Dreaming in Dubai

I'm a little embarrassed by how long it's taken me to get this blog post up. I'd actually had it written and queued up for weeks but between work, preparing for my trip to Pakistan(!!!), technical difficulties on my blog and attempting to take care of my home it's been a struggle to sit down and actually publish it. I finally had a few spared minutes today and managed to make that collage you see up there. Anyways, enough my rambling. Let's get back to the actual post. One of the questions I most frequently get asked most frequently is how do I take and edit my pictures. I find this question quite flattering because I'm far from an expert. To be honest my husband helps me out with photography a lot and by helping I mean he takes a large chunk of my pictures for me. I do like to take credit for the creative aspects though! I think we make quite a productive team with his technical skills and my creative compositions. It's all about the balance after all. There are a couple of things I've learned along the way that have helped me out tremendously when I do take my pictures. Most of our pictures are taken with our Canon 70D that my husband and I impulsively splurged on before our trip to Turkey. It's actually turned out to be our favorite purchase ever. Our camera has allowed us to really learn and experiment photography and take it one step above iPhone pictures. The tips I'll be sharing today apply to all cameras, both iPhones and DSLR's. (I'm working on a separate post just for DSLR's!) I hope these tips answer the questions that so many of you have. If not please leave me a comment below!

1. Use Natural Light

Unless you have extensive knowledge of your dslr and lenses it can be impossible to take good pictures under artificial light. Light bulbs tend to cast a harsh yellow or blue shadow on pictures resulting in a lack luster photograph. Natural light on the other hand provides a natural glow to pictures that make for a gorgeous photograph. Don't be afraid to experiment with different types of natural light. Play with shadows, harsh light, dull light etc to see how they impact your pictures. The only way you will learn what light works best for your taste is to experiment. I prefer the bright light that shines through my apartment in the afternoon. This sometimes causes delays for me if I don't get home in time to shoot my pictures but I would rather wait until the next day to get a great photo than to take a photo in light I don't love.

2. Composition

When it comes to aesthetically pleasing photographs, composition is key. Whether you're taking a flat flay, food photo, or nature shot, if you don't compose your shot in a way that's pleasing to the eye it won't look good on camera. Play around with your props, objects, whatever it may be to find the shot that looks best. Explore different angles and settings to find what works best. I often take 20 different shots of the same thing before I find a composition that I love.

3. Don't Drastically Edit

Chances are if you've taken a great photograph you won't need to edit it drastically. When I first started taking pictures I would saturate them until they turned neon. For some reason strange reason I thought they looked best that way but I've slowly come to realize that when it comes to editing, less is actually more. Now, I like my pictures to have a natural look so I hardly ever use filters or editing tools on them. For me filters are a hit or miss, sometimes they can transport a photo into another realm but most of the time they make a picture look discolored (not in a good way), grainy, and distorted. My favorite tools to use for editing pictures are the tools available on Instagram itself which allow you adjust saturation, brightness, shadows etc. I find that these tools make the best impact on pictures. You'd be surprised at what a difference increasing saturation or brightness can make on an image!

4. Taking Straight Photos

One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to pictures are when they are crooked. Crooked pictures throw off the entire balance of a picture. It's best to make sure that you're holding the camera straight when you're shooting. This is very easy to do if you have a phone camera but it can take a little time to master if you're using a dslr because they tend to be more bulky. Luckily there are a number of apps you can use to straighten a picture my favorite of which, surprise, surprise is the Instagram editing tools. The best part of the straitening tool is that not only can you use it to straighten a picture horizontally, you can also pull the photo in different directions (not sure if that makes sense!). But trust me, it makes a huge difference especially if you've tilted the camera up to take photos.

5. The Rule of Thirds

This rule goes along with composition but it's so important that it deserves its explanation. The rule of third is when the composition of your picture is divided into thirds, either horizontally or vertically. This means that the subject of your image falls along one of the thirds. This rule is hands down one of the easiest ways to create an interesting composition in your photo. Rather than having the subject in the middle, if the subject lies along one of the thirds it will create interest in your photo and draw the eye to the subject automatically. I use this rule in almost all of my pictures by having at least one of the subjects of my photo fall along the third lines. You can either imagine the lines in your head when taking the picture or you can use the grid function on your iPhone camera to see where the lines fall. 

I hope these tips are helpful! I will be doing another set of tips that are specifically for dslr's very soon!