Ok… So as many of my photographer friends can attest to….we get asked this question alot  and since the holidays are coming up, I have already had quite a few people asking me this question. So I thought I’d do a little educational blog post to help you guys figure out all the camera jargon and really get down to the “need-to-know” facts about buying your first DSLR. December is a great time to buy a camera because most brands offer some kind of package deal to entice all the Christmas shoppers. That might include an extra lens, or battery, or even a camera bag.

I am going to start out by saying that I hope to spell this out in lay-mans terms for everyone to understand but if I’ve misquoted something don’t hold me to it. And finally please don’t hound me about Canon vs Nikon. They are both fabulous. I shoot Canon, so that is what I am familiar with. Nikon has the same levels of DSLR’s at probably the same prices. If you don’t care about brand, I’d suggest picking a budget and going into a camera store and holding each of them. Yes, a Canon will feel different in your hand than a Nikon.

Lets get started: Questions to ask yourself when considering buying a DSLR:

1) How much is your budget? This is probably going to be your deciding factor, right? DSLR’s start at a beginner’s price of around $550 for a Canon Rebel T3 and can go up in price to $7,000! Gasp, yes can you believe they even make a camera that costs that much!!!   Here is a price comparison chart that shows you the different prices of DSLR’s. I got this off of Canon’s website. I’ve marked them into categories into what I believe is a good basis for comparing models against what your expectations and your level of knowledge in photography.

Now my red, green, and blue categories are just my own personal opinions. I believe most people who say to me “I want a good camera. Can you help me choose one?” are meaning they want an entry-level DSLR that takes better pictures than their point and shoot. I believe cameras in the Canon 50D to the Canon 5D Mark II (green & blue categories) are for serious shooters who know how to shoot in manual mode.

2)What will you be taking pictures of? The reason I ask this, is because this could influence which lens I might reccommend to you. If you are just shooting toddlers, then I’d say the kit lens will be alright for you.  But if you’ve got older kids who are in sports already or maybe you want to take pictures of birds, I’d definitely say you are going to want a telephoto lens.  I’ll explain the differences in a kit lens and a telephoto lens in just a second.

3) How much time are you willing to invest in actually learning to use your camera?Let’s face it people. Yes DSLR’s are going to get you better pictures than a point and shoot. But the camera is just a tool. Just like Paula Deen’s oven is just an oven and Tiger Woods’ golf clubs are just clubs. I’m sure they do have top of the line stuff but I certainly can’t assume that if I go buy the same clubs as Tiger that I am going to start playing like him or that a fancy oven is going to help me create wonderful recipes.   As a professional photographer, I can tell you that it kinda hurts our feelings when people just assume we take good pictures because we have nice cameras. Even if you could care less about money and can afford one of the top level DSLR’s, if you don’t know how to use it, then your pictures are going to look the same as someone’s pictures who’s got a $550 camera(for the most part).  So if you just plan on shooting in Auto mode then save yourself some  money and just go with one of the beginner cameras. Now with that said, you can get some rockin images out of the beginner cameras if you learn how to use a camera in manual mode. Yes it takes time and a willingness to study photography, but its pretty simple to learn to shoot in manual mode if you just study it. There are a bazillion tutorials, articles and books on the subject. I started out with an entry-level DSLR and taught myself everything I know about photography so I know it can be done.  I say all this because $500+   is a lot of money to spend to still shoot in the same mode as a $200 point and shoot.  If you want better pictures, yes start out with a good DSLR, but do yourself a favor and learn to shoot manual. You will be so much happier with the images you get if you do.

