There are many reasons people hate photos of themselves.
One of them is that we look much larger than we expected.
Don't be so hard on yourself!
It MIGHT be because of an optical illusion in the camera.
Our cell phones are wide angle lenses which cause distortion or stretching at the sides of the image.
Things look larger in these areas!
If you are taking a photo of yourself, back up a little and come up with the angle of your camera and this optical illusion is diminished!
Sipping an afternoon beer at #fairview inside the @iowastatefair, I enjoyed watching fairgoers snap photos overlooking the fair and Des Moines skyline. The bounced light was beautiful!
Here's how our own photo turned out, along with the edit I used in my iPhone 11
- Start with vivid filter for that great punch of color and contrast
- Adjust shadows to bring Craig and I out since we were backlit with the sun behind us.
- Desaturate a touch since the bright light with the vivid filter was a bit much.
- Then fix cropping and lens warping.
Watch out for color cast when you photograph yourself near a brightly colored wall or background!
Light hits the surface of the background, then bounces it back into your subject. In this case, it turned my face PINK!
I recorded this video on January 12 to be used today, April 5.
It was the morning after our largest snowstorm of the winter.
Everyone knows that staying consistent with your social media is one of the keys to building a following, and building your online client relationships.
I know my first reaction to this was, “How am I ever going to be able to keep up with my social media?”
The answer to this is in planning and batch creating your content.
It doesn’t mean that you quit putting in timely content, it just means that you get about 85% of the work done ahead of time to make things easier and support you when you are busy. I often add in extra posts, or even create a new post if the planned one loses relevancy.
Today I teach you how you could do some photos in January, and then use Canva to make them look more Spring-like.
FYI- as predicted In the video, I am very grateful to have this video recorded today. I would definitely be skipping Tip Tuesday if it had not been created ahead of time. Next week is my last video I made in this batch. So now it will be time to create a new set for the rest of spring. I’ll record 1 day, then spend another day creating graphics and editing videos. My assistant, Ashley and her team (love you Erika!) will get it all organized and scheduled.
Have you ever felt like you’ve tried every single marketing tool there is and nothing is happening? And you feel like giving up?
I’ve totally been there.
In the beginning, I didn’t realize that developing relationships took so much time. I gave up several times. And then something or someone would encourage me to keep going.
First I got a little trickle of success. I began networking in person, networking online, then I switched my social media marketing to be an extension of networking, providing service, relationship building, and having fun!
Finally, after a couple of years, I became visible enough to attract my ideal clients AND I had enough clients to keep my business up and running.
So if you are a new business owner, or even an established business owner who wants to extend their reach beyond what they already have, I encourage you to keep GOING.
Don’t give up.
It was this struggle that inspired my course, How to Rock Your Personal Brand Photography. I discovered how many business owners were doing all the right things except their photography was holding them back.
If you would like some help with your social media photography, I invite you to check out my course, How to Rock your Personal Brand Photography on demand, or join me for How to Rock Your Personal Brand Photography group coaching.
Or both.
Check out how I can help here: https://juliamaephotography.thinkific.com/
It's much more flattering to get your arm away from your body when posing.
Most of us have a tendency to hold our arms up against ourselves. ESPECIALLY in a photo session when we are nervous and subconsciously defending against something uncomfortable!
Experiment and find a variety of poses that lift your arms away from your body and look natural.
For more intense posing instruction, you can take my Week 5 Posing Module for only $150!! https://juliamaephotography.thinkific.com/courses/week5-how-to-rock-your-personal-brand-photography
OR join me for my Group Coaching Mastermind starting April 14! https://juliamaephotography.thinkific.com/courses/mastermind-group-coaching
#juliamaephotography #brandingphotographer #photographerlife #digitalmarketing #iowaphotographer
I love my new pink background!
It's there whenever I need it and brings me joy each time I walk into my studio.
Choosing a background that looks nice with your brand colors is an easy tip to stay consistent in your marketing. I did all my photos in front of it and now I do live videos and some presentations with it. I can throw on a sweater over my PJ's, drag a brush through my hair, put on some pink lip gloss and "TA-DAH!" I look intentional and polished.
Even though I might actually be flying by the seam of my pants! LOL!
Here's the links to everything I used to make this video, including my pink seamless paper!
pink seamless paper
background Stand
Softbox Lights
Tripod & Remote Trigger
PS! How to Rock Your Personal Brand Photography launches TOMORROW!!! Here's the link for more information and to register:
https://juliamaephotography.thinkific.com/courses/how-to-rock-your-personal-brand-photography
This is a great tip I recommend using when trying to photograph yourself while wearing bulkier or oversized items.
Use clothespins or clips to add shape to oversized clothing.
Who doesn't love big clothes?! They are perfect to hide all your flaws; rolls, bumps and all that BUT they also hide all the good things about your body and you also can't put yourself into a flattering pose!
Yup! That's right! I get into my husband's Can You Handlebar Primary Mustache Wax to shape and groom my unruly eyebrows.
For years I have been trying to get my unruly eyebrows tamed. I waxed, threaded, plucked and trimmed. I used powders and pencils. All of them caused major and minor skin irritations, so I didn't feel like I could win.
