Flat Lay Tips to Perfect Your Instagram Account

*This post is sponsored by Panasonic

With the Instagram algorithm constantly changing, the struggle to grow your following is tougher than ever (read more about my love/hate relationship with Instagram here). As Facebook (and consequently Instagram) try to give their users more of what they love, their focus has shifted to the quality of content users offer to their following. Add into this the obvious fact that the stronger your content is the more likely people will follow and like your pictures, you have a strategy for success. But improving your Instagram images isn’t as easy as it sounds, so let’s take this one step at a time – starting with flat lays. To put it simply, flat lays are images taken of a collection of objects from above. Not only have they become one of the most popular types of Instagram image but they are also some of the most popular images on my account. So keep reading for my favourite flat lay tips…

The best tools for the job

Ever heard the saying ‘a bad workman blames his tools’ well when it comes to photography sometimes bad tools are to blame. You could be the best photographer in the world but if your image is grainy or pixelated it can ruined. Look for a digital camera with a high megapixel and the ability to change exposure and shutter speed. The Panasonic Mirrorless 12-60mm Lens Camera is a great option if you have the budget, as it has 30k optical zoom, 4K photo and video all in a compact design making it perfect for a variety of uses not just taking flat lays. 

Background focus

While the background is not the main focus of your flat lay, it is the foundation of your photo. I always opt for a light, white surface as this is non offensive and won't distract from the focus of the image. Don’t worry if you don’t have a white floor or table for your flat lays, simply lay a towel or white bed sheets on a flat surface and you have your background. This also allows you to move your white material around your house to find the best lighting. 

Lighten up

As with all photography, lighting is the most crucial part of creating the perfect flat lay. I use natural lighting in all of my photography as I find it gives the best results without the need for lots of editing. But for natural lighting to work you need to consider a couple of things:

• Time of the day - as the light changes throughout the day it will have different impacts on your image. At midday the sun is at its brightest and this may lead to your image being overexposed. Sunset (or the magic hour) can create beautiful soft lighting in images but can often have an orange tint resulting in the need to alter white balance. During the evening (or on a dark cloudy day) there is no light meaning you won’t be able to see your image. 
• Positioning – it could be lovely and light outside but if you’re in a dark room you won’t benefit from it. Position yourself close to a window to maximise your lighting.
• Shadows – Depending on your positioning and the time of the day you can sometimes get quite harsh shadows in your images, especially if the light is coming from behind your objects. To avoid this try repositioning yourself or use a white piece of card to reflect the light onto the shadows. 

Less isn’t always more

Some of my favourite flat lays have to be the ones crammed full of products and objects but they still somehow manage to look beautiful rather than a mess. To make this work, vary the size of the objects you are arranging and fill bare gaps with ribbons, petals or confetti. Also layer textures and objects such as magazines and patterned fabrics to break up your white background. 

Colour co-ordinate 

A huge part of Instagram is how your profile looks with all of your images sitting together. Most people try to make this look more co-ordinating by having a ‘theme’. The easiest way I do this is through adding little accents of colour into my images to ensure they all co-ordinate. For example in the above images I have added hints of red through the strawberries on the pancakes and the rose petals. By keeping the rest of the image black and white and then adding this pop of colour means that they sit together nicely on my Instagram page. I have also done the same with the below images by adding a pop of pink. I will consistently use one colour in at least 6 of my images before gradually transitioning to a new colour if I want to change the look of my feed.  

Practice makes perfect

Flat lays may look easy but sometimes it can be hard to get them to look ‘right’. Take your time, moving different objects and adding bits or taking away items that don’t quite look right. With a bit of trial and error you will finally find the perfect arrangement to take your photo. 

What are your tips for the perfect Instagram flat lay?

Eleanor xx

Should You Have Separate Social Media Accounts For Your Blog?

Blogging is not just about blogging anymore. With lots of people competing to become the next Zoella, social media is becoming more and more crucial to not only growing your following but also forming friendships and starting conversations. Brands also don't want bloggers with just high readership but also mass followings on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or anywhere that you can promote them and yourself. But the question is, when trying to turn your blog into a brand and appear professional, should you have separate social media accounts for your blog?

For a long time I pondered over whether to change the name of my Twitter and Instagram accounts to that of my blog, so people could easily find me and they'd be along the same theme as my blog. Changing my Twitter account would be easy, I already used it to participate in blogger chats but changing my instagram would require me to not only change my name but my theme from black and white personal photos but to bright white fashion, beauty and lifestyle photos. 

