My Photography Tips & Tricks!

Hey beaut's!

Photography is something I've always loved but never truly got into properly until a few years back mainly because of starting my blog. Photography is such an important part of blogging, not only is it something that draws the eye to a blog post first but it really brings your post to life and tells a story! Also Instagram is a photography lovers dream because it the perfect place to share shot's instantly, personally I love sharing all aspects of my life on instgram, theres everything from beauty, food and lifestyle shots with a cheeky selfie thrown into the mix every now and again, so even if I'm not taking pictures for my blog I love taking shots for Instagram and for my personal archives! I feel like recently (without blowing my own trumpet) my photography is improving and this makes me happy, I feel like I'm understanding more about how I want my pictures to look before I take them now and making the best out of what I've got and I'm pretty chuffed with the results at the moment, so I thought I would share what I use to achieve the pictures that I'm super happy with.

Camera - So lets kicks things off with the all important camera, A lot of my Instagram photo's are taken on my iPhone 7plus, yup that right beaut's my iPhone, the pictures are so clear and whats amazing about the newer iPhones is that they now have Portrait mode which if the lighting is right creates the most beautiful blurred background which can trick anyone into thinking you've used a really expensive camera. I do also have two camera's which I use for blogging and day to day personal use. I have a Canon IXUS 155 that I got a few years ago when it was in the Curry's sale for £70.00 and I used to take all my blog photo's on that, it's a great little camera if your starting out and teamed with natural lighting it's creates the perfect crisp pictures. Sometimes with a cheaper camera it's all about playing with the settings, trust me some settings in your camera can really make all the difference, I tried all the settings out in full on mine until I was completely happy, so don't be afraid to press buttons and try new things on your camera because you might come up with something quite genius. This year I did upgrade to a Nikon D3400 and I'm happy I did, don't get me wrong I loved my little Canon camera but the Nikon D3400 is epic and I'm loving it so far, the depth of feild it creates and how well it works on the dullest of days is amazing!

Photography Space - As I'm a blogger most of my photography is taken in my house and consists of flat lay after flat lay, to do this I have a small white table that we already had in our house anyway, you don't need to spend a fortune, you can use your dressing table, dining table, kitchen work top or even the floor. I then get my free wallpaper sample at the ready... yes I did say wall paper sample, this creates the prefect background that you can pop down anywhere in your house. You can even buy tile samples for a couple of pounds if your looking for a marble background, my local DIY store doesn't do this but I know a lot of other shops do so this is another way of getting a 'blogger esk' background for a couple of pounds. I've also found that the pound shop is great for seasonal back rounds, just grabbing a roll of birthday/Christmas wrapping paper can do the trick!

Props - Filling empty spaces or gaps around your flat lays can make such a difference, I generally use things around my house like candles, magazines, flowers, throws and cute notebooks. During autumn I used leaves, pine cones, scarves, fairy lights and cinnamon sticks, and now at Christmas time I use my Christmas decorations and baubles that I have. Other things I like doing are when I'm taking beauty photographs is I might use other makeup products to fill spaces, such as if I'm taking a photo of an eyeshadow palette I might place down a few eyeshadow brushes to fill some space, or if I'm taking a photo of a foundation I could use a foundation brush or two and a beauty blender, these added extras make all the difference and really do complete your photo's. 

Get Tips From The Pro's - Sometimes if you want event photography, outfit shots, family photo shoots, need a shoot for something important or generally if you just want a helping hand with your photographs then Bidvine* is the perfect place to look, it’s a fab website where you can advertise the job in hand, professional trusted photographer's who are interested will then get 4 days to get in touch a bid against each other to win the job. I think this is a fab idea because you can do your research on who's interested in working with you by looking at their previous work and reviews, and choose the photographer who is a great match for your requirements and you pick up helpful tips and tricks on the way!

And there you have it beaut's, its really all about working with what you've got and making the best out of it. I really hope this helped some of you out and if you have any tips of tricks that can help me improve further I'd love to know!

nopin

* This is a collaborative post but all writing and opinions are my own.

4 comments

  1. Thanks so much for sharing your tips! I use my iPhone to take all my photos as well! Don't have the money to splurge on a camera

    Candice | NatalyaAmour.com

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  2. This is a really informative blog post. I'm definitely going to use some of these ideas in the future. B x
    www.babblesnbooks.wordpress.com

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  3. Some good tips in there! Thanks for sharing :-)
    p.s love your phone case!!! x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great tips, I love a good flatlay xx
    https://www.katescloset.uk/

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Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my little blog!!! Reading all your comments really does put a smile on my face and makes my day everytime. I aim to reply to to all comments as soon as possible, if you do wish to speak to me more directly feel free to email me at haysparkle1@gmail.com

Thank you girlie's!!
xXx Hayley xXx