Pictures are one of, if not the most, important part of a blog post. The first thing your readers see is a picture, and you want it to be one worth seeing. We are visual people. When scrolling though Facebook, or Pinterest, a small 12pt font title doesn't catch our attention, the picture does. Today I am going to share with you a few things I have learned over time about choosing which pictures to post, and which to toss to the side. Quality is better then quantity when it comes to pictures.
Choosing your pictures// First you want to weed out any pictures that are blurry, not focused correctly, or just don't look right. Now that you have chosen a core group of pictures, it is time to get picky. Sort your pictures into "alike" categories: full body shots, bottom half, and top half of your body. You want to have a mixture of all three so that people can see all the details of your outfit. Now that you have them sorted into those groups, you might find that you have a few very similar pictures, but you really need only one of them. Look closely at the details, and choose one of each category to move onto the editing stage. I usually upload anywhere between 40-80 pictures, send 20 into editing and finish up with 8-14.
Editing your pictures// I have both Lightroom and Photoshop, but for most of my photo editing needs I prefer to use Lightroom because it is just so user friendly. I like my pictures to look very light and bright and I achieve this look though editing. Also during the editing stage I do any resizing and cropping of my images, I try to choose mostly tall images because they are more eye catching. Below I have a before and after of a picture I edited on a sunny day, so there were a lot of shadows.
I usually add more highlight, but I did not in the case of this picture because it took away from the detail in the very light colored sweater. As you can see, I took away some of the shadows and black, and added more white to the image. I personally just like the look of a bright white photo, so this is the look I go for with my blog. If you prefer a different style that is fine, but it is important to try to be consistent throughout your blog.
Resizing// This is the simplest thing to do but makes such a huge difference in the appearance of your blog. You need to resize all of your photos so that they are the same width, that way as you scroll down the page, all of your pictures perfectly line up. I usually adjust my widths to 600.
Adding Text// adding text to your picture can be very eye catching, especially when on Pinterest. You want to choose fonts that go with your topic, and that complement each other. Don't use a western type with a floral dress, or a fancy script when you're talking about what to serve at a football game.
Pinterest// When it comes to Pinterest make sure, MAKE SURE, that your pictures can easily be pinned from your blog at no inconvenience to your readers. The ideal pictures for Pinterest and long, bright, and have text.
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