because that's something I can't correct in post-processing. Once I'm back at the computer, I post-process my photos using Adobe Camera RAW (I always shoot in RAW format so I have the most digital info to work with once I'm post-processing).
Secret #2--The post-processing is where the magic happens--cropping and adjusting to make the image the way I want. I use Photoshop for that. I started out small with Photoshop Elements and have graduated up to the full version as I've gotten my bearings.
Secret #3--The best thing I did for myself recently was to begin watching online courses at Lynda.com. I buy an annual subscription and then watch as many courses as I want in a year. I learned LOADS of info about photography from their photography courses. I can't recommend it more highly!
Lovely roses! Thank you very much for visiting my blog and writing kind words! Have a wonderful Mother's Day!
ReplyDeleteCindy, Thank you, thank you for the detailed secrets to your fabulous photos. I shall print this out and take it around with me.
ReplyDeleteTalent, of course, is another one of your secrets.
Thanks much!
Marvel (& Royal)