Kevin & Amanda » Tutorials

How To See Who Visits Your Blog

Amanda — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:00:59 +0000

If you’ve ever wondered who visits your blog, there’s a fun site you can use to see what your readers are interested in — and what they like most about your site. By placing the invisible code on your site, you’ll get answers to questions like:

How many people visited my blog today?
Who links to my blog?
Does my blog show up in search engines?
What are my most popular posts?
Do my readers click on the links I recommend?

And many more. Here’s a quick peek into Statcounter, and what I like most about it!

Summary

How many people visited my blog today? How many were brand new visitors? How many had been here before?

When I first login to Statcounter, I start off by checking the Summary. This lets me know how many people have visited my blog so far today, along with a comparison chart for the past seven (7) days. I can see the number of unique visitors, the number of pages they viewed, and whether or not they were a returning reader.

Popular Pages

What are people looking at on my blog? What are my most popular posts?

Another fun stat to check is Popular Pages. It’s important to note that Statcounter monitors your readers’ behavior in real-time, for the last 500 readers to your blog. This page will tell you what is the most popular post on your blog right now. It may be different if you check back tomorrow, or even later in the day!

Something neat you can do from Popular Pages is click on the little magnifying glass beside one of your posts, then click on Came From in the blue box that appears next. Like the image above, this will show you how your readers are arriving at this particular post. As you can see from the example above, my most popular post gets a lot of traffic from Pinterest, with some hits from Facebook, Stumble Upon, and Google as well.

Came From

How are people finding my blog? Who’s linking to my blog?

Speaking of Came From — this is probably my most favorite feature of Statcounter. Click on Came From in the menu list on the left side, and you’ll see a list of your top referring links. This is how people are finding your blog — you can see who’s linking to and talking about your blog!

Keyword Analysis

Does my blog show up in search engines? What do people search for that leads them to my blog?

Another way readers can find your blog is through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. By the way, if I was writing this post 15 years ago, I would’ve said “search engines like HotBot, Lycos, and DogPile“. Wonder what the search engines will be 15 years from now! Anyway, Keyword Analysis will show you what search terms readers are using the find your site. Some of them can be quite entertaining! Keyword Analysis sorts the search terms by the most popular terms.

You can also click on Recent Keyword Activity to see a list of search latest search terms used to find your site — with real-time accuracy. What’s neat about this page is you can see if people found your site from a certain search engine, if it was an image search, and how high your blog showed up in the results list. For example, check out the first two results in the screenshot above. This person searched for “30 day shred before and after” on Google and my blog was the 14th result that appeared for them. The next reader searched for “cookie dough oreo brownie” on Google, and my blog was the first result that appeared for them.

Exit Links

Do my readers click on the sites I link to? Are they clicking on links to blogs or products I recommend?

If you’ve shared a link on your blog or in a post, you can view your Exit Link stats to tell if people actually clicked on it. Again, since Statcounter monitors your readers in real-time, this will show what people are clicking on right now. For example, this might be extremely helpful to check if you shared a round-up of links. This will show you the most popular links that people are clicking on, giving you a better idea of what your readers are interested in.

Visitor Paths

What do people do on my blog? What pages do they look at? What links do they click on?

Visitor Paths — now this is a fun one if you’ve ever wondered what people do on your blog! Do they read one page and leave? Do they click around and keep reading? What do they click on? Click on Visitor Paths and it will show you, in order of your most recent visitor, exactly what they did and what they looked at on your blog. For example, the reader above came from a link on Facebook. They landed at the Ultimate Layered Cookie Dough Oreo Brownies page, and from there they kept on clicking! They looked at cookie dough cupcakes, photos of Louie, Savannah, and Mexico. Fun!

Click on the magnifying glass beside a reader on the Visitor Paths page, and you’ll see even more information about this particular reader, like how many times they’ve visited your blog before and how long they stayed on your blog for this visit.

Install

The best part about Statcounter is that it’s super easy to install, and you’ll start seeing your stats right away. When you sign up for an account, all you have to do is click on the blogging platform you have (Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, etc) and it will walk you through how to install the code with a step-by-step photo tutorial.

Happy Statcounting! :)

Add a “Pin It” Button to Your Posts

Amanda — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:00:54 +0000

If you scroll down to the bottom of any post here on Kevin & Amanda, you’ll see a “Pin It” button that you can click on to pin the image of your choice onto Pinterest. Adding a “Pin It” button of your own is so ridiculously simple to do! Here’s a quick tutorial that will show you how to automatically add a “Pin It” button of your own down at the bottom of every post on your blog, for Blogger, Blogspot, and self-hosted WordPress blogs.

Choose an Image

First you’ll need to choose the image you want for your “Pin It” button. Here’s the one I use. Feel free to right-click and save it to use for your button, too.

You can also do a Google Image search for Pinterest Icon for more button options.

After selecting your image, upload it somewhere so it will have its own URL, like Flickr or Photobucket. Here is an example URL:

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff17/kevinandamanda/pinit.gif

Note: Don’t use the URL above — there won’t be enough bandwidth for everyone and you’ll get a red X instead of the button. Bummer.

The Code

Here’s the code you’ll use to place the “Pin It” button on your blog.

INSERT IMAGE URL HERE"/>

Paste this code onto your blog (I’ll show you where below), then replace the INSERT IMAGE URL HERE with the URL for your button.

Note: Be sure to place this exact code on your blog, or else it won’t work. You’ll also want to delete the “Read More” link that will appear underneath the code when you paste it.

Where to Paste (Blogger/Blogspot)

From your Blogspot Dashboard, click on the Design tab, then Edit HTML. Click the Expand Widget Templates checkbox.

Use CTRL-F to search for:

. Paste the code right above that.

That’s it! Save and view your blog!

Note: If you need extra spacing between your post and the “Pin It” button, just add

above the “Pin It” button code. You can add as many as you want, above or below the code, for as much space as you need.

Where to Paste (WordPress)

For a self-hosted WordPress blog, navigate to your WordPress Dashboard, look for the Appearance heading, then click on Editor. From there, select Single Post (single.php).

Use CTRL-F to search for php the_content. It might look something like this:
. Paste the code below that. Save and view your blog!

Troubleshooting

What if the image doesn’t appear? What if I only see a red X? What if it only shows text and not the image?

Double check and make sure the Image URL is correct. It will just show text if there is something wrong with the image or the image URL. For Photobucket, use the Direct Link as your URL.

To test: Copy and paste the Image URL into a new browser window and confirm that the image appears, and just the image — not a webpage with the image on it. If just the image appears, that is the correct Image URL.

Good luck and Happy Pinning!

