Social Media and Makers; Polished Perfect Photography

Social media is full of beautiful photography. I’m regularly blown away by how incredible a lot of it is.

There are some very talented people out there and I personally aspire to have photos that are as visually appealing as some that I’ve seen.

Although my photos have drastically improved from when I started I sometimes feel that they still don’t quite measure up to the caliber of those that I’m often presented with.

Someone suggested this topic and explained that the professional looking photography on social media made them hesitant to share their own photos.

Boy, do I ever understand that feeling.

I need to be clear in that there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve the quality of your photos, having nice photos, or taking nice photos.

This was my first card photo on Instagram and one of the first cards I ever made. I was very proud of it and I still am. I worked hard on it.

(This was shared on my personal page a couple of months before CoyKoiCrafting was born.)

I have worked hard and practiced a ton to improve my photos because it’s something I decided that I wanted to do.

There are tons of blogs and YouTube videos that share tips on how to improve your photos if that’s what you’re interested in doing. This blog post is not one of them.

So just how do you get past that feeling of not measuring up with your photography? Well, if it’s something you want to improve then I would suggest that you practice. A lot.

However, if it’s not something you want to improve and you just feel intimidated then I have one word for you; stop.

Think about why you want to share your photo. Is it to get a lot of likes and comments or are you sharing because you are proud of your art and want to share it with the world?

If you want to share it for likes and comments that’s cool. I personally would not recommend doing it for that reason alone because sometimes you might be pretty disappointed. Everyone is different so if that is your sole motivation then go for it.

Are you proud of what you made and want to share it with the world? Then share it! Who cares if your photo is not magazine quality! Are you a professional photographer? No? Then don’t worry about it. Passion and love matter way more than perfect photos.

Now, if you are wanting to get onto a design team you will need to have really great photos. There is no way around that. It can be done if you practice. Want to know something? I take every single one of my photos with my phone. Every. Single. One. You don’t need a fancy camera!

Things to remember:

• Think about why you are sharing you art.
• You don’t need to have magazine quality photos to properly share your art with the world.
• Everyone started somewhere.
• Nobody is born with the ability to take perfect photos.
• Your darkest, most blurry photo of something you created and put your heart into is worth more than any professional quality photo of a piece of art that the artist threw together without any thought or love.
• Try not to be intimidated by other people’s photos. I know it’s easier said than done but your work really is just as worthy and important as that of anyone else.
• It’s scary to do something when you feel intimidated. Sometimes the only way to get past it is to just do it. Take a risk, put yourself out there. You’ll never know until you try.

That’s all for today. I hope that you’re enjoying reading this series as much as I am writing it.

Until next time,

Fish, ducks, that really sucks,

Samantha