Ask Sara: Styling Tips
Besides my ten tips above, it's very important to feel inspired. Also, when you are assessing your photos, before you load them on to your computer or instagram for that matter, look for imperfections. For example, if you are photographing a frame on the wall, make sure it doesn't appear crooked. If you are photographing a vignette or a round-up of items, look to see what looks out of place. Rearrange the items as needed. Hopefully your eye will guide you to let you know what's out place or doesn't look right. In some instances though, you don't necessarily want perfection.
Some tips above need a little more so I will elaborate here.
Tip #3: The background. I love a white canvas. It's clean and fresh. Consider investing in big white board from a craft store {I found a set of two big ones for $15}. Or if you have a big white background {such as a table} use that. Often times I'll even use my marble pastry board.
Tip #4: Natural light is the best. If you have a big white board it's so easy to move it around within your home. Take it to the best lit room in the house, preferably with natural light. I love using my dining room and sunroom as they have big windows that bring in a lot of natural light. On sunny days, however, my sunroom doesn't work well as it creates a lot of shadows. Cloudy days seem to be the ideal time to use my sunroom.
Tip #5: Props. It really is all about staging the space. Preferably shop your own home for items with similar color schemes. However, I'm finding that even if I'm at the grocery store, I will look for things, such as magazines, flowers, fruit, pretty drink bottles, etc. that may work as props. Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are some of my favorites.
Tip #6: Place your items on your target area and just start moving things around until you feel it looks right. Be natural about the placement so that it doesn't look forced. Sometimes I can map the placement in my head. I wish there was a science, but just use your lens view to help you with the styling. That's what helps me the most. Things can sometimes look very different in person than with your camera lens view. Sometimes less is more. . .Play around with the items. . .Arrange and re-arrange. . .Learn by trial and error. . .Be critical, but not anal! Some moments are just not meant to be captured and that's fine. Move on from it.
Tip #7. Shoot the space from every angle. It's better to have too many pictures then not enough. The reader/viewer wants to see it all. This doesn't mean you need to include every picture. Edit the good ones and discard what's not good. This is for blog use obviously.
Tip #10. If using the photos for the blog, I load them onto Photoshop and edit them there some more. I crop them if necessary and adjust the lighting. I also resize them all to be the same width.
If you feel like other tips need more, leave a comment and I will certainly update this post. I seriously hope this helps and if you have a special method of curating a vignette, please share with the rest of us in the comments below.
Disclaimer: I'm not a trained photographer or stylist. I'm just sharing what I have learned.
