Greetings!  I hope you all had a good weekend.  We had a great party despite the huge storm that is pounding California, and a splendid time was had by all.  Today I thought I’d address a question I keep getting via email and in comments:  “How do I take better, brighter photos for my blog?”  I do not consider myself an expert in photography by any means so I wonder sometimes why that question is even directed at me.  However, I have taught myself a few tricks for achieving higher quality images in the past year, and every now and then I take a pretty good shot.

The most important thing I have learned to make for a better brighter photo has everything to do with light.  And a good camera.  When taking photographs, either for your personal use or for your blog, good natural light and a kick booty camera are your two very best friends. 

Most photographs taken outside on a sunny day with a point-and-shoot turn out pretty well, all because of the natural light present.  Yet with interior shots, it’s tough to be as blessed with natural light unless you’re shooting a room with walls of windows on a sunny day.   When shooting pictures indoors in less than ideal conditions, here are a five tips I shoot by.   

My Five Tips for Better Brighter Blog Photos

1) Use a Good Camera

I think it’s essential to invest in a good SLR digital camera with variable settings (F-stop, shutter speed, ISO sensitivity, white balance, etc.) if you want to have high quality interior photos.  I know there are a lot of comparatively inexpensive point and shoot digital cameras out there, and they are perfectly fine for so many everyday uses, but for high quality blog photography, invest in a good camera.  I use my Nikon D60 that allows for changeable lenses, and I use two kinds of lenses that I mention in my FAQ page. 

2)  Know Your Manual 

When my hub bought me my Nikon D60 three years ago, I always used the auto setting just because it was so darn easy and I was, at first, intimidated by the manual settings.  80% of the time, the ‘Auto’ setting worked fine and produced adequate images. 

However, the ability to manipulate your camera’s light settings makes all the difference in the world in less than perfect light conditions, and when shooting interiors or detail shots.  Here is just one half of one page in my Nikon’s manual but look how much information can be gathered from this quick camera tour.   

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I can’t quite put my finger on it.  I think my love affair with all things French may have begun when I was younger when I watched Gene Kelly in ‘An American in Paris’.  

Perhaps it was when I lost myself in Peter Mayle’s novel ‘A Year in Provence’ that I devoured many years ago. 

Most certainly, my l’amour was made permanent when I took my first trip to Paris in 1998. 

Whenever it happened, it happened, and my decorating style was forever altered.  I can’t help myself ~ I’m a self professed Francophile.

Despite my love of traditional French decor, I do like to inject a little modern flair, and the new mirror and trellis pattern rug in the living room certainly help.

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We have some great friends named Tony and Mia, and our girls go to kindergarten together.  Mia is a busy mother of three who runs her own salon four days a week.   By the time she gets home from work, the last thing she wants to do is start a home improvement project.

What I love about Tony and Mia’s home is that every time you visit, you feel the warmth within, from the spice colors on the walls, to the rich and rustic wood pieces, to their doggie wagging her tail to greet you.  Their house definitely feels like a ‘Home Sweet Home’ and that’s why we love to visit.

So when I was in her family room the other day, Mia asked me what to do with her oak fireplace surround.  She wasn’t sure if she wanted to replace it or stain it, but she knew she didn’t care for the natural oak finish.  The wood’s tone clashed with her dark wood floors and furniture, but overall it had really classic lines and was in great shape.

As I leaned in, I could swear I heard the mantel whisper, “Paint me, I beg you.”  So I recommended we paint it white to coordinate with the trim and lighten up the wall.  Plus, a white fireplace mantel is simply timeless.  So in less than four hours, I gave her fireplace wall a fresh new look with just some primer, paint, and accessories.

Here’s Mia’s Before:

Here’s Mia’s After:

Splendid, right ?

The difference is all in the details !

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We’ve owned this laminate and particle board media center for about fifteen years.  It was purchased in the leaner years from a discount furniture store.   Back in the 90s, we used it in our family room to store all of our media equipment, but then we eventually moved it to the kids’ play space.  For the longest time (like most moms) I was just grateful for the storage it brought me and I didn’t care what color it was.

Then all of a sudden I just couldn’t take it anymore.  I was staring at the faux maple laminate last week and I decided the day had come.  It was time to paint it!  It’s not that I don’t like blonde wood, I just don’t like faux blonde wood.  It’s the fakeness that bothers me.

So it was time to rid my world of the maple tone and give it a fresh coat of white paint.  This is a relatively sturdy piece, so rather than go out and buy a new system, or build one myself, I determined the best way to save it was to simply paint it.  The best part of all is, I changed the look of this piece in 48 hours!

Here’s the Before:

Here’s the After:

Here’s how I painted my laminate storage center.   

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Last week, I picked up a pair of dusty chairs at a thrift store.  I loved the classic cottage shape and the cheap price, but the finish was so grungy.  I brought them home and sanded them down to the raw wood, removing all the dirt and grime.  Then I gave them a fresh coat of spring green paint ! 

Here they are Before . . .

. . . and After

All it took was half an hour of sanding and and an hour of painting to give them a fresh new look with some paint and a little distressing !

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