Five Photos You Should NEVER Take

This, my dear readers, is the very first ootd photo I ever took and can be found on my first personal style blog How Was Your Day? (over on Tumblr). I started blogging as a way to update my mom on the daily outfit choices I was making at my very cool tech job at a start up in San Francisco. It was the first job I'd ever had without a dress code...there were literally no rules about what you should and should not wear...employees sartorial choices ran the gamut from pajamas to pumps...nothing was taboo. It was and exciting place to get dressed for and for one year I chronicled EVERYTHING I wore.
Fast forward almost 5 years later and I'm still blogging about WHAT I WORE: tip to toe! but I've learned so much about posing and posting. Here are the Five Photos You Should NEVER Take...

FRIDAY FYI


1. NO ACTION SHOTS: listen up...you are NOT running a sports photography blog so action shots are unnecessary and unnatural. See how I'm trying to showcase the lining of this vintage Burberry trench, but I just end up looking like a creepy flasher? Yea no bueno. A better idea would be to drape the coat over one arm so that you see some parts of the lining.

Bonus tip: pay attention to your background; the world could do without ever seeing that potty pad my puppy is about to pee on.

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2. TAKE YOUR HAND OFF YOUR HIP: Okay so guilty of this one...I do it so often you may think it's my signature pose, but you would be wrong...actually this is my signature pose. But designer Rachel Roy put it best when she advised actresses Gabrielle Union and Sanaa Lathan to stop putting their hands on their hips when they take photos. She said it made them look like starlets instead of stars and I whole heartedly agree with this. Try a fierce buffalo stance like the one Rachel Cothran, PR Director for the Corcoran Gallery of Art, recently took at a restaurant opening. Her vintage jumpsuit didn't hurt either.

No ma'am


Yes please!
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3. IS THIS OUTFIT PHOTO WORTHY? Ok this is where we have to separate our narcissism from our need for content. As style bloggers it can be tough to decide what is photo worthy, but here's a quick test...if you ran into an ex boyfriend/potential boss/crush wearing this look would you regret it? If the answer is yes then go about your day (hopefully you wont encounter anyone you know) but don't bother taking an outfit photo. Better luck tomorrow.
While it's funny that I walked around all day with my sweats on backwards its not outfit photo worthy.
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4. PICK A SUBJECT In general I recommend picking one thing your passionate about and focusing your blog on that. I don't know how lifestyle bloggers do it...talking about fashion one minute and cooking the next and world events as well...its exhausting and unless you create a consistent "voice" across all of your content, your readers won't know what to expect when they land on your page and therefore may choose not to come back after just one off topic post. Same goes for photos...if you are creating a post about brunch take separate photos of your WHAT I WORE: tip to toe! to brunch outfit from your food porn photos. Take the example of the photograph below; this was meant to be showcase my delicious omelets, but where does your eye naturally go...my smiling face...distraction! Did you even notice the food?

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5. TAKE ALL OF YOUR PHOTOS OUTSIDE Unless you are a professional photographer your point-and-shoot and even your DSLR photos will look better in natural light. Try to catch the sun at least 1 hour after it has risen in the morning and at least 2 hours before it sets in the evening. Lunchtime outfit photos have the best lighting so get out there and shoot!


I hope you found these tips helpful...see more photos from my first year of blogger (way back in 2008) at HOW WAS YOUR DAY (Tumblr) and check back next Friday for another post in this FRIDAY FYI series! 


5 comments:

  1. What a great posting! I've been guilty of at least 3 these. Fine me for hands on the hips- lol every now and then I do slip up on that one. :) Great posting,topic and advise!

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  2. Good post! Good reminders for the does and don'ts.

    Ariana
    Shopaholic Undercover

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  3. Thanks for your sweet comments ladies!

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  4. Great post full of useful tips! My site is fairly new and I am also having a hard time getting my readers to leave comments. Analytics shows they are coming to the site but I have a feeling “nobody wants to be first”. free anal porn

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