So, if you follow me on Instagram (@louloves01) you'll know that I recently changed my theme to a more flatlay based style. So I thought I'd share with you how I take my Instagram photos because I know how helpful this kind of post was when I was thinking about changing my theme!

I'll start off with the camera I use. Since the beginning of this year I've been using the Cannon 1300D . Up until recently I have used the pre-set settings but I now use the "M" setting and the settings I use are:

Shutter Speed - 1/125
Aperture - F7.1
ISO Speed- 6400
Exposure comp./AEB Setting - Centre (0)
Flash Exposure comp. - +2/3
Picture Style - Standard
White Balance - Daylight
Auto Lighting Optimiser - Standard
AF Operation - One shot
Drive/Self-timer Mode - Single shoot
Metering Mode - Evaluative meter
Image Quality - First setting (18m 5184x3456 [1320])

I take my photos in either a flatlay style or just a standard product photo style.

Flatlay Style:

So I just use this white blanket from Primark to create the plain white background but I know a lot of people use card and then use accent colours which I always love the look of put I don't think I would be able to pull it off! I usually take about 10 minutes styling the photo and then 5 minutes shooting so I can get 4 lots of photos done in an hour which doesn't seem a lot but an hours worth of photos can last me up to 3 week which means I don't have to spend too much time taking photos. I then either kneel on a stool or stand to take photos depending on the angle I want. As you can see in the photo I usually have a pile of magazines waiting (although I never actually use them) in case I want one in the shot.

Product Style:


So when I take photos of individual products, I try to keep it as minimalistic as possible because as much as I love scrolling through instagram looking at all of the gorgeous flatlays, I tend to fine that sometimes the product gets lost within everything else and I really wanted the focus to be purely on the product. So, I get the white Primark blanket and drape it over the stool to get the white base and backdrop. I then just make a flat space at the bottom to put the product on and just take photos of it!

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this post and I will see you very soon,

Love Lou
xxxxx

Blogmas Countdown - 11 Days

I have seen posts discussing the new instagram algorithm a few times in the blogosphere so I thought I'd take the opportunity to share with you my point of view.

For those of you who haven't come across the new Instagram Algorithm, a few months or so ago, Instagram released a new update that meant, like facebook, posts were no longer in chronological order. For smaller bloggers like myself, and bloggers in general to be fair, it's caused massive reductions in engagement and followers on both instagram and their blog.

So, the new algorithm meant that posts were mixed up which meant that a lot of posts now wouldn't be seen. It also appears to me that Instagram is more actively promoting (and therefore moving to the top of feeds) posts from accounts with more followers. This is a big set back for small bloggers like me (currently having a few followers over 300) as it means that often our posts are lower down feeds, if on them at all. Obviously, this is just what I've seen and it may not be the same to everyone, but I thought I share with you what I have personally found.

As a small blogger, the new algorithm massively affected my blog. Before the update, I was posting pretty regularly on my instagram, and I still am, however, likes and comments have now become practically inexistent, which has also resulted in a big drop in blog views - dropping from the 200's to the 50's-  due to the lack of engagement on that particular promoting platform (if you didn't already know, Instagram is my main promoting platform so this was a pretty big knock for me).

Like several other bloggers, I am really struggling with Instagram and it's really making me question how long I am going to be actively posting on there. To overcome this, I've come up with some tips for you guys who may be experiencing the same problems as me:

1. Use hastags wisely

Hashtags can make or break a post, use the right ones and likes will flood in but if you don't get it quite right, even if it's the best content you have ever posted, you will get very few likes.

2. Try and produce the best quality content

If you haven't really got anything to post, don't find a picture you took about 5 years ago on your iPhone 3 because chances are you're going to get more unfollows than if you didn't post anything at all.

3. Interact with similar bloggers/accounts

This has been key in my instagram survival so far. Finding accounts similar to yours that you actually enjoy can be pretty difficult but once you find them, you'll often get a follow back and they'll also enjoy your content. (I'll link some of my favourite accounts in each niche at the end of this post)

4. Post as regularly as you possibly can

This is quite a controversial one, I've found. When I post 1 or 2 times a day I definitely get more engagement and I feel as though my posts sit higher on instagram feeds, whereas other 'gramers feel that they get less engagement. This is totally dependant on your audience so give it a go and see how you get on.

So, I hope you enjoyed this post, and let me know any tips you have in the comments if you've been having similar problems. Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you all again soon,

Love Lou
xxxx

My favourite:

Beauty Accounts:

@lifeastillyrose
@dasiyjosephineblog
@justlucyslife

Lifestyle Accounts:

@chloeplumstead
@susiejverrill
@ellenextdoor

Fashion Accounts:

@eleanorclaudie
@rachyblogs
@stylelobster


Other:

@livv.gracee (She's an all rounder to be honest)
@hannahfgale
@devotedtopink (Another lovely all rounder)

At the beginning of this year, I set myself some goals from my little corner of the internet so today I thought I'd update you on how I'm doing! (If you haven't read the first post, click here to read it)

1- Try and reach 40,000 views

When I came up with goal, I genuinely thought I wouldn't reach it as it was just under double the amount of views I had at the time. I now think it's safe to say I have 100% reached this goal (I'm currently on 51,000 views! I know, I can't believe it either).

2- Reach 500 Instagram followers

This is where things go down hill... I have been in the high 2 hundreds for about 4 or 5 months now and I just can't seem to get past the 300 mark! I get there and then I get a lot of unfollows but I didn't used to post very often so now I'm trying to post more regularly to try and make some more headway into the one.

 3- Reply to all of my comments

So far, I've been doing okay on this one. I have been replying to them all but often not very quickly so in the next few months I'm going to try and reply a little more quickly!

4- Have every single post go up in time

At the start of the year, I thought this was going to be quite tricky as a lot of times last year I was hours (or maybe even a day) late putting up posts, but so far all of them have gone up on time!

So, I think I've been pretty successful with my goals so far! I hope you all enjoyed this post, thank yu so much for reading, and I will see you very soon,

Love Lou
xxxxx

I always get a lot of questions in Q and A's asking me how I stay motivated to write blog posts and I normally give a pretty short answer so today I'm going into the nitty gritty of it!

The short answer to this question when I get asked it is I honestly don't know. Blogging is such a nice and you either love it or you find it a chore. I feel as though I don't fit into either category. 99% of the time I absolutely love blogging and I love seeing your positive comments in reply to my posts. However, there is still that other 1% when I realise it's Monday night at 5pm and I realise I still haven't written that nights blog post!

The main thing that keeps me blogging is you lovely lot. When I first started blogging it would be really disappointing to have spent hours on posts and them get 5-10 views.  If you're in that situation right now, don't worry about it, this happened to me for about a year before my views increased pretty rapidly. However now, there is a lot more of you viewing my posts and it's so lovely to see the number of views increase on a post. The fact that you guys take the time out of your day to read my posts is what makes me improve my writing, my photography and just my blog in general!

Another thing that keeps me motivated is other peoples success. At the moment in the blogosphere a lot of people are doing really well from blogging and that's what makes me strive to be a better blogger myself. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying I'm trying to be the next Zoella but even smaller achievements like 1000 followers makes me keep pushing on to my next goal.

Linking back to the last point, set yourself goals. Now these don't have to be huge goals, make them realistic. For example if you have 300 followers don't expect to be getting thousands of views by the end of the year. I set myself some reasonable goals this year so click right here to be taking to my post about those!

I hope this post helped you and gave you some good advice. Thank you so much for reading and I will see you all very soon,

Love Lou
xxxxx