Ok lets get down to a few things you should consider after you’ve chosen a budget.  Most deals that the stores will be promoting will be a camera with kit lens of some sort. Kit  Lenses are just your basic lens. For Canon, the kit lens included is almost always the EF-S 18-55mm.    Now “EF-S” is just a category of lens (EF is the other category) and the numbers afterwards mean the focal length of that lens. So an 18-55mm lens will give a a pretty wide angle (18mm) and then zoom out to a longer (aka tighter framed) shot.   (you like my layman’s terms.haha)    As you can see, all 3 entry level DSLR’s come with the same kit lens.   And by the way, the “kit” at the end of these model names means just that: Camera + a kit lens, otherwise it would say “body only” and that means you get only the camera body–no lens.   Be aware of that when you are searching on Amazon for these cameras and you see a LARGE price difference. That big price difference is probably because they are offering the camera without a lens. But, Amazon does have all these cameras for slightly less than Canon has them listed. And I’m sure places like Best Buy and Target will be running specials on them around Black Friday and all throughout the holidays.   And lastly, please be aware of third party sellers on Amazon. Try to deal with Amazon if you can.  There are good third party sellers but check their ratings, shipping, etc.

Next you can see the differences in megapixels with each camera.  The first two offer 18 megapixels each and the 3rd camera offers 12 megapixels. I think I am safe to assume that this is the reason for the price differences.

Next you can look at the shutter speeds. The maximum shutter speed allowed will be more crucial to you if you intend on learning to shoot manual. For beginners and those who intend on shooting in Auto, I would say this detail isn’t important. Also note, these cameras have a very slight difference in their continuous shooting capabilities. This is like when you just hold the shutter button down, how many images can the camera take per second. 3.7 images per second ain’t too shabby. To give you a comparison, the Canon 7D is lightening fast with 8 fps ($1700,body only, this is the fastest Canon out there currently–well that’s not a bajillion dollars)

So out of these 3 models you should really consider this:   How much is 6 more megapixels worth it to you? Let me tell you that 12 megapixels will blow up into any size print you want. Megapixels really aren’t the be-all, end-all specification that they once were in the digital world. Remember when digital cameras first made it big and you would think “whoa…. now they have a 6 megapixel camera!”   Megapixels just don’t have the same clout they once did- to me anyways.

Remember when I asked if you were going to shoot sports? Or say a recital where you are sitting in the back? For example, lets just say you are sitting in the bleachers and would like to see Junior’s expression out there in centerfield. Well, your kit lens is not going to get you that shot. In comes the need for a telephoto lens.  A telephoto lens has a much longer focal length–meaning you can zoom out much farther and get closeups of things that are far away from you.  A great starter telephoto lens is the Canon EF-S 55-250mm lens and Canon has it retailing for $299, however, I found it on Amazon for $219.  So, this lens might be really appealing to you. Be on the lookout at retailers for this lens to also be a part of the “kit” they are offering. I have seen that done before around Christmastime.

Depending on your budget, you could essentially get the Canon T3 (3rd camera shown above) that comes with a kit lens AND the 55-250mm lens as a second lens all for cheaper than the Canon T2i (2nd camera shown above). I hope this explanation has helped shed some light on the different DSLR’s and what to consider when buying one.

As for me….guess what I’m asking Santa Claus for this Christmas?   That’s right…..A Point and Shoot!!!  Most times I can’t seem to get myself out of photographer mode and trying to set up the perfect shot when I am just simply wanting snapshots of my kids. Sometimes you  know that moment with your own kids is so fleeting you just want to capture it as a memory, not necessarily as a wall-worthy portrait every time so I want a point and shoot that I can whip out of my purse and easily carry around with me. It wasn’t the easiest thing toting around my heavy camera bag with a bunch of gear on my recent vacation so I decided I definitely need a purse-sized camera. I hope Santa is reading this.

Please leave me any questions you may have below in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.. Or you can email me. Ladies, do the research and then be VERY SPECIFIC with the husbands because camera buying can be quite confusing with so many different types of descriptions that retailers like to use. I suggest making a wish list with exactly what you want on it. =)  Also, I’d love to hear in the comments below if you found this helpful at all.

So if you’ve seen my last few blog posts here and here, you know I’ve gotten the chance to photograph some stunning girls lately. Mckenzie’s session was top notch as well! You know all those words photographers use to describe a great session…. stunning, beautiful, amazing, to die for, etc…. Well Mckenzie’s session was all of those things. =) Not only is she gorgeous, but so super nice as well. And that is a rare find!  You rocked this session Mckenzie!!

Ok….story about the next image. When I took this and saw it on the back of my camera I literally said Oh girl….so moody! I knew this one would become a black and white when I took it. I just love a moody black and white image!!

