Beginners Guide To Taking Amazing Photos For Your Blog

Hello dearest photo lovers! If you're learning or just wanting to spruce pictures for your blog, read below for some insights.

1. Master your camera

With so many cameras in the market, it’s easy to find one that fits your needs and budget. Bonus points if it shoots in RAW (more on this later). There are a lot of great cameras that take amazing pictures, but the most important thing is to learn how to use it. Master your camera settings and learn to shoot in manual. Learn to set Aperture, Shutter speed, ISO, and how they play together to capture the perfect image.

2. Find YOUR own angle

Sometimes this can be a challenge, but the fun part is you get to practice 'til you master that edge. If you google the Eiffel tower, you can see it from every single angle in Paris. What will make yours look different? Maybe try not to take it where thousands of tourists conglomerate. Try going back a few blocks, maybe go on a rooftop and take a picture of the city with the Eiffel tower in the background, etc...The more you snap, the more you'll be closer to finding an angle that you're happy with and want to share with others. Remember, pictures for your blog should embody the way you see the world through the lens.

3. Find the perfect light.

Everything sounds so easy, right? ;) Sunlight sometimes is not your best friend. Direct sunlight makes thing looks harsh. When you have a very sunny day, everything looks washed out and faces under direct sunlight creates harsh contrast and deep shadows. Seek shadows or wait until the golden hour (around sunset or sunrise). Don’t wait too long or you'll find yourself snapping in the dark. Unless you are shooting city lights or a specific setting, you will most likely need some kind of light. Some people think cloudy days are the worst to shoot, but in reality, it’s so much better. For very sunny days, get a polarizing filter for your lens. This will make a huge difference.

4. Be discreet

Not everybody likes someone in their personal space taking pictures. When landing images of people and/or their animal companions, ask for permission. One of my favorite cameras, for street photography is the Fuji X100 series. It is a small - yet high quality - camera with a vintage look.

5. Tell a story

Anyone can say that but how does it actually happen? It's like showing you the destination without sharing the journey. And how does that saying go? It's the journey and not the destination that matters? – Point taken. Images can speak for themselves but are much more meaningful when you can truly showcase the story behind it all.

Show us how you got there, who is there with you, what surrounds you, what catches your eyes, where are you, show us your face, your back, your hand, show us all of you! Show us all the fun you are having

6. Editing

Editing your pictures makes All.The.Difference. Editing can set the tone you are going for or your signature style. Let's get technical, shall we?

When you shoot in RAW (an uncompressed file with the image's information), it makes a world of difference to edit RAW files. Picture too dark? With Raw files, you can recover all those details that were lost from lack of light.

When you shoot in JPEG (a compressed file), a lot of details get lost. In this case, when an image is too dark, and you lighten it, you may not recover the details and/or you will get a very noisy picture.

If you want to take your pictures to the next level, you will need to edit them. You can use Lightroom or Photoshop to edit them. To speed up the process, create presets that you can easily apply to the photos and just do some minor tweaking. If you do not want to pay for the subscription fee attached to these software, you can use free software. Lightroom and Photoshop have a free mobile version.

You can now edit raw photos using the following apps

• Lightroom Mobile

• Snapspeed

• Darkroom

• VSCO

• Afterlight

Let’s say your camera doesn’t shoot RAW, or you just shoot in a standard format like JPEG and call it a day - guess what? That’s ok! But if you want to take your photos to the next level, RAW is the way to go. You just need to be more attentive when you are taking pictures to not overexposed (too bright) or underexposed (too dark).

There's a plethora of editing software and tools through apps. I do a combination of both. Keep in mind that when you are editing on your phone, you can only edit JPEG.

7. Practice

Yes, practice makes perfect! If you don’t feel a little embarrassed about your old photos, you may not be growing as a photographer. Go out and practice, try new techniques, watch YouTube videos, seek new challenges. It takes time to finetune photography skills.

Excited? Overwhelmed? Sounds like a lot of work but once you get yourself organized with style, preferences, and tools, you'll enjoy taking pictures for your blog much more than before! Running a blog is a lot of work, and if you want to stand out, you will need to put the time and effort into creating something outstanding.

If you want to improve your photography skills, watch youtube videos, follow your favorite photographer or blogger and get familiar with how they achieve their style. Read photography blogs, bloggers' tips - there is a lot of information out there. Take advantage of it. And don’t forget to learn how to use your camera. If you have a camera that lets you shoot in MANUAL, do so! Learn to control it.