Hi lovelies!
As part of my foray into the world of blogging tips and tutorials, I thought I'd put together a little post on how to get the best photographs that you can!
I can't stress how important good photography is to a blog. I also know that probably sounds a little hypocritical coming from me, whose photography is rather erratic at the best of times! But, it is really important if I had the chance to magically make some aspect of my blogging perfect, it would definitely be to be able to produce consistently great photographs. That's why I've been focusing a lot on my photography and it's set-up recently. And, I thought I would talk you through some solid tips to help you get your photography better than it's ever been! While I designed this post with nails sort of in mind, they really apply to most blogging photography.
Originally I was going to arrange these in order of importance, but then realised non are more important than any other and you need the combination of all of these (and more!) in order to produce good photos. However, in saying that, there is a couple of super important points that I want to mention before I delve into the nitty grittys.
First off is that you need to take your camera off the auto setting. You will not get any decent photos with your camera on auto (it's depicted by a little A, or Auto). Put the camera on program auto at the very least. Program means that the camera automatically sets the aperture and shutter speed but allows you to change things like the white balance, macro and ISO settings, all of which are important and I will talk about later.
The second thing that I want to touch on is that you don't need a big fancy DSLR camera to take good pictures. I have used a Canon 60D in the past, and while I liked it and it's useful in some instances, my heart lies still with my favourite baby, my Olympus XZ-1. This is a little more than a standard point and shoot but less intense as a proper DSLR. It also takes excellent glow in the dark pictures and it's less bulky when I'm trying to manoeuvre it around my rather small photography set-up.
So now we have that sorted, lets move on...
Macro
This is probably the simplest and most straightforward change you will ever make and it produces instant results. Macro photography refers to the ability to photograph objects at larger than life ratios, or simply put, really really close up. Putting your camera on the macro setting (usually depicted by a little flower) allow you to take close up, in focus pictures - ideal for nails or make-up or samples or food.
White Balance
Adjusting the white balance (or WB) is something that many people don't do when starting out with photography, but it can, and will make a huge difference and it also is very important for bloggers. Changing the white balance basically means to adjust the colours in the photo so that they are as true to life as possible. It sounds pretty necessary, doesn't it? And yes, it is. This is especially true for bloggers, as when we are taking product shots, or photos of our nails, we need the colours to be as true to life as possible, particularly for reviews. In the WB setting on your camera, their will be a selection of pre-set options. Now, you can use these if you want, but I personally find it easy, a lot less trial and error, and more accurate to use the custom white balance mode.
The custom WB setting is depicted by an icon that looks like a circle sitting between two triangles (which is the one on the very right). The way to activate this setting will be different on each camera, but on mine, you have to select it, press info and then take a picture of a white piece of paper. The camera will then adjust it's settings to ensure that the white looks white. Got it? It's pretty simple, isn't it. But, for comparison, here's three pictures which were all taken using exactly the same settings, except for the WB. The first is using a custom WB, second is daylight and third is fluorescent. Pretty different, huh?
ISO
Aperture, shutter speed and ISO together form the basis of good photography, but I think ISO is the easiest to get your head around. Also, if you are just starting out, shutter speeds are a lot confusing to get your head around, especially in conjunction with aperture and ISO. I still find shutter speed confusing, and I've been dabbling in photography for over 5 years! Anyway, back to ISO. Put simply, ISO controls your camera's sensitivity to light. So, a higher ISO means it picks up more light with the same shutter speed and aperture settings, resulting in brighter pictures. Sounds perfect, right? Everyone wants lovely bright pictures. However, there is a downside. The higher your ISO (the brighter the pictures) the more noise, or grain, you get in them. Which is not a nice look.
As you can see, getting the correct ISO is pretty important. You can of course adjust brightness and levels later in the editing stage, but the better you can get the original pictures, the less work you have to do later and the better they look. Personally, I have mine between 160 and 200, except for when I take glow in the dark shots, but that's a whole other ball game.
Light
Having good lighting is essential to getting good photos. Ideally natural light would be the best option, but we all lead busy lives and it's a bit hard for us to be planning our photography around the sun's whims. So, in that case, your next best option is a lot of lamps and some good, full spectrum bulbs. Full-spectrum bulbs means that it is a close to neutral light as you can get (ie. without a cool,blue tint or a warm/yellow tint). Personally, I have two lamps, one that lights from above and one that lights from the front. This means I can eradicate large shadows behind (which would happen without the top lamp) and at the front (which would happen without the top lamp).
Background/Location
When you're taking product/nail shots, you need to make sure you have a clean, non-distracting background. I used to take my photos outside, in my garden, where the lighting was always good, but it meant you ended up with weird shots of my veggie garden and aviary. Now, I take them inside, where the lighting isn't as great, but I can control it a lot more. I also always take my pictures against a white piece of paper because it makes my pictures more uniform looking and it helps me get the correct WB. In terms of location, I would also suggest a room with as close to neutral colours as possible. As you can see here, my room is a vivid orange and when I try and shoot in there it makes all my pictures come out a bit too warm. So now I shoot in my bathroom, which is way lighter than my bedroom and the walls are cream, so it creates a much more neutral environment and so the pictures are more true to life.