But I liked my personal photos, the pictures of me and my sister before a night out or those of me at various concerts or the throwback Thursday's from when I'd perform in dance shows. These were snippets of my life that I wanted to share with my family and friends (who make up the majority of my followers), and I couldn't sacrifice that. 

So after a quick Twitter poll my mind was made up. I'd keep my old Instagram and start a new Instagram account for my blog which would have a different theme, more similar to that of my favourite fashion and beauty accounts and matching the theme of my blog photos. I decided that I'd post photos from my latest blog posts so that I could use original Instagram to promote my latest posts but also other photos from my daily life. My old Instagram would also be kept up to date with lifestyle photos rather than posting about beauty and fashion that didn't interest a lot of my followers on my personal account.

While I have to say it's been tough building up a following on my new account I'm so pleased that I did it. I post more regularly on that account about the things that interest me without annoying people who only want to hear about my life, and don't confuse people who want to see blog photos with photos of me and my friends. It sounds weird but I also love how my Instagram widget looks on the side bar of my blog now as the photos are consistent with those on my blog. As for Twitter, for now I'm keeping it the same as I think people don't really care as much about what you say there. 

I don't really think there is a right or wrong answer as to whether you should have separate social media accounts for your blog, while it does look professional it is a lot more work managing double the number of accounts. If you do decide to make a separate accounts you also have to remember not to use your blog accounts for spamming links to your blog posts, remember to still maintain a personal touch by communicating with your audience and posting extra content.

What are your opinions on social media and your blog? Also feel free to leave your social media links below for me to check out!

Eleanor xx

5 Reasons Why People Aren't Returning To Your Blog

With it being a four day weekend I'm sure many of you will be taking the time off to not only spend time with family or scoff hundreds of Easter Eggs but also to spend time working on your blog. While you could spend hours writing and photographing posts, you might find yourself wondering "What's the point when people aren't returning to my blog?" After reading this similar post about the issue by Corinne from skinnedcartree (an amazing blog with really great blogging advice and tips) it got me thinking about reasons why I will follow a blog and reasons why I will immediately exit. 

They Can't Figure How To Follow Your Blog
Getting people to follow your blog on a site such as Bloglovin or on social media, is almost a guaranteed way to get people to return to your site, but if they can't follow your blog then they're likely to forget about it and never return. The best way to combat this is to make sure your follow buttons are all clearly displayed together on your blog and that all of the links work. As you can see all of the buttons to follow my blog on various sites are clearly displayed both at the top of my site and also on the right side bar, you could also add a widget like my instagram widget to give a taste of what else you offer.

It's Hard To Leave A Comment
I like to interact with the blogs I read regularly and that often involves leaving a comment and disusing the subject of the blog post. But there have been so many times when I read a really great blog post and want to comment on it, only to either struggle to find where to comment or for it to be complicated to comment. If commenting takes more than a couple of minutes to do the likelihood is that I won't and I will immediately leave your blog. So if it's not clear on your blog where to comment (at the end of a blog post is always a good place) or your commenting system is timely asking readers to enter their name, email address and website every time they want to comment, then maybe you should consider a change. I personally like to use Disqus, a commenting system that is very popular among bloggers as it's very easy to use, install and have conversations.

Your Layout Makes Your Posts Difficult To Read
We live in a world where we have become accustomed to getting our information in easy to consume bites, 6 second vines and 140 character tweets. In comparison big chunks of text can be scary, so cater to your audience by separating your writing into easy to consume paragraphs.  

Photography Is Everything
Similar to my last point but with Instagram and Tumblr being so popular these days we are obsessed with photography. The sad but true fact is that the majority of people will skim read your text and mainly look at your photography, so if it's not up to scratch you will fail to engage your audience. Don't be fooled into thinking that you need a fancy camera to take good photos though, all you need is good lighting and the right set up. If you want to see how I take and edit my blog photos I've done a post on that here and also another post on the best blog photography props.

Your Content Is Not Engaging
You may be posting seven days a week but you may only be gaining views from new readers as people aren't returning to your site, the reason for that may be that your content just isn't engaging. I believe strongly in quality over quantity, so spend time on your posts and ask yourself whether your post would be something you would want to read. If you're still not sure what your readers want to see perhaps run a poll on Twitter or look at your most and least popular posts in the past, to help you see what may be popular in the future.

