Welcome to the monthly edition of Where Bloggers Live. It’s kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…Bloggers! Who doesn’t like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes? Over the next few months, a group of seven bloggers will be sharing their workspaces, their homes, towns and more!

Make sure you visit everyone to see where the magic happens!

Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Em at Dust and Doghair
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Julia at When the Girls Rule
Leslie at Once Upon a Time Happily Ever After 

This month’s theme for my group of blogger friends is our workspace – whether that’s in the home or away from it. I’m doing my at-home blogging space…which is also currently (#coronavirus) my day-job work-from-home space. But I’m also going to share the tools I use, apps, etc. and hopefully that will be a help to some of you.

My “office” is not ideal, as it’s actually in my bedroom. I prefer when I can close the door (or at least turn my back!) to my workspace and not have it in my line of vision at all. In sight, in mind, so it’s hard to ever really “turn off.” But. It is what it is…at least the bedroom area is large so I have one end dedicated to the office…and I have a window view into the living room, so I’m not just staring at a wall all day.

My set-up is actually pretty simple compared to when I used to sell on eBay and had an entire room dedicated to online selling, with built-in shelving and large counter space, packing table, etc. Sigh. Now I just have my desk…which is actually an old vanity. I love the piece but do wish I had more surface area. Between the monitor, mousepad (that’s really a book), the stack of books that act as my cell phone tripod for zooming or talking videos, a beverage…and the cat (ALWAYS), it’s a tight fit. If I ever have to do any kind of paperwork it’s really a tight squeeze and I usually end up going to the kitchen table. Oh, also, while I love the chippy paint look, it’s murder on a desktop. That’s why the mouse needs to sit on a book…and why I have a velcro dot on one of the keyboard feet because it sits unevenly otherwise and tips this way and that.

I’ve been considering this for the desktop after seeing it on someone’s apartment tour on YouTube.

My desk chair is a decrepit relic, ha. I took it out of the dumpster at my OLD job (that I left in 2005) and it was dumpster-worthy THEN. And now I’VE had it for over 20 years. Two of the wheels are missing so it no longer rolls. You think long and hard about exactly where you want to sit, because once you lug the chair to that spot…it’s going to be there awhile.

This is my dream chair. Someday.

My two most important tools for blogging are my computer and my camera. I recently got a NEW COMPUTER after my old one was becoming more and more challenging. I use several Adobe (of Photoshop fame) programs and they are systems hogs – meaning they take up a LOT of juice. The new PC (yep, I’m a PC girl) is actually a gaming computer because they’re made to handle large graphics well. And I added a little extra memory before I even brought it home from the store – that was like $60 all-in for the memory itself and installation. Well worth it in my mind to avoid fighting with a slow computer. Plus there’s a fancy light-show in the processor, so that’s fun (and keeps you up at night if you don’t turn off the computer before bed). I don’t have a GIANT monitor, but it’s nice-sized at 24.”

While my computer is obviously important for writing, image editing, and storage…and INTERNET (be still my heart), my camera is my soul-mate. It’s not a SUPER fancy camera, but it’s what I wanted for a long time and I got it exactly a year ago and we’re still in the honeymoon phase. It’s a Canon 6D, which is a full-frame camera. This means several things. It allows in more light (cameras use light to make pictures, so no/low light, pfffft picture), which is good overall and especially if you need to shoot in low light situations a lot (like my apartment and work events). And it has a larger sensor, which means more pixels, which means a better quality image. I’m not going to go in-depth about cameras right now, maybe this summer I’ll finally be able to do a “photography for bloggers (and other humans)” post.

I currently have only one lens – a Canon 50mm f1.8. That is a fixed lens (not a zoom) with a large aperture, which, again, lets in more light AND which allows for the potential of that lovely bokeh (blurred background). It’s an inexpensive lens as lenses go,  just over $100 for brand new, but it is a workhorse and produces lovely images. For now, with the type of shooting I’m doing, I don’t need anything else.

