Aside from good prose and passion for subject matter, I must say that I’m 100% swayed by good photos in blogs. Humans are visual creatures and a good photograph speaks volumes. I may not be interested in the product or brand but a good photograph will draw me in hook line and sinker to read the post, if nothing else. I may never buy it, or even be remotely interested in it, but I’ll read the post – because the photos are gorgeous. I will even subscribe to a blog just because their photos win me over and if they write well, wow! 😀
If you have a beauty blog, or a fashion blog or a lifestyle blog, aside from design and prose, good and interesting photographs are essential. Sometimes, readers aren’t visiting for what you have to say – they are visiting to see what you have to show them. Instead of preaching from my soapbox, I’ve decided to get some insights from other bloggers 🙂
Since I move around the beauty blogging circle more than other niches, I have contacted 4 of my favourite beauty bloggers (who are all top beauty bloggers in their own right! 😀 ) whose blogs showcase beautiful photos, to have them share their tips for taking good photographs, and the equipment they use 🙂
I think you would be quite familiar with them, won’t you? 😉 Their tips are invaluable too.
I asked each of these top bloggers for their 1 tip for taking good photos and the most popular tip was lighting.
Top Tip: Lighting
Photo from Messy Wands
Xiao of Messy Wands, Le Metier de Beaute afficionado based in Boston/New York tells us:-
Make sure you have ample lighting! When the photo is well lit, the rest is taken care of (or at least, easy to deal with). My best photo sets were when I had a huge window at my apartment and all I needed to do was snap away. Find a time when sunlight is not so harsh so you get a softer glow on your face 🙂
Charlotte of popular UK blog Lipglossiping concurs with this lighting tip.
The key to taking a well-lit blog photo is to “find the light”. Many bloggers feel that in order to achieve great shots, they need to invest in lightboxes, studio setups, and other fancy equipment. Not true! Ninety percent of my photos (especially FOTDs) are taken in natural light, courtesy of a large window. The trick is to use a window that benefits from plenty of indirect light, let the sky act as a giant softbox for you. If you live in the Northern hemisphere, seek out a North-facing window to achieve day-long, diffused light. If you reside in the Southern hemisphere, the opposite applies and you should use a South-facing window. The further you live from the equator, the more important this rule becomes as the sun’s path from East to West will be lower in the sky, casting more direct (unflattering in this case) light upon your subject.
Photo from Lipglossiping
Did you know that about the Northern and Southern hemisphere thing? I didn’t! But then, I live near the Equator so for most of us living near the Equator, my tip for you to find the light, is to find an area which gets lots of natural light but not direct sunlight streaming in through the window. Afternoons (between 12-3pm) aren’t a good time because the sun is too bright and too much shadow is cast. I find that the light is best in the mornings or in the late afternoons. In the morning, the light is weaker and so is more diffused especially if it comes through a window. In the late afternoons, although the light is stronger, it is softer and warmer and a little more flattering to the skin. If you are doing product shots, I find that again, morning or mid-afternoon light is better. The shadows aren’t as harsh and if you are shooting near a window, the window or sheer curtain can act as a diffuser.
I must say though that its hard if you have no choice but to work at night, or under artificial light. In those cases then maybe a light box will be an investment or diffused flash, or using a bright light source. To get around having to be forced to take night shots, I try to spend some time on weekends doing photo shoots using natural light. A little time invested, for some potentially excellent photos 🙂
Top Tip: Getting Close Up
You may realise that many of the top blogs or blogs with beautiful photos always have a close up shot of the product, product swatch or the product in action on eye, lips, face etc.
Photo from Beautyholics Anonymous
Tine of Australian beauty blog Beautyholics Anonymous shares her top tip for getting that good close up macro shot of a product in action on your face.
To take accurate close-up pictures of your makeup (e.g. lips, eyes), do it with a mirror in front of you. Hold the camera close to your eyes or lips (macro mode), press half-way, and look in the mirror to see where the focus is (usually in a green box). If the focus is not on your eye, but say your nose, try again. Angle the camera differently. Do it until you get the focus on where it should be, and then press all the way down on the button.