Find me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/kevinandamanda/

Why Lightroom May Be The Only Photo Editor You Need

Amanda — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:00:49 +0000

I currently use both Photoshop CS5 and Adobe Lightroom 3 to edit, size and save all the photos here at Kevin & Amanda. I love Photoshop through and through, but Lightroom has some pretty awesome features that can definitely rival Photoshop’s near and dear place in my heart. Lightroom is brimming with easy-to-use tools and sliders to lighten, brighten, enhance, and correct just about any photo you can throw its way. Below are a few of my favorite features to use in Lightroom, some “before and afters” of photos edited only in Lightroom, and the step-by-step adjustments I made to get them there. With its multitude of features, straightforward user interface, and much more reasonable price tag, I’m convinced that Lightroom could easily be the only photo editor you need. Come see what I mean.

Organizing Photos

Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way first, then onto the cool tools! I use Lightroom to get all my photos off my memory card and onto the computer. I then weed through and discard the photos I don’t want, and organize and arrange the remaining photos.

Some things to note when importing photos:

Make sure Render Previews: Standard is selected.
Optional: Rename your photos to something descriptive, with a lot of key words so you can search for them later if you’re looking for a particular photo. (Example: Christmas 2011 Pensacola Beach)
Here’s how I organize my photos. I put them in the Pictures folder on my computer, and then each event goes into its own subfolder. (Example: Christmas 2011)

Now you’re ready to import. After all the photos have been imported, while under the Library tab in Lightroom, I scroll through each photo and use the 1-5 number keys to “star” my favorite photos — that is, the ones I like and want to keep. I delete the rest. (To delete, select Edit > Select by Rating > None to select the “unstarred” photos then hit the Delete key to Delete from Disk.)

Then I simply drag and drop the remaining photos to arrange them in the order I want them to appear, if they aren’t already in order.

Now that we’ve got the house cleaning out of the way, let’s edit our first photo!

Crop & Straighten

My first step is to go through and crop and straighten the photos that need it. Hands down, this is a thousand times easier to do in Lightroom than Photoshop.

Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC)

Just press the “R” key to bring up the Crop and & Straighten window. The plentiful grid lines that appear are extremely helpful. There’s usually always one close to something in the photo you can use to line it up and straighten it out.

For example, the fence in the above photo. Press “R” again to apply the crop.

Much better! Now’s when the magic really starts to happen.

Under the Develop tab in Lightroom, you’ll find a multitude of tools and sliders to enhance your photo.

Vibrance & Saturation

Let’s start with Vibrance and Saturation. These two can really make the colors of a photo come to life. Vibrance enhances blues. If there’s a sky in your photo, add some Vibrance. You won’t regret it.

Sky = Vibrance. In this photo I bumped the Vibrance up to 60. As you can see, it enhanced the blues in the photo while mostly leaving the other colors as is.

Saturation enhances yellows and reds. I use Saturation more sparingly than Vibrance. It’s easy to overdo. Here I only increased the Saturation to 10. This enhanced the colors in the dirt and field while mostly leaving the sky alone.

Now here’s the before and after. Move your mouse on and off this photo to see the changes we made.

(Note: If you’re reading this post in a feed reader or email, you’ll have to click over to Kevin & Amanda to see this feature in action)

White Balance

This is one of my favorite tools to use in Lightroom. If the color in your photo just isn’t quite right, simply click on a point in the photo that should be white to balance out the entire photo.

Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC)

This is another one I always do in Lightroom instead of Photoshop. If Photoshop has a white balance tool that’s even anywhere remotely this easy to use, I’m completely missing it.

In the Develop tab of Lightroom, under the Treatment heading, you’ll see a White Balance Dropper you can use to click on a point on your photo that should be white. At this point, the whites in your photo will probably be either too blue or too yellow. As you can see in the above photo, some points are more yellow than others. For the most accurate white balance results, select the point in the photo that is the most white.

Yay! The building is white again. But the colors have lost some of their vibrancy. It’s kinda dull.

So let’s add a little Vibrance and Saturation to this photo. Huge difference. The vivid colors just bring this photo to life. I’ll admit, I don’t always use Lightroom to add Vibrance and Saturation. I’ll sometimes rely on Photoshop actions to do that for me. But with results this gorgeous, why bother with a whole other program??

Don’t worry, Photoshop. I still love you…

Let’s see the before & after. Move your mouse on and off this photo to see the changes we made.

Fill Light

I’ve recently developed a deep appreciation for Fill Light. You know that completely dreadful lighting in the middle of the day with super bright lighting and tragically harsh shadows? No matter what settings you use, usually either the shadows are way too dark, or the lighter parts are way too bright. I love to take photos in perfect lighting, but that doesn’t always happen. Fill Light & Recovery can help.

Fill Light will lighten the areas of photos that are dark with shadows. Recovery helps bring back definition to the lighter (too bright) areas for an overall even tone. (I’ll show you an example of Recovery in the next photo. )

Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC)

Let’s start with this photo. Not great to start out with but believe it or not, this dud of a shot turned out to be one of the most dramatic photos in the entire volcano series. I obviously exposed for the sky and clouds (well, maybe a little under exposed, to be perfectly honest) causing the ground to turn out too dark.

Fortunately, by just adding a little Fill Light, we can easily even out the entire tone of the photo. If we’d just upped the Exposure, the sky would’ve ended up too bright before the ground got light enough. Have I mentioned how much I love this feature?

However, now that the photo is evened out, it could still use a little Exposure boost.

That’s better. Now the photo is certainly brighter, but it also got a little flat. There’s no pop. No pizzazz. Increasing the Exposure can do that to a photo.

Therefore, whenever I crank up the Exposure, I usually increase the Blacks as well. Blacks darkens the shadows in the photo for rich contrast and depth. Ahh. Life is restored.

And since Sky = Vibrance…

This is where the magic really happens, folks.

Isn’t this a dramatic before & after? Thanks to Fill Light I was able to salvage what normally would’ve been a tragic outtake.

Recovery

Now let’s see what Fill Light and Recovery can do when working together. You’ve seen that Fill Light lightens the areas of photos that are dark with shadows. Now let’s see how Recovery can help bring back definition to the lighter, over-exposed areas for an overall even tone.

Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC)

Yikes! Atrocious lighting here. Just ghastly. But it’s not as if I could say, “Ah, excuse me Mr. Peacock, would you mind stepping into this shade for me? That’s right, now tiiiilt.. Look at me… Got it! Thanks!”

Not really.

The first thing I did was correct the over-exposed areas in the photo by adjusting the Recovery.

Next I used Fill Light to brighten the shadows to even out the lighting in the photo.

Now all this photo needs is a little Vibrance and Saturation to go from flop to fab!