During the pandemic, I let my eyebrows go.
My husband discovered Can You Handlebar a few years ago. We were both very pleased with their products. Craig looked handsome without reeking of cologne. I'd occasionally get a whiff of orange or clove when we kissed, but that was it.
So when it was time to start going back out into public, I wondered what to do with my eyebrows that wouldn't lie down. I saw Craig's tin of wax lying on the bathroom counter and an idea was born!
I love this product!
I can now quickly tame and shape my eyebrows easily with no irritation, special appointment or equipment!
Check them out here!
https://www.canyouhandlebar.com/
Here's a couple more tips on reducing glasses glare in your photos:
- Tip your head in different directions to see if there's a pose that looks nice, but reduces glasses glare.
- Tip your glasses forward slightly and this will help. It can be tricky, so experiment.
Here I am behind the scenes creating my head shots using my professional camera with an app on my phone. I didn’t love this experience because I spent a large chunk of my precious time figuring out the tech.
Tech can be one of the biggest hurdles in a business. It certainly has been for me. But it’s unavoidable. Even though I’m starting to delegate out some of my tech responsibilities, it’s still a part of our everyday life.
So if you’re like me and struggle with the tech., This is just a reminder that:
a. you’re not alone
b. don’t let it get you down
c. take a deep breath and go look at YouTube
d. if it gets too frustrating, take a break and come back to it later!
I confess I finally ended up making the headshot I’m using right now with my cell phone. It will do for now until I hire a professional photographer to do my head shots for me.
If you would like to learn how to make better selfies with your cell phone, Join me February 21 for my Portrait Mode Selfie Challenge at 4:00 central. We will start with A FREE class that teaches you how to use portrait mode to improve your selfies, turn them into portraits.
https://juliamaephotography.thinkific.com/courses/portrait-mode-selfie-challenge
Advantages to hiring a photographer and videographer to do you photos and videos:
- Better quality
- Easier
- Supportive
- SAVES TIME!
- Helps you put your best foot forward.
DIY is GREAT and works for new businesses or businesses with an employee that has a knack for it. BUT eventually handing this over to someone else is the best choice!
Sometimes when I get stuck on an idea, I take a break.
This particular time I was trying to switch my brand colors to a more fall, holiday and winter look. I wanted a more gentle, muted version of my bright spring and summer color scheme.
I couldn't get it to work, so I went outside to draw inspiration from nature!
Your branding and style might be right in front of you. Take a look around you. What’s your favorite color? What are your favorite things? It took me a while to figure mine out, but once I saw it and started embracing it I realized it was right there all the time. I love stripes and polka dots and then one day I walked out and realized wow yeah I bought a striped house. How more obvious could I have been?
Here's how I light Dinner Dispatch meals with natural lighting:
- Open window
- Bounce light back into shadows with a white box.
Except for the pro editing, you have access to everything I used.
I got the best tip from Shannon at Shannon Lee Strategy! (on IG @shannonleestrategy)
I’d forgotten to save an IG Live video and couldn’t figure out how to do it after I posted the video to my account.
I asked Shannon and she sent me a simple voice message with exactly what to do. So grateful for the help!
I highly recommend working with Shannon!
Tip Tuesday: Imperfect Avocado
If you are professionally styling food for magazine covers and what not, in order to have a perfect avocado for a photo, many avocados will need to be sliced open in order to find one that is "picture perfect." Perfect color, shape, ripeness AND sit on the table just right. THEN the cut has to be perfect, too.
BUT, if you find beauty in the imperfections like I do, then 1 pretty avocado will suffice.
Hey. How are your selfies?
Both of these portraits were taken with my iPhone11.
Trust me, I've seen a TON of businesses who try to market their businesses with SELFIES. Maybe they aren't quite as bad as my first one, but still.
There's nothing wrong with taking your own photos. There's even a time and place for selfies.
Your lead images including profile photos need to look their best.
I'll tell you how I did this. If you try and still can't get them to turn out either hire me to do them for you or take my beta class "How to Rock Your Branding Photography" and I'll teach you. https://www.juliamaephotography.com/diy-course/
1. Touch up your hair, makeup and wardrobe.
2. Set up tripod for phone. Camera should be at or slightly above eye level.
3. Choose a solid background.
4. Use two video lights raised above eye level, pointing at your nose and placed about 45 degrees on either side of you.
5. Set iphone to portrait mode and then "studio light." This gives a decent glow and skin smoothing. A tad more than I would do in professional editing, but it still looks more professional. Just use Portrait Mode if it's too much for your taste.
6. Set your timer and move around for a pose.
7. Keep taking photos until you get one you like. Delete the ones you don't.
8. Select Edit. For this photo, I simply used "auto."
9. Your portrait mode photos will be files with an .HEIC extension instead of the familiar .jpeg. Some applications will not accept .HEIC. I am able to change the format in my professional editing programs. You will need to google the best way to change it for the editing program you have access to.
Simple, right? Grief.
Pre-register for the early bird beta version now and save!https://www.juliamaephotography.com/diy-course/
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