When it comes to successful blogs and the posts that they share, there is at least one major factor that they have in common… Awesome Photos! When it comes to the photos that you use on your blog there are some definite No-No’s! So today we’re talking all about the Don’ts of Blog Photography!
#1. Don’t Steal! This one should be obvious, right? But surprisingly its quite common to see photos that don’t belong to the blogger in a post. If you didn’t take the photo yourself, and you use it in a post with out getting permission from the owner or purchasing licensing permission, you’re opening up to all kinds of problems. Including lawsuits! Yikes! Ain’t nobody got time for that! Now there are a few sites out there, such as unsplash.com that provide high quality images and require no licencing for use. I do use these images on occasion, but sparingly. In 99% of the time the photos I use for my posts are mine or are images I have been given written permission to use. Taylor from Pink Heels Pink Truck has a great post about sharing other’s content that talks about this very thing!
#2. Don’t forget to make it “pinnable”. Pinterest is pretty much where its at when it comes to driving traffic back to your blog! To be successful your images need to be Pinnable! Your main image should be high quality, well lit, have a title, your url or watermark and be sized to 700 x 1000 pixels. Mom to Mom Summit has some great tips on how to make your images pinnable.
#3. Don’t Over or Under Expose your photo. Under exposed = too dark. Over exposed = to Light. Either way, it can be hard to distinguish details, and frankly, hard to look at! I’ll let you get the technical nitty-gritty from this article at Photography Life. They do a much better job at explaining how the whole thing works that I ever could!
#4. Don’t make it too small (or too big!) Too small means that its hard to see details. To big might mean that the whole photo won’t fit on the screen. Either way its a turn off and could mean the reader clicks away!
#5. Don’t forget to give it a Name! When you edit your photo, and in turn go to save the new version, give it an SEO friendly name! Something more than Image893720. Not only is this good for your SEO, it can also benefit you on sites that pull information from your photo! Pinterest and Facebook are ones that come to mind. And on this note… don’t forget to add Alt Text when adding your photos to your post! Now you’re asking what Alt Text is right? An alt text is an html attribute that explains what an image shows. It tells search engines and users using a screen reader what an image is about. This post shows you how to add this info to blogger and this post shows you how to do it for wordpress.
#6. Don’t Underestimate the Power of a Photo. The old saying is true, “A Picture is Worth 1000 Words”, especially when it comes to blogging. The images you share have the power to draw readers in or turn them off entirely. It can make them want to read more, or cause them to click away before reading to the end.
Make sure you’re putting your best “foot” forward when considering the do’s and don’ts of blog photography. Making a great impression with your photos is going to help you succeed in the long run!
Are you doing any of these Don’ts of Blog Photography? What is your best photography tip?
Great tips! I still have a lot to learn and can use all the tips I can get!
Thank you sooooo much for posting this! It’s so helpful. 🙂
Those are all great tips. I need to start actually naming my photos and Alt Text. I didn’t give it much thought before, but will now that I know it helps with search engines and SEO.
These are great tips! I always accept tips. Thanks for posting.
Thank you… So much to consider and remember 🙂
I don’t use the ALT TEXT as much as I should. And I really need to learn the best size for my blog photos. All templates are different and as I’ve changed templates it changes the photos.
Thanks for the tips. I’m still learning so these are very helpful.
Popping over from I Should Be Mopping….
GREAT TIPS! Tweeting this later today!
Thank you for sharing these tips. I’m a fairly new blogger, and my photographs need some improvement. Your tips should help
Thanks for sharing the optimal size for Pinterest. I have been neglectful of being sure I size my photos this way. Good tips – glad I found them (and your blog) at #TreasureBoxTuesday
All great tips!!! I need to do better about changing the name the alt name. Also I have been working on making my images more square so that when I add them to link parties it doesn’t crop out something important.
I’ve been changing the Alt text on my photos, but I didn’t realize that the names of my files would make a difference. I suppose that DSC-2493 is actually pretty hard to search for.
Great tips! Thank you!
nice tips! Over the past few months, ever since I got my DSLR I’ve worked on improving picture quality and I guess it has worked! Much better than the pictures I used to post a year back!
PS love your ‘tagline’…what doesn’t kill you makes you blonder!
Such a helpful post! Especially the alt text option. I’ve been looking for a simple tutorial to add that to my html code on blogger, and you provided a great one. Thanks for sharing, Jennifer!
Love these tips! Specially about Pinnable photos for Pinterest! Pinning it for my followers!
This is a great one. I have several blog friends who just don’t “get” rule #1!! It’s pretty simple and yet popular bloggers do it all the time. I hate to watermark all my images, but I think I will have to.
Great tips! I just discovered the “alt text” which makes it pop up as the description when someone hits the pin button about a month ago. I was amazed!
Honestly, I take my own photos, I lightroom them. But I have no idea how to them down to the proper pixel numbers. They seem to show up on Pinterest all right? I’ll have to look into that. I know on Imgur they sometimes show up gigantic.
Thanks for sharing,
Jennie
Jennie Pic Monkey is great for resizing! You just upload your image, choose the resizing option and type in the size you want and then save! Easy Peasy!
Wonderful tips! I especially loved the alt tag. I had no idea and I am pretty SEO savvy. I know now!
Great tips, I use Alt text but often the file name is something to make life easier for me, not good SEO. Honestly you just can’t take your eye off the ball for a minute with this blogging malarky can you! Thanks so much for the help.
Thanks for all the ideas! We are new to blogging and need all the tips we can get!
Fabulous tips! Thanks for linking up with Share the Wealth Sunday!
My photography has to improve so much. I am really working on it though.
Thanks for the tips.
#SITSblogging
Right now my biggest tip is make sure your picture isn’t blurry before it’s too late! I take pictures of my grocery hauls and don’t double check before I put everything away… that gets frustrating!
These are all great tips that all bloggers need to keep in mind at all times. Thank you for sharing them with Share It One More Time. Cathy
Awesome tips! I definitely need to go through and rename my files/ add the alt text etc. Thanks for the fab tips!
Wow these are definitely some great photo tips. #1, 4, 5..hmmm. Definitely guilty of falling short in #5! Thanks for sharing with us at the Home Matters Linky Party! Hope you join us again!
Such good tips- thanks:)
Elle
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