On Saturday I attended BlogCamp, the blogging conference organised and hosted by the Tots100 blogging network. It was a great day with plenty of socialising with other bloggers, and some great tips shared by the guest speakers. I concentrated on the photography and vlogging sessions during the day, and thought I would share my favourite tips from each.
Photography
I attended two photography sessions, both hosted by Phil Tragen. The first was for portraiture and headshots, and the other for product photography – which is perfect for bloggers. My favourite tips from these sessions were:
- Consider what you are trying to show with a portrait or headshot – what is the intended purpose?
- Try to build a rapport with your subject so they relax
- Lean your subject against a wall/similar – they immediately relax more
- For headshots shoot the head and shoulders, against a clean background – visually simple & factual
- Avoid distracting backgrounds in portraits
- Stand your subject at a slight angle, with their head facing the camera
- When photographing children, try to capture candid moments. Get down to their level, or down to ground level and look up past what they are doing/playing with.
- Use a cheap disc reflector to bounce light onto your subject
- For product photography consider the angle something is designed to be looked at from – i.e. cars at eye level
- Use an extension tube if you can’t afford a macro lens
- Convert a desk light to a photography light source using “ctb” gel which makes it look like daylight
- When photographing something dark, try to lighten the contrast behind it, perhaps a wooden surface
Vlogging
The speaker for the Vlogging session was Sian (aka Helpful Mum) from You’re not from round here – she was fab and had loads of great info and tips for us. Her presentation was really helpful and I will definitely be making some improvements to my videos and YouTube channel after BlogCamp.
- Make sure you have clear & consistent branding over your channel – and use a welcome video
- Thumbnails are VERY important! Make sure it includes what the video is about & has a happy face
- Check out the YouTube Creator Academy to get to know the ins and outs of YouTube
- The first 48 hours are crucial – make sure you get your videos seen in the first two days & they will rank higher in search results from then on
- Make sure your keywords are in your video title, keywords, and description
- Check your video sound levels before uploading
- Don’t use annoying transitions – keep it simple
- Make sure you have good lighting – you can get halogen spotlights from DIY stores
- Try to relax and remember to breathe otherwise you will talk too fast
- Pretend you are talking to your best friend while looking directly into the camera
- Add an endslate or card to the end of your video to guide viewers onto what you want them to watch next
- Organise your channel into sections
- Be prepared for hurtful comments and criticism – YouTube is home to brutal commenters
So there you have it – my favourite tips from BlogCamp Birmingham 2015. It was a great day, so well done to the Tots100 team!
Great post, some fab tips! x
This looks like such a great event and sounds like you learnt a lot. So sad I missed it! x
Lovely to have met you x
Ah, what a lovely photo of Flea! Thanks for coming along, so pleased you had a good day