When it comes to photography I have to say that I am addicted. I love to create and style the perfect shot, and then I really enjoy creating and editing the photos after. I wouldn’t say I am particularly good or knowledgeable when it comes to photography, I am self taught and I do what I love, but I kind of love that about what I do.
Something I particularly love is the editing process. I love to take a good photo, that I am pleased with, and make it great. I use Adobe Lightroom Presets for my photography and ever since I discovered the app a couple of years ago I have found it has been a lifesaver for my content.
If you’ve been a follower of mine for a while then you will probably know that I sell my own Lightroom Presets, presets that I have created myself which help to give your photos a similar looking aesthetic, something that is fairly commonplace amongst content creators on apps such as Instagram. I delve into much more detail about why I love Lightroom presets and how I edit my photos in a previous blog post.
I wanted to give you guys something today – I know so many of you don’t quite know what Lightroom is or just how you go about using it, what a preset is and so much more.
Lead with authenticity
I am always keen to express that I build my platform on a basis of honesty and authenticity. I believe this is really the only way to see sustained growth and build a community on Instagram. For that reason I never physically edit people in any way, and a preset is much like a filter only it will do things like bring up the brightness, or colours. I really do find so much joy in creating the “perfect” photo (although nothing is ever perfect), and aesthetically pleasing content really is everything to me.
Grab your FREE lightroom preset
Today I wanted to gift you all a free lightroom preset to try – this is a bright and minimal preset – dulling down some of the brighter colours, bringing forward the bright and the whites. I really love how it turned out and I hope you love it too.
To download it just pop your email below and it’ll take you straight to the downloadable file and also a PDF telling you how to use it too.
Enjoy this free preset and be sure to check out my Lightroom Preset packs that I have for sale – I love them all but my favourite is definitely the Signature preset pack. I have used this pack for over a year and I love it.
When it comes to everything social media I definitely don’t have all the answers, but one thing I am certain about is that if you’re on social media with a purpose then you need to be building a personal brand. That purpose could be something as simple as building your own like-minded community through your followers, it could be selling products (either yours or another’s), it could be building your own business, it could be getting involved in influencer marketing, being a blogger or it could be offering a service. If you are online with intention then this is for you – it’s time to really start figuring out how to build a personal brand.
Social media is constantly filled with people launching, growing and developing their own business and it fills me with so much joy to see people running after their dreams, taking their passion and turning it into their own business or another stream of income. That being said, there is such great importance in sharing your business online in the right way. We’ve all been party to or have noticed our social media connections dropping unsolicited messages in our inboxes telling us we’d be great at what they do and we’ve all been added to the facebook groups that we never asked to be a part of. It isn’t the ideal way to start and grow a business, so let’s dive into some ways that you can start authentically start growing a personal brand and why it is 100% the best thing you can do for yourself and your business.
So what is a personal brand?
So before we delve in any further I guess we ought to outline exactly what a personal brand is and why you ought to grow one online. A personal brand is brand YOU. It’s about you first, your life, your thoughts and who you represent. It let’s people get to know the person behind the business/community and lets them into your world. People are inherently curious about other people and love that glimpse into your world, and it gives your brand or business that human element, and it is these sort of connections that people are crying out for.
So how can I start creating my personal brand?
Your personal brand goes far beyond what you have to sell or offer and really starts with just you. The great thing about this is that you already know you, and who better to start representing you than you.
Like I said, being brand you goes far beyond what you sell or offer, and can include some of the following:
Start thinking about who you are, how you want to market yourself and what you want to share with the world. You are going to be showing up as the most authentic version of yourself and you are wanting to connect with like minded individuals. One of the ways I find really helpful is to think about some categories you are known for/are passionate about/represent you. Once you dig deep and really understand who you are, what you want to share and what you want to show up as it will make creating your personal brand all that much easier.
You can choose anything that you feel represents you, your business or your brand, but my main piece of advice would be to ensure that it is authentic and really represents who you are as a person.
How do I share myself as a personal brand?
So lets talk about what I personally do to build my personal brand online:
I share within the 5 categories I want to be known for on my grid. These include running my own business, parenthood, wellbeing, growing a personal brand online and home decor/decluttering/being more minimal. These are all things I am passionate about which means I am always authentic when I am talking about them. My stories however, are a bit more a free-for-all.
