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Taking a picture on your phone is basically an accident. You’re not going to line up the shot and feel pretty good about it and then take a few more to get different angles and then wait a few days to take a good look at them and maybe do some tweaks in some free editing software and feel happy. You’re going to forget you took them and then barely remember when you see their tiny little preview when you’re scrolling through the photos app for a screenshot you saved 5 months ago. Buy a little camera. It feels good to take a picture on purpose. Like painting but fast and you don’t have to clean brushes after.
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Without sounding like a bitter luddite, I miss the days of people capturing moments for the sake of remembering, not sharing with strangers. We all have childhood VHS footage and disposable photos of seemingly mundane moments at family BBQs, birthday parties, vacations, etc, but in the iPhone age most of our photos are taken with the intention of posting. This is a crucial difference, for me at least, so I recommend getting a camera not because it takes better photos than your phone, but because it'll remind you to capture more regular slices of life.
Jan 5, 2023
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The first step of taking a good pic is definitely getting the settings of the camera you’re using. Most modern phones take great pictures, so mess with the zoom, focus, brightness, etc levels on that. However, I love a digital camera for pictures because I feel like you fool around with the settings once and then there isn’t much editing you have to do after that. You can find cheap ones online if you look for lightly used ones. I think the one I use is a sony cybershot? I’m pretty sure most of them are similar, just be sure to always have the flash setting on and mess around with exposure and stuff (I looked up tiktoks for the settings of my specific camera lmao). For posing, movement is everything. Have whoever is taking the picture just do bursts of photos as you continuously go through poses. Run a hand through your hair, switch what leg you’re putting your weight on, hold ur hands behind your back, smile really big so your eyes squint, look more serious/seductive, etc. Most people who have really good ig feeds are taking hundreds of pics for one post. Lastly, everyone edits their pictures. I don’t mean editing body of facial features, but lighting, exposure, things from the background, frizzy hair, stains on shirts, yellow teeth, etc. I like the apple camera roll settings for exposure, balance, clarity, and color balance. vsco for filters. picsart for editing things out/in and small beautifications. P.S. lighting is also very important (why the digi flash makes everyone looks so good) so make sure the light is facing you, not behind you!! Practice makes perfect, so just keep trying and good luck:)
Dec 30, 2024
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Sometimes I carry a digital camera with a big lens but you don't have to do that. A phone camera works fine. Some people nowadays feel ashamed when taking photos, and I think that's sad. Yes, photos can be curated highlight reels of your life that take you out of an individual moment to capture it, but that's okay. People curate their perceived lives all the time, by what they talk about in conversation, what they wear in front of certain people, what they write about for interviews. And capturing a moment for future memory can be worth a slight step out. It’s powerful to create your identity and remember your past.
Jul 16, 2024
Top Recs from @oldoprah
Have you been drinking water? Tired of it tasting like water? Want to drink basically just cold water but a little different? Don’t want a ton of caffeine or too much flavor from iced coffee? Get some unsweetened iced tea. It’s like water but also tea. Little caffeine kick, no sugar, just some liquid.
Feb 1, 2024
You might be 28 but the kids in college are still 20 and through college radio you can pretend that you’re still hip and with the new music. Also sometimes the DJs are clearly high out of their mind and talk about nothing for 7 minutes straight and it rocks. Radio K in Minneapolis is the best and you can listen to it online.
Jan 31, 2024
Back then they truly knew what design meant and it meant going absolutely buck wild. You spin half of this Nikon camera all the way around in order to turn it on. Tech companies in 2024 could never. They don’t have the balls.
Jan 21, 2024