It may not be flawless lighting, but it’s a lot better than what we started out with, right?? I always look for nice, soft lighting, but unfortunately, sometimes harsh lighting can’t be helped. Thanks to Fill Light & Recovery, now I don’t stress out about it as much.

Noise Reduction

This is a new feature in Lightroom 3. It’s another tool that can fix a bad lighting situation. If you’ve got terribly dim lighting, are forced to bump up your ISO, then end up with an abundance of unpleasant grain in your photo, Noise Reduction can take care of that for you.

Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC)

Let’s start out with this photo. A not-too-remarkable beach sunset. We’ll to work our way up to the Noise Reduction in this photo.

I started out by adjusting the Fill Light and Blacks.

Next I manually adjusted the White Balance. Since there was nothing really white to click on with the White Balance Dropper, I manually dragged the Temp & Tint sliders.

It needed a lot more blue, so I decreased the Temp. It was also a little too green for my liking, so I increased the tint. Now this is all very subjective, so just drag and play until you like what you see.

This may look a little blue now, but Vibrance and Saturation, always warms the photo up a bit.

Now the photo is gorgeous with color, but if you look closely at the sky, you can see a little noise and grain has appeared. Now let’s put Lightroom’s Noise Reduction to work.

Color. First, start by moving the color slider to the right just until all the random colors in the photo disappear. If it starts effecting the overall color of the photo, move it back to the left until you find the right balance.

Luminance. Then adjust the luminance slider to smooth and soften the remaining grain, being careful not to render the full image too blurry.

Here’s the result. Much better than the photo above! This subtle feature makes a huge difference in the overall appearance of the photo.

Cloning

Now if you’ll indulge me just one final feature. See that sign off in the horizon in the sunset photo above? It’s kinda distracting. Let’s get rid of it. In Lightroom.

Simply adjust the brush to the size of your imperfection, click on it, then drag the brush to an area of the photo you want to duplicate in the original spot. That’s it.

Here’s our final before and after of the beach sunset.

Oh! One more cool feature to mention. Batch Editing. If you’ve got multiple photos that all need the same correction, you can batch edit the lot of them by clicking CTRL-C while under the Develop tab in Lightroom. Select the settings you want to copy, then highlight the photo or photos you’d like to apply those settings to. Click CTRL-V to apply. Done! Quick and easy.

Try Lightroom free for 30 days and see if you love it as much as I do.

Try Lightroom

Happy Editing!

What Lens Should I Choose?

Amanda — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:00:53 +0000

Confused by all those numbers? Not sure which lens best fits your needs? Here’s a breakdown of what all those numbers attached to an SLR lens mean. If you’re thinking of adding a new lens to your camera this year, this quick cheat sheet will help you pick the right lens for your needs.

18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

Here’s a standard lens we can use as an example. This is the kit lens that comes with the Canon Rebel T3i. If you’re not sure what you’re looking at, this might as well be written in a foreign language! First of all, here’s how you say it: 18 to 55 millimeter F 3.5 to 5.6. Now let’s break it down.

18-55mm

This is your Focal Length. Focal Length is how far your camera will zoom in and out. The lower the number, the more you can fit in the photo. In other words, this is how much you can zoom out. The higher the number, the more it zooms in. The lens above will zoom from 18-55mm. 18-55 is a great focal length for an all purpose lens. My all purpose lens that hardly ever leaves my camera is 24-70mm. To give you a point of reference for what 18-55mm means, here are some examples of a few other focal lengths.

10-22mm

This is considered a Wide Angle lens. This lens will zoom out more than the 18-55mm lens. I use this lens when I want to fit a lot in the picture, but don’t have a lot of room to “back up” and fit everything in. A wide angle lens is great for traveling. I use mine to photograph hotel rooms, scenery, and city skylines. I can fit a whole lot in the photo without having to be too far away from my subject.

Lens 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
Focal Length 10mm
Aperture f/3.5
Shutter Speed 1/15 sec

Lens 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
Focal Length 10mm
Aperture f/8
Shutter Speed 1/15 sec

Lens 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
Focal Length 10mm
Aperture f/5.6
Shutter Speed 15 seconds

However, due to distortion and lack of background blur, I would not recommend a wide angle lens for portrait or food photography.

70-200mm (and above)

This is considered a Telephoto lens. This lens zooms in more than the 18-55mm. I use this lens for outdoor action photography. Because it zooms so far in, I don’t know that I’ve ever used this lens indoors. With a 70-200mm lens, you would have to be pretty far away from your subject to fit it in the photo, which is why this lens is best for outdoors or indoor arenas with lots of room where you would want to zoom in. I use this lens for outdoor action shots of Miley and Howie.

Lens 70-200mm f/4L
Focal Length 104mm
Aperture f/4.5
Shutter Speed 1/1000 sec

A telephoto lens is great for outdoors, action, and candid portraits — any subject which you can be pretty far away from and still photograph. I do not recommend a telephoto lens for everyday indoor photography.

50mm

If a lens only has one number it’s called a Prime or Fixed lens. This means the lens does not zoom in and out at all. I could not comprehend this until I got my first fixed lens! I did not know how it could not zoom at all. But it doesn’t. Imagine a cellphone camera without a zoom. If you want to get further away from or closer to your subject, you’ll have to move with your feet.

Lens 50mm f/1.4
Focal Length 50mm
Aperture f/1.6
Shutter Speed 1/500 sec

Prime lenses are great for indoor, outdoor, portrait and food photography. Their only limitation is in their lack of zoom.

So that basically covers your focal length. If you already have a lens, look to see what the focal length is, and take note. Do you like the focal length? Do you wish you could zoom in more? Zoom out more? If you want to zoom in more, look for a lens with higher numbers than what you have. If you want to zoom out more, look for a lens with lower numbers. If you’re pretty happy with the focal length, look for a lens with similar numbers. If you don’t already have a lens and you’re not sure what focal length you need, I would consider a lens within the range of 17-100 to be a great focal length for an all purpose lens.

Now on to aperture.

f/3.5-5.6

Let’s go back to our example lens, the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6. The aperture on this lens is f/3.5-5.6. Aperture controls the background blur, or bokeh, in your photos. The lower the number, the more background blur you can achieve. You’ll notice that this lens has two numbers, 3.5-5.6. That means that when the lens is zoomed all the way out (18mm), you can set your aperture as low as 3.5. But when you are zoomed all the way in (55mm), the lowest you can set your aperture is 5.6. If you have a lens with just one number here, for example, the 24-70mm f/2.8, that means you can set your aperture as low as 2.8 no matter how much you are zoomed in or out. Keep in mind that the aperture numbers on the lens are simply the lowest the aperture can be set. On both lenses your aperture can always be set higher, no matter what your focal length is.