Using a grid planner to see how my grid will look. I am all about the aesthetically pleasing, so I use this predominantly for myself. I like to see what looks aesthetically pleasing to me, so I’ve been using Planoly and love it.
Being creative with my photos and create photography that I love.
Showing up as the real deal in my photos, in my captions and in my stories.
Let’s build that personal brand
Think back over the points I shared above (I’ll include them again below because I believe they are really important) and start brainstorming every element of your brand story (ie, YOUR story) and start thinking of ways in which you are able to grow and build as yourself.
What you share.
What you photograph.
The words you write.
Who you are.
The colour palette you choose.
The filters/presets you edit with.
The personality behind the posts.
The voice you have.
Share the messy, the imperfect, the behind the scenes, the raw and the real. Sharing the human aspect of who you are and showing up as the truest version of yourself is the best way to build and grow online.
*This post contains affiliate links. This means if you purchase through these links I get a small financial kickback at no extra cost to you. Thanks as always for your support.
A couple of years ago I don’t think you would ever have got me to be brave enough to record a podcast but here I am, my first ever podcast interview on The Daily Squish Report Podcast with Sydney Delucchi.
Sydney and I met on Instagram way back when, I think when we were both pregnant with our daughters, and we’ve followed along with each others lives ever since as we navigate motherhood, raising our businesses and doing all the things with a little bit of coffee and a lot of humour. We both work in a similar industry too so it’s always great to get together and have a chat about what we do as we figure out this crazy life of working in our dream careers and raising our beautiful girls.
When I got the opportunity to feature as a guest on her podcast I knew I had to, she is someone that inspires me everyday and I love watching her do all the business things, all the mum life things and rocking at it all.
I jumped on with Sydney to chat about my motherhood while raising my daughter, how I almost chucked it all in before maternity leave and why having my daughter made me flip 180 on a business I thought I was done with. Mindset shift or what?!
I am talking about how I do, why I do it, what I’ve been learning about Pinterest, reaching 100k on the platform, my free Pinterest guide and why I am loving my new little gig of creating Lightroom Presets too. Everything and more about my business and why I am still here rocking it today. Also I had the pleasure of being the first international guest too, how awesome is that!
If you want to check it out you can check it out wherever you get your Podcasts, just search for The Daily Squish Report with Sydney Delucchi, oh, and don’t forget to subscribe too.
You can also take a listen on the link below too!
Hope you enjoy it and I would love to hear what you think!
A post about how I edit my Instagram photos in Lightroom and the release of my first Lightroom Presets Pack.
When I first starting uploading photos to Instagram all those years ago presets, filters, themes and aesthetics were the last things on my mind and if you’re a casual Instagram user then you’re probably thinking the same thing. Since I started using Instagram around 5 years ago I have slowly grown my account to where it is today and although I mostly use it for personal memories and our day to day life, I also use it as my platform to share, educate and inspire, and more recently to share my online content creation business and everything that comes with that. The creative part of me loves taking photos and making them look beautiful while not falling into the trap of the “perfect” Instagram feed because life isn’t perfect. It’s a platform I like to show up on as my honest self, sharing our life and sharing the ups and downs that we encounter every day. I take a lot of pride in the content I create and it certainly isn’t perfect but thats life and I love that about my account. A question I get a lot is about how I edit my photos (which let me tell you, is very minimal and very easy) and today I want to come and share with you all about how I edit them plus introduce you to a fun project I have been working on: My first preset pack release. So lets jump in!
Using Lightroom to edit my photos:
Instagram doesn’t have to be full of edited photos if you don’t want it to be but if you are partial to an extra nice looking photo or love to follow a theme or an aesthetic on your feed then by all means go ahead. As with anything Instagram related my advice is always to do what you love on your own Instagram feed and preserve your memories and share your life/business/blog in anyway you see fit. What works for one won’t necessarily work for another so definitely follow your heart with this one.
Other than using a preset filter, where the colours are just slightly edited to bring up brightness (because I love a crisp looking photo), I don’t mess with my photos at all so for that reason I use Adobe Lightroom Mobile. I have my own filter (which I will be releasing soon) and every photo I apply one of the group of four filters to. This helps to keep my feed all looking pretty similar and for me a pretty looking Instagram grid is something I love to look at.
