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How to improve your blog photos

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6 TIPS TO IMPROVE
YOUR BLOG PHOTOS

 

It’s not like we have the greatest photography in the blogging world, but after doing this for five years we’ve learned from many errors we made a few tips you can easily apply to a blog’s photography, and most of them don’t involve any spending or extra knowledge in photography except for the basics. You may already do a few of them, and maybe some haven’t even crossed your mind, this quick guide to take better blog photos is handy for the person who already owns a blog, and for the one that’s in the process of developing their own (because it seems like the digital world is not going to disappear anytime soon, and it’s never too late to open a blog anyway).

1/EDIT YOUR PHOTOS

It never hurts to learn one or two things in Photoshop, a basic course is more than enough for you to make the most of your photos. Small things like cleaning up garbage from the ground, removing wrinkles from clothes, disappearing bruises you got at the gym, and fixing saturation or sharpness are what make the difference from a normal photo to a professional, blog-worthy one.

2/QUALITY/QUANTITY

Maybe you aren’t the kind of blogger who posts everyday, but when you do post try to present the best quality. If the photos aren’t of your liking, don’t post them! I also want to highlight how important is to select your photos, you may have 30 really good photos but repeating the same image with a different pose is visually tiring for your readers. Think of your blog like a magazine, and every post as an individual editorial. You want to show only the best photos.

3/INVEST IN EQUIPMENT

You don’t have to (I repeat: you -don’t- have to) buy the most expensive camera, but do your best to invest in one from middle range that gives you a good quality and focus image, we use Canon EOS 60D and we find it’s an excellent camera for its final purpose; blog and instagram images aren’t usually bigger than 2k pixels.

The basic lens that comes with most cameras is pretty good, I still use mine from time to time for specific shoots (every photo in this post, except for one, were taken with the basic 18-55mm f/3.5), however, for street style is recommended a lens that gives you a precise and focused bokeh so you’ll need a lens with at least a f/2 to be noticeable. The recommended lens for this are the 50mm f/1.8 (or if you want to invest in a really good one, the 50mm f/1.4) and the 85mm f/1.8 (the one we use the most). Anyway, don’t limit yourself to experiment with different lenses if you have the chance to, some bloggers take amazing photos with non-standard lenses.

4/PLAN, PLAN, PLAN

Maybe you won’t be able to do it every single time, but planning your photos guarantees a good result. It can go from searching a background that contrasts with your outfit to call a restaurant/cafe and ask for permission to take photos. Get inspired by magazines, your favorite photographers/bloggers and make the most of your city, you can surely find a diamond in the rough. Remember the best time to take photos goes from dawn to two hours before sunset ’til the night. As a golden rule: the higher the sun, the worst the lighting to take photos.

 

5/TEAM UP WITH CREATIVES

If your partner or family are lacking in the photography department, look up for local photographers or friends that are willing to help you out. Not only you’ll have more ideas from a second person, but both can benefit from each other work without paying anything. If, at the end of the day, you are unable to find anyone, do not hesitate to invest in a good tripod and a remote control; my friend Laia Navalón used to take her photos like this and no one noticed until she said it ’cause they were really good.

6/EXPERIMENT

Don’t stop experimenting and trying new things, I’m personally very perfectionist and I like my blog to have a certain style and vibe, but I still like to keep open the door for new possibilities. Five years haven’t been enough to make me an expert in this topic, but we hope you find this tips helpful.

 

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  2. These are so helpful! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂 now i’m thinking to get another lens, maybe the 85mm one. Also, I think you wrote your friend’s website incorrectly?

    Reply

    1. You’re totally right, Beatrix! Thanks for letting me know. I totally recommend the 85mm, it’s even better if you’ve got a full-frame body camera, you don’t have to be so far away 😉 x

      Reply

  5. Great tips. Thanks for making this post. I used to follow your blog few years back and you’re still one of the best for me.
    You look great on all your pictures.

    Reply

  7. love the tips. however, I would love to know which platform you use for creating your blog, I’m using blogger.com right now and not really loving the style. ♡

    Reply

  17. Adri están grandiosos tus tips, muchísimas gracias por compartirlos.

    Yo apenas cumplí mi primer año en abril y si te soy sincera siento que mis fotos y todo en sí es fatal jajaja. Al principio, cuando veía la calidad del trabajo de bloggers grandes decía ‘yo lo quiero así, ¿por qué no me queda así?, pero luego entendí que es como tú dices, un aprendizaje de tiempo, con sus errores y correcciones, es experiencia. Eso me hizo calmarme y pensar que tengo que ir mejorando a medida que aprendo pues no lo tendré de un día para otro.

    Grandioso el post, que bueno que dices lo de las fotos repetidas porque no me había fijado y yo cometo mucho ese error en el blog, misma foto diferente pose :S ahora ya lo tengo presente. Gracias de nuevo por compartir algunos de tus típs, son como un tesoro para mí y seguro que para muchas 🙂 que tengan una feliz mitad de semana.

    Reply

    1. Hi Karen!

      For Instagram I usually use Snapseed to clean and correct the color balance, if I take a photo with my DSLR for Instagram I do use Photoshop, it’s just easier! 😀

      Reply

  22. I love your photos. I just started blogging, and taking pictures for my blog has been the greatest issue I have so far. I have my IPhone and a cannon ELPH 110 HS which I bought a while ago. But it’s been difficult to the get the type of pictures I need from the cannon. I feel my phone does a better job. I don’t have money to spend on another camera. Maybe I’m just not go at taking pictures. Anyways, great photos from you.

    Reply

    1. Hi Odera, you can also take pretty good pictures with an iPhone! Thing is, you need absolutely great lighting for a good photo. How about if you do a collaboration with a photographer who already owns a DSLR? That way you don’t need to spend anything! 😉
      xx

      Reply

  23. Thank you for sharing these great tips! I couldn’t agree with you more on all points. I’m working to live up to these on my own blog I just launched! Collaborating with others is probably one of the best resources you can find. Thank you again.

    Reply