photography for your blog

Saturday, September 20, 2014 · FLBlogCon

Photography for Your BlogJulie Deily of The Little Kitchen.net | @TheLittleKitchn

Quick Intro

✤ Started my food blog, The Little Kitchen in Dec. 2009 (almost 5 years old!)

✤ help organize food blog conference called Food Blog Forum (Disney Feb. 2015) and food blogger cookie swaps

✤ Better Homes & Garden Food Blog| Epicurious | Time | Orlando Weekly

First things first

You have to start somewhere

Practice, practice, practice

• capture the attention of visitors to your blog• illustrate something you’re writing about• drive traffic

Use Photography to

• It’s not the equipment, it’s the person behind the camera

• Composition (pay attention to detail)

• Rule of Thirds (subject doesn’t have to be in the center)

• focus on your subject

• not too close in on your subject

Editing via Adobe LightRoom

• Adobe LightRoom• Acorn for Mac• Adobe Photoshop Elements ($60)• Snapseed app (free) - Demo time

Editing Tools

• June-August #3 overall traffic came from Pinterest• #1 google, #2 direct• Google accounts for 36% traffic• Pinterest 14%

Pinterest - The Little Kitchen

• vertical images (at least 600px wide)• collages do really well (anything longer than 800px will be reduced just for the feed - Expand Pin text)• text is great but make sure it doesn’t overpower the image

Pinterest

• See what people are pinning from your site• http://pinterest.com/source/thelittlekitchen.net/• create collages• update photos or add more photos to popular posts

Pinterest

• my favorite social platform right now

• experiment

• edit photos before sharing (Snapseed, Squaready)

• when shooting think in terms of the square photo

• use hashtags but don’t overdo them

Instagram

Equipment1. Olympus Point & Shoot - $150-$2002. Canon Rebel XS with kit lens (T3 or T5) - $5003. 50mm 1.8f lens ($125) -> 50mm 1.4f lens4. Canon 5D Mark II, 24-70mm, 50mm 1.2f5. Panasonic Lumix GM1, 20mm lens

Action Items1. Challenge Yourself2. Set Goals3. Master one piece of equipment before upgrading4. Take a photography workshop5. Shadow or ask a photographer you respect questions6. Rent equipment before buying it

In Closing• You don’t have to have the most expensive equipment to take the best photos

• Pay attention to details but at the same time your photos do not have to be perfect

• When shooting photography, keep in mind Pinterest and Instagram

• Editing goes a long way

Any Questions?@TheLittleKitchn on twitter & instagram

email me julie@thelittlekitchen.net