5 SURE FIRE WAYS TO TAKE A GREAT BLOG PHOTO

Do you ever try and take a photo for your blog and it's just not happening? Yeah, it's le poo. Some days I'll take over a hundred photos and the camera is still kicking my ass. When I'm stuck like that I'll usually go back, look through some of the better photos that I've taken in the past and try to pull from them. What I've noticed from doing that is that I have 5 sure fire ways to get a good shot. Well actually, there are probably more than 5, but 5 is such a nice, round number that sounds great in a title. If I go for one of these tricks I can turn things around.

THE BEST BEAUTY BLOG PHOTOGRAPHY

Today I'm going to keep my trap shut and let these images do the talking. Without further adieu, I present to you some of the most beautiful beauty blog photography I've come across. 

5 ESSENTIALS FOR BEAUTIFUL PHOTOGRAPHY

Ahh photography. My old friend. How you challenge and frustrate me always. Photography is possibly the most difficult, but rewarding, part of blogging for me. I think a lot about how to improve my blog photos and I enjoy studying what the most successful beauty photographers are doing right. I thought a lot about what good photography boils down to. I went back in forth in my noggin many a time and finally decided that these are the five essential points.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR IPHONE PHOTOS LOOK PRO

As I'm sure you've all heard a million times before, photography is a major part of blogging. It's what initially draws people to your blog. For that reason you want your photos to look beautiful and professional. A DSLR camera with a nice lens is obviously the easiest way to achieve that. I'm very fortunate to have been able to invest in a nice DSLR, however, I'm aware that not everyone has the budget for that. And, honestly, there are some things that a phone camera just does better. So, in keeping with the photography theme of my last post, I wanted to show you guys how you can get your mobile photos looking in tip top shape.

PHOTOGRAPHY: CORRECTING LENS DISTORTIONS IN PHOTOSHOP

It's time to get picky with it. I think if you want your blog to get noticed for its photography, which, let's face it, we probably all do, you have to be anal about the details. People often register the details without really consciously noticing them, if you catch my drift. They make all the difference. So I think it's important to train yourself to consciously notice little imperfections and to correct them in the editing process. One of those imperfections is lens distortions.

PHOTO EDITING: 1 SIMPLE TIP · CLEANER PHOTOS

I recently discovered a simple editing trick that I think has helped to clean up the look of my photos. Essentially it's brightening the edges of your photographs. Now I hope I've got this explanation right, but when you photograph with your aperture wide open (as a lot of beauty photographers do) the lens can block the light from the corners of your photos. This results in a vignette effect. A vignette can look gorgeous, but it doesn't necessarily always work for bright beauty photography. I've started editing out this effect using a couple of different methods. Note: this tends to work best on untextured backgrounds.

PHOTOGRAPHY: CATCH-ALL DISH CRAZED

Forgive me my noodly father, for I have sinned. Gluttony is my crime. Gluttony of the catch-all dish variety...

PHOTOGRAPHY: PROPS AND BACKGROUND IDEAS

The right background and props can really make a photo. I find that changing up the background completely alters the tone of the photo. Likewise, props can add that little something something that helps to create some visual interest. However I often find myself feeling stuck when I go to take a photo. Somehow all ideas seem to fall out of my head. So I wrote myself a list of prop and background go-tos and I thought it might be nice to share it with you guys.

PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS FOR BLOGGING

BLOGGING BUILDING BLOCKS: PHOTOGRAPHY
Next up for Blogging Building Blocks is Photography. Photography is a powerful tool. It's something that can really grab viewers and draw them in. Social media sites such as Instagram and Pinterest are a true testament to just how powerful imagery can be. With this is mind, Chaitra and I have decided to tackle two different aspects of photography – tips for taking photographs and tips for editing them. I get the exciting task of covering the former today!

PHOTOGRAPHY: BRUSHING UP ON THE BASICS

I've been asked a few times now about what camera I use. I always think that's a bit of a funny question. Yes, I do use a DSLR (Canon Rebel t3i) and that's probably of significance, but the actual camera itself is a lot less significant than the settings I choose and the lens that I use. Couldn't have planned that rhyme if I tried. So while I'm not a photographer, I thought it might be worth running through some of the most basic settings to think about and what the advantages of certain lenses are. Turn that camera to manual!

PHOTOGRAPHY: THE IMPORTANCE OF WHITE SPACE

I think one of the biggest things I've learned about photography in the past few months is that sometimes less is more. Sometimes the best photos are the simplest and the most minimal. Take a look at Tamira's photography and you'll see what I mean. It's simple and clean and it's breathtaking. This isn't to say that busy photos never look good; I just find that it's much harder to compose them in an appealing manor. In my mind it's like a band – there are all these instruments going and if they're not all perfectly in synch (no, not Nsync thank god) it erodes into noise. So my suggestion is to consider taking a step back, pairing things down and giving everything space to breathe. I'll try to show you what I mean.

PHOTO EDITING TIPS: APPS EDITION

The great thing about using apps to edit your photos, rather than a program like Photoshop, is they do all the hard work for you. Adjustments, such as exposure or cropping, are all laid out in the most basic way possible and the filter options can instantly transform the feel of your photo. I have two apps that I alternate use of, depending on the occasion.

TOP PHOTO EDITING TIPS

Every once and a while I take a photo and that's it – everything came together nicely and it's ready to go up on the blog. The majority of the time, however, it takes a lot of editing to get my photo looking how I want it to. In the past few months of blogging I've developed a few simple and effective go-tos that I know will help improve the look of my photo however it's lacking. There are loads of photo editing programs available these days (Photoshop, Elements, Gimp, etc.), but my personal favourite is Paint.net. It's basically a free, paired down, user friendly version of Photoshop. So what go-to photo adjustments have we in the lineup?

HOW I EDIT MY PHOTOS

I take my photos with a Canon Rebel T3i and the EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens – the blogger special. That combo is a gem. But having a decent camera and lens (and good lighting) is only one of many aspects that make an appealing finished product. I use a variety of photo editing software on both my laptop and my phone to tinker about before I’m ready to put my photos up for your guys’ eyes.