4 tips for posting better pictures

These days it seems like everyone is a professional photographer!  From Facebook, to Instagram, to Pinterest, if you aren’t posting visually interesting pictures you will be left in the cyberspace dust.  Now I'm not pretending to be the ultimate expert on good photos, I am obviously still working on figuring out how to make my own photos better.  I just know what I appreciate looking at on social media, so I'm passing along some of my thoughts.  If you have any other thoughts or tips to add, please comment!  I'd love to hear what apps you use, or what tricks you've learned.  With that said, here are my 4 quick tips to taking better photos from your phone:

1. Make sure the picture is not blurry.  If it's a smidge blurry, you can make the call, but as a general rule don't post blurry pictures.  *Note: If the blurry is for creative purposes, post away.  
2. Simple backgrounds are better.  Nudge little Jr. to stand by the wall instead of with the kitchen table and sink in the background.  Kitchen sinks can't always be avoided, but a simple background is usually as simple as taking two steps
3. Use an easy app to edit the picture.  Apps I’ve used and like are Photoshop, Afterlight, or PicTapGo.  All of these are free or cheap.  I usually crop the picture, then add a filter to change the coloring.  Brighter, more whitewashed photos are more trendy right now, but play around and see what suits your fancy.
4. When doing a border/text/collage, be discriminating!  Use text that is easy to read, use borders that are simple (rather than ones my 9 year old would choose), and if making a collage make sure the pictures are big enough that your followers can see them.  Simple is better than a rainbow border with sparkly text and a collage of busy pictures, it tends to be distracting.  *Side note: If you love rainbow borders with sparkly text and a billion picture collage, then go for it!!  The beauty of pictures is you get to be creative and do whatever the heck you want.  If you love it, do it.

That’s it!  Those are my 4 simple tips to posting better pictures.  I know those are basic, but I have no idea how many of you would be interested in more detail :)  Here are some before and after examples from my own photos to illustrate the power of simple editing!

Original

After I applied a filter and added a streak of light.  Just makes it a little more interesting to look at.

After I applied a filter to lighten the colors

Original (This is one that is a bit blurry but I chose to post anyway bc it's so darn cute!)

Uh oh! I almost see a kitchen sink!

I whitewashed the colors and cropped it in a cute circle to cut out some of the distracting background.

Original.  Boring.  Also age spots = not cute.

Cropped.  Black&White. This photo just got a billion times more interesting.

That's that!  Those are my non-expert tips from a social media rookie. :)  Share your pointers in the comments below!  Thanks!