Tip 6. Photography and Photoshop — What tips do you have for taking photos? Camera and lens recommendations? Do you use any products to edit photos or create product collages? Any sites you could recommend for photography or Photoshop help?
Welcome to the area that has been one of the biggest and one of the most fun learning experiences for us, photography! Erica took photography classes in the past and had a little bit of knowledge going in, but for the most part, we just Googled and experimented until we found what worked for us! So, let’s make a long story short, here is what we do to get a really great photo!
Location
We found very early on that an interesting background was key to a great photo! No, all of our photos aren’t taken in a really cool spot, since sometimes time is an issue, but for the most part, we will travel to a cool spot, just for a photo! We’re lucky to be fairly central to several great photo locations, we’ve traveled to the city for great urban pics in front of a gorgeous mural, bright wall or historic building and we have traveled to the beach or the river for a fun dockside photo or two! We’re learning more and more to have fun with our photo sessions, so this summer you will see us using our need for photos as an excuse to visit places and experience different events in our city.
Our Equipment
We each have a Canon Rebel series camera, a T3i and a T5i. We have a couple of lenses that we use, but our favorite for portrait style photos is the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens . Although we have toyed around with manual mode in the past, we mostly hold out for great natural lighting and use the pre-sets on our cameras.
Editing
We use Photoshop to edit our photos and we are still learning a little bit more about that each day. For each photo we use a different combination of tools but most commonly we use:
Lighting Correction:
We use a combination of exposure, curves and levels to achieve the lighting we want for a particular picture.
Blemish Correction:
Once we have the lighting we want, we use a combination of the spot correction tool and the mixer brush to blend in blemishes, wrinkles in our clothes and a few fine lines here or there!
Finishing Touches:
We toy around with other techniques, such as adding layers and using different brushes to bring out eyes/lips/etc. Then we finish off a photo with a slight edge burn and possibly adjust the vibrance and saturation to bring out the colors.
We also often utilize Action sets to make life easy!! Some of our favorites have come from the Pioneer Woman and Peaches In A Pod edit their photos!
I think a great location is key – a fun wall or pretty greenery always makes me happy! xo, Biana –BlovedBoston
Location makes a huge difference! I need to venture out of my back yard and find fun locations once in awhile! I also should look into Photoshop!
Jill
Doused In Pink
I wish I had time to go to a location for photos! I love all the different backgrounds you and other bloggers use!
I wish I could go on location more often, looking forward to seeing your pics this summer!
Marta
http://www.sweatersstripesandsweets.com
Erica and Brooke – I am so glad you joined the series – and I have enjoyed learning from you. I am looking forward to getting to shooting outside now that the weather is finally warm! A great location makes a great pictures – so true!
Lisa
Daily Style Finds
Great tips. One of my next investments needs to be photoshop.
Rachel xo
http://garaytreasures.com
great tips!
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http://www.mahryska.com
Awesome tips! Location is important as it makes big difference. Thanks for sharing the information.
Rita | http://www.styleroundtheclock.com
I think the joy of blogging for me is to change up the location often. I don’t think I have a two posts with the same backdrop. Which doesn’t mean I won’t, but there’s so much to see and I feel like readers love to see variety in location. It also gives yourself a chance to get to know your area better. That’s just me personally!
Also I love waking up early when I’m on a trip to take photos. I realized this is the best time to go out an get some amazing shots before the sun gets too high.
Meghan | BeyondBasicBlog.com
I completely agree that photography is definitely the fun part of blogging! Love hearing the things you do!
I just got photoshop and have no idea what I’m doing!! Need to take some classes for sure!!
Xox Dana Ivy // http://www.iadorewhatilove.com
This is an area I need a lot of work on. I always love your photos!
Aw thank you Lana! We try!
Haha that’s exactly how I felt at first. Slowly but surely learning!
It’s fun!!
That’s awesome Megan!! I love seeing that on blogs! We try to get to new places whenever we can!
You’re welcome!
Thanks!
You’ll love it!
Thank you for inviting us to join in Lisa, it’s been fun!
It’s really hard to get out for them, we don’t do it as often as we would like to !
Thanks Laura! It’s tough to get out, we love your photos too!
I always like our photos a little more when we venture out, but it’s never easy to do!
😀 pretty walls are the best!