A bloggers guide to DSLR photography

So at the moment i'm getting a lot of questions asking what camera I use, I now use a canon 600D as of christmas thank you Aaron! but my first DSLR was a nikon D3000 which really is a beginners dslr, and I then went onto using the canon 500D, all of my blog photos taken before christmas I used this camera. I did photography A level and photographed a wedding two years ago and i'm currently doing a media degree where we use canon 550D's, so i've learnt quite a bit about these beautiful cameras. You by no means have to have a fancy camera to be a blogger, i've always been passionate about photography so i'm very interested in them and my DSLR's aren't just for blogging purposes, just to put that out there.
Geeky knowledge - did you know that DSLR stands for digital single lens reflex?

First up, ditch the auto setting! using manual mode will make such a difference to your photos as you are controlling the lighting in your photos. Auto mode will just 'balance' out the lighting and change all of the settings for you, if you're in a darkish room then this can make the shutter speed really slow and blur your images. Secondly, for blog photos I always photograph my images in 'live view mode' which is where you can see the viewfinder on the LCD screen, I do this because you can see the difference the aperture, iso and shutter speed make to your image, whereas when you're looking through the view finder you can't see any change until you've taken the photo. If you're using the canon 600D, to change into live view mode you simply push the 'record' button which you use on filming mode which is placed to the right of the view finder, do not fear this will not record anything if you're on manual mode, it'll simply just put the viewfinder onto the screen.

These photos are unedited apart from the writing

Changing the different settings in manual mode / tips and tricks

To change your camera into manual mode turn the dial to the 'M' setting.

Manual mode is made up of a triangle of three things - shutter speed, aperture and ISO and all of these can work together to create a well balanced image.

Aperture - F/stops - the one thing that stuck in my mind from A level is the saying "the smaller the number the bigger the hole" which is referring to the fact that the smaller F/stop you have the wider the lens will be open, therefore letting more light in and making your photos more exposed (lighter), for example my canon 50mm lens goes down to f/1.8, yet the standard canon 18-55mm lens which it comes with only goes down to f/3.5 so with the 50mm lens i'm able to gain more light into my photos in darker conditions. When you have a lower aperture this also gives you that beautiful deep depth of field (blurry background with an object in focus) to change the aperture on the Canon 600D (and 500D I think it's the same for all) you hold the AV +/- button and scroll the shutter speed at the same time and you should see it change on the screen.

Shutter speed - Shutter speed is how fast the cameras shutter opens and closes, so a fast shutter speed can capture action shots crisply, and a low shutter speed can capture 'motion blur' where you can see blurred movements. Never go below 1/25 if you're not on a tripod as this is the point where you can see camera shake and blur your photos, this is my biggest tip for shutter speed. Also the slower your shutter speed the lighter your photos will be because the lens is letting light hit the sensor for longer, so if you're taking photos and have a low aperture and wondering why your image is still dark try cranking down the shutter speed a tad.

ISO - this is how sensitive the sensor is to light, the Canon 600D's ISO ranges from 100 - 6400 and these can be used in different ways, for example iso 100 means that the sensor isn't very sensitive to light so you would use this is good lighting conditions for example a sunny day. Now, the higher the ISO the grainier the images will become so with ISO 1600 - 6400 they will be extremely grainy in comparison to ISO 100, yet it will be more sensitive to light so this is perfect for situations such as gig photography.When taking my blog photos, if I can't get them light enough at ISO 100 indoors I will always bring it up to around ISO 400 maximum, and this can make such a difference to how light your images are and because the ISO isn't extremely high the images won't be grainy. To change the ISO on the canon 600D there's a circular button behind the shutterspeed on top of the camera which says 'ISO' push this once and all your options will come onto the screen, you can then select which one you want to use by using the arrows < > and pressing 'set' (the little keypad on the back of the camera you use to scroll through photo's you've taken)

I picked up my canon 50mm f/1.8 lens here for £76.99 but it's 100% worth the money in my opinion and the lens I use to take all of my blog photos with. I have also just purchased these studio lamps for £76.88 but haven't tried them yet, I will be doing a post all about them when I get the chance to/when they arrive. I hope this post has actually helped some of you understand your DSLR's a little bit better, or if you're looking to buy one, make it seem a little less scary. I got my first one when I was 15 and i've never looked back, they are worth investing in if you love photography like myself. 
If you would like some editing tips, or other photography related posts please let me know what you would like to read and i'll cook something up!