photography tips

If you've read my Tips On Starting A Blog post that I published yesterday, you'll know why this post has not been done before over here on this blog. For me, photography is a very personal thing. Taking the photos for my blog is one of the most enjoyable thing for me and because I'm a very visual person, I love seeing the finished product. Everyone has their own unique style, but seen as though I get a few questions on my photography, I thought I'd explain them all over here!

THE CAMERA
The most obvious thing I could talk about on a photography post. I feel like bashing my head against a wall when people think that a big, fancy camera is the one you need to have a "good" blog. Wrong. I don't have a big fancy camera - I use my iPhone and still get compliments on my photography! These tips will hopefully let you get the best out of your camera - whether that be on your phone or your big-girl camera.

BACKGROUND
I personally prefer photos with a nice, uncluttered background. You also want just the right amount of product in the photo - too far away and you won't be able to read the detail, too close and you won't get a real idea of the size. This is where cropping comes in handy and leads me on to my next topic of editing.

EDITING

For me, editing is another crucial point of photography. Using online editors like PicMonkey can help with cropping, saturation and resizing issues, plus it's a lot of fun! This is actually my favourite part of writing a blog post. Fiddling around with the settings is a bit like creating your own Instagram filter. Simply type in Google 'Online photo editors free' and you'll find hundreds of websites capable of doing the job, it's just a case of playing around and getting to grips with your favourite.

One of the most important things to remember when editing a photo is not to change the photo too much - this can distort the photo and give an unclear interpretation of a product. You can edit as much or as little as you like and it's so fun just playing around with the different settings. Whether you're a filter or non-filter girl, a little nip and tuck won't hurt no one!

FOCUSING
Focusing... The bane of my life. This is where I'd definitely recommend a digital camera with lots of memory space! It can sometimes take me a good 20-30 photos to get one that's well focused. I've been using my iPhone for over a year now so I pretty much know it inside out. If you're a fellow iPhone user, you can simply tap the screen where you want to focus and it usually does it.  If that's not working for you, keep moving the camera slightly and keep tapping and it should focus.

LIGHTING
The lighting for a photo is pretty easy - just make sure that you're not using flash! Flash is good for personal photos but for blogging, it's a no-go for me. It makes the background dismal and the light flashes back from the colours and back into the lens. I would always recommend taking your photos in the day because of the natural light - it seriously is your best friend when taking good photos!

Saying this, you should always use natural lighting to your advantage and point the product away from direct lighting. If you put it in front of the lighting you're using, it shows all of the shadows in the product and just looks really unflattering. The natural lighting will give a true representation of the product and it's colours as well as a nice background.

If you're desperately needing to take a photo in the evening, I'd recommend buying some studio lighting. There's a few hanging around on eBay and often are bloggers' best friends when it comes to the Winter time! I've not got studio lighting personally so I can't comment on how well they photography because I always photograph in bulk throughout the day.

STOCK PHOTOS
There's one thing that I really hate when it comes to blogging photography... Stock photos. These are the images used by a retailer like Boots and I personally hate seeing them unless it's a wishlist type of post. I like to read honest reviews, and if the product not photographed by yourself, it makes me question whether or not you actually own the product!

It's very easy to write a quick blurb of something with a stock photo and publish it without even owning the product. It's the easy way out for me, and because I'm a very visual person, I like to see the product being used and how the blogger has photographed it!

I hoped you enjoyed reading this little mini-series! What's your ultimate photography tip?

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