Don’t you love looking at professional portraits? I do. I grew up with a dad who’s a professional photographer so I thought that’s what I would do in my career. He shot that down quicker than I could blink! Shocked me but I learned to love it as a hobby, hence the lens rental.
I rented from www.borrowlenses.com and you can see the lens here. I shoot with a Canon EOS and love it. Although…. my dad and neighbor use a Nikon and I really like those too. So I use my Canon and I rent when I want to try something new and improve my skills.
I lined up friends who were willing to stand in freezing winter temperatures so I could practice (imagine 20 degrees and light clothes…. brrrrr). Those are good friends! I had so much fun and I learned a lot. I learned that it’s not as easy as my dad and professional photographer friends make it look. I learned that it takes a lot of time; not just taking pictures but making color corrections and such. I learned that I have a lot to learn about Photoshop too!
Most importantly, when I used the rented lens I had fun, and the time with friends was priceless. Here are a couple of shots:
This family is so sweet and funny that I couldn’t have asked for a better group to practice on. I shot A LOT OF PICTURES! I’m talking hundreds of pictures over 2 separate shoots!
I loved shooting the girl, Sydney, as she was very photogenic. Her picture, on the right, is my favorite out of all of the pictures.
When I shared the photos with my dad he said I did a GREAT job (yes, he capitalized!). Phew! I didn’t know what he would say but it doesn’t get much better than that!
So when I loaded the photos into Photoshop, I cropped and adjusted color and light. I also fixed a few things that didn’t look quite right. For example, see how Sydney’s hair is messing in the first photo? In the second photo, I fixed it using Photoshop. So satisfying!
I could go on and on about how much I love shooting photos and how much I enjoyed the sessions. I wanted to point out that it was so much more than that.
As creative people, we tend to get stuck at times. We do the same thing over and over again and sometimes we lose our motivation and stop doing what we love. I love to craft but that’s only a small portion of my creativity. I’m more motivated now than I was before I rented the lens. I’m more excited to get back to my crafts, but I will rent another lens in the Spring when it’s a bit warmer!
Crafty Creations By Genelle 