Work camera

I recently decided that rather than constantly pack around thousands of dollars of my personal photo equipment for work, I should just use my work camera. That's what it's for, and I need my personal equipment to be in working order when I use it for weddings, seniors, etc.. I also recently scratched a lens I use a lot while at the NWSS for work, and I can't afford to replace it until I book another photography job, so I sat myself down (figuratively) and told myself that I have a work camera for a reason, and to use it.
I was hesitant. My work camera is a Canon Rebel (of which I have owned one, and really liked it), but this one was purchased at Walmart, and has been sent back to Canon once to be re-furbished since I've been with the Roundup.
Prior to this weekend's trial run, I have used it exactly once, and was so unimpressed I stuck it in my old camera bag and left it there. I did use one of my personal, "ranch work" Sigma lenses this weekend, and just used it as I would my 40D (which will now be upgraded after the above mentioned lens, hopefully).

I had lots of blurry photos, which I'm not including in this run. I'm not sure if that was user error, or the camera. Another issue was that a lot of the backgrounds were completely blown out.


Like this one. But, it is in focus.



I'm going to dig up the manual, and see about re-adjusting the white balance, and whatever else it recommends for some of the things I noticed.



Out of just over 200 pictures, these were the only ones I even thought about Photoshoping. Again, maybe it was just adjusting to the camera, and I will be doing more shooting with it for work in the future to see.



This is one that I was really excited about, and really disappointed in. I'm not one of those photographers who likes to spend 20 minutes editing a picture in Photoshop to make it look "right." I'm more of a quick levels, curves, color balance, and unsharp mask as needed, then on to the next one. So when the cattle are properly exposed and the hay is really blown out, I almost always pass on it, unless I have an afternoon without much to do.
I did Photoshop all of these pictures, just as I would those taken with my personal camera. But nothing was done to any of them beyond what's mentioned in the above paragraph.



We will see how the next trial goes. I should have some comparisons between the work and personal equipment to show you in the future. Hopefully with a little tweaking and time I will be more impressed with the overall quality. Either way, this puppy is in the game for work related photography from now on.