To make things even more confusing, the amount of background blur created by the aperture is directly proportional to the focal length. The higher your focal length (the more zoomed in your are), the more background blur you will have. For example, a photo with an aperture of f/4 and a focal length of 18mm will not have much background blur. However a photo with the same aperture of f/4 and a focal length of 200mm will have a substantial amount of background blur. Notice the two photos below have the same aperture of f/4.

Tons of background blur here.

Lens 70-200mm f/4L
Focal Length 200mm
Aperture f/4
Shutter Speed 1/640 sec

No background blur.

Lens 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
Focal Length 17mm
Aperture f/4
Shutter Speed 1/2000 sec

If you want deep, soft background blur at an all purpose focal length, I would not recommend getting a lens with anything higher than 2.8. One other important thing to note: If you want any type of background blur, I would not, under any circumstances, recommend a lens with more than one number in the aperture value. Take our example lens above, with an aperture value of 3.5-5.6. At 18mm, f/3.5 just isn’t a low enough aperture to give you background blur. Likewise, at 55mm, f/5.6 isn’t low enough to produce a soft background either. However, if you could set your aperture as low as f/2.8, you could generate plenty of background blur at a focal length of 18 or 55.

Lens 24-70mm f/2.8L
Focal Length 24mm
Aperture f/2.8
Shutter Speed 1/30 sec

Lens 50mm f/1.8
Focal Length 50mm
Aperture f/1.8
Shutter Speed 1/2500 sec

Look for a lens with a versatile focal length with only one number in the Aperture area.

Macro

One other lens to note is a macro lens. If you find yourself constantly wanting to get up close and personal with your subjects, wishing you could zoom in closer for details, or cropping your photos closely once you get them on the computer, you may want to consider a macro lens. A macro lens lets you zoom in close to your subject and focus on the details so you don’t have to crop your photos or zoom in on the computer. Cropping on the computer only degrades the quality of the photo. Macro lenses are also great for portraits, and depending on the focal length you chose, a general all purpose lens.

Lens 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Focal Length 100mm
Aperture f/2.8
Shutter Speed 1/160 sec

What I’m Using

Here’s a breakdown of the lenses in my arsenal, along with how I use each one.

24-70 f/2.8 L

You’ll notice this falls in the all purpose focal length, with a nice, low, and singular aperture number. This is my default lens. I use it for travel, portraits, and food photography. A great alternative to this lens to consider is the Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8. That’s the lens I used for years before upgrading to the Canon 24-70 lens. The photo below was taken in 2006 with a Canon XTi with the Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8 and is SOOC — no editing. At just over $400, this lens is a great deal.

Lens Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8
Focal Length 50mm
Aperture f/2.8

10-22 f/3.5-4.5

This is a wide angle focal length, and since background blur is pretty much nonexistent at such a wide angle, I don’t care about the aperture number here. I use this lens for travel, scenery, city skylines, and hotel rooms.

50mm f/1.4

This is a fixed lens with a very low aperture. This lens produces excellent bokeh! I use this when I want a ton of bokeh, or in low light when I need to use a lower aperture in order to steadily hand hold the camera. I talk about this more in depth in my Quick Guide to Understanding Your DSLR post. Another lens to consider is the 50mm f/1.8. Super cheap and super fun. You’ll get great bokeh with either of these lenses. They’re perfect for portraits, food photography, and because of the middle-of-the-road focal length, even travel.

100mm f/2.8 Macro

This is another fixed lens with a great low aperture. It’s a macro lens, and the background blur is excellent. This lens is fun for portraits and food photography. I use it when I want to zoom in super close on the details or get tons of background blur.

70-200 f/4 L

This is my telephoto lens, and I mostly use it outdoors to get action photos of Miley and Howie. The aperture is not super low, but since the focal length is higher, I’m still able to get great background blur.

Final Notes

The full name of our lens above is actually EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. The focal length and aperture numbers described above are the most important factors when choosing a lens, but just in case, here’s what those other numbers and letters mean.

EF or EF-S. This refers to the lens mount. EF is the standard lens mount on Canon EOS DSLR cameras. This is indicated by a red dot on the lens that corresponds to the red dot on the camera where you attach the lens. If your camera also as a white square, you can also accept lenses with an EF-S lens mount.

L. This indicates the lens is a top-of-the-line lens from Canon, also known as a “Luxury” lens.

IS. IS stands for Image Stabilization. Many of the available lenses will come both with and without an IS option. I always opt for the cheaper, non-IS version because I have a pretty steady hand. However, if you have a shaky hand, this might be an option to consider.

With this information you are now armed with the knowledge to confidently purchase a new lens for your camera! If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer as best I can. Just leave me a comment below. Happy shopping!

What Settings Should I Use? Part 2

Amanda — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 07:00:04 +0000

Earlier this year I added a new feature to my blog — you can click on any photo to see the camera, settings, and lens I used to shoot that photo. I love being able to easily share this info with you guys. In February, shortly after I added this feature, I wrote a post explaining not only what settings I use when taking photos, but why I choose them. I also let you guys in on two very important disclaimers.

1. I don’t always use the right settings.

I make mistakes. I forget to change settings from photo to photo. I quickly point and shoot. Or sometimes I just get lucky. My settings are by no means always perfect, and sometimes I cringe at the thought that someone might attempt to take a similar photo using those settings!

2. Your mileage may vary.

Even if my settings were perfect and you were to go back to the exact same spot, at the exact same time, in the exact same light, and use the exact same settings… the photo might not turn out exactly the same. Maybe not even close.

BUT, by knowing why I chose those settings, you can look at a photo and get similar results in your own photography. Below are nine photos I’ve taken this year along with the reasons why I chose the settings I did, and some tips and tricks for replicating these tricky situation shots — such as low light, nighttime, action, and using the flash.

Action

Camera Canon EOS 7D
Aperture f/2.8
Shutter Speed 1/500 sec
ISO 200
Lens 24-70mm f/2.8L

For this photo, I…

Put my camera in TV (shutter priority) mode
Set my shutter speed to 1/500
Changed my focus mode to AI-SERVO
Made sure my shooting mode was set to High Speed Continuous
Set my focus point to right in the middle.

This is how I like to take outdoor action photos. The 1/500 sec shutter speed is just right for stopping and capturing action. Any lower and the action tends to get blurry. AI-SERVO mode is especially helpful if the subject is moving towards you and you are quickly snapping several photos in succession (AKA high speed continuous mode). In AI-SERVO the camera quickly refocuses on the subject as it moves before taking each picture. In other modes, the camera focuses once, but if you’re using high-speed continuous mode, (you know, where you press the shutter button down and it takes several photos in a row without you lifting your finger) it doesn’t refocus until you stop taking pictures and start again. And finally, I set my focus point to right in the middle. With action photos, it’s always hard to know where the action is going to go, but I figure keeping the subject right in the middle is always a safe bet.

