Perspective: a photo blog

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Processed with VSCO with a4 preset

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Visiting cute places always inspire me to take lots of photos. When a shop or a restaurant I visit is decorated really nice or just aesthetically pleasing to me I can’t wait to share it with others. Whether it’s a coffee shop with really cool coffee or decor or a restaurant with awesome looking food as soon as I walk in the door I am already thinking of things that would make cool looking photos. They don’t always turn out the way you plan but that’s why I take pictures of everything I think of so that in the end I will have some good ones!!

One very difficult thing to learn is taking pictures in public. You wouldn’t think it’d be a problem but not everyone understand why you would be taking a picture of whatever it may be and so you may get some looks. But the most important thing to remember is that you are doing it for you because you think it’s cool and you want a picture that looks nice. It doesn’t matter what other people think you probably won’t ever see them again anyway. It’s hard I still think about it in the back of my mind when I’m out taking or posing for pictures but my desire for the photo outweighs all the rest of it. So go adventure to new places and take cool photos and enjoy yourself while doing it!!

What did I tell ya!! The man in the window in this picture is looking at me probably wondering what I’m doing or if I’m taking a picture of him. When all I wanted was a picture of the cute seating area and the reflection from the windows.

I take a variety of images when I am taking photos. And so I usually end up taking a lot of different pictures. There for I have to choose my favorite one or ones. Often times I like a couple of pictures because I took them from different angles or points of view but because they have similar subject matter I don’t want to post them all on my Instagram feed. I find it’s awesome to use my Instagram story to post those other images. This works for photos you took that you like but didn’t seem to fit your Instagram feed as well. They stay on your story for 24 hours and all your followers can look at them. I like to post on it when I go do fun things or to add to a picture I posted on my Instagram.

I edit the photos I post on my insta story the same as I would any other photos. Then if I have more than one picture I will use the an app called unfold to put it into a cute layout . It’s an awesome app it have preset picture layouts so you just add your images from your camera roll. Then I save it and put it in my Instagram story where I usually add some text or a little drawing or some lines to make it a bit more interesting. You can even add music, locations, or little animated images!!

The best part about these stories is that you can add them to your profile under different titles for the different kinds of things you’re posting on your stories so people can always look at them. It’s super cute and fun and just another way to add to your super awesome Instagram!!

In the world we live in today many people make their first impressions of you based on your social media. And as the aesthetic of your Instagram account becomes more and more important I figured I would share some ways that I try to keep my Instagram looking nice! I used to just post pictures, whatever I wanted, and not even think twice. But now all these bloggers and Instagram famous people have such amazing looking accounts that it is almost impossible to ignore. I wanted to make my account look nice but still in my own way with my own photos.

Like this ^                       Not like this ^

The first and most important step is making sure that the image that shows up in the little square on your profile page shows the best part of your image rather than being a picture with someone’s head cut off. The way that I check this before posting is by using an app called UNUM it has little squares just like Instagram and when you add an image it shows you what it would look like in that small setting. Then I proceed to crop that image and add it back into the app until I see what I want. I also use this app because you can load your Instagram feed into it and see the photos you have already posted. I use this to make sure that my images will look good together and not stick out. I want it to look cohesive and nice I wouldn’t post two pictures of the sky right next to each other because they would look better spaced out. The more you work with these things the easier it will be to get the feed you really want! I will write more about my Instagram and the tips and tricks I use in my next blog post.

UNUM

Decorating for Christmas is always a lot of work, but well worth it every year. Buying decorations that will look nice together and fit your space is the most important. The holidays are a overall great time for picture taking. There are so many different photos to be taken. So let’s all go out and start snapping!! Today I put up the Christmas tree and what is more photogenic than a Christmas tree! Decorations like these are great as both backdrops and focuses for an image. I’m always on the look out for new inspiration and believe me there are holiday photos ideas galore.

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Just some ideas that I had were: making some hot chocolate and holding it in from of the tree to get those lights in the background, going outside both when it’s snowing and after the snow has stopped to take photos of you or the snow, maybe take a cute holiday blanket outside with you to wrap up in for the photo, this is both cute and festive, as people start to put Christmas lights up this is another great decoration to take pictures of whether it’s of the street filled with lights or you standing in front of them, going to a location to see Christmas lights is another great photo op, anything that looks cozy by the fire if you are lucky enough to have a fire place in your home. I could go on and on but because I enjoy taking pictures so much I sit and come up with ideas of things I would like to take pictures of and plan how I am going to get those taken! So go out and take lots of fun holiday photos to inspire others and remember all the fun you had. And come up with even more ideas than I have.

