7 Ways Bloggers Can Speed Up Their Photography Workflow

Although you can use stock images as a blogger, taking your own pictures will give your website more of an authentic touch. And once you learn the basics of photography, you may quickly realize that taking pictures is also a fun, creative outlet and process.

However, taking and editing photos can sometimes be a lengthy process. The good news is that you can speed up your workflow by adopting a couple of simple tips.

1. Create Presets for Common Photo Types

As you become more experienced with your blog, you’ll begin to develop a particular aesthetic. For example, if you run a blog about Scandinavian fashion and design, you might be interested in minimalist subjects and neutral colors. You might also find a unique photography style, such as capturing landscapes in the Pacific Midwest.

Once you better understand what you do and don’t like, you can create presets for your most common photo types. Besides creating them in your preferred photo editing app, it’s also a good idea to export these presets in case something happens with your software.

If you use Adobe Lightroom, we’ve got a complete guide on how to create your own custom Lightroom presets.

2. Take and Edit Your Photos Weeks in Advance

Consistently publishing new articles is one of the best ways to achieve success on your blog over a longer period. But while it’s easy to think that bloggers create and publish everything in the same week, that often isn’t the case. In many instances, creators have thought about their ideas for months—if not years—beforehand.

If you wait until the week when you’ve scheduled a blog post to go out and take your pictures, you’re playing a risky game. Sometimes, things go wrong on your photoshoot—such as needing to fix a damaged SD card or your camera battery running out. Moreover, your edits will look sloppier if you don’t take your time.

The best way to tackle this issue is by taking and editing your photos weeks in advance. Ideally, you’ll design a content calendar for the next three to six months (though you should keep some room for maneuver as things can change). Once you’ve edited your images, save them on an external hard drive and somewhere in a cloud storage solution.

3. Plan Your Photoshoots in Advance

Besides taking and editing your photos well in advance, it’s also a good idea to know what you’re planning to do on your photoshoots beforehand. If you’re a fashion blogger, for example, you should know exactly which outfit you’re going to choose for the different scenarios you encounter.

When planning your photoshoots, having a rough idea of the locations you want to photograph (or take photos in) is also a good idea. On top of that, consider the potential pitfalls you might encounter—such as poor weather conditions.

You can plan your photoshoots using your favorite note-taking app, such as OneNote or Evernote. Notion is another excellent option, and you can create an entire workspace surrounding your blog.

RAW files will give you much more flexibility when editing your photos, but it’s sometimes better to shoot and edit JPEGs instead. When running your social media accounts, you may want to share your content more quickly—and JPEGs offer excellent versatility in this respect.

You can transfer JPEG files directly from your camera to a smartphone or tablet before quickly cropping and uploading. Even if you don’t sit down at a computer and edit RAW files, you can still create amazing JEPG edits.

5. Edit on the Go

Tying in with the above, another way that you can speed up your photography workflow as a blogger is by editing on the go. This is especially true if you run a travel or outdoors blog, and you have lengthy travel times with little else to do.

There are some great photo editing apps for bloggers, many of which you can use on your phone or tablet. For example, Adobe Lightroom CC offers a broad selection of basic and more advanced tools—including the ability to color grade your images and use HSL sliders.

You can also upload RAW files via your computer and continue editing after signing in to your account from a mobile device.

6. Rename Your Photos When Exporting Them

Giving your images unique names on your blog is essential for many reasons. One of those is that it helps search engines understand what your images are, which can—as a result—lead to better rankings over time. As you upload and edit more pictures, renaming your photos will also make it much easier to organize your files and folders.

While you can rename your photos after exporting them to your computer, doing so during the export phase is a much wiser idea. You’ll save time needing to faff around with different settings, and from there, you can upload them directly to your blog.

If you don’t want to deal with file renaming and such just yet, consider starting a blog on Instagram instead of using your personal website.

7. Use Shutter or Aperture Priority Mode

Understanding how Manual Mode works on your camera will make it easier to take great pictures, but having to constantly adjust your settings can become time-consuming. Moreover, you might miss what would’ve been a great shot.

Using Shutter or Aperture Priority will automate some of the adjustments you need to make when taking photos. As a result, you can focus entirely on getting the best shots for your blog and not worry about the technical aspects.

Photography Doesn’t Have to Be Time-Consuming for Bloggers

Photography is a useful skill to have as a blogger, especially if you’re in a lifestyle-related niche. You can speed up your photo editing workflow in several ways, from creating presets for your images to editing while you’re away from your computer.

You can also improve your photo editing workflow by adjusting some of your camera settings and renaming files as you export them. Implementing these habits will give you more time to focus on running your blog.