5 Easy Ways to Improve your Photos

If there's one thing I've learned about blogging it this:
Photographs are Everything.

I completely underestimated this reality
when I jumped into the blogging world.
But little by little, photo by photo.
Reading blog posts + practicing
I just now realized...
I've improved.
and learned a lot
along the way.

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Unedited

Let me preface this by saying...
I don't have a fancy SLR.
I have a little point & shoot.

I don't have any experience in photography.
none.

I don't know how to use Photo Shop.
I got it for my birthday 3 years ago
and I've never taken the time to learn.

That said,
Here are my easy, amateur ways
to immediately improve your photos:

1. Natural lighting. natural lighting. natural lighting.
with the sun behind you.
um, this seems obvious to me now, but I really didn't get it until I saw the difference in my photos.
Natural Lighting
I didn't really need to edit this at all because the lighting was perfect.

This was taken at night with artificial lighting. You can see it's dark + yellowy. If it's the only picture I had, adjusting the brightness, contrast, and color tempurature to take out the yellow, would reallyhelp.


2. Take lots and lots and lots of photos.
Take at least 10 photos for every photo you post.
Pick the best + delete the rest.

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3. Spend some quality time with your photo editor.
I just use simple, free Windows Photo Gallery.
Adjust the contrast + brightness + saturationfor huge improvements.
Edited Photo

Unedited Photo

4. Adjust the color tempurature.
warm

cool

5. Crop, crop, and crop some more.
Cropped

Uncropped


Give yourself room to play each time you take photos.
Photo by photo.
I guarantee,
when you continue to play and learn
your photos will improve over time.
And try not to get overwhlemed
by the really amazing photos
on blogs out there.
It's easy to psyche yourself out...
but they started somewhere, too.

There are so many blogs with fabulous photos out there.
Peaceliving
has posts & tips
and she knows what she's talking about.
she uses words like aperture and perspective
and her photos are breathtaking.

Paige's blog makes me cry every time.
every time I tell you.
If it's not the gorgeous pictures,
then it's the sweet, soul gutting copy.
oh and the music.
love her music.

my last favorite blog for the photos is misty mawn
if you haven't been there,
it's pure eye candy.
a sight to behold.

What are your favorite blogs for the photos?
What tips do you have?