My little helper, both of the kids love to garden with us which makes it so fun and a great activity to do as a family. They each have their own trees in the house and plants outside they take care of when we all garden! 

Today I have put together a diy mini salad garden and photographed it from start to finish with my new Canon 5d Mark iii camera & my 2 favourite Canon lenses in partnership with Best Buy Canada! In my previous post found {here} I told you guys all about the 3 lenses I alternate with while photographing things for my blog and of course our family and our videos but there are 2 in particular that I used the most and they are my 24-70mm Canon lens & my 50mm 1.8 Canon lens. The 50mm I have used since the beginning of my relationship with a Canon camera haha while the 24-70mm was a purchase made this year. I thought a gardening feature would be the perfect way to show you how well both of these lenses capture detail and work so well. I pulled together some of my favourite lettuce and herbs and sectioned them into a nice decorative pot for outside on the deck. I’ve been a green thumb ever since I can remember, I was always a kid in love with the outdoors letting my imagination run wild. My first vegetable garden was 10 years ago when I lived in the Cook Islands!! I swear anything could grow there, we had a papaya, mango on our property and a neighbour had a massive avocado tree so we figured why not grow all of our favs on our lawn too haha? And we did and it was SO much fun learning about companion planting and growing our own food – talk about satisfying. In this salad garden I have my favourite lettuce, 3 different types of basil, chives, parsley, kale and thyme. If you are wanting a small garden but are short on space this is a great way to start and to make it easier I’ve just purchased seedlings from a local greenhouse – you can always start from seed if you wish! It’s totally my dream to have a big beautiful greenhouse in our backyard one day where I can grow veggies all year long!!

So, what did you guys think of the images so far? I love the beautiful colours of the lettuce and herbs. Now that was all shot with the 50mm 1.8 on my Canon 5d Markiii! What would you say if I told you it was considered a “beginner lens”? Pretty great right, especially considering this lens is under $200! You can find it online at Best Buy {here} where it’s on sale right now for $149 until June 8th!!!! Below I’ve started to put together some side to side images using both my 24-70mm & 50mm for similar shots, so you can try to spot some differences. The images on the left are all shot with my 24-70mm Canon lens while the right hand side images were shot using my 50mm Canon 1.8 lens…

These next 4 images were actually shot with my Canon 24-70mm just zoomed in more than usual to capture specific details…

And now here are a few more side by side images for you to see the difference again, both images in my opinion show the exceptional quality of both lenses and their capabilities. The Canon 24-70mm is once again being used to shoot the left hand side images, this lens is also on sale until June 8th with $279 off! You can find that lens on Best Buy Canada {here}. The shots on the right hand side were taken with the Canon 50mm 1.8 once again, still my favourite for those close up detail shots!

Since putting together this post for all of you I have fallen in love all over again with my Canon 50mm 1.8, for months I had been debating investing in the more expensive version of the lens (the 1.2 50mm by Canon) but this lens just serves me so well. I’ve used it for years now and it does such a great job at capturing detail and giving that great Bokeh effect, I’ve always loved shooting food with this lens and lets just say now I am obsessed with shooting my garden with this lens. Just look how perfectly it captured some of the lovelies that are starting to bloom in our garden right now? This lens is also at such a fabulous price point, especially being on sale now for $149 at Best Buy Canada!!! In my opinion you could get by with one lens DEPENDING on your line of work of course but I absolutely LOVE having a variety of lenses to pick from depending on what or where I am shooting, and now with us being so passionate about making videos I love having a variety even more. I am always bouncing between my 50mm 1.2 & my 24-70mm. My 24-70mm of course is more of an investment but you have to look at it as just that – an investment! 

I have to say that I do believe it also matters what camera you use, I know the lens is critical but I am so in love with my new Canon 5f Mark iii that I am probably biased. I noticed a huge difference in my images when upgrading to this camera however it all depends on what you are using your camera for. My images will be used predominantly for work which is why I said earlier that it is an investment for me to upgrade my gear – and I LOVE taking photos. My camera is actually on sale right now too until June 8th at Best Buy Canada {here} online. If you are looking for something less expensive I totally recommend any Canon, I do love the Rebels (like this one {here} also on sale) and I had a Canon 70d prior to this one that I loved. Many of my friends have the Canon 6d that they highly recommend too! This last shot was taken using my 24-70mm Canon lens, I could have never done a “shoefie” with my 50mm and had so much in the photo while being so close. This isn’t to say the 50mm cannot give you great images from far away it’s just that this means you will need to stand farther back of course to get more details into the shot where as the 24-70mm has a much broader range – perhaps you are thinking duh that’s obvious but I am trying to just make it as simple as possible :). You see here in the image above that you can still capture beautiful close up images with the 24-70mm!

I hope you enjoyed this post made in collaboration with Best Buy Canada, all opinions are my own. Visit them online to take advantage of some incredible savings on tech items for the entire family including that new camera or lens you may have had your eye on!