How To Take Good Blog Photos and Tips on How To Make Them Better

In the past few days I was thinking of writing a different and interesting article, not the usual beauty reviews you often see here. As if God heard my dilemma, a while ago, a good friend during an event told me that there was a certain comment against me on youtube and she showed it to me.
Nakakaloka ka namen teh.. kalma lang :)) hehe
Thank you for that comment, Tara . Without it, I won't have time to reevaluate my photos because personally I am really sort of a perfectionist on this area. Your comments also paved the way for me to come up with this blog post.

Admittedly,  I would often get praises and some people, like Tara, would criticize my photos because for them it seemed/looked so edited. So what's the buzz with my photos nga ba?  hehe
Thus, after reading Tara's comment, I came to realize that its a good way to help new bloggers and wannabe bloggers in their blog. :) One of the best way to draw readers - take good pictures! :) Oh, you could also gain instagram followers too.. hehe :)

So, here are my simple tips on how to take good photos for you blog and how to make them better :

1. Make sure you have good lighting. It does not matter if you have an 8mp or less camera but with good lighting you can get the most amazing pictures.  I bought two lamps with fluorescent bulbs but nothing beats natural light. I only take pictures until 3-4 pm.. at 5 pm my pictures would turn out dim and my camera would not even capture the products and swatches properly.

2. Think of ways on how do you want to present your photos. If you want readers to mainly focus on the product or swatches, just use a white background. I use white folder btw and it works perfectly fine. Otherwise, you can use artistic backdrops like other bloggers and photographic set ups like those in a magazine lay out.

3. Get a camera that suits your style. You can actually do a lot with a digicam. I honestly don't know why I got a dslr. A digicam is perfect for blogging, you can bring it to events and it has everything you need from flash to zoom lens. . For dslr, you need certain lens to achieve the photo that you want. For example, my 50mm prime lens can't be used to capture fine details, thus I just use my dslr for face shots or other product shots. My digicam, however, is very well loved and abused at the same time. It can take photos of my lashes even my iris because it has 30x zoom. So when you buy your camera for blogging, think of the things you need, will I take swatches or will I do food blogging? List down the pros and cons. Do not be impulsive like me. I got a dslr thinking it will make my photos better but it turned out that I am fine with a digicam after all.

4. Like a lover, make sure you know your camera well. :) Discover your camera settings. Do not be afraid to turn that dial and change from one setting to the other. You will find your favorite setting and you will learn what setting to use in different circumstances.

5. Take as many shots as you can at different angles. As for me, I can spend my entire weekend morning taking  photos. I can take 200-500 shots depending on the volume of product I take pictures of. You will see that the more photos you take, the more options you have. You can even see that taking a palette with this angle is better or otherwise.

6. Lastly, make your photos better if you need to. What I usually do if my photos are really good is that I just resize and put watermark on it (best photos are taken during summer time because natural lighting is extra bright). Otherwise, I tweak photos to show the real life imagery of a product never to tamper or make it appear that the product is better. For example I never tweak pictures to say to my readers - hey, look! this foundation made me look flawless or my lip swatches are too pigmented when in real life it isn't. Who am I fooling? My readers, the reason why this blog is still up and running? Sometimes, I even think that brands do not want to contact me because I drop brand names and products that are not so worth my readers' penny.

By the way, before I was using photoescape, but last year I learned that a website like picnic is once again up and running. I use picmonkey (www.picmoneky.com).
 Sometime a photo can look too yellow or too bland, thus, when I am blogging I see to it that swatches are what it looks like on photos. Sometimes, red on my lips, look orange picture. You get what I mean?Picmonkey is very easy to use not like photoshop with many alien buttons and applications. In Picmonkey I just tweak highlights and shadows or at times,  "colors' because as I have mentioned earlier actuals colors are not always captured in picture.

Oh here are some of my raw pictures straight from my camera.. as in literal na from my camera.  hehe
Please do tell me if based from these set of photos if major overhaul was done or there is a huge difference with my before and after shots. I really welcome suggestions and comments. :)






 My Makeup of the Day Post
My Ellana Minerals Foundation Post :)
ohhh.. I will be doing a wet method way of contouring post but I did not like the photos I took  a while since I just experimented on it, so I will  do a retake.  :)

At the end of the day, you need to have a good photo as a base, otherwise even you are learned in photoshop or any other computer program, your pictures will not turn out good at all.

:)

Godbless everyone!


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A blog of young Filipina lawyer and Professional Makeup Artist who found interest in makeup and blogging during her law school life. Peek into her blog to get a dose of ramblings about life, beauty and everything in between.

20 comments

  1. Hey! This post truly is helpful! <3 I use PICMONKEY too, that can do wonders and helps me tweak the colors to bring them "closer" to the real-life swatches.
    One question - I have a DSLR and I want to buy a good Digi-cam, which one would you recommend (if you know any)?
    Cheers! <3

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    1. Hi I always loved sony digicam .. :) SOny takes good macro shots :)

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  2. Haters gonna hate! Just continue what you are doing, Donna, you are an inspiration to us newbie bloggers!

