Having the perfect picture can make or break your article. Writing clear, beautiful, or helpful text is wonderful, but if the reader isn’t drawn in by your image, they’ll never see your words.
This week I interviewed Jillian McClenahan, from Jillianastasia.com, asking for her tips on creating beautiful pictures for your blog. Her blog is filled with stunning images, and I am excited to learn from a master. The interview questions were provided by members of the Creative Blogger’s Network.
Each photo that I share has the same two elements: natural light and a similar filter. Nothing will make your photos look more beautiful than natural light. Using a similar filter on each photo creates a consistent, cohesive look. VSCO is my favorite photo editing tool to use. I find the filters on Instagram to be a bit too harsh – the VSCO filters are subtle yet they make a huge impact on the lighting in your photos. It’s important to remember that any time you share a photo, you’re sharing a piece of your personal brand.
Experiment with the crop. Cropping is such a simple, underestimated way to drastically change the appearance of your photo. Don’t immediately trash a photo without experimenting with different ways to crop it.
Play around with the composition. Try photographing your objects centered, off-center, in aerial view or straight on. I have to admit that I’ve taken 500 photos in order to get 5 winners.
My aesthetic mostly consists of photos that are placed in a textured setting – such as wood or brick. I love the dimension that a natural texture adds to a photo. A white background can yield beautiful results if that’s an element that represents your brand. Once you decide the look and feel you want to achieve in your photos, just be consistent!
Fancy equipment isn’t essential to taking beautiful photos. I often rely on my iPhone when a photo opportunity comes up unexpectedly. When you’re ready to invest in professional gear, a DSLR camera and tripod would be the first step.
When shooting inside, two of settings you’ll want to pay attention to are the ISO (the amount of light absorbed by the sensor) and the Aperture or f stop (how fast the shutter opens). A higher ISO setting will allow your camera to take in more light. However, the higher the ISO setting, the higher the chances for a blurry or grainy photo – this is where your tripod will be essential. The Aperture or f stop controls how much of the photo is in focus. Higher f stop = more focus area. Lower f stop = a portion of focus area.
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24 Responses
Great tips, and my question got answered. Thank you! 🙂
Great tips! I need to work on my photos! My DH is a wondeful semi pro photographer but he doesn’t always have time to take all my blog pics for me. I am sharing this with him too.
The cropping on is a biggie. I used to just delete the photo without cropping and tweaking. I think I threw away a few really great ones. Never again!
Do you have tips for using cameras other than DSLR?
These are great tips! I love that these photos have texture in the background instead of white. I’ve been trying to find my “style,” so it was nice to see a different style than the norm!
Great tips – you’ve inspired me to pull out my “fancy” camera again. Thank you!
Great tips. This will certainly help me work on my photos. Thanks.
Great tips! I learned something new today. Thank you for sharing!! Pinned.
Thanks for sharing this article. Really helpful tips.
Photos are so important for a post or article, especially if pinning or just to catch someone’s eye. This is filled with great information.
I like the filters on some of your photos. I am a big Instagrammer-filter user. My husband got us a nice new camera to use for all of the baby pictures we’re going to be taking in the very near future so we’re going to also be using that for my blogging as well. I’m excited!
I love her photographs. Thanks for sharing the tips!
Some really great info in this article. The consistency part is key. Find a look and stick with it sooner rather than later so that people get to know it’s you just by the image.
Photography is the part I prefer in blogging. These are really nice infos I can use. Thanks for taking the time to write about it and sharing your experience!
This is great, exactly what I needed to read right now! Thanks for the interview!
Thank you so much for explaining the f-stop and the ISO. I’ve never had any idea about those settings. Now I have something to go experiment with.
This was an awesome interview! The questions were so helpful. Amy your writeup was brilliant, concise, and insightful as always and Jillian was amazing at providing her secrets. I follow her on pinterest and just ooh and ahh at her images. I learned a lot from this post and will apply these tips to my photography for my blog. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing your photo tips. I love taking pictures, but I’m not an expert when it comes to lighting or editing.
Great info! Pinned!
I love her photography and tips!! Thank you so much for sharing, great info.
Great tips! I have to try experimenting more with cropping.
This is great advice that I need to start putting into practice on my blog! Photography is the part that I find really difficult!
Those are great tips. I really like the advice on cropping the photos since I do that fairly regularly. I don’t generally take great photos so it was nice to hear that maybe I was doing one thing right.
Great tips! Beautiful photos!