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If there’s one thing I’m really proud of, it’s how far my blog photography has come in the last year or two. I still don’t think photos are my strongest skill, but I’m working on it and I’m MUCH more confident than I was with my photos, even just six months ago! If you’re not a blogger but you take photos regularly, hopefully this post is still helpful for you! I promise this isn’t going to turn into a “how to blog” blog, this is just a one time thing 🙂

For most of my blog career, I’ve worked with photographers or dealt with sub-par photos edited by me. Things have turned around for me, thanks to Stephanie Drenka for convincing me to get Lightroom and for creating beautiful presets! I explain the whole process in the video so make sure to watch that if you’re interested. Beautiful photos are probably easier than you think!!!

Here’s what I use to take and edit my photos:

• Sony A5000 camera – Earlier this year I traded in my Canon Rebel t3i for a point and shoot. Yep. Getting rid of a DSLR for a point and shoot felt crazy, but I was confident that the A5000 would be better for me for video recording. It turns out, it’s way better for my photos too! With the t3i, I was constantly missing focus – I would say only about half of my images were in focus. HALF! Now I lose maaaaaybe 1 out of every 100 photos to focus issues.
• 50 1.8 lens – The lens that comes with the A5000 just isn’t going to cut it if you’re looking for bokeh (aka blurry background) in your photos. It’s a bummer it’s an extra expense but without it, this camera won’t get you the dreamy “bloggy” photos you’re looking for.
• Adobe Lightroom – I have the Creative Cloud Photography Subscription, which is $9.99/month. Since I use Lightroom for almost every blog post I write, it’s totally worth it. Plus you always have the newest, best version of Photoshop and Lightroom with the subscription.
• Macbook Pro – Pretty much any new(ish) computer will work perfectly fine! You can always check and see if your computer/operating system is compatible with Lightroom.
• Stephanie Drenka Moody Blues Preset – THIS is where the magic happens, y’all! Without these presets I was just randomly editing by hand in photoshop. It took FOREVER and the photos never looked professional. Now with literally a few clicks, my photos are beautiful and cohesive. If you’re not into the moody/grungey look, she also has a preset called Blockbuster that was made specifically for fashion and travel bloggers! Everything is bright and beautiful – soooo good.

And here’s what I do!

This will probably make the most sense if you also watch the video above but I’ll do my very best to explain it here in case you can’t watch!

1. Shoot your photos in RAW. This method works for jpegs too, but not as well. When you shoot in RAW, you maintain a lot more of the photo’s data so it’s easier to edit. With jpegs, slight adjustments look WAY more extreme and it’s a lot more difficult. If you’re a photographer, please don’t judge my definition of RAW…thank you.
2. Import your photos into Lightroom. Honestly I’m not going to go into how to open Lightroom and all that jazz – it would take too long but I promise it’s not that hard.
3. Go into Develop mode (in the top right hand corner). The first photo you imported should be large on your screen now.
4. Adjust the white balance and exposure. Usually my white balance is fine so I just tweak the exposure. I prefer to shoot my photos underexposed a tad so I almost always have to increase the exposure. If you need the photo to be brighter, increase the exposure – darker, decrease the exposure. Easy!
5. Select the preset you want to use on the left hand side. I usually just click through and see which one works best for that particular set of photos. For my blog, I always use one of the Moody Blues presets so everything is really consistent.
6. Once you’ve applied the preset, look at your photo again and adjust things as necessary. Occasionally I might have to tweak the exposure again – usually I don’t take the time to mess with anything else.
7. Click the next photo, and then hit “Previous” – that’s going to apply what you did on the first photo to the second one. Then move on to the next photo and repeat until you’re done!

I use this same method for photos of my niece and nephew and product photos too! Works like a charm!

Sooooo what do you think? Are you ready to take your own photos yet?! I was terrified to take the leap (and honestly at times I really wish I worked with a photographer) but it saves me a LOT of money and it keeps me from having to schedule time with a photographer. Even if you usually work with someone, it never hurts to have a backup plan!

xoxo
Valery

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