Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Give your photos some love!

...First off...
Lemme just say, I don't want to act like I know "everything" about blogging or that I am trying to tell you what to do...This post is simply passing along some advice that I received, and showing you how I ran with that advice ;)

Some of the first advice I received when joined the blogosphere, was to make sure that my photo quality was NOT neglected.  This made perfect sense to me because I know that when I am checking out a blog I want to:
A) be able to see them -not too small, not too dark.
B) see pops of color or at least a few enhancements, if necessary.

There are many ways to "tweak" your photos, and I honestly don't care which one you use.  As a matter of fact, PLEASE diversify. Not every program can accomplish what I'm looking for, so now I shuffle through all of them.  Instagram on the run, Pixlromatic for larger photos, Picnik.com* and/or Photoshop.  
I haven't tackled Photoshop yet, but I plan on getting busy with it soon enough.

For example:
This picture was lovely and subdued in the natural light, but I wanted it to pop, so I lightened it and turned up the saturation, just a bit.  With this improvement, it illustrated my point better.

As seen in: Bala'more
And brighten up a winter day easily:

As seen in: Colorado Is VERY Dog Friendly

Although, it's not just about the color...You want to jazz them up with text, illustrations, and formatting.  

As seen in: V-day Recap
Not gonna lie- I do think this border is SUPER CHEESY, but I couldn't resist <3

Illustrate your pet's voice:
(If you are like me- you know exactly what is going through your dog's mind!)


As seen in: Weiser Check-In

            

And your photos can tell the story, which will entertain your followers and entice new ones.

As seen in: Fat Tuesday
It could be as fancy as this:

As see in: Veggie-fied Meatloaf:
Or as clean as this:

Recipe to be posted soon!

Some Blogs choose one style of photos and stick to the theme, but thus far- I have had too much fun experimenting.  I don't want to limit myself, and like to allow my creative juices to flow!
We can still be friends if you don't edit your photos, but I just want you to know how easy it is.
Knowledge is power ;)

*Picnik is "closing", BUT it is still somehow merging with Google, so you should still be able to accomplish everything- just in a new setting.

10 comments:

psychelyn said...

Good post. It's really nice idea about making photos look better and more interesting. It's more like when you're scrapbooking. I like it :)

Ac said...

Thanks for the advice!!:)

Marci @ a smile a day said...

I wish photoshop wasn't so expensive I want it so bad!! Great advice on the photos- thankfully that was one of the first pieces of advice I received when starting to blog. It's definitely time consuming but makes a major difference! I'm sad picnik is closing down next month :(

Marci @ a smile a day said...

I wish photoshop wasn't so expensive I want it so bad!! Great advice on the photos- thankfully that was one of the first pieces of advice I received when starting to blog. It's definitely time consuming but makes a major difference! I'm sad picnik is closing down next month :(

jessica said...

LOVE THIS POST!

i love editing my pictures and refuse to put them on my blog if they're not edited. i only have the camera on my iphone so i dont want to put crappy phone pics on my pretty blog. and i love when other blogs have fun pictures. a lot of times i wont even read a post if there's not a couple of pics thrown in. what can i say, i'm a visual person.

i'm sad about picnik but hoping google will be just as easy to use. and i also like pixlr okay so we'll see how the pics on my blog change after april 19th

Sarah said...

Alright chica, we need to talk. I use a couple of programs to edit my pics on my blog but for the life of me I can't get them to line up like yours. Spill :)

♥ ♥ Just a Girl in Love w/ a Soldier ♥ ♥ said...

Thanks for the photo tips darlin, I always like changing things up with color or adding a touch of love to my pictures!!!

Jean said...

I have Photoshop CS5 but don't know how to use much of it. I color pop mainly. I'm trying to add more text but sometimes I just forget. I've come to love Actions and acquired a few free ones online ;D

Anonymous said...

Just discovered your blog and love it! I'm your newest follower! I just started my blog last month. I would love for you to check it out and follow back if you like it!

This post is great! Having just started my blog, I need to do a lot of experimenting and learn how to do different design elements with my photos!

xx
Kecia

http://www.couturezooblog.com/

lesley: the dream tree said...

you're so right! and since you showed before and afters, you can really tell the difference.

your blog is always amazing to read and i love your pics.

happy weekend (:

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