Nail Photography Tips

Hey guys! I have another tips & tricks post for you today. I mentioned in my Nail Blogging tips post that I would also do one about nail photography so I have that for you today!

Cuticle & Nail Care

My first tip is to keep your nails and cuticles healthy and nice looking. Keeping your cuticles and nails looking nice plays a pretty big part in nail blogging. I have a full post on cuticle care HERE. I would highly recommend using a cuticle oil/cream/treatment a few times a day and also using a hand cream. It's just nicer to look at cuticles and nails which are well kept and hydrated.

Keep your polish neat and clean as possible. This isn't overly important when you're first starting out with your blog or nail photography, but keep in mind that most people would prefer to look at nail photos/blogs where the cuticles aren't flooded with polish. It's just easier and nicer to look at.

Everybody totally understands that it's hard to paint your nails neatly until you get the hang of it. Heck, I still even flood my cuticles sometimes. Try to go as slowly as possible and don't go too close to the cuticle. If you do get any polish on your skin just grab a small makeup brush dipped in nail polish remover and sweep it around the areas where you got some polish on the skin.

Cameras & Lighting

Something I feel very strongly about with nail blogging/photography, is that you do not need an expensive camera to get started. Honestly. Sure, DSLR cameras do take beautiful shots but you don't need one. Especially if you're just starting out, it isn't necessary. I think it's even acceptable to use an iPhone camera! The newest model iPhones (4S and 5) take great good photos as long as they're well lit! Actually, a lot of the time my iPhone can take better colour accurate photos than my camera haha.

For the first 6 months I was blogging (on my old blog), I was using a simple Samsung point and shoot camera that I already had lying around. I think it costed about $150 (but I got it about 5 years ago so I'm sure it'd be a super cheap camera now haha!) but I'm sure most people already have a simple point and shoot camera around the house! If it has a macro mode that'll be best for nail photos. :) Just make sure you read the manual and play around with the settings and lighting to see how you can get the best photos from your camera.

For Christmas last year, I got a Nikon L310 camera. It's not a point and shoot camera but it's not a DSLR either, it's sort of in between those. It's not hard to use but it takes good quality photos in my opinion and it was REALLY affordable. It has an awesome macro mode for an affordable camera! Honestly, it's cheaper than a lot of point and shoot cameras! It also takes very good quality video so I definitely recommend this camera! It's awesome! :D

Maybe in the future I would think about buying a DSLR camera but right now I'm more than happy with the camera I have.

Rose from Every Little Polish has an AWESOME post on cameras & nail photography which I definitely recommend you check out, here. She's more knowledgeable about photography than I am lol.

Something to keep in mind is lighting for your photos. I mostly use outdoor lighting for my photos, but sometimes I use a homemade light box (I used this tutorial from Sarah @ Chalkboard Nails to make mine), depending on the weather conditions. I do prefer the way my photos look outdoors to be honest. Light boxes can take up a bit of space and I don't have a lot of that lol. And I don't have the best lighting for it either. My hands always end up looking a weird colour and the polish never shows up right so for me, outdoor lighting is better. It just sucks in winter when there's not a whole lot of sun. :( You can find more professional light boxes that come with lamps, on eBay or Amazon if you'd prefer to take that route.

I think that covers it! Please, if you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask! I'd love to hear from you! :) You can email me, tweet me or leave me a comment. :) I'll be happy to answer.

I'll have another post about nail photography soon showing you a little more of my personal photography set up! I'll also cover watermarking your photos in that post.