9 No-Cost Ways to Improve Your Styling and Photography This Month

Improving your styling and photography isn’t always about the technical - the tools, the gear, the settings. Once you know the basics, it becomes more about your ability to:  1) apply your own perspective to the scene you capture, 2) study in a way that gives you new ideas, 3) review your work in a way that allows you to grow, and 4) let go of past beliefs that were taught to you along the way. 

Here are some easy things you can do to build your skill and style. All but one is completely free. 

Print your work:  Take your eyes away from a screen and view your work in print. What do you notice with it in hand that you didn’t on the screen? Do you love it? If not, what would you change? You can print with a printer at home* or send off for 4-by-6-inch prints with an online service for as little as 30 cents each. 

Choose your perspective:  What type of photo excites you the most when you see it? A filled-frame flatlay? A minimal shot with lots of negative space? A scene that tells a full story? A tight macro shot? If it’s all of the above, choose the one you are most excited about at this very moment. Put blinders on and create only work like that for a while. See where it takes you. 

Identify what only you have access to:  Each of us has something we bring to our photos that is unique to us. Start by looking around you, at your environment. I have window grids that bring in beautiful afternoon light, but I have no comforting snowy scenes or intriguing city streets in view from my windows. We often focus on what we don’t have that prevents us from creating a photo we like by someone else. Focus on what you do have to create a photo unlike any other. 

Get rid of old props you don’t use: They clutter your space and sometimes cause you to feel guilty that you purchased them but don’t use them. Donate the items and move on. Sit with some extra space for a while or save up and buy new pieces that truly fit your style right now. 

Study in analog instead of digital:  Have you always taken online courses or watched YouTube videos to build your skills? Grab a photography book and start learning. You may find that something clicks for you learning in that format that didn’t happen with other methods of study. 

Review in analog instead of digital:  If you always study other photos on Instagram or Pinterest, turn off the screen and grab a book. Head to the library, flip through cookbooks, floral design books, interior design books, and travel books with photos. There is so much content out there. And if you worry that the books are old and not on trend, just wait. Like fashion, photo styles will circle back. They always do. 

Go to the portfolio:  If studying the work of others inspires you, leave the social media profiles. Go to an artist’s portfolio website. Most have so much more work that is more beautifully displayed than what is allowed in a tiny grid. Detail, light, props, and angles - these are more visible on a website portfolio. Explore the artist’s categories of work -  their personal, editorial, and commercial work. It will open the narrow view you may have of them and show that you can create more than one thing. 

Choose one other art form that complements your photography work:  Let something else fuel your creativity aside from photographs. Grow herbs or succulents to use in your photos, learn how to naturally dye linens, paint or draw, macrame, crochet, try paper quilling, or junk journal. These things give your brain a creative break while building your eye for textures and colors that you can bring back to your styling. You might also end up with a unique prop to use in your photos. 

Let go of someone else’s style and settings:  Did you learn from someone that you should always do it one way? An ISO setting, an aperture setting, a styling technique? Have you ever tried changing it? There are certainly correct and incorrect ways to operate a camera, but photography is art. There are often many ways to do one thing. See if you can push the limits to those only this way beliefs that were pushed on you. 

Choosing just one of these to test out for a few weeks will change things. And I’d love to know how, so swing back to let me know. Until then, any other things you’ve done that have helped you improve your styling and photography?

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*I use HP printers and love their Instant Ink Membership where I pay a low monthly price based on the number of pages printed and they ship me ink whenever I run out at no additional cost. That’s my referral link so if you decide to try it, we both get a month free. 

I also use Red River Paper for all my printing. My favorite is the Polar Matte photo printing paper. (I’m an affiliate so I earn a small amount from sales through my links.) 

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Styling Soup - How It Got There

I have another edition of How It Got There and this time we are talking about styling soup for food photography. In these short videos, I take you through the project, prop selection, and the final shot so you can see what went into my thought process.

This month, I’ve been talking to you about creating or finding your style in our CreatingYOU.® newsletter. In today’s video, I talk about individual style as it relates to my own creative work and the work I do for my clients so that you can decide for yourself if you believe style is something that should be adapted.