Action in the Kitchen

Camera Canon EOS 7D
Aperture f/2.8
Shutter Speed 1/500 sec
ISO 800
Lens 24-70mm f/2.8L

I love capturing action photos in the kitchen. Pouring batter, sprinkling sugar, or drizzling hot fudge is a lot of fun. I like the stop-action look that a fast shutter speed gives photos, especially in the kitchen. For these types of photos, I put my subject as close to a window as I can — somewhere with lots of light — put my camera in TV mode, set my shutter speed to 1/500, and make sure my camera is in high speed continuous mode again. Since these photos are taken indoors, I usually need a higher ISO to make sure the photo is bright enough. Be sure to set up your photo and take a few test shots before actually pouring!

Nighttime Skyline

Camera Canon EOS 7D
Aperture f/5
Shutter Speed 10 seconds
ISO 100
Lens 24-70mm f/2.8L

I love nighttime skylines. For this photo, I…

Put my camera in TV mode
Set my shutter speed to 10 seconds (that means I pushed the button, and 10 seconds later it’s done taking the photo!)
Set my ISO to 100
Used the 2-second self timer

You definitely need a very steady surface or a tripod for a photo like this. I didn’t have my tripod with me for this photo, but I was able to set my camera on a wide ledge of the building. I also used the 2-second self timer. That way I was able to press the button, then get my hand away from the camera before it actually started taking the photo, so the camera could steady itself while my hand was getting out of the way. My hand is not touching the camera at all as it’s taking the photo. I’m not using any type of starburst filter here. I think the starburst effect on the lights happens naturally with slow shutter nighttime photos, as it happened in all the NYC skyline photos from this set, and also appeared in my San Diego Skyline photo.

Nighttime Skyline with Water

Camera Canon EOS 7D
Aperture f/10
Shutter Speed 15 seconds
ISO 100
Lens 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5

For nighttime skylines with water, I do everything exactly as the photo above for nighttime skylines, but I set my shutter speed a little slower to 15 seconds. I love the smooth, glassy effect a super slow shutter speed gives the water.

Low Light

Camera Canon EOS 7D
Aperture f/2.8
Shutter Speed 1/6 sec
ISO 3200
Lens 24-70mm f/2.8L

This photo almost looks as if I’m sitting right by a big window with tons of natural light. You’d never know it was taken in a very dark, dimly lit restaurant. For this photo I put my camera in AV mode (aperture priority) and set my aperture as low as it would go. But even with a high ISO, and a 1/6 sec shutter speed, which is really slow to hand-hold by the way, (I had to steady my elbows on the table) it was too dark to take the photo. I had my friend, who’s sitting just to my right, use the flashlight app on her phone to give me a little extra light to work with. If the top of the bowl is 12 o’clock, and the table is 6 o’clock, she’s probably holding the phone at 2 o’clock.

Low Light

Camera Canon EOS 7D
Aperture f/1.4
Shutter Speed 1/80 sec
ISO 3200
Lens 50mm f/1.4

Here’s another photo taken with a flashlight app for extra lighting. I love this trick for dark restaurants. If you don’t have a flashlight app, just use the screen of your phone. Every little bit of extra lighting helps!

Indoor Flash

Camera Canon EOS 7D
Aperture f/2.8
Shutter Speed 1/200 sec
ISO 160
Lens 24-70mm f/2.8L

For this photo I…

Put my camera in AV mode
Set my aperture to 2.8
Used the pop-up flash on my camera

This photo was taken inside, right up against a big window with a snowy scene of NYC outside. I really wanted to capture both the cupcakes and the snowy NYC street in my photo, but I had a dilemma. If I exposed for the cupcakes, the street was blown out. If I exposed for the street, the cupcakes were too dark. Since I didn’t have my external flash with me, I just used the pop-up flash on my camera and snapped this photo. I got down low so the flash was absorbed by the cupcakes and not reflected off the window. The 2.8 aperture gives the snowy street scene a soft, blurred background effect.

Outdoor Flash

Camera Canon EOS 7D
Aperture f/8
Shutter Speed 1/250 sec
ISO 100
Lens 24-70mm f/2.8L

Here’s another photo taken with the pop-up flash on the camera, for the same reasons as the photo above. I wanted to get both my friend and the sunset equally exposed. I put my camera in AV mode, set my aperture to 8, popped up the flash, and snapped the photo.

Indoor Flash

Camera Canon EOS 7D
Aperture f/8
Shutter Speed 1/200 sec
ISO 160
Lens 24-70mm f/2.8L

For this photo, I…

Put my camera in AV mode
Set my aperture to 8
Exposed for the window
Used an external flash

I really love taking photos indoors where you can see the view out the window, like the photo above. But again, usually you can either expose for the inside or expose for the outside. Using a flash lets you get both. I had my external flash for this photo, and I pointed it straight up at the ceiling. You can see it in the reflection of the window! I also exposed for the window here — I pointed the camera at the window and pressed the shutter button halfway down to focus, then pressed the exposure lock button on my camera (it looks like an asterisk on my Canon). I then re-framed the photo focusing on my feet and snapped the photo. Using the exposure lock button allowed me to expose correctly for the window, while focusing on my feet and letting the light from the flash expose them. The exposure lock button is a neat tool to correctly expose for one element in the photo while focusing on another.

If you see a photo on Kevin & Amanda you’d like to know more about, let me know! I’ll save it for a “What Settings Should I Use?” Part 3 post. :)

Finding the Right Light

Amanda — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:00:58 +0000

Last fall, at the BlogHer Food conference in San Francisco, I was able to take a photography class from extremely lovely and talented White on Rice Couple, Todd and Diane. If you ever get the opportunity to take a class from this incredibly precious couple, go! You’ll love every minute. One of the most important things I learned in the class was this:

“You’re not shooting the subject, you’re shooting the way the light falls on the subject.”

Loved this. With that in mind, they taught us what I’ve nick-named in my head “Photography Around the Clock.” Basically, it’s taking note of where your light source is coming from, and either moving the subject or moving yourself (or both!), trying out different lights, until you find the best one for your subject.

Here’s my usual setup – the kitchen table. This is where I take most of my kitchen and food related photos. I also have windows just like this in the living room, in case I need to take photos that are, uh, not in the kitchen.

So! Here are a few examples of “Photography Around the Clock.”