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Finding new things to take pictures of is sometimes difficult. Every now and again I feel like I’ve run out of ideas. Sometimes I also don’t want my pictures to look too similar to ones I’ve alreayd taken, so I use Pinterest for ideas.

I make Pinterest boards for all different things that I like: Fall photos I think are awesome, I just started making one for winter to get ideas for things I can take pictures of, outfit inspiration and posing ideas when I’m having my picture taken or am taking someone else’s, one for just images that are aesthetically pleasing. The best part about Pinterest is that most of the images are artsy and helpful inspiration, rather than just looking on google which is never much help to me. I also find very similar style imaged on my Instagram feed that help with inspiration as well. When I say inspiration I don’t mean copying or taking  images that look exactly the same. But rather seeing how they laid out their images, what they took pictures of, the way the pictures are edited…etc. I might be interested in drawing something in my bullet journal and taking a picture of that in some way because of a drawing I saved to my Pinterest boards. Mostly keep those inspiration images in the back of your mind when you are out looking for things to take photos of, what angles did they use? Or when you are looking for props to include in the pictures, where do they like to purchase things? Or how could I use a candycane like that in one of my pictures cuz theirs looks so cute!

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As we move into colder weather I’m getting excited to start change up my photos and Instagram feed from fall inspired images to winter. As it begins to snow, the leaves fall from the trees, and people start decorating for winter it’s the perfect time for pictures! Today I’m going to share some of my inspirations for pictures moving into this next season.

In my neighborhood we have these plants that grow little red berries and my first thought, after taking a picture of them of course, was to cut a piece off and bring it home for future winter flat lays. So always be on the look out for cute little things that will add to your photos whatever the season may be!

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Today it snowed the whole day which gave me lots of great ideas for photos. First I took an awesome video of it snowing in my back yard. I put on a kind of winter themed shirt and stood outside so I could get a picture of the snow flakes falling on me. There are so many different kinds of pictures you can take with snow. If you have a quick enough shutter speed you can catch an image of the snow falling. If you have a macro lens you might even be able to take close ups of the snow flakes. I personally liked the snow that rests on the trees. There was still leaves on some of the trees so the snow on top of the leaves and branches look pretty cool. If it snows a lot you could set things in the snow and make a sort of flat lay image like that would probably look pretty cute. I’m most excited to take cozy picture this winter! By that I mean pictures with warm socks, comfy pjs, by the fire, a hot tea or chocolate because looking at pictures like that I can just feel how cozy and amazing it must be. Finally, one last thing that I definitely want to take some pictures of this winter is ice sickles wherever I might find them!

Blur and movement while taking a photo is usually something you aren’t supposed to do. But like anything else playing around with it and the shutter speed of your camera can give you some cool effects in your photos. In this particular photo I was taking a picture of a lit candle. Holding my camera I focused on the candle then when I pushed the button to take the image I slowly panned my camera down in order to get this movement. I love the way it turned out with the light leaks it’s very ominous looking which I find cool. It looks as tho I edited the picture to look this way but that’s just the magic of playing around with your camera.

I definitely had to try this a few times to get the look I wanted and that’s ok. When taking pictures you usually don’t get the perfect shot in one try. You should take many, try different things and pick the best or your favorite ones later. Another way to mimic motion without actually moving the camera is using a long shutter speed on a subject that is in motion. For example you could use a long exposure time to take an image of cars driving by and because the photo is developed over a longer amount of time, the cars won’t appear in the photo but rather light streaks from the cars head or tail lights. These kind of pictures are very interesting and different. There are lots of subjects you could take movement photos of you just must decide what you want to try! My favorite movement photos are the ones of the stars moving through the night sky. I have never had the opportunity to take one of these images myself because you have to be in a place with little to no light pollution and have your camera shutter open for hours. But I hope one day I will be able to take one of these images myself!