Please take this kind of post with a pinch of salt and bare in mind that I'm not claiming to be the Holy Mother of Blogging, one I may like may not be someone else's cup of tea. I like to think though that there's always room to improve and in all honesty I could probably use some of these tips myself. I'd love to know your thoughts and tips, even if you stumble upon my blog and decide to never come back I'd be intrigued to hear why.

Have a lovely Easter!

Eleanor xx

The Best Blog Photography Props

When it comes to blog photography there is no right or wrong way to take your photographs as long as they represent you and your blog. That being said I thought I'd share some ideas on props that you could include in the background of your photo's if you are a bit stuck or looking for some creative inspiration.

Candles 
When I was living at home candles were one of my favourite household items to use in the background of my photographs because of the warm glowing atmosphere they give to photos. Unfortunately since moving into University Halls I can no longer use candles as we are not allowed them because they set off the fire alarms but a good alternative is fairy lights or LED candles.

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Magazines
While I love the look of a plain white or marble background that a lot of bloggers tend to go for these days, magazines are a great way of mixing things up. The magazines that I normally buy and find are best for blog backgrounds are Vogue and Elle as not only do the editorial shoots provide gorgeous imagery but so do the designer adverts. They also work well when layered with other items such as books.

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Flowers
I love flowers and they make the perfect finishing touch to any photograph. Placed out of focus in the background of your photo adds a pop of colour and texture as well as a fresh and feminine feel, not to mention they look really pretty. If you don't want to buy fresh flowers all of the time you could always spend a little more on some artificial flowers to achieve the same affect.

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Chopping Board

Now this is a bit of an unusual one but looks surprisingly good, especially if you're going for a minimalist or natural feel to your photographs. I personally love to use a wooden chopping board as the background for any baking or cooking posts. Another way you could incorporate wood into your backgrounds would be to use wooden floorboards you might have in your house or even buy a sample from B&Q.

Having great props is all well and good but you need to know when to use them. My biggest tip when it comes to picking what props and backgrounds to use in what photo is to pick out the main colour of the focus of the photo. You then want to look for hints of this colour or perhaps opposites of the colour in either the background or the prop. While this doesn't always work, 97% of the time it is a good way to tie the whole photo together and emphasize the product. 

Ultimately don't be scared to try out different layouts, backgrounds and props to see what works best for you and your photo. What are your favourite blog props? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Eleanor xx

How I Take And Edit My Blog Photos

One of my favourite parts of blogging is the photography. While I am not the best photographer in the world I am always trying to improve my photo's and I feel that in the past year my photography has improved significantly. When I was starting my blog I had no idea how to take my photos or edit them in a way that appeals to your audience, so I thought that I would write a post today about how I take and edit my photos to give you some ideas or inspiration whether you're new to blogging or not.

Apart from my DSLR (which is the Cannon 700D) one of the best things I've ever bought to help my photography is a tripod. I don't always use my tripod and it is in no way essential for you to have one, but it is extremely handy if you have an unsteady hand or you don't have anyone to help you take photos of your outfit. 

When I comes to the actual set up of the photo I tend to vary it a lot. Depending on the product I am taking a picture of I will decide on what props to use in the background and what angle to take to photo from. In this photo I have places the palette on my acrylic muji storage next to this beautiful bunch of flowers, a common prop that features in my photos. 

My main tips would be to always take your photos in clear bright lighting, to use props but not clutter the background of your photos and experiment to find what works for you!

Once I've taken my photos and chosen the one's that I want to use I then go about editing. Editing can seem like a scary process as lots of bloggers use expensive programs like Photoshop but it really don't have to be complicated. I mainly edit my photos using Windows Live Photo Gallery adjusting the brightness, contrast, shadows, highlights and colour balance, though there are other great programs that you could use to do this.

Another program I like to use to edit my photos is picmonkey, which is a free online photo editor. It's a great editor that has lots of handy features but I mainly use it to crop my photos while keeping it within its original proportions, or to re-size my images so that they are the perfect size for my blog.

Of course there is no right or wrong way to take or edit your blog photos and everyone has their own style, this is just the way that I do things! Also if you want know what I listen to while I'm blogging you can follow my Spotify profile here!

How do you take and edit your blog photos? If you've written a similar post to mine link it in the comments below I'd love to read it!

Eleanor xx