Posts
- Ixnay on the mirror shots
- always using a tripod or having someone photograph me
- trying to get pictures in outside light if at all possible (spoiler, it's not super possible with the winter weather we've been having here)
While I definitely don't think I have arrived at photo perfection, and there's LOTS of room for me to improve, when I look back, the progress is still very noticeable!
Here's one of my early OOTD pictures:
And here's a recent favorite:
I haven't even changed cameras (heck, I still use my cell phone camera much of the time).
One other way I've been trying to improve my pictures is doing post-processing - i.e., using image editing software. I am not into complicated things, and software like Photoshop just frightens me. There are free versions of image editing software, like gimp for mac, but it is also really complicated-seeming to me.
So, since I was already using Picasa web albums to store and organize my pictures online, when Picasa added Picnik on as a free image editing app, I started taking advantage of it since it was so simple to use!
One thing I always do with pictures is crop and adjust the exposure. Cropping helps take the focus away from the hallway/floor/countertop/desk/cars going by/photobombing pets and put it on you, the stylish blogger.
see the difference cropping makes?
Adjusting the exposure is a great way to salvage indoor photos that you just couldn't get to be light enough. This has happened to me a LOT this winter when outdoor photos weren't an option due to the rain and gloom:
so gloomy!
An outdoor picture in filtered sunlight is always going to look better than an indoor photo that has had more fill light added to it, but that doesn't mean you can't get a serviceable picture from an indoor photo session:
see, this pic isn't perfect but it's still sassy and shows the outfit.
Other than enabling cropping/exposure adjustement, Picnik has a wide variety of other free effects you can try. They are all under the "create" tab > "effects" category.
Here's the result of playing around with a single picture the other night:
Original:
Holga-ish:
1960s:
Vignette:
There are a couple other things I try to keep in mind as well:
- Try to shoot at head level or lower to avoid the distorted "myspace angle", but not too low or you get exaggerated chins (which is the name of my band. Just kidding.)
- There are lots of free, cool iphone and android apps to take pictures with effects (I recommend fxcamera for android and hipstamatic or camerabag for iphone). I will do that sometimes, but I often just shoot plain format so I can add effects later.
- I decided I'd rather try to post less often and have better pictures than feel like I have to post daily.
What are some of your photo tips and tricks? Are there any photo pitfalls you see yourself falling into time and time again?