12 o’clock Light

This is 12 o’clock light, when the light is directly behind the subject. Also called “backlighting.” I would’ve never thought it before, but this is one of my favorite lights to shoot!

For example, here’s a photo taken in 12 o’clock light. These biscuit beignets were so photogenic, I just couldn’t stop snapping photos of them. Love the way the light is cascading over the beignets here.

3 o’clock Light

Here the light is coming from the right of the subject.

And here’s the same photo taken in 3 o’clock light.

9 o’clock Light

Same thing with 9 o’clock light, only the light is coming from the left of the subject.

And here’s the photo again taken in 9 o’clock light. I kept rotating myself around the table, changing the direction of the light with each move to take these photos.

6 o’clock Light

The light is pointing directly at the subject here. If the subject was looking at the sun, or if the camera flash went off, that would be an example of 6 o’clock light.

Here’s a photo taken in 6 o’clock light.

Which one’s your favorite?

For me is a toss up between the first three, but my least favorite is 6 o’clock light. There’s no depth or shadow play, just like when using a flash.

Some of my other favorite lights to shoot in are 10 o’clock, 2 o’clock, and 4 o’clock. I would’ve taken more examples, but… I ate my subject.

Think of the clock next time you’re taking photos, and give some of these unconventional lights a try!

What Settings Should I Use?

Amanda — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 08:00:14 +0000

I recently added a feature to this blog where you can click on a photo and see the settings I used to shoot that photo. I’m thrilled to be able to easily share this information, but I also wanted to let you guys in on two very important secrets.

1. I don’t always use the right settings.

I make mistakes. Often! Or I get lucky. Sometimes I forget to change settings from photo to photo. Sometimes I quickly point and shoot. Either way, my settings are by no means perfect, and sometimes I cringe at the thought that someone might attempt to take a similar photo using those settings. Ack!

2. Your mileage may vary.

Even if my settings were perfect and you were to go back to the exact same spot, at the exact same time, in the exact same light, and use the exact same settings… the photo would most likely not turn out exactly the same. Maybe not even close.

With that in mind, I wanted to share with you guys how you can look at a photo and replicate it. Not by knowing which exact settings were used, but which setting was the most important for that photo. Once you’ve got that one setting in place, you simply adjust the other settings to make sure the photo looks good. It doesn’t really matter what the exact numbers are. Just that they made the photo bright enough. Or sharp enough.

So how can you look at a photo and know which setting was the most important, without knowing any of the settings? In most photos you take, either the aperture or the shutter speed will be the most important setting. That’s why most cameras have Aperture Priority and Shutter Speed Priority shooting modes. But here’s the thing. It all depends what you, the viewer and the photographer, want to get out of the photo. Is it a portrait? Do you want a beautifully blurred background? Is it a scenery shot? Do you want everything sharp and in focus? Is it an action shot? Do you need to be able to “freeze” action in the photo?

I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite types of photos to shoot, the ones you’re most likely to see around here. Below I’ll show you which setting was the most important for each one and walk you through my thought process for taking the photo. (Careful! My mind’s a scary place.) So that next time, even though you might not use the exact same settings, you’ll still be able to take a photo and get exactly what you want out of it.

Canon 85mm 1.8
f/1.8
1/40 sec
1600 ISO

Aperture.

What did I want out of this photo? Bokeh. I wanted the lights on the Christmas tree blurred in the background. So for this photo, the most important setting was aperture. I put the camera in Manual and set the aperture as low as it would go, 1.8. To replicate this photo, start by setting your aperture as low as it will go, then bump down the shutter speed – this will allow your camera to let in more light – until the photo is bright enough for your liking.

Tip: Make sure your shutter speed doesn’t get too much below 50 (it’s 40 here). If it does, your photo might suffer from blurriness caused by camera shake. If you’ve bumped it down to 50 and your photo isn’t bright enough, tried bumping up your ISO to allow in more light.

For a quick review of aperture, shutter speed, exposure, and ISO, check out part one of this tutorial: A Quick Guide to Understanding Your DSLR Camera.

Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
f/4
1/125 sec
ISO 2000

Aperture.

What did I want out of this photo? Bokeh, again. But this time, bumping the aperture all the way down to 2.8 (as low as this lens will go) was too much bokeh. Try bumping up your aperture to 3.2, 4.0 or even 5.6 to see how it changes the look of your photo. Here’s a good example of the difference it can make: A Quick Comparison of Aperture & Bokeh.

For this photo, I had plenty of light, so I just put my camera in Aperture Priority mode and shot. I didn’t need to manually fiddle with the shutter speed and and ISO to allow in more light. I did, however, bump my exposure control up to +2/3 to make it nice and bright. Again, check the DSLR Quick Guide for a review on that.

Tip: If your camera has Auto ISO mode, use it!

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
f/8
1/32 sec (I used a tripod)
ISO 125

Aperture.

Again, aperture is the most important setting in this photo. What I wanted out of this photo was for everything to be in focus. If you want everything in focus for a scenery shot, try setting your aperture between 8 and 11. This will cause your camera to allow in less light, making your photo darker, so you may need to lower your shutter speed to compensate. In this case, I had to lower it to 32 and use a tripod so my hands wouldn’t shake and cause the photo to be blurry.

Tip: A low ISO is always preferred for scenery photos, as a higher ISO can cause them to be grainy. In this case, I could’ve bumped up my ISO which would have allowed me to set my shutter speed fast enough to to hand hold the camera, but I preferred to keep my ISO low at 125 and use a tripod.

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
f/8
1/1600 sec
ISO 100

Aperture.

Believe it or not, for this photo, aperture was the most important setting. I wanted to make sure to get the beach and the horizon in focus. I put my camera in Aperture Priority and set my aperture to 8. From there, you can play with the exposure control to adjust the lighting. At 0, you’ll get a darker sunset, like the photo above. If you bump it up a few stops, you’ll get a brighter sunset, like this:

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
f/8
1/125 sec
ISO 100

As you can see, all it did was lower my shutter speed to allow in more light.

Which one do you prefer?

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
f/22
6.0 sec
ISO 3200

Aperture.

One more aperture photo here. For this nighttime photo that has a ton of detail, I set my aperture as high as it will go, 22. I wanted to make sure I could get every last detail in focus. Because it was so dark, and my aperture was so high (allowing in the least amount of light as possible) I had to set my shutter speed extremely low, 6 seconds. That means you press the button, and six seconds later it’s done taking the photo. I definitely used a tripod for this shot. I also used the self-timer, so my hand wouldn’t shake the camera as I was pushing the button.

