editing blog photos

Something which I think is really important on a blog is making sure to have relatively good pictures. That doesn't mean you have to pay for a fancy Canon camera or for editing software like Photoshop. Having a DSLR is going to improve the quality of your photos and is worth the investment but they are expensive. There are simple ways to get around spending money. I am not in the slightest a expert and when I first started my blog I played around with using different effects to see what worked best for me. Zoella who I'm sure all of you know wrote a blog post talking about blog photography which you can find here. This is extremely helpful however I find it difficult to find blog posts which talk about simple and easy ways to edit their photos. I have experimented and found something which is free and makes your photos appear brighter and clearer. I take my blog pictures with the Canon EOS 1100D however when I first started blogging I just used my Iphone 4. 

This website is called Ribbet. (www.ribbet.com) its completely free and you don't even have to sign up if you don't want to. It comes with the usual fonts, collage and editing options. If you want access to all areas of the site you do need to pay for a membership but this isn't necessary for what I'm suggesting. In the Basic Edits section you will find 'Exposure' you can edit the 'Exposure' , 'Highlights' , 'Shadows' and 'Contrasts.' When editing my photos I usually tweak the Exposure, Highlights and Contrast. I raise the Contrast and Highlight slightly to usually 3 or 4. With the exposure I tend to raise it up until around 15 until I have the desired effect I want. 

The top two images are completely unedited and have no effects on them whereas I have edited the bottom two images. As you can see the intensity of brightness on the bottom left hand picture is more brighter than the right. This sort of effect is something which is used very often on Instagram where the exposure is quite high. I would more than likely chose the right hand picture as the picture is clearer and the exposure is much lower in comparison. I think editing photos can make such a difference to the way a photo can look. It can also make it appear so much more girly and appropriate to brighten up your blog. 

 Creating these effects are so simple and easy to replicate and I hope this helped with anyone who struggles or doesn't know how to edit photos!

Thank you for reading,

Olivia x

decorating | tips and tricks

I love my room and love finding ways to decorate and de-clutter make-up, accessories and random clutter. I know everyone loves to store their things in different ways but I thought I would show you some of the ways I store my make-up, beauty tools and accessories. Something which I got recently was this beautiful glass box from Next Home. I have the infamous Malm Dressing Table but as a ridiculous make-up collector I needed more storage. I would like to eventually get the acrylic storage from Muji to stack below this but I absolutely loved this box. I'm not exaggerating when I said I wanted a box that looked EXACTLY like this. You know you have that image in your head and you won't buy it until you find it, well this was one of these moments. I chose the prettiest make-up to put in here (I like things to look nice) and then it sits perfectly on my dressing table! 

Something which is featured heavily on Instagram and you have probably already seen are the Ikea Flower Pots. The reason why everyone talks about them is that they are so inexpensive and are literally only £2! They are perfect for holding make-up brushes (I spot Real Techniques here!) and if you run out of space you can easily just buy and fill another pot. I also use this for storing stationary. 

I originally used this to store my make-up but buying the beautiful glass box I switched to having this hold Nail Varnishes. I don't have a ridiculous amount (I'd say not too many) so its perfect for all holding all my nail varnishes. I got this from The Range which is similar to Dunem Mill where you can buy accessories for the bedroom, bathroom and living room. It has a draw which I use for holding cotton pads, cotton buds and small samples which I haven't used yet. It has a beautiful intricate rose pattern on the top of the box and is very sturdy. 

Finally I have a cake stand which I actually surprisingly don't use for cakes! I'm sorry but I don't know where this is from but I use this to hold my bath lotions, scrubs,creams and bath bombs. (My Magic Wand from Christmas is still holding strong!) I think they are perfect cute accessories especially with the bird design around the outside of the two tiers. 

Do you have any room decoration tips?

Thank you for reading,

Olivia x