Three Key Factors for Creating a Photography Style

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Identifying a style in photography is something I consider to be the most difficult thing in my work. It’s because I love A LOT of things. Dark, mysterious, shadowy mood is as interesting to me as bright oversaturated subjects on colorful backdrops. 

But loving just about everything and finding joy and inspiration in it, doesn’t mean it’s true to me. 

I’m on a style journey myself. I was warned early on that reevaluating your style and being drawn to new techniques in styling and how you take photos is something that will evolve - with your experience, age, and place in life. 

And I’m there right now. I’m asking myself - do I still love my work or am I ready to explore new looks? (It doesn’t help that I’m pretty sure the answer to both of those is yes. Haha!)

For me, style was something that I knew I needed, but I initially didn’t seek it out. I only knew I’d established one when people started telling me that they could definitely identify my photography style.

I’ll say that I think it’s a much better way to go if you seek it out first. But by reflecting on things and breaking down what I put into my photos, I was able to kind of work backward to better understand what had really created it. I sum it up into these three key factors.

Knowing what invigorates you.

Most people might say inspire, but I prefer invigorate. Invigorate means to bring energy and life to, to animate, and also to stimulate. When I see art or create art that speaks to me, I feel downright invigorated. I get excited, it gives me energy, and it stimulates a sense of creativity and eagerness to be productive.

Some examples of this in terms of subject for me is where our food and drink comes from and that extends from farms to food culture and travel. Human elements in food photos, but only hints and in abstract ways, like the knife in the artichoke photo on the left above.

I’m invigorated by captures of these things portrayed in muted tones, but not those completely without color. I fall into late summer and early autumn when it comes to seasonal color psychology. And I love photos that play with light and shadows.

This also extends to the type of environments that invigorate you. I love outdoor light at dusk and dawn, foggy days, and natural shadows created by winter light. This is why I also prefer natural light in a studio setting.

What invigorates you? What do you undeniably love when you see it – either in a photograph or another work of art? How can you bring that into your own work?

Using your location and experiences.

 We all live in a place that is unique to us and we have all had unique experiences, no matter how mundane your life may feel at times.

Place and geographical location is one of the top complaints I hear for lack of inspiration. I’ve listened to one person complain about living in New York City with a lack of flowers and vegetation while I simultaneously watch another person create exceptional photos and videos of the same place. I know people who feel the Midwest is boring. Meanwhile, I can’t wait to get out and see vast fields of corn like those I grew up in when I visit my family, just so I can create new photos.

What are you overlooking? What about you, where you come from, and where you have been can you add to the inspiration for your work? Does growing up around more concrete than vegetation allow you to uncover a beautiful perspective others miss? Does being a parent make you exceptionally organized in how you work? Does being single give you more control over your time to explore new techniques? Use it.

For me, while I live in California now, I grew up in Indiana and that is where my love of food and farm began. I also have a background in nutrition which drives my view of clean, simple, fresh produce. I travel a lot and I bring bits and pieces of that in the form of props and linens home with me to use in my photos. I’m also adventurous in how I seek out surfaces.

Find that thing you do.

 A style goes beyond a subject. You can carry a style through many subjects. Style also doesn’t have to be a choice between creating bright photos or dark, moody photos.

Style can come from the type of light you always use, the same aperture, styling with a repeating composition, the angle you most often shoot at, something creative such as always shooting through or always creating deep shadows.

Start with what you like to do and repeat it. If you don’t know what that is, take a look at past photos and see if you can identify any similarities that result from something you always do.

For me, if I had to narrow it down, this is really negative space. I love space in my photos, empty space. This goes for how I style food and how I capture photos outdoors. I also feel that always using natural light contributes to my style.

And this is the biggest area for me that I’m exploring in terms of style. I don’t plan to leave my current practices behind, but I’m working to establish more things that I do to build on the style I already have.

Struggle with style? The CreatingYOU.® newsletter is here to help you find yours.