How To Take Better Photos For your Blog Using Your Phone + Free Checklist!

You don’t have to have a fancy camera to take beautiful photographs for your blog. You can use your phone’s built-in camera, and with a few tips, you too can produce pretty photos to take your blog to the next level. Even though I own professional photography gear, sometimes I just want the ease of snapping a shot right in the moment. And a lot of the time when inspiration strikes, I don’t want to be fiddling around with settings and then end up missing the perfect shot. A lot of the images I produce for my blog are styled and I don’t have the time to get my camera, set it up, export the images to my computer, edit and then finally upload them to my blog. I find that using my iPhone and a few, easy-to-use (and free!) apps, I am able to produce pretty pictures that only take a few minutes to put together. Today I want to share with you how you can do the same.

All the images below were taken on my iPhone 4S and edited with VSCOCam to give them a grainy, film-like texture.

1. Clean your Lens

As with any camera, if your lens is dirty, your photographs aren’t going to come out very clear. It’s such a simple tip and yet has made the biggest change on images taken with my phone. Think about where you phone goes, and now think about the last time you wiped your camera lens clean. If this gives you the shivers, like it did to me, then whip out a piece of cloth and get wiping!

2. Natural Light

Wherever possible, use natural light. I take the majority of my photographs (using both my DSLR & my iPhone) during the day and try as much as possible to maximise the soft, natural light that comes through a window. Harsh midday light is just as hard to work with as a flash, whereas natural light, the kind that streams through a window, produces soft, clean images.

3. Click to Focus

On the iPhone camera app (the standard camera app that comes with the iPhone), there is a yellow square that automatically appears when you want to take a photo. This is your focus setting. You can allow the phone to automatically adjust the focus, or you can over-ride this by clicking where you want to focus when you take a photograph. This is especially useful when you want to create a slightly blurry background, with something in the picture in focus. I often use click-to-focus when I am photographing macro-type shots of make-up and stationery.

4. Self-Timer

I only found out about the self-timer feature on my iPhone when I updated my IOS to the latest version. This is especially handy when you want to take a ‘selfie’. Don’t forget to click to focus before you take the shot to ensure that your face is perfectly in focus and not blurry. 

5. Use a Tripod

Using a tripod (or any home-made version of a tripod) will stabilize your camera and help to avoid camera shake. It can be so frustrating when you set up the perfect shot, click to focus, and then bump the phone by accident and the photograph ends up coming out blurry. I often just use a book and wedge a drinks coaster underneath the phone to adjust the angle (and then set up the self-timer to get the perfect shot).

6. Avoid the Zoom

Especially on the iPhone built-in camera, when you use the zoom it decreases the quality of the photograph. Rather use your own built-in zoom (ie. your feet!) and position yourself to be nearer, or further away from your subject. Unless you have a snazzy new phone, like the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the iPhone 6, I would suggest avoiding all use of the zoom.

7. Background

Using a white background when shooting any product produces beautiful, professional looking shots. The white offsets all other colors and is always complimentary. It looks crisp and clear and really helps to make your subject stand out. Textured backgrounds also work well for product photography, but I find they can also distract from your subject. I have yet to take a photograph on a plain, white background that I didn’t like. 

8. Angles

Play around with angles. Have fun and go crazy with high and low, close up and far away shots. Use your body to zoom in on particular items if you are styling photographs for you blog. It’s okay to cut off parts of items, and this works particularly well when I shoot make-up or stationery. Consider the two photographs below. The one on the left is the full image, and the one on the right has been cropped therefore removing parts of the image. Can you see the difference? None of the props have been changed and the lighting is the same. The only difference is the angle.

9. Apps

There are so many amazing apps you can use to really make your images pop, from overlaying text to added film effects or textures. My favourite go-to apps are:
– VSCOCam for editing the colour, brightness, cropping, straightening and adding film-like overlays.
– Studio for adding text and graphics.
– ABeautifulMess for hand-drawn overlays and creating collages
– Instagram for connecting with other creatives and sharing my images.
*All of the above apps come in Android and IOS versions.

10. Delete

There really is no point in having 10 of the same image. Be thorough and delete any and all of the ‘extra’ photographs so as to avoid wasting storage space and also to avoid having duplicates. The amount of times I upload the ‘not quite perfect’ image into a blog post and then realise I have to go back and search for the right photo is just annoying. And then I realise I often delete the perfect one and end up having to re-create my images again. Deleting all the nonsense saves you time and will make your life that much easier when it comes to blogging.

Most importantly, HAVE FUN! Taking photographs should be fun, and with all the great apps out there that are free and easy to use, blogging no longer has to be boring. With just a few minutes of practicing and playing around with your phone, your photographs can look just as good as the pros, and will take your blogging to the next level. I hope you found these tips useful. If you’d like to find out more about the apps I’ve mentioned above you can pop on over to my blog where I have reviewed the Studio App {Click Here} and the ABeautifulMess App {Click Here}.

