Tips for a better blog- Pictures

This is a little series I'm starting on my blog for beginner bloggers. Just a few easy tips I have learned along the way to make my blog better.

Pictures are very important to a blog.

When posting pictures here are a few things to think about.

1. Look for good lighting.  This is a major factor for photographers and can make or break a picture.  When taking pictures inside, use a room that has the best lighting.  When shooting outside, look for a nice shady area if there is full sunlight (middle of the day).  Flash can be good in certain circumstances but is often too harsh and can wash out your subject.

2.  Don't post too many of the same picture.  When scrolling through a post, readers don't mind photo dumps but they also don't want to see the same thing over and over again just at a bunch of different angles.  Just use your best ones.

3. Make them all the same width.  It looks so nice when pictures line up the same.  Figure out the width of your post body and adjust your pictures to that.  My post body is about 640 pixels but I save my pictures at the width of 600 pixels.   

 If you use Photoshop you go to Image > Image Size and put in the size you want.  Then save it.  Make sure to save it as an extra copy so you don't ruin the original picture from being able to print.  If you're using a Mac, you can simply click on a picture in Preview go to Tools > Adjust size.  Again make sure to save this as an extra copy.   You can even re-size a picture on PicMonkey.

So here is an example of what I'm taking about:

Different sizes-

Same width-

It just looks nicer.  Make sure after you upload your picture to the post you click on "original size".  I don't worry about the vertical pictures being too long.  Sometimes I will use Photoshop (or you could use PicMonkey) to put two vertical pictures side by side to make it not as long.

Do you have anymore suggestions for pictures on a blog?