Every time you look at outfit pictures on one of your favourite blogs, you probably have no clue how much time was spent creating that content.
- Picking out a good outfit and doing hair and make up: 30 minutes
- Arranging to have someone take the pictures/convince the boyfriend: 15 minutes
- Finding location + changing the settings on the camera to suit current light: 15 minutes
- Shooting the actual pictures: at least 10 minutes
- Post production (selecting + editing): 40 minutes
- Putting together the actual blog post: at least 30 minutes
End sum: 140 minutes. Two and a half hours. And that's on a good day! I know many of you also have blogs, but not all of my readers do and I thought it might be cool to give you guys a small behind the scenes peek into how the sausage is made.
A picture that didn't make the cut for obvious - weak chin and pissy face - reasons.
On a typical day, I take about 60 (on a good day) to 150 pictures (on a bad lighting/bad background day) to eventually edit down to about 6 to 10 shots I use in my final post. These 6 to 10 photos are all prettified with gimp (free photoshop alternative). The steps I regularly take to get to the image you end up seeing on my blog:
- Sharpen my face in blurry pictures (lasso select + sharpen)
- Adjust the white balance to be aesthetically pleasing (color balance)
- In- or decrease contrast (curves)
- Lightening up the image (curves)
- Crop or tilt the picture
- Photoshop distracting elements out of the frame (desaturate/clone)
What can I say, it takes a lot of work to look this effortless (lulz)! To demonstrate:
As you can see, sometimes I like the overexposed look.
See what a difference a bit of editing makes? Especially if you're not the owner of a state of the art camera, or if you forgot to change settings before shooting, or when the lighting is especially craptastic. So if you are frustrated about the quality of your pictures and want them to be a bit crisper: learn to work with an image editor such as gimp, because it makes SUCH a huge change.
So! How did ya like them apples? Would you be interested in seeing more "behind the scenes" posts?
Leuk om te zien :D haha, ik moet zeggen dat bij mijn camera mijn gezicht wel scherper is, maar dan is die achtergrond wel niet zo mooi blurry :), hopelijk met die nieuwe lens binnenkort!
ReplyDeleteIk had ook expres een foto gekozen waar je veel verschil zag voor en na, soms moet ik helemaal niks doen. Hangt helemaal af van licht en instellingen :)
ReplyDeleteI love the posts where you're honest. The one with the bikini was also a good 'un :)
ReplyDeletethanks! I was thinking of that one when I got the idea for this one :)
ReplyDeleteJa! Ik hou van 'behind-the-scenes'-posts! Merci voor de Gimp-tip, ik ga dat programma ook eens beginnen gebruiken :-)
ReplyDeleteAbsoluut geweldig hoe je zo eerlijk bent, en ook fantastisch om te zien hoe je je foto's bewerkt. Go Annebeth!
ReplyDeleteLeuke post en een goed idee voor ons om ook eens te doen. Mensen hebben vaak de indruk dat streetstyle zo eenvoudig is, terwijl een foto vaak gelijk staat aan een uur door de stad wandelen.
ReplyDeleteHaha grappig hoe dat die tijdsbesteding perfect overeenkomt met die van mij :D En bedankt voor het programma Gimp, ik kan zoiets wel gebruiken, want momenteel doe ik alles als een noob in iPhoto ;)
ReplyDeleteIk pleit voor meer weke kinnenfoto's! Ik ga die Gimp ook eens bekijken als ik nog eens tijd heb. Je sjaal heeft een mooie kleur trouwens!
ReplyDeleteLove this. I find it hard to get someone to take pictures for me so I have to use my tripod and remote. It makes it harder to get a variety of backgrounds and poses because I try to be in and out! I get embarrassed taking photos of myself in more public places. Your photos always look lovely, the effort shows!
ReplyDeleteYes to more behind the scenes posts! I find it fascinating to read about other bloggers' ways of working!
ReplyDeleteLeuk om dit eens te lezen! Ik gebruik pas sinds kort een editing programma en het maakt inderdaad een wereld van verschil!
ReplyDeleteYey, top-post! Nu wil ik deze stelen ;-)
ReplyDeleteGo right ahead! Hoe meer eerlijkheid hoe beter :)
ReplyDeleteYes for more behind-the-scenes! And great post! That's why I just can't post on a regular basis. I just don't have 2-3h per day. I'm very thrilled how you manage to this while having a boyfriend, a household and a job/ being a PhD Student.
ReplyDeletewell I don't do it daily anymore either! :-D and I do a lot of my blogging while watching tv (aka combining the essentials).
ReplyDeleteHeel leuke post, ik moet duidelijk gimp eens wat beter leren gebruiken :D
ReplyDeleteNaomi, x
Thank you for the tips on photo editing. Yes, it can get frustrating sometimes to get a blog post up. People think that it is an easy thing to do. Hell no!!
ReplyDeleteYes, I would love to see more behind the scene post from you =)