And that brings me to the end of my exceeding picture heavy post about photography. If you use any of my tips, please let me know in the comments or tag me on instagram (@polish_plus_) because I'd love to see the difference in your photos!
As part of my foray into the world of blogging tips and tutorials, I thought I'd put together a little post on how to get the best photographs that you can!
I can't stress how important good photography is to a blog. I also know that probably sounds a little hypocritical coming from me, whose photography is rather erratic at the best of times! But, it is really important if I had the chance to magically make some aspect of my blogging perfect, it would definitely be to be able to produce consistently great photographs. That's why I've been focusing a lot on my photography and it's set-up recently. And, I thought I would talk you through some solid tips to help you get your photography better than it's ever been! While I designed this post with nails sort of in mind, they really apply to most blogging photography.
First off is that you need to take your camera off the auto setting. You will not get any decent photos with your camera on auto (it's depicted by a little A, or Auto). Put the camera on program auto at the very least. Program means that the camera automatically sets the aperture and shutter speed but allows you to change things like the white balance, macro and ISO settings, all of which are important and I will talk about later.
The second thing that I want to touch on is that you don't need a big fancy DSLR camera to take good pictures. I have used a Canon 60D in the past, and while I liked it and it's useful in some instances, my heart lies still with my favourite baby, my Olympus XZ-1. This is a little more than a standard point and shoot but less intense as a proper DSLR. It also takes excellent glow in the dark pictures and it's less bulky when I'm trying to manoeuvre it around my rather small photography set-up.
 |
| Still my favourite baby... |
So now we have that sorted, lets move on...
Macro
This is probably the simplest and most straightforward change you will ever make and it produces instant results. Macro photography refers to the ability to photograph objects at larger than life ratios, or simply put, really really close up. Putting your camera on the macro setting (usually depicted by a little flower) allow you to take close up, in focus pictures - ideal for nails or make-up or samples or food.
White Balance
Adjusting the white balance (or WB) is something that many people don't do when starting out with photography, but it can, and will make a huge difference and it also is very important for bloggers. Changing the white balance basically means to adjust the colours in the photo so that they are as true to life as possible. It sounds pretty necessary, doesn't it? And yes, it is. This is especially true for bloggers, as when we are taking product shots, or photos of our nails, we need the colours to be as true to life as possible, particularly for reviews. In the WB setting on your camera, their will be a selection of pre-set options. Now, you can use these if you want, but I personally find it easy, a lot less trial and error, and more accurate to use the custom white balance mode.
The custom WB setting is depicted by an icon that looks like a circle sitting between two triangles (which is the one on the very right). The way to activate this setting will be different on each camera, but on mine, you have to select it, press info and then take a picture of a white piece of paper. The camera will then adjust it's settings to ensure that the white looks white. Got it? It's pretty simple, isn't it. But, for comparison, here's three pictures which were all taken using exactly the same settings, except for the WB. The first is using a custom WB, second is daylight and third is fluorescent. Pretty different, huh?
ISO
Aperture, shutter speed and ISO together form the basis of good photography, but I think ISO is the easiest to get your head around. Also, if you are just starting out, shutter speeds are a lot confusing to get your head around, especially in conjunction with aperture and ISO. I still find shutter speed confusing, and I've been dabbling in photography for over 5 years! Anyway, back to ISO. Put simply, ISO controls your camera's sensitivity to light. So, a higher ISO means it picks up more light with the same shutter speed and aperture settings, resulting in brighter pictures. Sounds perfect, right? Everyone wants lovely bright pictures. However, there is a downside. The higher your ISO (the brighter the pictures) the more noise, or grain, you get in them. Which is not a nice look.
As you can see, getting the correct ISO is pretty important. You can of course adjust brightness and levels later in the editing stage, but the better you can get the original pictures, the less work you have to do later and the better they look. Personally, I have mine between 160 and 200, except for when I take glow in the dark shots, but that's a whole other ball game.
Light
Having good lighting is essential to getting good photos. Ideally natural light would be the best option, but we all lead busy lives and it's a bit hard for us to be planning our photography around the sun's whims. So, in that case, your next best option is a lot of lamps and some good, full spectrum bulbs. Full-spectrum bulbs means that it is a close to neutral light as you can get (ie. without a cool,blue tint or a warm/yellow tint). Personally, I have two lamps, one that lights from above and one that lights from the front. This means I can eradicate large shadows behind (which would happen without the top lamp) and at the front (which would happen without the top lamp).
Background/Location
When you're taking product/nail shots, you need to make sure you have a clean, non-distracting background. I used to take my photos outside, in my garden, where the lighting was always good, but it meant you ended up with weird shots of my veggie garden and aviary. Now, I take them inside, where the lighting isn't as great, but I can control it a lot more. I also always take my pictures against a white piece of paper because it makes my pictures more uniform looking and it helps me get the correct WB. In terms of location, I would also suggest a room with as close to neutral colours as possible. As you can see here, my room is a vivid orange and when I try and shoot in there it makes all my pictures come out a bit too warm. So now I shoot in my bathroom, which is way lighter than my bedroom and the walls are cream, so it creates a much more neutral environment and so the pictures are more true to life.
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| Strawberries from here and pink and white design from here |
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