Tips for Making No Fuss Blog Photos

Let me start by saying that I'm not a fantastic (craft) photographer. I don't particularly enjoy making photos, it's not my passion and I don't really want to spend *too* much time on it. But it's undeniable that photography is a not to be ignored aspect of blogging and selling your crafty things on internet. This is not an ultimate guide on how to make perfect photos, I'm simply sharing a few things I've learned over the years while making photos for my blog. Because even if I don't have a passion for photography, I do like nice looking photos. :)

Your To Be Photographed Object

Keep it clean. Let's assume you want to share a photo of something you made. Make sure that the object you want to photograph is clean (no cat hairs), not frumpy (iron your fabrics and embroidery, hoop your embroidery) and obviously relevant to whatever you are writing about.

Backdrop/surface

Keep it simple. Find out what works for you. I often use a brick wall on my balcony as backdrop. It has an iron fire escape ladder in front that is perfect for hanging my crafty stuff from and it's outside so I can make use of the natural light (see 'Light'). The only downside is that it can get a bit boring if you use the same backdrop over and over again.

Another thing I found out that wallpaper can make an interesting backdrop or surface for your photos. I happen to have awesome wallpaper in my living room so that's a bonus. But for smaller objects and a little more variety I like to use wall paper left overs and samples. You can get free wall paper samples on the internet or simply ask stylish re-decorating family and friends for samples.

Get creative. For this photo of the fabulous Flossy the Sheep  bobbin I used a simple water coloured drawing as background.

If everything fails (sometimes it does) just go with white.  A white wall,  sheets of printer paper, white fabric,  a white laminate floor. As long as it's not frumpy or dirty. I got this tip from my pal Carina. She knows much more about photography than I do and sometimes she even hosts online courses on the subject!

Props

Use what you have in and around your home. Depending on the style of your blog you can use toys as quirky prop in your photo. Not the drooled over 'well loved' toys from the toy basket obviously.

Other things I used in my photos in the past are bowls (nice ones but plain white would definitely be useful to have) and books. I also sometimes include my cats in a photo if they happen to be around, because you know it's impossible to *make* a cat pose for a photo. :)

For a more natural, rustic look you can use leaves, flowers and branches from your garden.

Light

I assume by now everyone knows that natural light is the best for taking photos. Non-too-sunny, slightly cloudy days are perfect so if possible grab your camera when the circumstances are best. You can go outside or find a spot by a large window. If light is a little low it helps to hold a sheet of printer paper just out of view, to reflect light up on your object. Sometimes there is just too little natural light to work with (like in the photo with Milo, taken mid winter) and you have to 'lighten up' the photo a bit afterwards (see After the Photo is made).

Making photos on the go

I rarely take my fancy camera with me (yes, I have invested in a 'proper' camera) and make photos on the go with my phone/camera. You can make perfectly adequate blog photos with the phones that are available nowadays. Just snap away if you are on a city trip or attending a crafty event. :) You can also make photos that might be useful one day in your posts. I made a photo of Polar Bear Eric (he lives in my local Zoo) and used it later when I wrote about Furry Stitching.  Besides animals you can also think of making photos of objects with numbers (anniversary posts!), nice looking doors, trees, thrifty finds etc.

After the Photo is made

Sometimes your photo can use a little lift. It's too dark or too big for example. If you are really into photography you will probably improve your photos in Photoshop or some similar program. If you don't have Photoshop (like me) and want a quick tweak then websites like Picmonkey are great or Pixlr if you want something more similar to Photoshop. Simply upload your photo and you can brighten the image, crop, add a watermark etc. Instagram-like filters, text (except your watermark) and other additions are nice but use them sparingly.