This is an excellent tip. If you really want to show a close up of something, make sure it is sharp where it matters. There is a difference between a good photograph where there is good focus on the object and a blurred background; and a bad photograph where nothing is in focus and its just a blur mess. Avoid the latter. It can actually bring down the quality of your blog because it looks like you couldn’t even be bothered to take a clear photo.
Top Tip: Post Production is your friend
Excellent Video by Rae on theNotice
Rae of theNotice, a Canadian beauty blog, takes beautiful photos but she is the first to admit that they may not look as amazing straight out of the camera without a little post production work.
I’m kind of crazy about post-production, to be totally honest. Lighting is really important, and it’s definitely my top priority, but images on theNotice are guaranteed to pass through Photoshop (at least once!) before being posted.
Even if you don’t have the best camera, there’s so much you can do once the image is on your computer — just make sure the image is in-focus and reasonably bright to begin with. Raw images don’t necessarily equate to the most accurate ones, so go ahead & tweak things like brightness and colour temperature before putting them up on your blog.
There is a lot of truth in Rae’s tip. I’m not very good with post production myself, so while I simply try to get the best shot I can on camera with the best lighting possible, I always run it through post production, to crop the photo and sometimes to adjust lighting and contrasts for best possible effects. I can’t do much more than that (also because it takes too much time) but doing a quick once over is usually very beneficial and can make a good photo an amazing one! However, as Rae says, make sure you start with a reasonably well lit and sharp photo so your post production work is minimized. Oh, and if you are taking photoshop to your face, please please for the love of everything beautiful, minimise the use of the blur and glow tool. I think it much too over used 😛
What is your camera?
Ironically, every single one of the 4 ladies I interviewed uses a Canon camera. I use a Canon myself too! Ahem! 😛
- Xiao shoots with a Canon EOS t3i (EOS 600D) DSLR with a 50mm f/1.4 lens and 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens for her pictures.
- Charlotte shoots with a Canon 50D DSLR and her most used lens is a Tamron 17-50mm f2.8
- Rae shoots with a Canon Rebel XSi (EOS 450D) + the kit lens (18-55mm)
- Tine shoots with a Panasonic Lumix LX5 for most of her blog photos and Canon 400D DSLR + Tamron AF 17-50mm lens for her FOTD shots
Personally, having started out with a regular point and shoot camera, using a prosumer and then graduating to a DSLR camera last year, I will say that it is not the camera that makes the shot, but your skill using it. Tine says her point and shoot camera gives her the sharpness and colour accurate product shots she needs while she uses the DSLR mostly for face shots as the depth of field is more flattering. I switch between a point and shoot (I use the Lumix LX5 too) and DSLR although I shoot mostly with the DSLR these days.
If you have the budget and want to go for a DSLR and its your first time, there’s no need aiming for the best in the range. Rae says that her camera and lens is just entry level and basic, and that entry-level products are fantastic to start off with, not just because they’re affordable. “They really force you to focus on what you’re doing (rather than what your equipment’s doing) in order to produce a high-quality image, making them a great exercise in technique at any level.” I think she’s absolutely right! You will know when you’ve outgrown your kit lens and its time to upgrade 🙂
Remember: You don’t need a DSLR to get good photos. You just need to spend some time with your camera learning the tricks and practise, practise, practise! Incidentally, you might be surprised, but I find that food makes the best practice medium for me. They don’t move around, they are usually colourful and there is always a challenge to make an unappetizing meal look good and drool worthy. I spend a lot of time shooting food LOL! 😉
Weekend assignment: Take ye some photos!
Perhaps not everyone feels as strongly as I do about blog photography and I guess it boils down as well, to interest. If you won’t take great photos for your blog, at least take some good, sharp, clear photos. Your readers will appreciate it! 🙂
I’m a huge fan of the work done by the 4 ladies I’ve featured. Their blogs and photos inspire me every day. If you take a look at their blogs, I hope you too will be as inspired 🙂 Thank you, ladies, for agreeing to be part of this post and I hope the tips they have shared are helpful to every one of you 🙂
Do you have a photography tip you’d like to share? Or what do you like seeing in blog photos? What camera do you use for your photos? 🙂
xx Paris B
Featured bloggers are: Xiao of Messy Wands; Charlotte of Lipglossiping, Rae of The Notice: A Beauty Blog and Tine of Beautyholics Anonymous. Photos are credited to each respective blogger too.
