Changing your feed for the seasons

Fall is my favorite season, so now that it’s that time of year I have all kinds of photo ideas! There are so many fun seasonal things to do that you can take awesome photos of. Instagram is where I post my favorite photos that I take and now that it’s fall I want to change the things I’m posting from fun summer activities outside and nature shots to fall activities and images and you can do this too!! Changing your Instagram feed is easy for me I have a certain style of photography a way that I take photos and most people do. It’s about the angles and edits you use to complete your images. When fall cane arounded I started to change the images I was taking to fit more of a fall look. To do this all you need to do is incorporate colors that remind people of fall and the autumn season and well as the objects in the photos. By including elements like pumpkins, candy corn, autumn leaves, fall outfits like sweaters, apple cider or tea in a cute fall mug you can create a feeling of the season in your images.

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I get lots of my inspiration from other people on Instagram and also from Pinterest. Those are both great ways to look at fall pictures other people are creating and hopefully jumpstart some inspiration. I decorated my room for autumn which was super fun and helped me really get into the mood for fall. Having candles and things that fit the time of year in your personal space are so fun and awesome to share! Images of these awesome seasonal things you found to decorate will be great to help inspire others to dive into the season. I can’t wait to go visit the cider mill, go apple picking, and visit the pumpkin patch. All great places to snap a cute photo amidst the changing leaves and season cheer! You should run out and capture your fall moments this year as well!!

Shadows

Processed with VSCO with m5 presetShadows can be a great way to add something interesting to a photo. The best part is that you can find them all over and they are so fun! And there are so many different kinds of shadows that can work for the different pictures you might be taking. They can be a shadow of light on something like in the image above or the shadow itself could be the main focus.

In these images I took photos of my shadow. The reason this is so interesting in a photo is that it’s still like an image of you , there can be a lot of detail in shadows. It’s a cool way to take a full body image of yourself by using your shadow. Instead of asking someone to take a picture for you or only being able to take a selfie you can take an image of your shadow and in the end that is probably more interesting than just another image of you. In order to take photos like these the sun has got to be out and bright that is when they turn out best. I just took these in my driveway and on my deck so you can really do it anywhere the sun is shining. Taking it somewhere where there are things to fill the negative space is important too because as cool as a shadow is just a shadow of you is probably kind of boring. The one I took on the deck I stood on a deck chair so that I could get the bottom of the hanging plant in my photo to add something interesting to the image. The things we do for pictures! In the other images I used a eucalyptus plant by putting the actual plant in the images as well as including its shadow so you get the object and it’s shadow which is a cool touch I think. The important thing to remember is most photos aren’t planned, try things see if they work play with shadows and light, that’s the only way you will find what works for you to get images you love.

In these photos the shadows weren’t as planned. I didn’t use the light to create a shadow of me or an object they were already there. Which is another cool thing to capture in an image. The light and shadows happened to be there and when I went to take a picture it added something so much more amazing to the images. Try looking for shadows and light streaks around you and see if they add to your images in a way that you like!!

Photo collection of outfits

I love clothes. Putting together fun outfits is one of my favorite things. There is just something about the confidence that comes from wearing a great outfit. But in the past I have put together an outfit I liked and then forgot what I wore the next time I reach for that top or pair of pants. I decided to start documenting my outfits so that I would have a collection of ideas to choose from later.

It is super easy to document outfits just using my phone. These images don’t have to be professional quality. They don’t have to look like the outfit inspo you might see on Instagram or Pinterest, although they can if that’s what you’re going for. I use a body length mirror or sometimes my makeup mirror because it has nice lights around it. I snap a quick image of my outfit for that day and I’m done the look has been documented! In the camera roll in my phone I created a new folder of photos, named it outfits, and now I add all the new images that I take. So they are right there easy to access and I don’t have to scroll through all the other images in my camera roll.

