Posting Your Photos Online | For Clients

I'm often contacted by clients who are asking permission to post the pictures from their session or wedding on Facebook or on their blog, etc., so I thought it might be a good idea to do a blog post about it and give some tips for sharing your pictures on social media.

First off, my clients are free to share their pictures online! I actually love it when I see them change their profile or cover photo to a photo that I took. It's a little thing but it makes me excited. :-) They're investing in getting professional photos so I'm happy that they are making use of them!

I don't set any rules for sharing, but there some tips for making them look the best they can. I don't require clients to credit me for the pictures, but I always appreciate it when they do. :-)

Below are my thoughts on posting on the two most popular photo sharing sites, Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook: Facebook is pretty straightforward, and they are always changing their photo processing so you never know if it is actually going to look good. I used to give two folders of pictures, one optimized for FB and one for print, but I found that was too confusing and FB would probably change things around and the optimized files wouldn't really be any better after all. So now, I have found it just works the best to give only one set of files for print and use online and it works out great. If you feel inclined to credit the pictures, you can link to my website and/or tag my business page.

Instagram: This one has the most tips associated with it. Of course, I prefer that you don't apply filters over the pictures, because - really, you invested a lot in your photography, and I hope you hired me because you love my style. So the pictures will look their best left as is. I'm not going to send the police after you if you decide to put a filter on it, but it just isn't an accurate representation of my work after it has effects applied to it.
And then, there's the crop factor. Everyone knows Instagram displays photos in squares and that's expected and sometimes works. But there are some images that really are a lot better if you see the whole thing. And thankfully, there's a way to do that! The best apps that I know of for posting the full image to Instagram are Squaready (for iPhone) or Instagram No Crop/InstaShot (for Android).
When crediting pictures, you can tag/mention @kathryngracephotography, and you can also use the hashtag #kathryngracephotography.

I hope that gives you a start in maximizing your photos online!

Wedding Breakfast at the Hunt Club | Styled Shoot: Preview

This shoot has been under wraps for months, as we are waiting on publication news, but while we wait I just can't resist posting a little teaser! A full post will be coming eventually...

Dress: Veils & Tails | Hair & Makeup: A Little Bit of Blonde | Venue: Hunt Club Steakhouse | Model: Liz Nye

Kerry | Fashion Shoot

Here's another "catching up" post with pictures from last fall. Over Thanksgiving my cousin and I headed out back to shoot some fashion photos for her style blog she is just starting up. Kerry is a natural model with the best laugh ever. :-)

Emil & Jesica | Wedding: Preview

Shot a beautiful wedding today... the rain held off and gave us lovely even light. More to come!

Little Details that Make a Big Difference in Your Wedding Photos | For Brides

I think we can all thing of a scenario where something seemingly insignificant had a big impact. It only takes that one accessory to take an outfit from "meh" to fabulous. You'd never think to notice something so small as an accent piece in decor but you'd miss it if it wasn't there.

That's kind of how I feel about those little "extras" you might not think to include in your wedding pictures, but really help to document the overall feel of the day. I'm talking about things like grandma's handkerchief that's been passed down for generations, or your wedding invitation, or that special perfume he bought you. A photo of your wedding day perfume isn't a crucial, must-have shot by any means. But years down the road, you might look through those pictures and seeing the photo of the pretty bottle might bring the memory of that scent to mind when it wouldn't have even crossed your mind otherwise. It's purely sentimental (and to look pretty!), but a nice sentiment, I think. :-)

Wedding invitations are one of my favorite, and most overlooked, pieces to include in bridal details. You've spent time and money in sending a beautiful card to your guests - it's worth remembering! Plus, it looks great styled with your jewelry! Depending on your wedding jewelry, often a necklace shot by itself is kind of boring. It's way more fun to be able to lay it out with other pieces of wedding paraphernalia.

Another item that I'm kind of picky about is the rings! A lot of times I will show up and only the bride's ring is available. That's fine, of course, but you can get a lot more creative with your ring shots when you've got 3 rings to deal with! Besides, I like taking a ring shot at the engagement session, and if you don't include your wedding band and your groom's ring, it just looks like another version of the engagement ring shot. Check out the examples below:

This is pretty, but...

... this has a lot more impact and also screams, "WEDDING!"

Here's Jennifer's ring from her engagement session

And here's the wedding shot!

Things I like including in detail shots are:

- Wedding dress
- Veil
- Jewelry
- Bouquets
- Bridesmaid dresses
- Rings (hers and his!)
- Shoes
- Family heirlooms
- Perfume
- Invitations

It's super helpful if all of this stuff is gathered together in the bridal suite so nobody is scrambling to find things and I can shoot details in the quickest possible fashion!

I hope this encourages you to think about details you can include in your wedding photos to tell a more complete story! Have a great weekend!

Renee | Portraits

Renee met me for coffee at a quaint little coffee shop in a charming downtown area, and we talked about photography - how to shoot manual, posing, understanding the camera, and just life. It was a delightful morning and we walked around and took pictures of each other. It was kind of an unofficial mentoring session and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I rarely get in front of the camera myself so it was fun to experience things from that end. Here are a few of my favorite snaps of the lovely and talented Renee!

Photography Bucket List | Personal

It's kind of funny... I had this post planned and then recently I came across several other photographers' bucket lists. Believe me, I'm not copying ya'll. ;-)
We all have one - a list in the back of our minds of things we hope to do someday. Today I'm sharing what's on mine, specifically photography-related. Some of them are very attainable, and others... not so much. :-) But dreaming is allowed when it comes to bucket lists! Hopefully as time goes by I will be able to check some of these off here on the blog! So... here's my list:

• Shoot a wedding at a Southern plantation. I like to think I'm a southern girl at heart.

• Really master artificial light. It's not my preferred light source, but I think it's important to have a good handle on it so you can produce beautiful images no matter what situation you're in! I'd love to attend J&M's Lighting Intensive... hopefully they'll bring it to Chicago someday!

• Do more anniversary sessions! 

• Shoot a wedding, anniversary, or engagement in France, Italy, or Ireland. Or... kinda anywhere in Europe. :-) 

• Put on a workshop for beginners.

• Save enough to purchase the Canon 5D Mark III 

• Rent out a natural light studio for the day and photograph ballerinas and food there. Probably not simultaneously, but who knows?! ;-) 

• Shoot more just for fun. I absolutely love shooting for clients but I would like to get creative and do some shoots just because!