remote control

So as many of you know, I am not one of those ubiquitous duos of blogging girlfriend/professional photographer boyfriend (Oh to be Nicole Warne). Unfortunately, when the manfriend & I met over 3 years ago, it wasn't even on my radar that I should be testing out my date's photog skills. Missed opportunity there!

Surprisingly the most common email question I get, is about photography tips! Either y'all are just being nice, or there are others out there wanting to stop relying on your boyfriend/friend/mom's subpar skills/limited free time & start taking your photoshoots into your own hands.

As the story goes, I dove straight into blogging & tried to convince my boyfriend that taking photos of me should be his new hobby. It all started on my point & shoot camera & gosh were those photos a million kinds of awful, but I didn't know any better & it was what I had to work with at the time (don't believe me, check out this gem from the archive, but just be warned, your eyes might bleed!)

150 outfit photos later, Ty & I decided that it wasn't healthy for me to "direct" him while he worked the camera. There are many things that my man is good at:

- being an incredible pug father

- making delicious beer

- looking sexy on his motorcycle

But we both came to the conclusion that photography just wasn't ever going to be his "thang", it would be just me & my tripod from here on out!

I LURVE my tripod (found here)

Christmas 2011 brought me my first DSLR (Canon Rebel T2i). I turned it to the "Auto" setting & we got to know each other from there. After taking a photography class in June, 2012 I felt comfortable enough to make the leap to "Manual" settings (eeep!)

And then just this past Christmas (2012) I upgraded my "kit" lens to a 50mm f/1.4 prime lens. 

So that's the story... now what useful knowledge to I have to share??

Welp, just this one nugget for today: get a remote!

My remote is this Canon one.

I started out with my tripod using only the self-timer option, but quickly realized that a remote would help me better achieve the crisp photos of which I was dreaming!

But, there is one major trick to using a remote. You of course don't want to look like you are using a remote.

 On the back of my remote is a toggle switch, that can either be on "2" or a dot (see picture above & see if yours does too). When I first got my remote, I of course didn't read the manual, & just started using it right away. Just in the last month I realized that the "dot" setting means that the picture snaps right away, but the "2" means a 2 second delay... GENIUS! I have to have my remote pointed EXACTLY at my camera (annoying much!?), but the 2 second delay is just enough time to "hide" my remote (AKA look natural). 

So all you tripod users, first get a remote, then change the toggle switch to "2" & start snapping away! 

Many of you spotted my tripod friend reflecting off my glasses in this post (sneaky sneaky)!

Resources that taught me a thing or two:

Another tripod user, Megan of Feathers & Freckles, has some genius tips about lighting & background choices here

Julia, of Gal Meets Glam, is lucky enough to have one of those incredible boyfriends-turned-photography-pros, and he was geneorous in sharing his tips for taking your DSLR from Auto to Manual here.

Ok, you tripod users of the blog-world, what are your tips?

Any other remote "hiders" out there?

And if your boyfriend/mom/friend takes your pictures, you be nice to them!
**P.S. if you have specific photography questions, leave them in the comments & if there are enough I will try to do another post**