Remember what I said about not always having perfect settings? Can you see which setting I messed up on here? ISO. I should’ve lowered my ISO. My photo turned out a little grainy because I left it all the way up at 3200. However, if I’d remembered to lower it I would’ve had to set my shutter speed even slower. Who knows how long it wouldn’t taken to take the photo!

Fortunately, noise is pretty easily cleaned up in Photoshop using a plugin like DeNoise.

Canon 70-200mm f/4L
f/5
1/500 sec
ISO 100

Shutter Speed.

When you want to stop action in mid-air, shutter speed is your most important setting. For crisp action shots, I like to set my shutter speed no lower than 500. Any lower than that and you’re going to get blurriness. For this photo, I put my camera in Shutter Priority, set my shutter speed to 1/500, and since it was cloudy, I bumped my exposure control up to +1. This is my favorite setup for action shots. If it were sunny and the photos were turning out too bright, I would’ve put the exposure control back down at 0.

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
f/22
1/4 sec
ISO 100

Shutter Speed.

This is my go-to setup for dreamy waterfall photos. The shutter speed is the most important setting here. It needs to be at least 1/4 sec or slower to blur the flow of the water. I usually shoot waterfalls in manual mode, and here’s why. Setting the shutter speed that slow allows in a lot of light. And since I’m usually taking photos of waterfalls during the day, when there’s sun, I have to bump up the aperture as high as it will go to compensate. My aperture is not up that high because I want everything in focus, although it is a nice bonus. It’s up that high because if it were any lower, like 2.8 or even 8 or 11, the photo would be completely white and blown out from too much light. My ISO is at 100 because while I do always prefer a low ISO for scenery, if it were any higher, again, it would allow in too much light and cause the photo to be too bright.

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
f/2.8
1/100 sec
ISO 200

Exposure.

Sometimes it’s not what your settings are, but simply where you point the camera. For silhouette photos, point your camera at the brightest part of the sky. Press the shutter button halfway down to “get a light reading”. This will tell your camera that you’re taking a picture of the bright sky, and to adjust the settings accordingly. With the shutter button still pressed halfway down, reframe the photo so that the subject you want to silhouette is in the viewfinder and take the picture. If you can still see too much detail in your subject, bump down your exposure control to get a darker image and try again.

Check out my settings here. Ideally, I would’ve used a higher aperture, in the 8-11 range, to ensure that both the palm tree and the horizon were in focus. I forgot. However, doing that would’ve allowed in less light. I would’ve had to bump up my ISO to compensate, and that might have caused graininess in the photo. Something to think about.

Fortunately, everything’s in focus here. Tip: If your subject is out of focus, check your aperture and consider using a higher one. Bokeh, when you didn’t mean for it to be there, is just plain blurriness.

A Quick Comparison of Aperture & Bokeh

Amanda — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:00:24 +0000

Here’s a super quick experimentation with aperture & bokeh.

When Jenny and I were taking pictures of cupcakes at Disney, we grabbed a table by the giant Christmas tree and positioned the cupcakes so the beautiful tree lights & decorations were the background for our photos.

Below is a quick comparison of the different apertures we used and the different types of bokeh it produced.

Photo via Jenny

First, here’s the Christmas tree we used as our background.

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens
f/2.8
1/160 sec
ISO 100

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens
f/4.5
1/125 sec
ISO 200

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens
f/5.6
1/125 sec
ISO 200

Which one do you prefer? I normally prefer shooting at 2.8 or below, but I really like how the tree turned out in the third picture, at 5.6.

Give this a try with your Christmas tree! :) Experiment with your aperture and see how the bokeh changes. Here are a couple of photography tutorials to get you started.

A Quick Guide to Understanding Your DSLR Camera
Get Beautiful Background Bokeh with your Christmas Tree

9 Quick Steps To A Better Blog Experience

Amanda — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:00:10 +0000

If you’ve ever wondered how to increase traffic, gain followers, and keep readers on your blog, here are nine easy steps you can take right now to make your blog a better experience for your readers.

1. Turn off “Word Verification” for comments

Word verification discourages comments. If you want comments and engaged readers, make it easy for them to communicate and share their thoughts with you – you’ll be surprised what you learn! :) If you’re worried about trolls or spam, just turn on comment moderation. No comment will be posted without your approval.

From your Blogger Dashboard, go to Settings > Comments. Scroll down and find Show word verification for comments? Check No, then click Save Settings.

2. Use Linkwithin

This gets me every time! You’ve probably seen it before, but the LinkWithin widget shows similar posts from your blog underneath each post, with a thumbnail image. It gets me every time. I keep seeing interesting titles with enticing thumbnail images. And I click. And click. And keep clicking.

LinkWithin Widget.

3. Optimize your RSS feed.

If I had to guess, I would say that 99% of the blog reading I do is from Google Reader. But Google Reader doesn’t give me the option to leave a comment down at the bottom of the post, when I’m done reading, and would naturally want to comment on the post. In order to leave a comment, I have to scroll at the way back up to the top of the post to click on the blog so I can leave a comment.

But you can make it super easy for your readers to comment by adding a link down at the bottom of your RSS feed that will encourage them to leave a comment or even share on Facebook or Twitter. I love this. I’m definitely more likely to comment if a blogger makes it easy for me! :)

Create a Feedburner account. Click on your feed, and go to Optimize > FeedFlare. Check Email This, Comments Count, Share on Facebook, and Stumble It! and Activate the service. You want at least those four, but not so many that your readers are overwhelmed and don’t know what to click.

Next you’ll need to redirect your Blogger feed to your new Feedburner feed. From your Blogger Dashboard, go to Settings > Site Feed. Look for the Post Feed Redirect URL box and type in your complete FeedBurner feed address. To find your feed address, go to your Feedburner account, and click on the little gray RSS button to the left of your blog’s name. The address that appears in the address bar at the top of the screen is your feed address. Save your new Blogger settings and you’re good to go!

WordPress users, check out the Ozh’ Better Feed plugin.

4. Allow Full Blog Feed

This is a highly debated topic. Should you allow readers to read your blog in an RSS reader? It might discourage them from coming to your site, right? But not allowing them to read your feed through their preferred method (an RSS reader) might discourage them from reading it altogether. For example, I prefer to do all my blog reading and browsing from one convenient location, Google Reader. All my favorite sites are bookmarked in one place, and I can easily see the newest posts as soon as they are posted. I check it several times a day, just like email. But if a blog doesn’t let me subscribe to its full feed, I don’t subscribe at all. And I hardly ever check it. The other blogs, I check several times a day. I’m definitely more likely to visit, engage, and comment on the blogs I check several times a day! :)

From your Blogger Dashboard, go to Settings > Site Feed. Confirm that Allow Blog Feeds is set to Full and save.

