One of the biggest challenges in running a highly successful blog is always finding amazing images to accompany your posts. If you take a look at any of the top blogs in your niche, you’ll see that they all have beautiful imagery to go with the text. This jumps out and makes the posts really stand out and it helps the posts to look much more professional as well.
So how can you get that kind of imagery for your own blog? One of the most common options is to invest in stock imagery. This usually means paying a fee for each image or for access to the whole site for a limited time. But this has problems.
Firstly, it means you’re paying for the images which will eat into your profits and limit how many pictures you can use.
Secondly, it means that the images were taken especially for your posts – which means they won’t quite fit the blog.
If you can take beautiful photos yourself on the other hand, then you can fill your site with images that will inspire, that will perfectly match the content and that you have got an endless supply of. So how do you take great photos as a blogger? Here are some top tips.
The Camera
Of course, it’s a good idea to get a great camera if you can afford it. If you can’t, then consider taking out a PayPal loan or similar, or maybe borrowing a friend’s. While a great phone with a 1080p sensor can work well, it’s also hard to overstate just how much it can help to take photos on a DSLR camera – this instantly makes an image look much more impressive and crucially, much more professional.
The Angle
Another important tip is to think carefully about the angle you are using for your photograph. In particular, you need to make sure that your photo is taken in a way that is dynamic and dramatic and that features something interest in the foreground, middle ground and background. Try to get an idea of scale by including items of different sizes and proximity and try to create some sense of 3D depth.
Often this just comes down to avoiding the ‘obvious’ shot. Ask yourself how any given picture could be made to look a little more interesting by moving the subject to one side or by subtly altering the angle.
Lighting
Lighting is incredibly important too and this is something that is all-too-often overlooked. Make sure that your subject is well lit, whether that means using artificial lighting or whether it means thinking about the position of the sun in relation to the cameras.
The Story
One of the most important tips when it comes to photography is to tell a story with your photo. Again, don’t just point and click but instead think about what the context tells you and what’s missing.
For instance, a glass with a lipstick stain on it tells a story better than a picture of a woman drinking from the same glass – it leaves something to the imagination and that in turn makes it more dynamic and interesting.