5 Simple photo Tips to make your Blog Pop

Some Saturdays ago, i was engaged by Panasonic to conduct a workshop on "Using Photos to Make your Blog  Pop".

It was held at Albert Court Village Hotel, which in my opinion makes good accommodation at an affordable price. Starting from $125 a night, it's centrally located in Little India but near Bugis.

It is also the hotel where Singapore's famous blogger Xia Xue declared she consummate with then-boyfriend, now husband. So if you're a fan of Xia Xue, like you're a fan of Lady Gaga who stayed at the Marina Bay Sands Suite, maybe you can sleep in the same bed and use the same toilet bowl!

Otherwise, here're my 5 photo tips to make your blog pop. It was conducted together with Jerome where he had his own photo tips to share.

Almost everyone takes a photo of their food these days, including me.

The real reason behind my blog's motto,"no photoshop" is really because i'm lazy. With existing functions in a camera, coupled with photography and posing tips, photoshop is not necessary! Besides, i know of a celebrity photographer who refuses to use photoshop on his pictures. He believes it isn't real skill if it's full of digital editing but well, to each his own.

1. VIVID COLOURS
 is turned on for food and landscape pictures, it makes food look more appealing.

2. SENSE OF SCALE
To be an engaging writer, you need to exaggerate some points of your story. With photos, you can also convey a majestic emotion. If a picture speaks a thousand words, a photo can paint a thousand emotions.

3. SIMPLICITY
Look for directional lines to create good looking pictures. For amateur fashion photographers, i find that photos with a background often looks better than with a clean background. It's cheating because the latter takes more skill but the focus is kept on the fashion.

Yet backgrounds cannot be too busy or distracting. Linear lines in background more often than not creates a nice shot, even for an amateur. You literally just point and shoot.

4) IT'S IN THE DETAILS
My current favourite style of shooting is going up close with everything. Details can make your point emphasized.

Look at that truffle oil!! $$ stuff.

5. TAKE A PORTRAIT
Like i said, a photo can paint a thousand emotions but one challenge i face is going up to strangers and asking to take a photo. I still haven't found the guts and i thought it's intrusive!

So i practice with animals. In order to create a connection with the photo viewer, to make them look and then look again, you need to try for a honest, authentic and strong eye contact of your photo object.

I used a baguette to achieve that look.

After saying mine and Jerome's piece, we got to try out Panasonic's new Lumix G series in Little India, a myriad of colours and smells. Lumix G has DSLR capabilities but is compact to carry around.

I tested the Lumix prior to workshop.

 On the workshop day itself, i played tour guide. Very un-glam.

This Panasonic workshop was free to attend, but prior registration is needed. For the upcoming Saturdays, there's 2 more free workshops! Check out project.omy.sg/panasonic-workshops/

Always carry a camera around, it'll open your eyes to sights that would otherwise be lost.

It's a bird eat bird world.