Why I like to edit In Lightroom for Instagram:
Like I said, I love to keep things real on Instagram and you’ll probably never find me more real than in my stories but I also do love to create content (it is my job after all) and I love creating and producing beautiful photos. Over the years I have found great joy in taking photos, setting up photos, capturing content and creating a beautiful end product that I myself find aesthetically pleasing. I guess you could say I love to create beautiful content that I love; from writing, blogging, filming and taking photos. I am far from a photographer (and wouldn’t want to be) but it’s just a little passion I have found that I quite enjoy. Running my own online, social media based business has encouraged me to create a colours that associate me and my social media to my overall brand.
The big launch!
With all this said; My love for creating, my love for beautiful photography and loving to look at anything that is aesthetically pleasing on the eye I decided to dip my toe into the world of Lightroom presets. I have been using Lightroom for many years now and I have been busy creating some presets of my own (including the one I use for my own photos).
So here is my first ever Lightroom preset launch with my first pack of six presets in a dark, moody tone. I am so excited to launch these to the world and you guys can currently get your hands on them for 30% discount as a thank you for all your support for me and my business thus far. I am working hard on other preset packs and hope to launch these out into the world soon.
I hope you love this pack of presets as much as I do – they have been a labour of love to create but also I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute and can’t wait to create more. If you want to be one of the first people with these presets and grab a whopping 30% off then head to my shop and download them today.
When I first starting uploading photos to Instagram all those years ago presets, filters, themes and aesthetics were the last things on my mind and if you’re a casual Instagram user then you’re probably thinking the same thing. Since I started using Instagram around 5 years ago I have slowly grown my account to where it is today and although I mostly use it for personal memories and our day to day life, I also use it as my platform to share, educate and inspire, and more recently to share my online content creation business and everything that comes with that. The creative part of me loves taking photos and making them look beautiful while not falling into the trap of the “perfect” Instagram feed because life isn’t perfect. It’s a platform I like to show up on as my honest self, sharing our life and sharing the ups and downs that we encounter every day. I take a lot of pride in the content I create and it certainly isn’t perfect but thats life and I love that about my account. A question I get a lot is about how I edit my photos (which let me tell you, is very minimal and very easy) and today I want to come and share with you all about how I edit them plus introduce you to a fun project I have been working on: My first preset pack release. So lets jump in!
What apps I use to edit my photos:
Instagram doesn’t have to be full of edited photos if you don’t want it to be but if you are partial to an extra nice looking photo or love to follow a theme or an aesthetic on your feed then by all means go ahead. As with anything Instagram related my advice is always to do what you love on your own Instagram feed and preserve your memories and share your life/business/blog in anyway you see fit. What works for one won’t necessarily work for another so definitely follow your heart with this one.
Other than using a preset filter, where the colours are just slightly edited to bring up brightness (because I love a crisp looking photo), I don’t mess with my photos at all so for that reason I use Adobe Lightroom Mobile. I have my own filter (which I will be releasing soon) and every photo I apply one of the group of four filters to. This helps to keep my feed all looking pretty similar and for me a pretty looking Instagram grid is something I love to look at.
Why I like to edit for Instagram:
Like I said, I love to keep things real on Instagram and you’ll probably never find me more real than in my stories but I also do love to create content (it is my job after all) and I love creating and producing beautiful photos. Over the years I have found great joy in taking photos, setting up photos, capturing content and creating a beautiful end product that I myself find aesthetically pleasing. I guess you could say I love to create beautiful content that I love; from writing, blogging, filming and taking photos. I am far from a photographer (and wouldn’t want to be) but it’s just a little passion I have found that I quite enjoy. Running my own online, social media based business has encouraged me to create a colours that associate me and my social media to my overall brand.
The big launch!
With all this said; My love for creating, my love for beautiful photography and loving to look at anything that is aesthetically pleasing on the eye I decided to dip my toe into the world of Lightroom presets. I have been using Lightroom for many years now and I have been busy creating some presets of my own (including the one I use for my own photos).
So here is my first ever Lightroom preset launch with my first pack of six presets in a dark, moody tone. I am so excited to launch these to the world and you guys can currently get your hands on them for 30% discount as a thank you for all your support for me and my business thus far. I am working hard on other preset packs and hope to launch these out into the world soon.
I hope you love this pack of presets as much as I do – they have been a labour of love to create but also I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute and can’t wait to create more. If you want to be one of the first people with these presets and grab a whopping 30% off then head to my shop and download them today.
