Some of us (myself included) do not have photoshop.   I rely heavily on Pic Monkey.  I will never put a photo onto my blog without editing it.

Here are the 5 steps that I take every single time…

1- Adjust the exposure to make it brighter (brighter pictures look better on Pinterest & other social media).   You can do this automatically.   (see picture below).

2- Adjust the clarity & sharpness.  This makes a WORLD of difference!

3- Edit Colors  – did you see the post on which pictures are re-pinned the most?  Those colors would not have been my first pick.  I am more of a blue/green/pink type of girl.

4- Branding: I always add “Your Modern Family” or “Beckyandpaula.com” or our logos to my pictures.   (You can see it in purple in the picture above).   Paula and I have both seen what happens when we don’t add our names to our images… someone else takes it & makes it their own.  Learn from us. 

5- I change the size to 600 X 600 or to a pin-worthy image that I will upload directly to Pinterest like 500 X 1000.    If the picture won’t fit (like the one above), I would take that picture that I made and put it on top of the 600X600 square and then I would use the extra space to write the caption.

If you have any suggestions, we’d love them, as always!   Your comments help other bloggers, too!  Thanks!

Since you are working on editing photos, something else you know is important is the photo you start with. If you are a food blogger we highly recommend Tasty Food Photography by Lindsay Ostrum. (affiliate)

The post 5 things you MUST DO when using the photo editor picmonkey appeared first on Becky & Paula.

I love bright colors!   I also love black & white.    Alas, a blog is different than picking out what to wear, so I wanted to share with you what I have learned about color choices and design for your blog.  Welcome to Color 101: Best colors for a blog

You probably read the post last week about designing your blog to make it easier to read.  This week we are diving into color choice.

You already saw that you should have a white background with black text, in order to make it easier to read.

Think of your blog as your home- the colors carry throughout every room (every page/post).  The rules of design for your home: You choose two main colors and one accent color.  In our house, it is blues and a sandy beach color as the main colors, with a few bursts of black or dark brown throughout, to “hold down” the color.   I am a nautical girl at heart!

So- about your blog:

Lets start with the header:
A header should have 1-2 colors (I’m not counting black & white here).
Remember that this is only if it works for you.  This is simply what is EASIEST to look at and most interesting to readers (to keep readers coming back again), when surveyors asked readers.    I am not saying it is the best way.  The best way is YOUR way.   

Your Blog: 
Your blog should try to basically stick with those two colors.   Lets call them Color A and Color B. 
Color A will be used in your headlines, titles (important things)
Color B will be used for other things (date, comments, “next” and “older” buttons)

Advertising: 
You want your advertising to stand out, so you want a color that POPS!  Pick something bright like orange or yellow.   Even a bright pink or blue, if it stands out among the other colors on your blog.

If you aren’t sure which colors work together, try testing them out on a site, like DesignSeeds.  (PS- those beautiful images with the different colors were found on Design Seeds.)

Another tip:  If I find a color that I love, but can’t seem to re-create it, I will copy the image, upload it into PicMonkey and then add text over the photo.  I will then take the text and match it to the color using that little color dropper.   It brings up the color code for me and there you go…
Here is what I mean: (I am editing a screenshot to try to find out the color of her shirt)

You can also go to a site like Colorzilla to find any color codes.  (it is a CSS generator, too!)

I hope that was helpful!  Your blog is exactly that… YOURS!   Make it what you want it to be!

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