Annoying Things About Blog Photography

Blogging, Rants, , , , , , , , , , , , , 39 Comments

When I do blog photography posts, the goal of them is usually to share some things that I’ve personally learned from blog photography as well as for me to document how my photos have changed as of lately. I don’t think this post is going to be very helpful or documentative, though. It’s going to be more of a rant about things that have frustrated me to no end about blog photography that (hopefully) some of my fellow bloggers can relate to.

As I’ve said before, blog photography has become an element of blogging that I really enjoy. The process of creating, capturing, and editing a flatlay is fun and expressive. There are few things better than that jolt of excitement you get after you’ve gone through the entire process and ended up with a picture that you’re proud of. However, even though I really love taking blog photography, there are a few things that tend to annoy me about it. Getting a flatlay to look exactly how you envisioned it is a very painstaking process that is certainly not without drawbacks. Without fail, these are some things that consistently happen to me during blog photography sessions.

The light changes as soon as you set up

If you’re a blogger who uses natural lighting, I’m sure you’ve experienced this frustration. Depending on what the weather is like outside, natural lighting can make or break your photo. It’s a very fickle thing that requires specific conditions to look right. So, on days when I have optimal weather, I immediately roll out my background and start setting up flatlays. Something that happens to me all the time is that the moment I get ready to snap a photo, the lighting suddenly changes. Clouds pop out of seemingly no where and completely cover the sun, making my shots come out dark and shadowy. It’s so irritating because setting up a flatlay takes a lot of movement and adjustment. After all the effort of putting it together, one change outside totally ruins it. Sometimes it feels like the sun and the clouds are conspiring against you, actively trying to prevent you from taking blog photos. It’s seriously irritating and always happens at the worst possible times.

Your photos look better on the camera

Do you ever look at your photos on your camera and believe you have a nearly perfect shot, only to transfer them to your computer and realize that they’re terrible? One of the most annoying things about blog photography is that ugly, blurry, and poorly lit photos only become visible to you after you’ve already put your backgrounds and props away. I wish that bad photos didn’t look so good on my camera. By the time that I realize a photo is actually terrible, the natural light is gone or my props are packed back up. It’s frustrating because it feels like a wasted photo session.

The smallest angles seem to matter

During a blog photography session, the perfectionist in me totally takes over. I retake photos just so I can make slight, unnoticeable adjustments. I once reset and re-shot a flatlay simply because I wanted to angle a mascara tube in the photo a tiny bit differently. This was after I had already put my blog props and backgrounds away and begun the editing process. In blog photography, it’s definitely easy to spot miniature flaws and allow them to bother you endlessly. It’s really difficult to capture a photo that you’re 100% happy with. I have to frequently remind myself that perfection is unattainable and that minor angle adjustments won’t make a huge difference in the overall shot.

red

Uninspired days produce uninspired photos

Personally, if I’m not in a creative mindset, I can’t get myself to take good photos. I think this could simply be that because I’m not an expert or professional, it’s takes a lot of inspiration for me to photograph. If I’m not feeling up to blog photography, it’s apparent in my shots and compositions. They won’t look right, nor will they seem put together. It takes a lot of energy, motivation, and inspiration for me to take photos that I like, which can definitely be annoying when I’m in a time crunch. If I only have a limited window of time to get my blog photography for the week done, then it’s very irritating to not be in that creative mindset.

When your floor or table gets in the shot

If you also use contact paper or poster board in your flatlays, then you also probably know the frustration of taking a photo only to see that your floor or table crept into the side of the shot. This only seems to happen after you’ve taken a particularly good photo. You glance down at your camera, like what you see, but then a strip of carpet becomes apparent to you. One thing I despise having to do is retake a photo just because I didn’t realize my camera had been zoomed out too far. It’s such an easy mistake to make and cropping it never seems to look right.

All in all, I really do enjoy blog photography. Like most things in life, there are both positives and negatives to it. The positives by far outweigh the negatives, but these things can be annoying from time to time.

What are some annoyances you experience in blog photography?

Sincerely,

Untitled Design (13)

Instagram  | Twitter | Bloglovin | Pinterest | Facebook 

39 thoughts on “Annoying Things About Blog Photography”

  1. Yes yes and yes! XD I always swear that the weather is working against me! I love taking photos but the sun doesn’t usually want to cooperate. It really makes a big difference and it’s annoying because it’s out of our control!

    I also have that perfectionist side where I will see that I should have angled something the tiniest little bit and it will bug me every time I look at the picture. Of course, by the time I realize, I always have my stuff packed up so I can’t adjust lol. I just have to hope other people don’t notice lol.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. I know what you mean! The weather never seems to cooperate when I actually have the time to take photos! And the same thing happens to me lol. I only notice the little angles I dislike after I’ve already put away my blog props

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. I feel your pain, I wait for a good white cloud day and take my set up outside. The White clouds act as a diffuser and stops the colours distorting, especially whites which can take on a blue cast in natural light sometimes if it’s not quite right. I set up and the sun comes through casting shadows everywhere! That’s probably my biggest peeve!

    Loved reading. Thanks for sharing.

    Samantha x

    http://thebeautyspyglass.com

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  6. I’m always impressed by your blog photos!! You have such an amazing sense of creativity! For the life of me, I can’t figure out flat lays or how to show off products! I can see how all these points would get annoying after a while though 😂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  10. I’m still learning to use my camera, so I’m happy when I figure out how to shoot in manual mode. 😊 Even so, I relate to what you shared. And I try to overcome that perfectionist in me, and use something imperfect to challenge that part of me.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you! That’s such a good strategy and I definitely need to start doing it! There have been too many times when I’ve thought a photo looked good only to realize that it didn’t after I had put all my stuff away!

      Like

      Reply

  13. Due to the fact that I don’t have permanent setup for taking photos, and I’m always on the go editing, I spend a lot of time editing stuff out of my photos rather than retaking them. It’s a total time-eater.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  14. This is so true for me in all aspects. I currently take most of photos on my iphone because I cant afford a nice camera at the moment and I also can’t always borrow my boyfriend’s camera. The quality of photos are nice at times and then horrible the next. I don’t entirely know how to take awesome photos but I always try to use take photos in the morning or the middle of the day when the lighting is the best.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Phone cameras are definitely strange like that! My phone either takes really great pictures or really awful ones. There seems to be no in-between. From my experience, morning and midday have been the best times to take photos too!

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

    2. I know this may seem a bit obvious, but it’s easily overlooked. I keep a bottle of lense cleaner (like for glasses) handy, to clean my iPhone lense. It makes a huge difference and I often forget about my iPhone lense.

      Like

      Reply
  22. Pingback: Blogger Problems – Currently, Lately
  23. Pingback: Blog Photography Problems – Currently, Lately

Leave a comment