I’m a blogger…obviously. That’s why you’re here. An aspect of blogging that I didn’t consider when I originally started was the importance of photography within your blog. Now, not everyone needs top-notch photography on their blog. It all depends on what exactly you are trying to brand. If you are branding your writing only, let’s say a poetry or creative writing, then photos may not be a priority of yours. If you’re branding yourself, your style, or a product of yours, great photography can place you on the same level as the top bloggers and get you the traffic that you need to create a bigger name for yourself.

When I realized the importance of this for myself, since I am a blogger who is trying to brand herself, I became slightly overwhelmed for two reasons: I didn’t have access to photos that were any better than my shaky hand iPhone 6 photos, and I was not anywhere near comfortable being in front of a camera for an extended period of time.

Luckily, I know a guy who is nice with a camera (and by nice, I mean…NICE) and who is so patient with me as I gain confidence (slowly) being in front of that same camera. There are some key things that are helping me to gain confidence in this area and I want to share them with you in hopes that if you are a new blogger and need a little help, I can help you out. Here are three tips that can help you to feel more confident in front of the camera:

• Find Someone who you feel Comfortable Around- First choice would be friends. If you have a friend who is a great photographer, utilize them. You will feel much more comfortable with someone you know than a complete stranger. If you don’t have any close friends who know about photography and you need to find someone more distant, bring a friend along. It’ll make the whole process a lot more fun. More fun means you’ll look more relaxed and who knows, you might get some pretty decent and genuine laughter shots for the gram!

• Dress Like You- Theres always a temptation building up to a shoot (at least for me) to wear something spectacular, you know, because cameras. But, I’ve found in my little bit of experience that I seem to take better pictures when I feel like me and dress comfortably. I live in T-shirts, jeans and sneakers. It’s what I feel most comfortable in, most of my shoots will probably be in those. It’s definitely nice to change it up, but make sure that even in your change-up you are happy and comfortable in what you’re wearing from every angle.

• Set the Mood- Music. Helps. Bringing your favorite playlist along can do wonders for your mood, your comfort and the overall vibe of the shoot. It can help make things a little less awkward when it’s not absolutely silent while your photos are being snapped. My recommendation; anything and everything Beyoncé, if she can’t bring out the runway model in you, then I don’t know my friend (just kidding…kinda).

Those are a few quick tips that I’ve found helpful in my minimal experience of being the subject of photo shoots. I happen to have the slight advantage of dating my photographer, so that helps with a lot of things, but for those of you for which that is not the case I hope you find these tips helpful. They help me out even with knowing my photographer

What about you? Do you feel awkward as the subject of photos? If not, what helps you to feel confident in front of the camera?

Thanks for stopping by! “See” you next time!