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  3. Just ignore the haters... they're all the same, mga inggiterang frogs who can't achieve anything kaya they resort to bashing others. I've met you a few times na and you're a really nice person Ms. Donna, more power to you! =)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haters are not entirely mean and bad people I do believe that they just have issues (whether it be emotionally and spiritually within themselves) that's why they resort to these antics. :) Thanks Rattus.. mwaah

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  4. you do take great pictures... even professional photographers need some post-processing... it's not about fooling your readers.. gaaahh... so many trolls...

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    1. all my cards are laid down because I love my readers..BF told me you blogged about how to take your photos, that's like a trade secret ah! :) hihihi

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  5. Hey, what's wrong with post-processing? I always post-process my photos to make the colors more vivid and closer to real life. And your face photos on this blog actually show the effects of the base makeup you used. Hey bashers, before commenting, "todo Photoshop si ganito ganyan", study PS first, okay?

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    1. I love post processing oc lang ako talaga.. :)

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  6. Ehh panong naging photoshop-ed ang photos mo? I always use Photoshop, and as a designer alam ko ang difference ng edit sa hindi. And I'm happy, na nai-share mo yung way ng pagtake mo ng photos. Kasi bet na bet ko ang mga product photos mo kaya. :)

    I don't have light bulbs, but plano ko na rin mag invest na gumawa ng lightbox na mura lang hihi. But nothing beats natural lighting, at maganda ang place ko to take photos for that kasi super liwanag sa lugar ko and like you 3-5pm naman ako nagttake, minsan nga tanghali pa pag sinipag lol. Ako nga nagaadjust ng brightness/level/curve/ pero nandun parin ung swatch/color ng product.

    Siguro imbyerna siya sa ganda ng photos mo haha!

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    1. turuan mo nga ako magphotoshop sis.. hehhe:) may lightbox sa cdr king.. :)

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  7. Baka masyado kang maganda kaya feel niya photoshop warzone ang pics mo? Additionally, I think your super finely-blended eyeshadow makes it look fake. Fan ako ng lip swatches mo!

    I like this post ha. I'm only starting to apply tips I got earlier on when I started asking about pics. Natural light is the best nga talaga! I was trying to make a lightbox work for so long but natural light is way more flattering and easier! Follow up post: size and dimensions and other settings. And where to store originals (do you even have to?)

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    1. I will do a separate post on this Tellie! Thanks for the suggestions.. :)

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  8. This is such a great and helpful post Donna. I also think it's very classy of you to turn that comment into something positive and helpful. I also use Picmonkey! Very easy to use nga! :) Keep it up! :)

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  9. I also use Photoscape for adjusting the levels of my photo and nothing else. Personally, I don't think that your photos look "edited". Maybe she's just jealous. Natural lighting talaga is recommended since I'm using digicam by GE. More power!

    -Leah
    http://simplyyleah.blogspot.com

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  10. I agree that you have to take awesome pictures to gain more followers. It's very true that nothing beats natural lighting when it comes to taking photos. That's why if I have free time on mornings, I take as many pictures as I can. So, that I won't need to set up my makeshift lightbox and lamps indoors. hehe

    I used to use my Nikon D5000 DSLR to take my products photos, but it's bulky. And adjusting the camera settings is a pain! So, I've been using a point and shoot Canon Digital Camera since last year. I know that some of my readers thought that I'm using a DSLR but it's just a point and shot digicam and good ol natural lighting. ^_^

    I have used picmonkey a couple of times, but it irks me when I there's a tool that I really want to use but only available to paying customers. So, I always come back to trustee Photoshop CS4 or CS5.

    I would like to point out, that "There is a NEED to edit blog photos".

    First, I need to adjust the size and resolution so that it loads quickly and fits my blog to a tee.
    Second, I also need to add watermark to establish ownership of my work
    Third, I have to adjust the brightness and contrast of the photos so that the true color of the product will show. Sometimes, I have to adjust other settings just so the color will look like the actual product.
    Lastly, Crisp and Clear blog photos easily catches readers attention.

    I hope that clears everything up.

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  11. Thanks for sharing the photo tips here. Keep up the good work. All the best.

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  12. Thanks for convincing me not to buy a DSLR~ I am actually using my iPad Mini or Sony W150 (Super old) Camera for my pics. But I am planning to buy Canon G16, because of blogging, and travel too. :-)

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  13. i don't get a lot of people who thinks post-processing is such a big crime. i always post-process photos i share on my blog to make them at least presentable and inviting. and it does not mean when you use photoshop you are already cheating the photos, which i strongly disagree.(pag photoshoped "edited" agad hindi ba pwedeng "enhanced" lang? hahaha) ate dona, you inspired me sooo much to make my own blog. just ignore the haters... more power to you! :) :) :)


    PS: thaaankyou so much for sharing your secrets in capturing beautiful pictures! i've been waiting for this for so long hihi. God bless <3

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