PHOTOGRAPHY 01

As much as I love fashion and outfit posts, there can only be so many "hey guys, look at me in this skirt from so and so blah blah" posts in a week before I 
make myself wanna hurl. Just jks, though not really. I am a photographer first and most importantly, and I wanna make that more of a feature on here. That said, 
I'v been thinking of some new stuff I could do around here lately, something that could become a regular feature, and I think I'l start it off with some 
photography tip kinda posts, in a category roughly titled "blogging stuff" so I can speak about other stuff if I feel like it too. 

Photography is , in my opinion, one of the most important factors when it comes to blogging. I'v definitely received the most emails about this 
topic and so I thought it might go down well, and I think my next one will be about editing photo's.  If you guys have any requests please 
let me know and I'l hopefully get around to answering everything, here are a few pointers that have helped me get the pics I'm taking:

Play around with your settings

I'v noticed lot of people who don't regularly take photo's tend to keep their camera on the auto setting, and I get that it's easy and that it may 

be a bit daunting to fiddle around with the settings but you really should. Personally, I'd recommend setting it to manual, putting the aperture 

down to the lowest it can go (I'l chat more about this now) and adjusting the shutter speed accordingly. 

 Shoot in RAW

I can't stress the importance of this enough! I know it's a mission, and a lot of people shrug it off, but if you're serious about getting pictures 

rich in colour and depth then you should really do this. Also, things like white balance can be played with in case you forgot to set that in camera. 

Tiny details that you may not have been focusing on whilst shooting, can be corrected in RAW, and it's the tiny details that matter when getting 

a good image, so I never go without RAW.

The importance of aperture 

Personally, I like it when my images have a bit of blur, the more the merrier really. 

Setting your aperture (or f-number) to a lower number is what achieves this effect, and this is where investing in a good lens makes all the difference. 

If you're using a kit lens (the lens that came with your camera) chances are your not going to be able to get your aperture really low, I'm talking 2.8 and below. 

I shoot all of my outfit posts with a 50mm 1.4 lens, usually set on 1.4, and that's how I achieve a blurred background. If you have some cash I'd 

definitely recommend investing in a fixed lens, the 85mm and 35mm are good options too as I have some issues with the 50mm purely because it seems 

to have become the fashion blogger go-to, regardless, it's a fantastic lens! You also may want to get some practice in with manual focus as it is extremely 

soft focus and often things will be blurry on screen and look focused on camera!

Confidence

I'm not talking about being confident when using a camera, I mean in front of the camera. It's taken me ages to get to a place where I'm comfortable with 

having pictures taken of me, I used to be incredibly shy about this whole blogging thing and literally didn't tell a single friend or person I knew 

about it until just a few months ago. But that isn't the point, the point is - in order to take nice pics, amongst many things, you need to be able to 

be comfortable in front of the camera. Walking around, being silly and "natural" in pictures, these are some characteristics of my favorite bloggers! 

I'm definitely still learning and am often still very stiff in front of the camera because it's just something that takes a lot of practice if you're a bit 

on the shy side, but it's definitely something to work on to get the best pics you can.

Location

I drive Jedd crazy making him drive me around on weekends location scouting! Your city is always going to have pretty little alleyways, beautiful tree's, 

interesting wall art, or something pretty somewhere, you just need to get out and find it. I find that I am way more drawn to an outfit when the 

location and background compliment it! 

Style

Try to maintain a style of photography that suits you, as I find it definitely becomes a defining feature of your blog. Visit all your favorite blogs 

and study their pics, ask yourself what makes them unique to the blogger. I really think it's important to form a style and consistency with your pics, 

so if you managed to take some rad pics against an awesome background in your previous post, don't make your next one in a badly lit room with 

your junk lying everywhere. Maintaining quality is what keeps people interested. (sheesh I sound like I have the biggest head!! Seriously, I'm not 

trying to imply that I know the secret to keeping people interested AT ALL, these are just things that keep me going back to my favorite blogs )

Light

Natural light is my best friend. Try it, it has so much to offer and adds so much to my images! You just need to figure out what look you're going for, 

and then work out what time works best for the mood you want to portray in your pics and make sure to shoot at that time. I often get mails 

from people saying they're trying to create the same feel as my pictures, but when I look at them they've been shot in direct harsh sunlight. I 

shoot the majority of my pics in shade or just as the suns going down because I personally love images with softer light and tones. 

Editing

Tune in next week folks :)

I really hope this stuff comes in useful to some of you! If it's boring and you know all this already, tell me, I promise to get my shiz together and hopefully teach you something new next time! 

Also, I'm typing this whilst listening to Home by good old Edward Sharpe and it just never seems to gets old x