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I really enjoy using Photoshop to edit photos I take but paying for Photoshop is very expensive! So on my phone I use the app VSCO to edit my photos. This is pretty much the main app that I use for me it has everything that I need. Because I use the photos I take digitally, to post on social media, editing the images on my phone makes it simple and easy to move from editing to posting. Especially since all the photos I take with my Nikon camera download to my phone so those are just as simple to edit as the photos I’ve taken with my phone.

I tend to stick to the same filters and similar way of editing most of my photos. To do this I found the look that I find most aesthetically pleasing to me and continue to use it to create a cohesive look throughout my images. My personal favorite filters are M5 and dog1. You can adjust the intensity or opacity of the filter over the image to you liking. I usually stick within 6.0-8.0. They both have a warm kind of brown or sepia color to them which I find looks good over most images. Although for some photos I do have to play around with other filters to find one that will complement the image better. Another cool thing about VSCO Is that you can also edit videos too which is another super nice feature!

Then I continue with the other editing features. If the image is too light or too dark you can edit that using brightness I often only change this slightly unless the photo really needs otherwise. Next I move on to the contrast this also depends on the image what will look best. I play around with each setting to see what I like best if I turn down contrast my go to number is always -1.5. I have noticed that the only time I like to turn the contrast up is on images that I took with my Nikon. I usually adjust the sharpness up a bit just to make the image look nice. Then I like to click on the white balance and turn the temperature up towards the yellow side to about 0.3-0.5 because I like warmth in my images. Finally on certain images I will add grain to the photo for some texture and a bit of a vintage look. Try out VSCO yourself play around with the many different features to create some great images of your own!!

All of the photos so far are taken with my phone. You don’t have to have a fancy camera to take nice photos. It’s more about knowing how to take an aesthetically pleasing looking image. But I’ve always wanted a dslr camera of my own. I took the photography classes in high school and that is when my interest began. I’ve always loved art and cool photos I’m definitely a more artistic person, but that was the first time I was taught the correct way to use the cameras and to take good looking photos. My interest continued to grow until senior year when I was taking pictures constantly. It was a hobby I was pursuing and even began posting my photos on social media and really caring about the kinds of photos I was taking.

Fast forward to now I could finally buy my own camera althoughy phone takes nice pictures there is something so enjoyable about using a camera to take pictures. Having that control to focus on certain objectives and blur others, to zoom, to have high quality images is what I was longing for from a camera. I’ve always loved Nikons. Some people like Canon some like Nikon I decided to go with a Nikon. I did some research on good beginner camera and talked to the workers at Best Buy. It’s important to do some research before purchasing something as pricey as a camera to make sure you get what you want. I settled on a Nikon D5600 because it has a few more features than the D3400 that I originally was going to go with. I bought a nicer lens to go along with the camera as well because the 18-140mm costed less when purchasing with the body. An 18-140mm lens is kind of that everything lens for a beginner you don’t have to change out lenses to zoom it has regular image distance with the 18mm all the way up to a zoom of 140mm. I am so excited to start using my new camera to take photos!! I am going to play around with the settings and find out what I like. I will continue to share how the camera is working for me!

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A lot of people may say that food photos are over done. That people post pictures of their food on Instagram or Snapchat and that no one actually cares. But personally I love cute interesting ways to incorporate a food or drink into an image. A lot of people that I follow on Instagram post images of food from a coffee shop or whatever it may be and I always think man I wanna try that. I also love that there are accounts on Instagram for our area like @kclocaleats that share images of yummy food they had at restaurants in kc. This is so helpful because then I myself can go try these places if they look good it’s awesome.

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There are two different types of photos of food that I take the first one is images of food that I got at a restaurant that looks really good or food that someone made for me that looks amazing to show off on social media. These images I will put on my Instagram story or Snapchat story just to show others how good this food was or some of my favorite foods to inspire others to maybe go out and try it. The next was I use food in my photos is just to add an interesting element into the image. Maybe I’m taking a picture of a coffee shop well including some of their coffee or food they have there in the image just makes the photo more appealing and cute.

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There are lots of fun ways to play around with adding food or drinks into photography while keeping the interest in the images still. It is definitely something fun to play around with and find your own personal style and way that you enjoy incorporating those elements. So give it a try post some foodie photos and just enjoy yourself!!