To help you remember all these tips I've created a FREE printable checklist. It's in my FREE resource library, along with a whole bunch more resources AND free stock photographs just for you. Join the library by clicking the image below:

15 easy marketing ideas for bloggers + FREE checklist!

Today I want to share with you 15 easy ways for you to get your blog out there. Some of them may seem obvious, and others not so much. I have been doing these things for a while now, and I have really noticed an increase in my readership here on my little corner of the web.

Blogging should be about sharing your passions with others, it shouldn't be something you have to force yourself to do. If you don't enjoy blogging, change what you're blogging about. Post a survey to your readers and ask them what they would like to see on your blog, so you can get some more inspiration for content. I have a constant internal battle with this though.

Sometimes the number of likes I get fuels my passion for blogging, and I feel drawn to post what is currently trending. But most of the time, I know that this blog is me, it is about me and what I like. It may be a small niche (searching for the  pretty-ness in everything is not everyone's cup of tea) but if I stick to blogging about what I like and what I find interesting as opposed to what I hope other people will like, then that's real.

And that makes me happy.

15 Easy Networking Tips for Bloggers

1. Network. Network. Network. In other words, use the social media accounts you have to actively engage with your followers.

2. Reply to every comment on your blog/Facebook/Instagram feed. 

3. Comment on other blogs, often! This seems obvious, but it really does help to get your blog noticed. When I see a reader has commented a couple of times on my blog, I am more likely to search out her blog (if they are a blogger) or spend some time finding them on twitter/Instagram and sharing some love on their accounts.

4. Email bloggers whom you admire, tell them that you like their blog. Be real. Don't just write something like 'Hey. Love your blog. Here is mine...etc'. Be honest with what you like about them, then just leave a simple link to your blog at the end of your email. There is nothing nicer than getting a email from a happy reader who wants to share her love for your work.

5. Start a Facebook page and use it for your blog rather than your personal Facebook page. I could tell from the decrease in engagement I got from my posts on Facebook after the first few weeks of spamming my friends and family with my blog posts on my personal page. 

6. You don't have to be a wizz at every social media platform. Rather choose one that you can commit to as opposed to having four accounts with little to no activity. Choose a platform that you genuinely enjoy using. Social media is fun, it shouldn't be a chore, and you shouldn't dread your time spent on it (on the other side of the coin, make sure to schedule in 'breaks' from the screen to ensure a healthy balance between real life and the online world).

7. You don't have to blog every day. This is tiring and you lead to you producing mediocre content rather than interesting and engaging material. But try to post at least 2 to 3 times a week to keep your content fresh.

8. Email other bloggers and ask about doing a guest post on their blog. This gives them new content and you get a chance to reach new readers. The worst they can do is not reply. At least you've put yourself out there and most likely they will at least click through to your blog and you might gain a new reader.

9. Ask questions at the end of your blog/Facebook posts. People are more inclined to respond to a question and comment, you are inviting them to actually do something as opposed to them passively taking in your content and moving on to the next post.

10. Use Facebook for short, catchy posts like quotes and photographs. People are visual, and drawn to interesting graphics and images as opposed to long lines of text. When you do use text, break it up into easy to digest chunks (the same goes for your blog posts). With Pinterest, people are being exposed to so much great content all the time, us bloggers have to work harder to make our blogs appealing to people. Why would someone go you your blog for recipes when they can go onto Pinterest and have thousands of red velvet cake recipes at their fingertips in seconds. No matter how many hours you spent prepping that post, you need to work on being different. What can you offer your readers that Pinterest can't? You might have a great sense of humour when you write your recipes, something that they can't find on Pinterest..put those thinking caps on!

11. Carry business cards with you...everywhere. You don't have to have a massive following to be allowed to have a business card. It makes you look professional, and you can quickly whip one out to give new friends you meet (people qill quickly forget your web address, even if you think it's the easiest name to remember).

12. Find other bloggers in your area and connect with them on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram. This means following all of their accounts and not expecting them to do the same (don't announce to the world that you've followed someone in the hopes that they return the favour). Follow them because you genuinely want to read about what they are up to, then engage with them in an honest and real way and they will in all likely hood follow you back.

13. Meet up with other bloggers. Don't be scared off by the fact that they might have 893 likes on Facebook and you have 12. We all start somewhere. I have met a lot of new friends this way (and I'm sure a few of them thought I was some crazy stalker when I first got in touch with them lol). But gently does it. You should be getting to know them through their blog and twitter accounts first before ambushing them into a coffee date.

14. Take your own photographs. Always. And when you can't find the right photograph, make sure you properly credit the rightful owner or email them for permission first. Rather have a blog post delayed while you get permission for using an image than get into legal trouble like this blogger. Oh, and Pinterest, just like Google, is not a source (read this great post on sourcing images from Pinterest). 

15. Have patience. You should be blogging because you like blogging. Not because you want to become famous. Although that's nice too.

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Want a handy, printable checklist of all the tips mentioned in this post? All my blogging resources are waiting for you inside the CGScreative Resource Library which you can get free access to by clicking the image below: 

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Happy Blogging friends!

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