Basic Photography Tips for Bloggers
Many individual bloggers, at some point in their online career, will want to add photos to their blog. Humans are incredibly visual, and followers of blogs will appreciate photos alongside textual descriptions.
Beauty bloggers like to take photos of the various products that they use or include make-up tutorials, food bloggers often take photos of the dishes that they make and review blogs could benefit from adding photos of various products to their blog. However, many bloggers blog as a hobby and don’t necessarily have any background in photography.
Here are some tips for bloggers who want to take good quality, clear and professional-looking photographs!
Aperture
The aperture of a lens is the opening at which light passes through and most cameras have a setting to change the aperture. The openings have been standardised into specific sizes, called aperture stops, or F-stops.
The larger the F-stop number is, the smaller the opening is. In other words, a larger number means that less light will enter the camera. A smaller F-stop number means the opening is larger, meaning more light will enter the camera.
A smaller F-stop will have a faster shutter speed and smaller F-stops (larger openings) are great for portraits, where the main subject of the photo is a person. By the same coin, larger F-stops (smaller openings) are great for landscape shots, where there is huge landscape that is the main subject.
Low F-stops mean a blurry background. High F-stops mean a clear, sharp background.
If you want to photograph an object, and you’d like the object to be clear and the background to be blurry, pick a low F- stop on your camera.
Alternatively, if you would like the whole picture to be crisp, pick a high F-stop.
Shutter Speed
The higher the shutter speed, the darker the photo will be, and the lower the shutter speed, the brighter the photo will be. It is best to set up the shot, adjust the settings as needed, and then take the photo as you may wish to have some photos brighter than others.
Background
Invest in a suitable background if you are going to be photographing products. A tri-fold white foam board or a plain white poster board will work well. Alternatively, use a black or white tile for smaller items.
It is always best to shoot in natural light, like near a window. However, if you don’t have the option of being close to a source of natural light, you may wish to invest in some daylight light bulbs, which mimic real daylight.
Get Creative
Are you a food blogger? The video below shows you how to get amazingly appetizing shots of food!
If you are looking to be creative on a budget, this short video shows seven ways to use household objects in your photography!
If you feel that you need a more advanced camera for your blogging endeavours, and are looking for a camera exchange, then look no further than the Camera Exchange Store! You can sell your old camera to us in three simple steps, and will offer you a quote in less than 2 hours. For more information about the process, please feel free to contact us by phone on 0208 371 4179 or by email at info@cameraexchangestore.co.uk.