To see even more images from my session with McKenzie, hop on over to my Jenna Stubbs Photography Facebook page. =)

Last week, Scott and I took a little weekend vacation to Las Vegas. Surprisingly, this was each of ours first times to go and it was a hands-down fantastic vacation. Don’t get me wrong, I love it when we do “friend” vacations too, but he and I both love taking a vacation with just ourselves every once and a while. Today I want to show you some pictures I got from our helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. 

I highly recommend doing something like this while you are in Vegas. Yes, you might consider this expensive. But so is gambling. So why not choose to make a memory instead of spending money in the casinos?.?.?  While in Vegas, we stayed at The Aria and the concierge there helped us set up our tour.  Setting up the tour was as easy as  giving our info and showing up to the bus terminal on time. Everything was taken care of for us. We chose the Maverick “Wind Dancer” Grand Canyon Landing Excursion because we  definitely wanted to land in the canyon and because our concierge said Maverick had the best landing spot in the canyon.  Maverick definitely delivered a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the GC with equally paralleled customer service.  When choosing a tour, there are a few things to keep into consideration: 1) Do you just want to  fly over the GC or is landing important to you? 2) Do you want to land IN the GC or would you rather just do the Skybridge which hangs over the edge? 3) Do you even want to land at all? 4) How much time do you want to spend in the helicopter?

I’m sure most people are like Scott and I, and are probably concerned with getting a “bad seat” aka “stuck in the middle seat”  and not being able to get great views. Let me tell you there are no “bad seats” on these helicopters. The helicopters seat 7 passengers total–3 in the front with the pilot and 4 in the back.  Each person could easily see. For safety reasons, they do appoint you a seat to distribute the weight evenly across the helicopter however, on our particular flight we got to rotate seats 3 times. Both Scott and I sat in the middle back, window seat in back, and in the front. We sat in all 3 possible spots and had great views so that was never an issue at all.

Our tour lasted 4.5 hours–that’s from hotel pickup to hotel drop off. I’d estimate about 2 hours of that was actually in the helicopter and on the ground in the canyon and the rest being transfer time and checkin/checkout time. Two hours is plenty long enough. Our tour started at noon and we got back to the hotel about 4:30. So that is one thing to keep in mind when seeing my pictures. I’ve seen other pictures from this tour and it is amazing how the canyon looks different at different times of the day.  As we took off, you could see the strip and I got some great pictures of that. Funny how big it looks on the street, but not so much in pictures. Some of those casinos have four and five thousand rooms so they are enormous when you are on street level with them.

On that day it was overcast and kinda cloudy so I was worried about our views. But actually the clouds look amazing in the pictures so I love how it added to the beauty of the scenery.  Jeff was our pilot and he was funny and a great host. He even let Scott fly the helicopter —totally kidding, ha–but that would have been cool. Can you imagine having that job and getting to see that beauty every single day?  We flew over Lake Mead and also the Hoover Dam, which was cool. Scott and I had watched an episode of America: The Story of Us (which is an awesome series) about the building of Hoover Dam so that was awesome to actually see that amazing feat of engineering in person.

How cool are those skies!!!!! Once we landed, we had about 30 minutes in the canyon. Maverick provided complimentary light snacks and drinks…even champagne if you wanted. I was a little camera crazy when we landed so Scott definitely got tired of pictures. haha.  I decided to do a throw back black and white of this picture.  In lots of my pictures, its funny how the scenery is so beautiful it almost looks fake with someone standing in the picture. Everywhere you look is a postcard-worthy view!

One of the cutest things while we were on the ground were these tiny squirrels that ran all over the ground. Of course these guys had wisened up and learned to take treats from the passengers. They would come right up to your hand, take a grape from you, and then hurry off. It was so funny because then you would see another one chase after the one with the food.  How cute are they! My son would have loved to have seen this.

This next image really shows the grandeur of the canyon. It is absolutely breathtaking and really makes you feel small. Getting to see God’s creation up close like that was a wonderful experience. I only wish I would have remembered to bring my Flip video because it would have been neat to have some video of it as well.

