Fashion Beauty Friend Friday - 01.28.11

FBFF Questions for 01.28.11 - We're talking blogger mechanics this week, courtesy of ModlyChic. 

1. What technology do you use in blogging? (computer, camera, video camera, tripod, etc...)
Ours is a solidly Macintosh household! Always has been, always will be. I use a MacBook for blogging because that's where I have PhotoShop loaded (due to an OS upgrade, I lost PhotoShop on my desktop Mac *sadness*).

My camera is a Canon G9, which can be either an extremely fancy point-&-shoot or you can totally customize the settings & it's almost an DSLR. I bought it when it first came out & have taken a ton of fantastic landscape & architecture photos with it, but I still haven't gotten the hang of portraits :-/ 

2. What computer and online technology do you use? (blogging system, photo storage, photo editing tools, etc..)
I use Blogger -- it was easy to set up & I really like the "following" with the sense of community that creates. The templates were also simple to customize.

I edit photos in PhotoShop & store them on my personal website via Yahoo! Web Hosting (less than $10 a month for massive storage & services!).

I tend to write up my blog post during the day during breaks at work. Then, when I get home from work, I offload the photos from the camera, edit them, upload the photos, & assemble the whole blog post & publish.

3. What is your process for taking pictures?
Hope for the best? I'm usually dressed by 7:30am, & I go outside to find a spot around my house. I set up the tripod (which is a pretty wimpy one & sometimes takes very tilted photos that I have to fix later) with the camera. I set the timer, run in front, preen a little bit if there's time, & there ya go.

If I get outside on time (which is *not* every day), I take 6 to 8 photos, including some closeups as the outfit warrants, which yields 2 to 3 that I can bear putting out in public.

4. When it comes to backdrops for your photos what do you consider? Do you scout locations or shoot the same spot daily?
Due to time constraint, I'm stuck with what's right around my house. I used the porch for a while (especially because it was rainy when I started in fall), & that sucked for the lighting.

The driveway has ever-so-slightly better lighting & a diversity of three -- count 'em, three! -- thrilling backgrounds (LOL). Inside my house is a dark batcave with dark walls & heavy curtains, so I'm unlikely to get decent photos in there.

5. If you could splurge and get one new piece of equipment what would you be buying?
An assistant to take photos of me! Hahahaha. I should look around & see if there's a remote control for my camera. Some bloggers have mentioned using those & it helps with timing & focus.

And maybe I could beg my husband to let me borrow one of his better tripods (he's a professional videographer). This cheap one I bought ages ago for travel irritates me, especially since I use it so often now.