Amazon Products for Your Photos and Videos

Hey y'all!

If you don't follow me already, make sure to hit that subscribe button by the end of this so you can see more content, tips, and how to's for photography and videography. Today, I am going to talk about some of the equipment I have "invested" in for my photography/videography business.

Now, let me start out by saying I more of a hobbyist, but I am a professional. For those of you out there who feel like you can't call yourself a professional because you don't have a degree or certificate that states you've done your work, this doesn't mean your not a professional. It's based on the results, not the study.

Yes, I do have an associates degree in Electronic Media Communications from the University of Cincinnati, but I've also been doing this since before college. I went to college to help get my foot in the door somewhere, but know this, college isn't for everyone. Nowadays, you can go to YouTube and find just about anything with a free course of "How-To."

In recent years, Amazon has blossomed into an amazing company that sells good quality products; and if you have Prime, those good quality products ship to you in two days. So lets move onto the best products I have gotten from Amazon and how they have impacted me as a photographer and videographer.

Green/Blue Screen

This is one of my most recent purchases. I am absolutely in love with the size, and it fits so well in the space of my studio. It collapses at the flick of your wrists, but I will tell you it takes a few tries to get it. I can hang it vertically or horizontally depending how much I need to photography or film my subject.

If you're a gamer and/or are a Twitch streamer this is a great tool to have sitting behind you while streaming. It gives you an even colored background that you can change to be whatever background you want or you can leave it green or blue.

For my photographers and filmmakers out there, this has been a great tool for senior portraits when we can't go out somewhere to shoot. I place my subjects in front and shoot away. I Google some fun background images, throw the RAW image into Photoshop, select that shade of green or blue and add in the new background and TA-DA! You have a professional looking image (assuming your RAW image was taken properly and with the correct lighting for your background)

Continuous Lighting

This was probably the most expensive product I have bought off Amazon for my photography that wasn't directly for my camera (lenses are more expensive).

My favorite thing about these lights are the barndoor to help focus your light in one direction and that each light has a carrying case that fits the light and the cables. They lights come with their own power cables, and you can also go wireless with NP-F550 lithium batteries (sold separately).

These lights allow you to get that professional look without the professional $$$. They're great for background and foreground lighting, subject lighting, back lighting, or even light illumination in a room to make it appear that the room is naturally bright/implying that the sunlight or moonlight is casting in.

Each light takes two of these batteries. They're small and portable and it makes filming a lot easier when you can go wireless. I highly recommend buying extra batteries that you can rotate on and off the charger in case the batteries die during filming, because you know it's going to happen at some point.

Neewer itself makes a ton of photography and videography equipment, and these lights are probably the best quality lights you can find while staying around $200. At the moment (the creation of this post) the lights are on sale for about $162. Which isn't bad at all! I think when I bought mine they were even lower because of Black Friday deals. The stands for these lights go up to around six feet high, plus the light itself makes it about six and a half feet high.

These lights are really bright too! They're bi-color to give you control over how warm or cool your image looks and with the dials on the back it makes tweaking so easy.

On Board Light

If you're looking for some thing smaller to give more of a flat lighting look, you might want to try these. It slides right into your cold shew and is adjustable for the perfect angle.

It has plastic plates that can slide into the front to give the bi-color affect on your images. Unfortunately, these don't have it built in like the bigger ones, but they are dimmable and about the size of your camera (give or take). These lights use the same NP-F550 batteries, but only require one per light. On the side of the light is a test button to allow you to see how full the battery is when it's plugged into the light. These lights are also completely wireless; there is no cables for continuous power, only the batteries.

I love using these small lights on top of my camera because it allows me to get just a hint of light on the subject's face or on the front of the object where my other lights aren't reaching. I could also use a bounce are or a reflector, but sometimes its hard to balance holding that and taking the picture at the same time. These come in handy because you don't have to designate a hand to hold it.

Make sure to hit that subscribe button to keep up with more product I use for my photography and videography!

Tips are appreciated to help toward new projects and products to use and review. Thank you all so much in advance for your support.

See you soon!

Sara :D