When I started blogging, one of the first things I struggled with was photography. I knew pretty much nothing about taking photos and its still something I’m trying to get to grips with.
My blog photography is very much work in progress. Even though I’m quite a creative person,
My blog photography is very much work in progress. Even though I’m quite a creative person, its not something that comes easily to me. I’ve learnt a few things along the way and I’d like to think my photos have improved over that past two years that I’ve blogged. Today, I have a few tips to share – this wont be anything too technical but I’ll link a few other bloggers posts that explain the tech side way better than I ever could.
GET TO KNOW YOUR CAMERA
Although I do have a dslr camera (canon 1100d – which I would recommend if you’re looking for a beginners dslr) I actually bought it before I started blogging. Knowing what I know now, I would definitely say that you don’t need a fancy camera for blog photos. You can get good quality digital cameras fairly cheap so you really don’t need to spend a lot of money. Its easy to get sucked into with everyone else is buying and what other bloggers are using but if you have a budget, theres no need to go over it. If you are looking for a new camera, I recommend this site where you can have a look at different camera/functions etc. Also don’t be afraid to go instore and ask for assistance with purchasing. The main thing with a camera is getting to know how it works – there should be some guides online/youtube and also if you can, spend some time playing around with the functions, taking photos and seeing how they look when you upload them.
TURN OFF THE FLASH
When I first heard this suggestion from other bloggers, I couldn’t understand it. I used to take all my photos with the flash on – it was like my best friend. It was only when I started to play around with my camera that I realised how harsh it really looks.
With flash, the light bounces off certain areas, whereas with natural lighting it just looks far nicer. Luckily, now the weather is improving, its far easier to make the most of the light available. When indoors, I try to take my photographs as near to a window as I can. I don’t own any lighting buts its something I may consider in winter. Temporary Secretary wrote a great post for fashion bloggers and lighting in this post.PHOTO EDITING
Again, this is something I never really bothered with in the early days, apart from cropping. These days I do edit my photos a little more. Gwen from This Fashion is Mine wrote an amazing post on photo editing here and this is pretty much how I now edit my photos. However, you don’t need photoshop to edit your photos. I like to use ipiccy as well – you can work with curves, levels and saturation on there. Its less complex than photoshop but still a good (and free) programme to use.
BACKGROUNDS
A nice background can make a huge difference to a photograph and give it that something extra. I like to use either my ikea helmer, notebooks, makeup bag, trays, magazines etc. You could really use anything – if you’re stuck for something try taking a few free wallpaper samples from a DIY shop. I would say try not to use anything that looks cluttered so the products you’re focusing stand out. You could try different things. I usually take around 50 pictures for each blog post – sometimes they might look good on the camera screen but once uploaded they might not look right so I like to take a lot of photos.
SIZING
Finally, sizing your photos to a medium/large size can really help them to stand out on your blog. You can resize your photos to all the same size by reading this post I wrote not too long ago. I find smaller pictures can get lost within the text and nice, clear photos will help to draw readers into the blog post.
These are just a few things I’ve learnt, like I said I’m no expert and I try not to get too hung up over the fact that my photos might not look quite as good as others. If you struggle with photography like I do, try to focus on your content and just do the best you can. As I always say, blogging is meant to be fun so try not to fret too much!