Spread Bloggy Love |{Day 3-Pretty Handy Girl}

Kristi, thanks for inviting me to participate in your Spread the Bloggy Love series. What a fabulous idea!

I know you all have your favorite blogs. If you think about one of them now, can you tell me what it is you love about the blog? Okay, maybe the subject matter or the writing. But, how does the site look? Is the design appealing? How about the photos? I know I am personally drawn to blogs that have beautiful images. One of my favorite blogs to read is Centsational Girl. Her photos are true candy for the eyes!

Sea Inspired Living Room by Centsational Girl

Tutorial for Anthropology Inspired Table Cloth - Centsational Girl

See what I mean? Kate’s photos are simply beautiful!

She had a post a while ago offering some tips for better photography and how she uses Picasa to edit her photos. After reading that post I really began to push myself to create more attractive photos.

In the spirit of giving back, I want to share with you a few secrets for taking better photographs for your blog or yourself.
A good picture starts with a good composition. Here are some examples of photos I took and how I made them better:

Two bottles on a pretty coffee table. Did I hear a yawn?

The above image is suffering from a busy background that is competing for attention with the bottles. Plus, there are multiple horizontal lines crossing the photo. Horizontal lines are not very interesting, here let me show you interesting:

Much better, wouldn’t you agree?

Here is what I did:

1. I staggered the bottles to give them more visual interest and to create a diagonal line between the bottles.
2. Next, I moved my camera around so I was shooting diagonally across the table. See the back edge of the table, now that is an appealing visual line.
3. Finally, I moved the bottles into a beam of light which gave them more drama, and darkened the background so it wasn’t competing for attention.

Okay, let’s try another one. Here is another example of a “ho-hum” photo. I can just hear Rodin sighing at this unexciting photo.

Mr. Rodin, you are a fabulous sculptor, and your Thinker deserves better! What do you think about this?

1. To create more drama, I got up closer to the sculpture, and filled the frame with the subject.
2. I put him off center in the frame, not smack dab in the middle. By doing this it broke up the symmetry in the photo.
3. Once again, look at the nice diagonal line running up the man’s back and on his thigh. Diagonals force the viewers eye to move around the photo.

Let’s look at an indoor photo now. Here is a photo of a star light. Boooorrrinnnnggg, we’ve all seen one of these.

But, look what happens in the next photo.

You too can create drama in your photos.

1. Change the perspective. (Climb up on a chair, get down low, or swing around to the side.)
2. Fill the frame with the subject.
3. Focus on creating diagonal lines when looking through your viewfinder.

Here is another photo I took on my porch. Okay, not too bad. The plant is off center. The railings form a slight diagonal.

But, look what happens when I tilt the camera to a vertical presentation.

1. Suddenly the focus is on the plant and the light bouncing off the leaves.
2. The treehouse is no longer competing for attention in the background .
3. And, I’ve filled the frame with the plant.
4. Can you see the different diagonals? Hint: basket handle and pedestal

Always think about how your photo will look in a horizontal or vertical presentation.

Let’s talk about lighting now. Your goal is to use natural light as much as possible. Avoid photographing at night, indoors (away from windows) or using a flash. If you are a blogger, sometimes you finish a project at midnight and can’t wait to photograph it. Below, you can see my sad little puppy bookend. The colors are flat and the whole picture lacks any contrast or excitement.

I’m begging you to wait and take that photo in the morning.

Look at the natural light bathing the puppy and books. Suddenly the light plays on the still life and creates moody highlights and shadows. Now that puppy looks a lot happier.

Okay, this tip goes out to all you lucky ducks that own an SLR (single lens reflex) camera. Do you know how to set the light source in your camera? If you don’t your photos may end up looking like this:

Hey, who smurfed my gift bag! Time to look in your manual and take that baby off Auto. In my camera, I can choose the lighting source:

With all these choices, I choose the one most appropriate to my light source. Sometimes I have to try one or another one to see which gives me the best color representation.

By programming the correct light source as shade in my camera menu, the photo suddenly loses its bluish cast and displays the correct colorful richness it is.

Speaking of light source, a few weeks ago I wrote a post on tips for shooting indoors or in less than optimal lighting circumstances. If you REALLY need to photograph indoors and at night, there is a way to do it.

I hope some of these tips help you.

Here are a few more bloggers that have truly given back by helping improve my photography skills:

My3Boybarians – In addition to many tutorials and tips, Darcy has put together a months worth of lessons in: 31 days to better photographs. In addition she hosts a Twitter photo chat once a month.
i heart photos – Amy & Angie may love faces, but they share the love by posting tutorials and tips to help improve portraiture photography (and more.)

Thanks again for having me Kristi (who is one of the most giving-est back bloggers I know!)

Brittany (aka Pretty Handy Girl) writes a blog with the goal of empowering others to complete their own DIY project. You can find her tutorials for crafting, sewing, home repairs, building and more at PrettyHandyGirl.com

I met Brittany at Blissdom 2011 in January & I had never heard of her blog before then. I became fast friends with her and fell in love with her blog when I got home. She is a sweet and caring person who’s attention to detail is amazing & her skills are unmatched! She’s got an eye for design & can also fix just about anything!

Don’t forget: #spreadbloggylove runs from June 1st-June 30th every weekday right here!

Have a happy day,

If you like what you just read please Subscribe so you don’t miss a thing!

Follow me on Twitter & Facebook for updates in between blog posts & also sneak peaks!!