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The best thing about these images is that yes, they are there so I can remember that one outfit I wore that I liked and help if I really can’t come up with an idea of what to wear that day, but also that if it was a good outfit or a good image I can add some cute details and post it on Instagram to show others what I’m wearing. I even might take pictures in stores of new clothes that I want or that I bought. Fashion is such an awesome way of self expression. Try taking cool looking images of your clothing weather it be on your body or a flat lay(check out my blog post on flat lays) of an outfit you put together. These kinds of images are especially good for when you are interested in posting them somewhere like Instagram. People can express themselves so many different ways with clothing and accessories. I never hold myself back to one style I explore lots of different styles of clothing because it’s just more fun that way! Try documenting your own outfits that you love and see how it works for you!

Pressing flowers for photos

Pressed flowers and or dried plants add something so interesting and different to a picture. Whether they are the focus of the image or an addition to the shots. I love to use them to draw attention into my photos by placing them in some of the negative spaces. But because they are so versatile they also really challenge my creativity and what I mean by this is I try and find ways to also showcase them as a main focus in an image rather than always just being a filler.

Wild flowers are easy to find in the summer time, they are all over. That’s mostly what I use because they are easy to find and free. But I do really love eucalyptus so I just buy that from the store fresh. If you have a certain flower in mind or you can’t find any wild flowers you can also buy plant bundles at the store (try Trader Joe’s). Small delicate flowers, like wild flowers, can be press dried using a book because they are small enough. I use wax paper and lay a few flowers in between a folded piece then I but this wax paper in a big heavy book like a textbook. You can even pile thinks on top of the book if you need more weight. Then I leave these to dry for about 2 weeks. They should come out beautifully pressed and ready to light up any photo. If you have bought a bouquet of flowers you want to dry or a thicker flower like a rose, that won’t fit in a book, or eucalyptus like me you will need to hang dry these. To do this you tie the stems together with some yard or whatever you have laying around. Leaving enough length to then tie this bundle to something to hang for again about 2 weeks. I tie mine to the side of a self in my room. The important thing to remember is that they should be kept in a relatively cool dry place in order to get the best quality.

Dried plants are so cool because they give the feel of a real plant or flower that you can use to hang or decorate a space or add life to an image and because they are dried they will last so much longer than a real flower. Not to meantion that having them laying around is great for if you are taking a flat lay picture or images of your decorated space to show case those dried plants yoy hav as decorations. Give it a try and see how dried plants work for you!!

How to create a flat lay with things laying around your home

 

This is a flat lay that I took last week. There are all different kinds of flat lays and you can take them to fit whatever look you are going for. In this specific one I took the picture up close, not including all of the objects in the image, to give the image a more interesting look because a straight on photo in my opinion is boring. Using different angles is also a good idea move around the objects and take photos as you do to see which view you like the most. When I take photos I also take a ton because usually taking one or two photos you aren’t going to get the absolute best one. You can always delete them after but at least you can look through all your options and then edit the ones you like best.

 

The best part about flat lays is that they are as easy as gathering things from around your house laying them on a flat surface and then moving the objects around until you like they way they are positioned. Change it up! Move the objects around,take pictures, move them around again, that’s how you get a good photo. It’s all about of taking a little time to allow yourself to get that perfect image that you were going for.

 

In this specific flat lay I started by taking a plain white/cream colored pillow case and laying it of the floor of my bedroom. Next I rummaged though my house for interesting things to use. This book had a nature-esque cover which is the reason I chose it. My photo aesthetic is typically nature color tones or even images outdoors. So, because of this I try to consider that when choosing objects for flat lays. I added in this super cute woven bag I wanted to show off that I got from a friend. Woven bags have been super on trend as of recently so I thought it was perfect to add to this photo. I added in my favorite necklace from the brand GLDN it has a little bouquet of flowers and I used it as the focal point in this image, in the first image I decided to open up the book and lay the necklace inside so that the cover wouldn’t distract from the necklace. That is why trying things and taking a few photos and then changing it again is so important. Balance definitely plays an important role in laying out and taking pictures of flat lays. Balancing a photo would be like making sure there isn’t too much or too little going on. All my other images from this specific flay lay shoot are similar variations that I just changed up a bit. I added and took away some items. I used flowers that I pressed myself to add that cute delicate look that I like. I changed out the woven bag for a stitched one and I opened and closed the book. Finally I edited these photos using VSCO.