Have you ever wondered how bloggers get these great pictures? I love behind the scene posts that show how they got their shots. It is kind of like the director’s cut when they explain how movies are made. Sometimes it spoils things when you know how things are done. However, I think it gives you an idea of how hard people work to get that final look.
Styling is my favorite part of blogging, but I will tell you right now it’s not as glamorous and perfect as it seems. I have told you before that a shoot will be as perfectly staged as it can be, but what is just off to the side may be a different story. You never know what will be piled just out of site of the camera. This post is going to show you some of the tricks from one of my photo shoots and how I got these final shots.
The bar cart in front of my 9′ flocked tree is one of the best shots of the year. Not only was it in the final Winter Wonderland Christmas Home Tour it was also one of the better performing pictures on Instagram. However, this shot took about 2 hours to get. Here are a couple pictures showing how I got this final look.
If you see in the back of this picture I have other decorations stashed to style a client’s tree. So as I said there is stuff always off to the side. The merry and bright sign kept sliding and I couldn’t see all the words. I had to decide how to see the whole sign but not have anybody else see it. I got this little white ring box to set it on. After that it stopped sliding and the box made it tall enough so I could see all the words. However, you just thought it was the cutest sign and it is!
Also, last year I learned that photos take a lot longer than just a couple of minutes. The hot chocolate kept melting all my marshmallows before I could finish getting my shots. This year I was ahead of the game. I used water and the marshmallows just floated on top and looked perfect in the picture.
This picture of the desserts in the kitchen turned out great. It lightened up a very dark kitchen which was my goal. Here are some funny pictures of all the glitz and glam of blogging.
This is the “gorgeous” vase I use when I bring my flowers home. I put them in this 7-11 cup and store them in the sink until I’m ready to arrange them. I do most of my flower arrangements. Several of you asked where I find reasonably priced flowers. I usually get my flowers at Trader Joe’s. Norfolk Wholesale also has a great selection and Whole Foods has great prices.
I really wanted to use this gold piece as a vase. Well it isn’t solid. I took a clear summer glass and used that as my inner vase for the tulips. You couldn’t see it in the picture, but it looked so cute in my makeshift gold vase.
These are always fun posts to take a look into the blog and see how things are done. However, I wanted you to see two things. First, you don’t have to have every decor piece out there to have a nice home. Take what you have and be resourceful. Make vases out of decor pieces. Make things work when they really don’t want to cooperate. The other thing is don’t take things at face value. Somethings aren’t always what they seem. Stay focused on you and what you want to accomplish and less on what other people are doing.
