BLOGGERS: HOW TO PERFECTLY EDIT YOUR PHOTOS.

I read a lot of blogs daily.

There are SO many amazing bloggers, nationally and internationally, that I follow religiously.

But the ONE thing that bugs me is photography and photo editing. You can have a really great blogger with amazing content, a blog that is well-written, but then you look at their photos…

And the photos are TOTALLY off. They’re grainy, somewhat blurry, and not consistent to the theme of their blog.

Guys, consistency is KEY!! Like, I can’t stress how important it is to keep your blog and your social feeds consistent.

Especially your blog and Instagram feed! Those two are the main ones because that’s where you’re sharing photos. Snapchat is raw, which is something I love. No editing required there.

There’s nothing more annoying than not being consistent with your pages. For instance, if you’re dark and dreary on your blog and have bright and colouful photos on your-insta feed, you’re confusing me. Are you bright and colourful, or dark?!

If you notice on my blog and insta-feed, the photos are very bright and white, with some contrast. So is the ENTIRE theme of my blog. I’m not randomly going to have a photo that doesn’t match my aesthetics on my insta-feed. Branding is everything. (Also, branding is another ENTIRE blog post on its own!)

You want people to notice that it’s your brand when they see your feeds. I’m not an editing expert in anyway, but you don’t need to be. With all the apps and editing tools out there, it’s not difficult to theme your feeds and keep everything consistent.

I’ve had people ask me how I go about my editing process; so today I’m sharing. And if you ever come across a blogger whose got an amazingly themed insta-feed, and they say they haven’t edited…they’re lying. The only way to get a themed insta-feed is to edit, edit & EDIT.

Mind you, I’m NOT about touching up skin tones or eye colour, or getting rid of pimples on photoshop. LOL. When I say “edit,” I mean, the filter on the photo. (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.)

Okay, I edit my photos in a few simple steps. I use Photoshop, however, if you don’t have Photoshop on your computer, any editing app will do. I personally love VSCO.

Step ONE:

Once I’ve brought my photo into Photoshop, I start with brightness. I like to slightly overdo it. I mean, not to the point where I, or the object looks almost faded, but enough so that it looks BRIGHT WHITE.

Step TWO:

Contrast. Again, you want to make your objects stand out a bit. Contrast helps do that. It adds shadows where it’s needed. Adding contrast makes for a stronger photo, if that makes any sense.

Step THREE:

Saturation. This is where I like to bring down the saturation quite a bit. If you look at my Insta-feed, you’ll see that bright colours are not as bright as they would be in real life, because I’ve adjusted the saturation quite a bit. I don’t want pinks and greens to stand out. I need my photos to be as bright white as possible.

Step FOUR:

That’s it for Photoshop. I now bring my picture to VSCO to touch up or sharpen anything. I may even de-saturate a bit more in VSCO, and then finally, I bring it to Instagram.

You’re probably thinking, WHAT A PSYCHO?! And maybe I am, but I don’t really give a shit. LOL. When it comes to my blog/brand, I take it seriously. As you should too! These things matter.

When I first started the blog, I would promote my blog posts on my personal Instagram account! So, you’d see a drunken picture of me and my girlfriends, and then a perfectly edited blog photo right beside it. LIKE, NO.

—

Once I started doing some research on branding, is when I realized I needed a separate account just for The Chic Confidential. Drunken photos be GONE. Now, everything is in one place, themed to the extreme, and CONSISTENT with the blog.

Okay, your turn! What are YOU bloggers using to edit? How are you editing/ keeping things consistent? Tell tell. We want ALL the blogger to know how important consistency is. None of this “I never edit my photos” business. Let’s be real, here.

So, which filters are YOU using?

Xx, kim