Oh my goodness I have some pretty plants 😀
Okay, first step complete: photo editing. I got a ton of photos last week.
Here are a few, already edited. Pardon the gratuitous plant nerdery.
Okay, as I mentioned last week, I want to have a specific look to my Instagram feed – equal parts full, lush photos interspersed with photos that have a good amount of negative space.
And immediately, I found the first bump in the road!
An issue I knew I’d run into is finding enough negative space in areas I have plants. The first two photos above give an example of the negative space I’m looking for, but I would prefer they be square to match the other photos’ dimensions. I’m thinking I could likely extend the existing negative space within good photo editing software, but I would definitely prefer to have a better starting point. I’m no pro photoshopper (in all honesty, the thirty photos I edited today make up about 60% of my photo editing experience – TOTAL noob here). So the less work I have to do, the better.
Alright: solutions! First, I need to intentionally build 60-75% negative space into a quarter of the photos I take. I say a quarter because I’ll be using a bunch of pictures to illustrate issues and desired outcomes in videos, so really I just need half of my social-media-specific shots to have an open, airy feel.
Next, I need to set up and steam the wrinkles out of my photo backdrop asap. This will be the easiest way to reach the negative space target, though this does mean I’ll need to photograph plants at home rather than on location. This will limit my plant choices to what I have around or what’s ‘passing through’ on its way to a final home, but that’ll work fine.
Next project: writing the accompanying blog posts and scripts for teaser videos to use the photos I got – and also making a list of other photos I need so I can keep an eye out for opportunities to snap them. I’ve got my voice about 60% figured out (maybe entirely figured out, but it’s not entirely intuitive yet, so I’m not claiming 100%). Sitting down to write stuff is still tricky – have to be informative and nerdy and goofy and talk casually about killing plants while telling folks exactly how to keep them alive. Wonky combo. Time to get down to it.
So!
Lesson of the day: fail fast, learn, and adjust course.
Lesson #2: these were all taken with my iPhone and are perfectly reasonable. No fancy equipment? NO EXCUSES. Get out there and do it anyway.