Parissss <3 I remember reading your blog in awe a few years ago. Never would I have thought that one day you would be linking me instead!
Ah you absolutely deserve it, Xiao! I love your photos and how you take them!
I discovered your blog a few weeks ago and you are definitely one of my favorites. This post and others have been so helpful! It would be awesome if you could also do a post on the best photo editing programs that are inexpensive and simple, or just not photoshop! I really do enjoy your blog. Long time lurker, first time commentator.
Thank you so much! And thank you too for the idea of photo editing programmes. I don’t use Photoshop myself. I didn’t want to spend that much money on it and although I know one can get bootlegged versions, I just rather not 🙂 I’ll try to share the programmes I use and know of soon 🙂 Thank you for your support!
i love it when bloggers are generous with their tips! i’ve been thinking about taking better photos and this is such a timely post 🙂 i like photoshop too, but my computer has failed me recently – photoshop is such a massive ram-eater so i resort to using Picasa, which i think is fantastic for beginners. i do agree about excessive photoshopping, i spotted a blogger in real life before and i was like whoaaaa who is this person?!
hahahaha – I am sorry but I couldn’t help finding this funny.
Glad its helped you! I used Picasa way back when I first started learning how to edit photos too. Its free after all, and does a decent enough job! I don’t know how far its progressed now to be honest LOL I should take a look again. As for excessive photoshop, ah it can be scary. I don’t know about you but all that glow effect is hard on my old eyes 😛
I never use PS to edit my photo at all and I use a 8mp hp camera to capture pic.looks like I must learn how to use PS…
Photo editing is useful especially to brighten pictures. If you want to keep to just using a phone, depending on your phone, you could download photo editing programmes too. Loads these days.
Imma gonna keep it short and sweet. 😛
1. Awesome post!
2. Please do more!
3. I love your pix!
That is all. 😛
Thank you Rinnah! Will try to oblige! 😀
awesome tips and I have just picked up photography and still have loads to learn, so these are really useful! thanks ladies for sharing 🙂
We’re all always learning and its fun to learn from each other right? 🙂 Good luck with your photography, Stacey!
Hi Paris!!
This is a very long post and I appreciate you take your time to write such a wonderful and helpful article 🙂
Haha yes, it sort of ran away with me and turned out to be quite a thesis. I hope it wasn’t terribly boring 😛
<3 Thank you for the link love, honey! I'm so flattered to have been featured with these flawless ladies — and on MWS, no less! I've always looked up to you for the staging of shots (artistically inclined is one thing I think we can all agree I am not), so I'm kind of starry-eyed at the moment 😛
Aww pish, Rae, you absolutely deserve it and I’m just as starry eyed having you on board! 😀
Wonderful tips!!!! I agree, good photos should be part of anybody’s blog as if I go into a site that has blurry photos, I tend to click “x” without reading which is bad … I know..but can’t help it! I want to see products, swatches clearly! 🙂
Lovely lovely post, I learn so much!
Thanks Nikki! Like you, if I see photos that aren’t appealing, I just don’t follow through. Its like they didn’t even take the trouble to make sure the photos are clear and if so, neither should I 😛
This was an incredibly informative post, Paris. Thanks! I still don’t know anything about photography and lighting and am trying to learn more about my camera. I want to start posting lip swatches and maybe even face shots on my blog, but I can’t get the hang of lighting! I guess all you can do is practice practice practice!
Well for someone who doesn’t know anything about photography, you take some pretty beautiful shots, Becca! 😀 I love your product shots and your swatches. I find it really hard to get good swatches and sometimes I confess, I just make do 😛 But yours are excellent. Can’t wait to see your face shots go up! 😀
Aw you’re so sweet Paris–thanks! It’s nice to know that my BS-ing of photography at least looks decent. 😛 I always love your photos though and can never tell when you just “make do”–they’re always great. I especially love your set-ups for some of the reviews. They’re beautiful!
