The Basics
Photos are made up of tiny blocks of color called pixels
Rule of Thirds
Rule of Thirds is a general rule of thumb where split your photo into thirds vertically and horizontally. Then you place your subject on one of those lines. This adds visual interest and movement
Poorly Resized Photo
This is what happens when you don’t resize a photo with the right proportions. It becomes distorted and funny looking.
Too Small Image
Make sure you aren’t resizing your image too small. If you try and blow it back up larger its going to turn out blurry.
Choosing Images
Stock vs. Self-Taken
Stock:
- Stock images have sets of laws attached to them.
- Copyrighted images can only be used if you have permission from the creator or whoever owns the rights.
- Creative Commons: Sets of licenses that allow different levels of usage
- There are quicker options
- Some sites such as iStock.com require you to pay to use the images
- Free sites like Stock Xchange and Flickr use Creative Commons. Pay attention to which license is on the images
- Be sure to give credit if using a stock image
Self-Taken:
- You own the rights! This means you can change, manipulate, and edit the photo as you wish.
- You avoid any sort of copyright issue that could come up.
- Adds a personal touch and makes your site unique because that image isn’t going to be found anywhere else.
- It does take time between taking the photos and editing them.
Image Checklist
- Be relevant: Don’t post something off topic
- Support your content: Product photos, graphs, charts, etc.
- Convey proper mood: Images are the first thing your viewer sees. Don’t confuse them between the text and images.
- Be recognizable: Keep the proper proportions! Don’t scale photos larger than the original size.
- Fit color palette: This is more for static pages than blog posts.
Last Thoughts & Tips
- Practice! It may take time in the beginning to remember all the editing steps, but with practice, the more it becomes habit.
- Pull inspiration from the internet. If you want to start taking your own photos, search the web, find an image you like and try to imitate it. It will help you learn your camera settings.
- Carry a camera around with you, even if it’s just your cell phone camera. You never know when a good opportunity to take a photo will arise.
- Plan or think about your blog posts ahead of time. This can help you find content to photograph.
- Use the Rule of Thirds.
- If you’re using stock images, remember to give proper credit.
- Remember: Don’t to a Google Image search to find your photos!