It’s a pretty well known fact that the world has gone a little bit Insta-crazy. These days we can’t go anywhere, buying anything, eat anything, celebrate something or even cry about something without taking a snap whether that’s for our own memories or to “share with the world.” This is particularly true for bloggers – for a lot of us, we capture and share most moments of our lives. I have made a point of never sharing anything that will embarrass family members or Alyssa if she were to ever look back. I hope that when she is older, she will want to read about all the things we got up to and the amazing experiences we had together. However, as a reviewer of products, bloggers often need to create pretty and “insta-worthy” pictures of products to use for their social media and blog posts. Of course to do this, you need a set-up and so I have gotten creative with some products from PosterLounge…..

You might be thinking well… how do I do all that?! Okay… so bare with me and I think you’ll find that using images in varying sizes from Posterlounge will actually really enhance your images.

Step 1 – Background

To start with, you do want a fairly neutral background. In my pictures today, I actually used a wooden table in my home which provides a nice backdrop that isn’t too imposing. I also own a few backgrounds from Capture by Lucy which are a great investment. You could also use a poster from Posterlounge and look for a simpler picture with nothing that’s going to catch and draw the eye too much.

Step 2 – Dress the shot

Dressing the photo is where Posterlounge really comes into play. Obviously we want to make a shot interesting and add in props that are going to either make sense for the text or quote we are adding or perhaps add something to the item we are reviewing. Posters and pictures can really enhance an overall shot.

I took some varying sizes of posters and put them into images at different angles and in different ways to help build a shot I was happy with…

This gorgeous poster is actually a recipe for a cocktail which would be great on an instagram feed or other social media for summer so I took the poster and popped it onto my plainish background on an angle, then I took a couple of the ingredients that are featured in the poster and match the colours, and played with their placement and angles until I got a complete picture that I was happy with.

Coffee is a big thing for a lot of us and believe it or not coffee pretty much has it’s own fan base online. I once shared a picture of coffee and people went nuts over it and all because it was a cup of coffee. Add in the fact you can now get coffee art, pink lattes and glitter coffees it is no wonder coffee is one of the most snapped drinks world wide.

There were a number of coffee posters to choose from, I chose to get this one and quite large because it was completely black other than the words meaning it basically created it’s own back drop. The words are similar to using a lightbox – so I added a large bowl of coffee, a danish to go along with it and then just a simple flower to add a splash of colour to the monochromatic shot.

Another popular set of items to photograph for reviews and social media are hair and beauty product items. The beauty social media influencers are taking the world by a storm and are popping up all over the place! I have found from looking through different images, that unless it’s a funky brand like Benefit for example, most people tend to photograph them it quite soft surroundings and with subtle “light and airy” props.

I decided to take a small poster of some soft pink flowers that didn’t takeover the photo and then add in the products with the addition of a complementing dish and a small pink shell I have used previously as a prop.

Step 3 – Take The Shot

Oh and make sure you’ve got good, WHITE light too!

Personally, as a blogger I am always looking for props to use in product photos that will enhance my photos but will also not break the bank. The images I got from Posterlounge can either play a starring or supporting role in your images and there is something to suit each and every style or look you are going from.

Check them out and let me know what you think!

*This is a collaborative post