So I have never done a blog post like this before and I actually got the idea for it from Abby Saylor. Abby has a blog series called Behind The Gram. In this series she takes you through the process and behind the scenes of her most popular Instagram post. Abby talks about how she edits each photo, what went in to taking each photo, and what photos almost didn’t make it to Instagram. So her post actually really did inspire this one where I will be sharing with you my favorite Instagram post what happened while taking them and what I had to do to edit the photos. So lets jump in to the Instagram world of January.
JANUARY 1, 2020
So it’s the new year and I literally did nothing on New Years Eve. My mom and I watched Daddy’s Home one and two then we just stayed up until Midnight. But, my younger brothers Birthday is January 5th and he was actually out of town for his Birthday so on New Years Day we all went out to lunch to celebrate his Birthday early. I had just gotten this jacket for Christmas and I love it so much. I knew I wanted a photo in it and since I needed a photo to begin my new theme and two for the New Year.
So when we got home from lunch after cake and presents it was later in the day and it was also cloudy. So I opened up the blinds set up my DSLR camera in my room stood in front of my closet. I did a few poses and took some photo’s. Like I said it was later in the day and cloudy so the photos ended up being a little darker than I wanted. Even after I added the preset the photos did not turn out how I wanted them to. So I had to do a little extra editing to the photo. I brightened it a bit and turn up the shadow settings. But once that was done and the preset was applied the photo and it turned out beautifully.
JANUARY 5, 2020
You know I thought this photo was going to be super simple to take but I was wrong. Overall it looks like it was and in the end was easy to take. But, the first few times I took this photo it was rough and I was getting frustrated with it. So I got a Apple Watch for Christmas and it was a gift I knew I was getting. Since I knew I was getting it I went straight to Pinterest to find some photos to use as my watch wallpaper/background. I ended up finding some super cute photos of the Apple Watches themselves. Basically the photos were of the girls wrist with the watch and maybe a bracelet.
Sounds super easy right and it should’ve been except the first few times I took these photos I had the angle all wrong. I did use my iPhone 11 pro for these photos. Because of that I was back and forth from my camera and Pinterest. It took me maybe twenty minutes before I realized that I had the angle all wrong. But once I realizes what I was doing wrong I finally got the shot. I added my preset to the photo and it looked amazing. The only extra editing I had to do was to the watch screen. I had to darken the screen a bit since the preset brightened it to much and turned up the saturation. Once I finished the last little details off to Instagram it went.
JANUARY 6, 2020
Ok so these photos were not taken in January and not even this year. They were taken last year during Spring Break when my cousin came to Florida from Connecticut to visit me. We actually got these matching dresses the first day she was here when we went shopping. Since we had the dresses we knew we wanted to take photos in them together before she left.
So these photos were actually taken in my back yard on the day she was going home two hours before she had to be at the airport. We set up my DSLR camera on its tripod turned on the self timer. Then danced around and did some poses in front of the camera. We took alot more photos besides this one but this is one of my favorites.
Editing these photos actually went very well. Since these photos were taken outside and thankfully on this day it wasn’t super sunny. But not too cloudy either. Because of that when adding the preset to the photo it turned out perfectly. I didn’t have to do any extra editing to it and I just love this photo.
JANUARY 16, 2020
My older brother got me these Vans I had been wanting for awhile for Christmas. I love these vans so much and I really loved my outfit on this day. So I decided to take a I guess what could be call a outfit of the day photo. But pointed downward so focus more on my shoes. This was a Sunday and this was the outfit I wore to church. So when I got home from church I just stood in the living room and used my iPhone to take this photo.
Editing again was super simple as well. During the day mostly in the early afternoon the light really comes in through the windows and brightens up the living room. So the only extra editing I had to do to the photo was to my shirt. My preset did make the shirt look a little to faded so I did darken it a bit. But other than that the photo was good with just the preset itself.
JANUARY 20, 2020
For Christmas I did get two amazon gift cards and I used them to get myself something I’ve been wanting for awhile which is a polaroid printer. I love this little printer so much. I have been printing up so many of my photos with it and adding them to my fairy lights. I think that these Polaroids on the lights are so cute. So I wanted to take a photo of the little printer and lights.
I used my DSLR camera and 50mm lens to take this photo and it took me a few tries until I got the final photo. It took me a few tries because it was take in my bedroom and my room is at the back of the house. Because of that there are only certain times of the day when I have a good amount of natural light coming in my room. So before I got the final photo either it was to dark in my room or to late in the day to take it.
The final photo even though I did have more light coming in my room than the previous days. It still was a little to dark and needed a lot of extra editing even with the preset. So I did have to lighten the photo, bring down the saturation, and de haze it a bit. But after that extra editing and the preset was applied it turned out beautifully.
JANUARY 26, 2020
This photo was actually taken last Sunday and what a day that was. I am a pastors kid so like the good pastors kid every Sunday I’m at Church. But last Sunday my car decided it was not going to work at all. I could have driven it but there was a huge chance that it would break down or not turn back on once it was off. So when I told my dad the car wasn’t working he told me to just stay home because he didn’t want me driving it.
But since my make up and hair was done also I was already dressed I didn’t want it to go to waste so I decide to once again go in my back yard and take some photos. I did what I did before, I set up my DSLR camera on its tripod and used the timer. I took a few other photos before this one with Faith. She was outside with me while I was taking the photos. Since I love my puppy so much I knew she had to be in some photos with me.
When I was taking these photos it was maybe 10:30am so the sun wasn’t right on top of me yet. But it wasn’t super cloudy so it was bright. Even though in this photo I am standing in the shade the preset at first did over expose it. So I had to do a little extra editing by bringing the exposure down, the highlights down, and the whites down. Once I did that and added the preset the photo turned out perfectly and I love this one so much.
So these are my favorite photos from January. Sometimes a photo turns out exactly how I want it. Some need a little more editing and some just don’t make to Instagram at all. It’s out about finding your editing style and also figuring out how you like to take your photos. I love this post and the idea of it because on Instagram you only see the aftermath of everything. You don’t see what went in to taking the photo or the struggles of editing it. I don’t know if I will do one of these post every month but I would love to do more of them. I know this was a long post but I hope you enjoyed it and Happy Sunday everyone.
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