March BBHQ Task!

Hello all!  Time for March's Beauty Bloggers Headquarters Task! It was created by the lovely Krystal as a way for us to get together, share our opinions, experiences and get our blogs out there. Go check out her blog, and click here if you'd like to join.

This months task is on Photo Editing!

I dont vlog (video blogging) , so I'll be focusing my answers on how I edit my photos.

*What program(s) are you currently using for editing your photos and/or videos? Can you provide a short review, likes/dislikes?

I use two programs for editing my photos.   One is Pixlr.  I'm not good at messing with the exposure etc on my camara..so I use that to crop and water mark.  For me, Pixlr is fine.  I'm able to resize my photos, change the height/width, and even lighten them if I need to.   Also, most importantly , its super easy to add a watermark .  I also recently downloaded Picasa 3 , and its great for editing my photos as well.  I also used it to create my blog banner.

*Do you use photography or video apps on your smartphone?

I actually dont.  I've found that its difficult to crop etc on my phone, so I will usually take a bunch of pictures  email them to myself and edit them from the desktop

*What program(s) would you recommend for beginner bloggers?

Pixlr I feel is excellent for beginners.  Its got the efficient (which is simple, and is what I use), and its also got a more advanced version.  Its all free, and its super simple to use.

*What is your editing process like? Do you edit individual pieces or schedule a day for all your editing?

I will usually take one nice (sunny) day and take all the photos for the things I want to post about (eyeshadows etc).  Then either later in the day or the next day I will sit and sift through all the photos.  I usually take about 20 different shots for each thing (swatches, my face or nails..whatever it is).  Then I sit and go through each shot. Deleting as I go, until I have the 5/6 I need for each post.  After all that, I sit and spend a good 2/3 hours (total) cropping and watermarking everything.  Watermarking is important because its a trademark on your photo.  I will usually watermark in the middle, or on top of something important to the image, so that if someone does try to crop out my watermark, they ruin the image. 

*On average, how much time do you think you spend on editing images and videos in a week?

Probably, total in a week..like 6/7 hours.  I try to do things quickly since I have a little one (and a job) to do while I'm blogging.

*For fun, show us some before and after examples from when you first started blogging/vlogging and what your current content looks like.

(This is from my first mascara review!)

(From my Maybelline Mega Plush Review)

As you can see there is improvement!  I dont have a lightbox, so I've learned to take advantage of the outside.  I love taking pictures in natural light, and I like having an interesting background.  I dont have a fancy camara so to me , there's always room for improvement!