Old and Improved Photo

 Hello! It's me, the person who created this blog. I don't know if we've officially met. My name is Samantha, and I consider myself an amateur photographer. I am currently in college at the University of North Florida, and although I'm only minoring in photography, I still have hopes to work with photography for my future career. Whatever that will be. This post is going to be all about how I first discovered analog photography, and why I still love it today. If you've visited my other blog posts, you've seen this camera (and this exact photo) before. This camera was actually my grandfather's. I began getting more into photography about 6 years ago, and I was lucky enough to be given this SLR film camera by my grandparents. It's a Minolta SRT 101 , and it was made in the 1960s. This was my very first film camera. Technically, it was my first fully manual camera, as I didn't get a DSLR until the next year. The first roll of film I put through it didn...

Everyone has gone through the pain of taking group photos, family or not. It doesn’t have to be painful - and you can get some good photos out of the process too. These 5 steps will help you set everyone up, take the photo, and give some helpful hints to get the best pic. First, you want to make sure there is a clear open space for the group to be situated. Thinking about it beforehand helps, so there will be less questioning during the process of set-up. Give enough space for the entire group so no one has to be jammed together. Next is gathering the group. It’s helpful to give everyone a 5 minute warning to get ready for the photo. If people are hesitant, point out people and give them a place to stand. You should organize the group so the tallest people are in the back center. Shorter folks stay near the front, and everyone else can fan out from there.  Here's an interesting example of how to frame a group photograph. (Source) The most important step is to USE A TRIPOD! All caps...

No matter how often you take photographs, you can take this quick quiz to find out what type of camera you should be using! (Keep track of your answers!) Do you put thought and effort into all the photographs you take? Yes No Would you call yourself an artistic person? Yes No Do you like to see results immediately? Yes No Here are your results! Find your answers to reveal what type of camera best suits you as a photographer. Phone Camera Yes, No, Yes No, No, No No, No, Yes Point-and-Shoot Camera Yes, Yes, No Yes, No, No No, No, No No, Yes, No Polaroid Camera Yes, Yes, Yes Yes, No, Yes No, Yes, Yes Digital Camera Yes, Yes, Yes Film Camera Yes, Yes, No I took the quiz too, and my result was film camera! I'm not surprised since my film camera is my go-to camera when possible. Comment below your results, or tag me on Instagram @oldimprovedphoto .

As a photographer, I have a lot of cameras. Like, probably too many cameras. When I started getting into analog photography, I was suddenly seeing film cameras everywhere I went.  Cameras Mentioned in this Post Granted, I do a lot of thrift and antique store shopping, so I guess it's not that unusual. Over the past couple years I've built up a pretty solid collection of point-and-shoot, SLR (manual analog), and DSLR (manual digital) cameras. In this blog post I'll share a few of my favorites, and the photos they produced (with a little help from my artistic eye).  We'll start with my go-to digital camera. I didn't find this one at an antique store or anything, but it's the camera that I've used for almost everything in my photographic career. It's a Canon EOS Rebel T6. This might not mean anything to you - but it's basically the nicer DSLR beginner digital camera that is made by Canon. It has the full manual control, without the big price. It's n...

With this new age of digital photography, the common knowledge of the analog process is not so common anymore. New photographers have now started off with cameras built into their phones instead of cheap point-and-shoot film cameras. In this post I'll answer some common questions beginners may have about using a film camera and the analog process. Film camera selfie 1. How does a film camera work? A film camera works in a similar way to how digital cameras work - by recording the lens-focused light that is exposed to a sensor inside of the camera. However, instead of the light information recording into a digital file, the light exposes a strip of material called film. Film strips are typically made of plastic and coated in  light-sensitive silver crystals (photographyhistoryfacts.com, 2021). The crystals undergo a chemical change based on how much light is exposed onto the sections of film. In order to view the pictures the film has to be developed in photographic chemicals. Examp...

In 2021, everybody has the potential to be a photographer. We all have or know someone who has a camera in their back pocket - a cell phone. However, if we go back even 50 years this would be an alien concept. The photographic technology of the 70s looked much, much different than it does today. How does a camera from that time period compare to the tech of today? In this post, I will be exploring the pros and cons of digital and analog photography. Analog Camera First, definitions. What does analog photography mean? The term is used to refer to any photographic process that relies on chemicals to produce a result. Any camera that uses film would be defined as analog. According to imaginated.com, digital photography uses "electronic photodetectors to form an image" (imaginated.com, 2021).  Each of these processes have their pros and cons, and there is no right answer to which is better. It is up to the individual to decide which appeals to their needs the best. Let's star...