5. Music

If the previous topic was highly debated, this one is just downright controversial! Keep in mind that taste in music is extremely personal and subjective, and think twice about having music playing in the background of your blog. At least think twice about having the music automatically start as soon as the page is opened. Some readers may already be listening to music in the background, and your site will be competing with whatever they’re listening to. It may deter some readers.

Alternatively, consider blogging a list of your favorite songs – songs that are inspiring you right then. Energetic songs for exercise. Upbeat songs for roadtrips. I would LOVE to read a post like that! :)

6. Take Advantage of your Sidebar

Your sidebar space is prime real estate. Use it to draw readers in and keep them engaged. Add links with photos to your favorite & most interesting posts to keep readers clicking. Our Best Bites is a really good example of this. They change the links seasonally and every time I visit there’s something new from their archives that I haven’t seen yet and want to click. I get drawn in every time!

7. Make Searching Easy

Help your readers find what they’re looking for, quickly and easily. They may remember a specific post of yours, but didn’t bookmark it. When they come back to your site, make it easy for them to find it. The best way to do this with a Blogger blog is to keep the navbar up at the top – don’t remove it! Your readers have no other way to search your blog without it. If you’re worried that it clashes with the design of your blog, you can change the color for a more professional look.

From your Blogger Dashboard, go to Design. Under Add and Arrange Page Elements, find the light blue navbar and click Edit to choose a new color.

8. Use Labels

Another way to keep readers clicking is to use Labels (aka tags and categories for WordPress users). If you write about a specific subject frequently, label it with a descriptive word or short phrase. Then if your readers want to see more posts on that topic, all they have to do is click the label at the bottom of the post, and all the posts you’ve written on that topic will come up. For example, a few of my labels are Scarves, My Favorite Things, and Kayaking.

9. Use Descriptive Hyperlinks

There are two ways to include links in your posts.

1. Click here for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes recipe.

2. Here is the Brownie Batter Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes recipe.

The benefits of the latter are twofold.

1. It stands out more. It’s easier to see. The eye is drawn to it. You know you’ll be taken to a post about Brownie Batter Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes.

2. Search Engine Optimization. If you link to another site and use a descriptive hyperlink, they will love you forever. The next time someone searches for something similar to the descriptive link you used, the more likely the page you linked to will be at the top of the search results. Love it!

______________________________

So these are a few quick steps you can take right now to keep your readers happy, engaged, and clicking. I love to see these implemented on blogs I visit! What do you love to see on a blog? What makes you close the screen? Share you tips in the comments, and we can all improve. :)

Make a Ruffled Camera Strap Slipcover

Amanda — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:00:30 +0000

I am in love with anything ruffly and flirty – I’m totally digging the ruffled camera strap trend. And I’m really loving all the purpley grays, berry pinks, and olive greens I’ve been seeing everywhere for fall. Gorgeous. I love the idea of a camera strap slipcover that can easily be changed out with new seasons and colors. And although my sewing machine usually runs and hides when it sees me glance in its general direction, this cute slipcover was pretty easy to tackle.

Wanna make one? It wasn’t too bad… promise! Come on, I’ll show you. :)

Stuff you’ll need

sewing machine & coordinating thread
iron & ironing board
camera strap
1/2 yard camera strap fabric
1/2 yard ruffle fabric
1/2 yard second ruffle fabric (optional)

Fabric I used

Cut 2 strips of fabric for your camera strap. You’ll want to add 1″ to the length and width of the camera strap you’ll be covering.

For the length, I gave myself a little extra room for the slipcover to hang over – I measured from the middle of the X’s on the leather ends of each strap.

For the width, measure at the widest part of the strap on the leather ends.

My measurements were 24″ x 1.75″, so I cut 2 strips of 25″ x 2.75″.

Turn the short sides of the strap fabric in 1/4″ and press. When pressing the second strip, make sure the ends line up so both strips are the same length.

Hem the short sides you just pressed, back-stitching at the beginning and end.

(That’s the button that looks like a U-turn.)

Line up the two strips and pin – right sides together.

Since the width of my camera strap is 1.75″, I want my slipcover to be 2 inches wide. Use a ruler and make a pencil mark so you know where to hem so you’ll have 2″ in the middle.

This centering ruler came in handy. If you can get a picture of it upside down, even better.

Hem just one long side of the strap, back-stitching at the beginning and end.

Embrace the dust!

See? Just one side. Remove pins and set aside.

Now if you did want to go ahead and stitch the other side…

You’d have a very basic slipcover. Easy! You could find some super fun fabric and change this out all the time.

But today we want to add ruffles.

Cut a strip of fabric for the ruffle. You’ll want it to be the same width and double the length of your camera strap.

I cut mine 2″ x 42″.

(My fabric wasn’t quite long enough to double the length exactly, but it was just fine.)

Fold in the long sides of the fabric in 1/4″ and press. Now this can be kind of tricky, so I used a piece of cardstock to help keep a straight edge.

Hem the long sides of the ruffle fabric. I used a zig-zag stitch to add a little fun texture.

But you could use a straight stitch too. If you’re going with the zig-zag stitch, hem the fabric right side up – I think it looks better. :)

Sew a basting stitch (that’s the longest stitch your machine will do) down the middle of the ruffle fabric, leaving a long string at the end.

Now grab that camera strap fabric, open it up, and pin the end of the ruffle fabric to the end of the camera strap (on whichever side you want to be the front).

Starting at the other end, find the long strings you left. Grab the bottom string (from the bobbin thread) and gently pull the fabric to gather & ruffle.

Arrange ruffle evenly onto strap, leaving about 1″ on both ends un-ruffled.

Pin and sew into place using a straight stitch right down the middle, back-stitching at beginning and end.

Remove the pins and the basting stitch. Pull the bottom thread out first, like you’re gathering again, then the top thread. Don’t worry, it should come out pretty easily! :)

Now it was looking pretty fabulous with just one ruffle, but I just couldn’t resist… I had to add a second ruffle! :)

To add a second ruffle, cut another strip of ruffle fabric, the same length, but not quite as wide as the previous ruffle.

I cut my second ruffle strip 1.75″ x 42″.

Repeat the previous steps to add the second ruffle. When you are done, you’ll want to sew a straight stitch across the short sides of the slip cover, sewing the ruffles in place at the bottom.

Now fold the slipcover over, right sides together. Find the pencil mark you made, and sew a straight stitch down the long side of the fabric to close the slipcover, back-stitching at the beginning and end.

Turn the slipcover right-side out and slip onto your strap!

You now have a custom, gorgeous, ruffly, feminine camera strap! And it’s a slipcover, so you can change it out as much as you like. :)

Have a great weekend! :)