Haha I could never tell you were BS-ing 😛 Thanks too for liking my photos. I guess I just like photos with character and a story. I was always a storyteller first and the photos just add the illustration 😉
I’m a poor blogger, so I use my cellphone to take the photos. But I saving for a camera and I think I’ll choose a Canon 😉
Cellphone pics are fine so long as you get them sharp. Many phones these days allow you to download photo editing programmes too or you can copy the photos to your computer, then run the photos through a photo editing programme on to sharpen it or brighten it 🙂 I’d choose a Canon because I find them the easiest to handle 🙂
I LOVE this post. Bookmarking it, retweeting it, pinning the hell out of it, it’s great. Everything that was said here is so true, especially the part about post-production and natural light. And I am super amused by the fact that everyone has a Canon LOL, I have one too. I think because they shoot a little warmer, which is very flattering for face shots = great for beauty blogging.
Thank you MM! <3 You could be right about Canon being warmer. It is definitely better for skintone, I find. Its more flattering 😉 My Lumix photographs a little cool and whilst its great for macro shots, I don't quite like how it looks for people shots 🙂
hey Paris…thanks for this wonderful post!!! yes, lighting is so important…I have a bit of mine to add and that is that increasing the contrast of the snaps for the blogs always works so do try and play with contrast levels!! also, yes, I have a basic sony camera but I wanna get a basic DSLR as my next cam but I was confused between the best P&S or the basic DSLR coz of the zoom difference!!! but, its definitely gonna be canon 🙂
Contrast! That’s a good tip Swati 🙂 I find that increasing brightness and contrast can turn a picture from good to wow so its definitely something to bear in mind. As for cameras, I think it will come down to whether you’d like the size of a DSLR too. These days they have the smaller mirrorless or micro four third cameras that have interchangeable lenses and take photos like dSLR but are so much more compact in size. That is a consideration too 😉
I have always struggled with close-up shots and this post really helped loads! Thank you so very much, Paris! <3
Glad you enjoyed this, Sukie 🙂 Taking close up shots has to be one of the hardest to master but the macro setting is your best friend – happy experimenting 😀
Thanks so much for having me, especially on such an interesting topic such as photography. To be included amongst the photography greats, it truly is an honour 🙂
Thank YOU too Tine for sharing your tip with everyone. Good or bad photography can make or break a blog and I think its time bloggers realised that!
Thanks Paris and ladies for the informative photography tips! Right now I find that using my iPhone (oops, sorry!) encourages me to take more photos and coincidentally, blog more. I just hope that even though my camera isn’t as good, my photos would still be passable 😛
Actually, Denise I find that the iPhone takes pretty good photos based on the ones I see from friends’ cameras 🙂 Also there are many apps you can use to edit your photos if you want to so there’s always that option to make your photos look even better 😉 I have to agree that smartphones have made it so much easier and more convenient to blog so yay for smartphones! 😉
Wow, this post is so dang AWESOME! I LOVE IT!! And all the great tips and tricks from all the great beauty bloggers 😉 including you too, Paris! These tips are coming handy for me, since Im still struggling with taking photos <3 Again, love love this post! I gotta subscribe to all of you now 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed it Helz 🙂 I am very thankful to the ladies for agreeing to take part and share. Part of the fun (for me at least) is taking the photos because playing around with angles or shots can be a real eye opener! 😀 Have fun!
And I was just experimenting with my photos. Thanks for the post! Awe.Some. 😀
Thanks Lily – happy experimenting! Its one of my fave parts of blogging – taking photos 😀
Hi Paris,
I’ve just started a fashion blog and I must admit that it’s a real challenge to take great pictures. I totally agree that great pictures do make a huge difference to the readers. I believe bloggers who take blogging seriously will invest substantial time and effort into it.
It’s also nice to read the tips from a beauty blogger’s perspective. This article is very informative and refreshing to read. Thank you
Hi Irene, I’ve experimented once or twice with fashion and I must say its way way harder than beauty LOL! But half the fun is in playing around with the camera and seeing the style that suits you or that you like. All the best with your blog and thank you for coming by! 🙂
This is an amazing post, Paris! Bravo to you and all of the ladies 🙂
Thank you Larie! <3