Jeff told us it was 100 degrees on the day we flew, but that in the summer it has been 126 degrees before.  Dang that’s hot! On the way home we made a refueling stop. Maverick even provided a chilled scented towel that felt like heaven when standing in the sun. It smelled like a wonderful day spa and was very refreshing. All in all, I am thrilled with our choice to do the helicopter tour. And I can’t say enough good things about the Maverick company. Definitely check them out if you are going to Vegas!  Come back next week to see  more pictures from our trip to Vegas.

If you’ve seen my main website, you will probably recognize these gorgeous kiddos. These two girls are my best friend’s kids and they recently came up for a session and to hang out with the kids and I for a weekend. Their mother, Keri, and I had been looking forward to this weekend for a few weeks and wouldn’t you know, gross weather was in the forecast for the entire weekend. So frustrating since we had just gotten off a stretch of about 10 days of the most wonderful weather here in NWA!  Keri and I have been BFF since we were in hygiene school together and its really funny how alike we are. Despite living 5 and a half hours from each other, it never seems like it because we have continued to keep in touch with, if not daily, then certainly weekly, chats, texts, and emails. Plus, every summer we have a yearly girls shopping trip with our other BFF, TK.

Two things really made this session work. 1) Not discounting the opportunity to run out and get a few pictures in between showers.  These pictures were all taken in front of my house and on my driveway.  Patience really paid off here and actually the wet concrete looks amazing in the images. You really can’t tell at all that these were taken in gross, yucky weather and that is because…..

2) The girls bright, colorful clothes are shear perfection for a photo session.  Keri and I had been discussing their outfits for a while and she did an awesome job of choosing colorful, COORDINATING, outfits. These images would have a totally different feel about them if they were wearing something like gray corduroy pants with a neutral top. Clothes are important to the look and feel of an image folks. I can’t stress that enough. And its really not necessary to break the bank for outfits. Henlee and Saylor are wearing dresses and tights from Mini Boden in the left picture, and outfits from Old Navy in the right picture.  Those tights really made the images sing. Again, just that small added touch made a big difference. Please never hesitate to ask me about outfit ideas.

Leave Henlee and Saylor a comment below and let them know how adorable they are! Keri already told me these girls were so excited to see themselves on my website, so I know they’ll get a kick out of hearing your comments too. =)

So can I just say, I really do love my job! Kaylee was a photographer’s dream. (Umm, can I please have your hair Kaylee  ).  She had some great outfits, was easy to pose, and was up for anything.  Kaylee is a 2012 senior at Bentonville High school where she cheers on the varsity squad and she’s also on a competetive cheer team. Kaylee, her mom, and I had a great time at her  senior portrait session. They even gave me some tips about a new lunch place to try out. –ahem,  The Crumpet Room, here I come.

One detail that I really loved about Kaylee’s session was her choice to wear a blue dress to honor a good friend of hers who has recently passed away. You see, blue was her friend’s favorite color . I had been planning to use a golf course close to my house for part of her session, so when she also told me golf was important to her friend, I knew that it would be great to use her blue dress at the golf course location. I’m sure in years to come when Kaylee looks back on her senior pictures,  her blue dress, the green golf course, and beautiful sunlight will always remind her of her friend.

Ok I must tell a story about this next image. I am sitting at my desk editing away and come up with this beautiful color edit of Kaylee and I’m thinking “WOW I love this image so much!”……

So then, I think to myself, this is probably going to look amazing if I  turn it black and white. So on goes my B&W editing, and  I nearly fell out of my desk chair when I saw how beautiful this shot was in black and white. You see, only certain portraits look stunning in B&W.   Yes, you can turn them all B&W, but it takes a keen eye for amazing contrast, lighting, and drama to know when you should/shouldn’t turn an image B&W.  This one is a serious stunner and the EPITOME of a perfect shot for B&W!

I got the chance to photograph this sweet baby and her family when she was only 6 days old. Needless to say this session was like a dream newborn session. The house was filled with gorgeous light, the  baby slept the entire time, and mom, dad, and big sister are such photogenic people! I have been in editing heaven over these images and literally can’t quit smiling over them. I think Baby A will fit right in with this perfect little family.