The Anti-Instagram
Occasionally when beautiful days happen, and when I am feeling exceptionally artistic, I like to head into my backyard and pretend I am a photographer. I whip out my Canon 60D DSLR with my 50mm lens that I don’t seem to use for anything BUT these little occasions. Then I go snap some photos of branches and trees, and since I am no actual photographer I feel like everything is a national geographic cover shot. Well, not quite, but the fact that I am finally feeling better about manual focus means something right?
Then of course, I post it on my blog thinking people actually care to view these photos. I don’t know why I do this, maybe it the”inner hipster photographer” inside me thinking I could take cool photos without the use of hipstamatic or instagram. But alas, I cannot, but I’ll still keep trying because how will I get any better without practice? So I apologize for this post and all future posts like this. I hope you enjoy trees.
Got any DSLR, Canon 60D, or photography tips? Let me know! I’d love to hear them!
Welcome, my name’s Nadine Sykora and this is my blog of crazy travels and online video life :) 
I’m not that good of a photographer myself so maybe I should avoid saying what I like and don’t like.
However I think you should (as you’ve asked on twitter too) get a wide angle lens. The 50mm on a 60D equals 80mm on a full frame camera. That’s a short telephoto lens. Perfect for portraits, but less good for general use.
On my 550D (Rebel T2i in over on your side of the pond) I mostly use a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens. That equals 48mm on a full frame camera. So that’s more of a “normal” lens.
If you want even more wide angle (in the old days 35mm was the most common wide angle lens used) you could go for a Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 (equals 38.4mm on full frame) or even Canon EF 20mm f/2.8 (equals 32mm on full frame). The 20mm has an “ultra sonic autofocus motor” so it doesn’t make that much noise when you focus. The 24mm lacks that so it makes more noise. They should cost about the same I think.
Maybe you can go to a camera store and test the different lenses to see what works best for what you want to use the camera for.
Yea, that’s what I am thinking. I have been looking at the Canon 20mm F2.8 and also the Sigma 30mm F1.4 and the Tamaron 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 . Kind of a weird mixture, but I would probably sell my kit lens 18-55mm and replace it with one of these.
No need to apologize for having a hobby and sharing it on your own website! The photos are looking good though, but living in a beautiful place like that doesn’t hurt lol. Practice makes perfect…
And who doesn’t enjoy trees? :P
-Alex
Thank you very much, glad you enjoyed them!
Hey Nadine,
I think your pictures are beautiful and I really enjoyed looking at them. Did you change your White-balance settings for the second one? I think it’s the strongest because it looks very immediate, and less saturated than the others.
I would like to remark that the viewer gets the feeling that these picture are a crop of a larger frame. I have got the same problem with the 50mm on my APS-C body. The impression is that the photographer couldn’t decide whether he wanted to go for Macro or something else. Therefore I personally like the 35mm much better.
Greetings from Berlin, Germany (no snow yet, unfortunately)
brightcolour
Thank you very much! I fiddled with the photos a bit in apple iphoto to change up some colours. Lol, it’s not photoshop, but I’m still learning :P But yea, I would love to get a macro lens, but currently I am working with what I got!
I love the pictures, I think they are great. I love taking pictures, (mostly stuff to blackmail others), but I just use my point and shoot canon, since I’m not that seriously about it. I’m not completely sure what instagram is but if it’s like picnik I don’t like it, lol.
Thank you! I hope to have some more really interesting photos up soon since I just bought a new lens for an early xmas present to myself LOL :P
Hi Nadine!
Nice photos! I landed on your site because of its title, but I ended up watching the images. That’s good ;-) I think photography is a handycraft: the only way to learn making photographs is… to make photographs. There are no shortcuts, as instagram&Co are just for the lazy ones. Keep on taking photos and do not bother about material: the best camera/lens is always the one you have with you.
Good luck!