My Blog Photography Journey: Beginner Camera Equipment for Bloggers

Photography is about 60% of the job of fashion, lifestyle, and beauty blogging. For me, the images are the most important aspect of a blog. I follow the bloggers I do, and stalk Instagram so much because I am a visual thinker, and so images really speak to me.  If you are new to blogging, I would advise spending time figuring out what you enjoy aesthetically, and how to execute that. I feel like once you have your aesthetic sense down and are able to communicate that through your images, it becomes a lot easier to communicate your personality, point of view, and the aim of your blogging to your audience. I have been in the blog business for about four years now, and so I have seen the blogging industry go through some major overhauls. When I first started this blog on Tumblr, it was perfectly acceptable to take pictures with your webcam, or with your phone(yes, even on android). Now, however, the bar for image quality is so much higher than that, and I think it’s easy for bloggers starting out to feel like they need to spend 3000 dollars on their first camera or they don’t stand a chance. Fortunately, the situation is not that dramatic. I will walk you guys through the blogging camera equipment I have used in the past, what I use now, and what I recommend for people just starting out.

My first camera was my laptop webcam. I would set up my huge Dell on books or whatever was available, take random photos of myself and my outfits and post them on Tumblr. It worked just fine for my needs at the time, because I wasn’t really open about blogging, but I soon outgrew it. I managed to get a job and saved my paycheck to get a Samsung tab so I could use that to take pictures. Then, my tab got stolen (lmao) and I eventually bought an iPhone- I think I had a 5s. I used that phone camera for about a year or so, and then moved onto an actual DSLR.

I didn’t/couldn’t buy one, but I was fortunate to be able to borrow one from my school’s media library. The camera I was using then was the Canon Rebel T3i with the kit lens, and I thought it was the best image quality I had ever seen. I would edit my pictures with Lightroom Mobile and make them way too yellow and saturated but let’s not dwell on that. At this time, my photographers were also just my friends who were down for the adventure, or were just sweethearts and wanted to help me out.

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I kept borrowing the T3i until I saved enough money to buy the same model myself. I had that camera for about a year and a half. The T3i is discontinued now, but I’ll have its replacement linked below. I think it is a great entry level camera. It’s very easy to understand and use- I like Canon cameras for that reason, they’re pretty intuitive. After a while, I sold that camera and got a new one- this time the Sony A5000. I’d wanted a camera that was easier to carry around, and so easier to shoot street style with. The price point was also not too far off from the T3i, and the image quality was also quite solid.

*I should mention that in this time I was also making Youtube videos so it was important to me that the camera was good for videos as well.

I got tired of the Sony A5000, and had been saving up for some time, so I got the camera I have now- my Canon 80D. I got this camera mainly because of its autofocus in video capability- which I wanted because I also make Youtube videos.

It’s a great camera for my needs- although I wish it were less bulky. It has all the basic perks you want from a DSLR without the quite as hefty price tag. The other thing about cameras, is that what you need the body to be able to do is have good autofocus, have a high megapixel quality; but the lenses are the real tea. They allow you to adjust focal lengths and get depth of field/the nice blurry background. The ones I have now are the Sigma 30mm ART 1.4, and the Canon 50mm 1.8 I am also pretty lucky to be able to shoot with professional photographers who want to work together, and so I get some of my pictures taken that way. I have also been able to learn a lot of photography from them. That said, the imagery I put out is very important to me so I always like to have a say in what the images look like, how they’re shot etc which can be difficult when you’re working with pro photographers who also come to a shoot with their aesthetic sense and so on. I’m still figuring that bit out, but because of that I like to be able to take some of my own photos or set them up and have strangers or family take them. I will have a separate blog post on editing, composition, and how and why I choose to develop my own aesthetic sense.

So now, to the part that I hope will be helpful for you guys- my camera recommendations. I must put out the disclaimer that I am not a pro photographer, I don’t know all the technicalities; I just know what I’ve used, what I seen others use, what I’ve seen recommended by other bloggers. These suggestions are also meant for entry level photography enthusiasts and bloggers, and so the price point and complexity of the equipment match that.

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I hope this post is helpful, and you find something that works for you as you start your blogging or photography journey.

Much love,

Amoafoa.