If someone was throwing money at me, I would upgrade to this lens. It has an even wider aperture, and creates the LOVELIEST light and images. I’ve rented it several times and it is just magical. But new it’s just under $1000, so it stays on The List. For SOMEDAY.

As far as doing blog photos of myself, the two things that allow me to do that, are my tripod and wireless shutter release. I don’t have a top of the line tripod by any stretch of the imagination, but for the camera/lens combo I’m using, it’s been fine because they’re small and light (relatively speaking). When considering a tripod, you must consider the weight of your camera with your heaviest/longest lens on it. A lightweight tripod trying to hold a heavy lens is a recipe for disaster. It’s just going to topple over if you let go of it. Mine will tip in windy situations, so I stay mindful of that. But under normal conditions, it has been fine.

The wireless shutter release was a game-changer for me. Before then, I had to set up the camera pointing at where I thought I would go, set the timer, run to what I hoped was the right spot and get in position before the shutter went off. Then go back to the camera for picture #2. Lather Rinse Repeat. It was a LOT of back and forth. And it was very hard to judge if you were standing in the right spot to be in focus.

I read a lot of people saying, oh, put a chair (or whatever) where you want to stand and focus on that, but I like to shoot pretty wide open – which means my focus width is very shallow – one or two inches off and I’m going to be out of focus. A chair is not the same height as me, so focusing on that is not the same as focusing on where my face is going to be.  It’s probably a 24″ difference. Even if we’re both the same distance from the camera (the chair and I), because it’s lower it is actually further away. Focus points, when you’re shooting with that shallow a depth of field, are that sensitive that 24″ might as well be a mile.

The chair trick is just one of those things that sounds good in theory, but in practical application it’s just more complicated than that. Yes, you could prop a broom on the chair, yadda yadda yadda, but…can you see how this could start getting pretty annoying? If you’re not shooting in your kitchen? Ha. I think I’ll shoot in that pretty meadow today. Here I go with my camera and tripod…and chair…and broom. No thank you.

Note: If you’re shooting with your cell phone, the chair trick should work…in fact, you probably don’t even need a chair. Just stand anywhere near in-line with the camera and it’s going to get you in focus because the basic cell phone camera does not have a very wide aperture.

SO. The wireless shutter and receiver solves that (pretty much). That means, I put a receiver on the hot shoe (the slidey bracket on top that you would fix an off-camera flash to) and also plug it in to the…input (?) port on the side of the camera. This is the receiver. I hold a remote in my hand…that when I press the button, the receiver actually focuses the camera and takes the shot. So now I can stay in my position x-feet away from the camera and dance around, taking picture after picture. I take a LOT of pictures in a very short time, so I have a lot of  options to choose from.

Now, the caveat to that is, yes, the remote is telling the receiver to focus the camera….but it cannot tell it on WHAT. Camera doesn’t know I want a picture of me and not that tree behind me. So I have to set the camera to “all focus points.” Normally you’d just set one, usually the center (that’s generally the sharpest focus point), and hand-held, you’d make sure that focus point was on your subject right where you want. But I’m not hand-holding, I’m standing 10′ away. So I set to all focus points and then whatever is nearest to the camera will be in focus. So I have just to make sure there’s nothing straight-ish out from the lens that’s closer to the camera than me…and I’m golden! Click click click! I can dance and move around and most of the shots will be in pretty good focus. I don’t think anything replaces hand-held but I don’t usually have that option, and this set-up has made shooting blog photos at least do-able for me.

Wow, this is getting long. I’m wondering if I should break this into two parts…because I haven’t even gotten to my vlogging camera or cell phone yet! Or the apps/programs I use for editing and to stay (HA HA HA HA HA) organized. I think I’ll do that. You’re looking a little bleary-eyed anyway, and like you could use a cool drink. So go, relax. I’ll be back in a few days with the scintillating conclusion to “how what where I blog.”

Here is a super quick (3 minute) video of my (messy!!!) workspace.

Don’t forget to check out my blogging friends! I can almost promise you none of their posts will be as long as mine!

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