Hey folks! Thanks for tuning in. My name is Niki and I am a proud member of the CBB! You can find my blog on my website www.nicoleertl.com. Today, I am here to share with you my infinite wisdom in the realm of lighting for beauty pics. I'm just kidding... yes, I have improved my picture taking game over the years but I am still on my journey to taking the best photo ever! I will share with you some tips and tricks on how to optimize your lighting scenario/set-up for getting the best photos for your blog. This can also be translated into lighting for filming beauty-related videos.

The idea for this guest post came to me after reading a post on the CBB facebook page, something I tune into daily - I mean it is the most active page on my fbook feed, after all. PS Did I ever tell you ladies how awesome you are?! Let's get on with it!

Once upon a time I used to take photos like this...

While it is apparent the quality of the camera phone is sub-par- at best but this  is a discussion on lighting. I was confident that when I took this photo, the photograph would translate into this vivid mosaic of vibrant colours - instead I got this!

Let's talk about LIGHT and the kinds of light most readily available. We'll start with the most abundant and free source of light, NATURAL light. It's everywhere, it's outside of my window, enticing me and I am not out there enjoying it! Then we have TUNGSTEN, tungsten is the kind of household lighting that came before FLUORESCENT, you'll instantly be able identify tungsten lighting because it casts a yellow colour and is translated as yellow in film/digital photography (see below).

There is no doubt about it, NATURAL lighting is our best-friend. It's pro, it casts the right shadows and highlights in all the appropriate places. Unfortunately, when you live in a country where it's winter two-thirds of the year, we don't always have access to the stuff. Your second option is FLUORESCENT lighting but FLUORESCENT lighting can also come with it's own set of challenges. FLUORESCENT lighting can over-expose your image or can cast really harsh shadows. That's when TUNGSTEN comes and saves the day! TUNGSTEN lighting can bring life back into your photos by adding the right bit of 'warmth'. That's why smartphones make great blogging tools, they've taken the guess-work out of photo taking by building in both flashes (see below).

I put the floor lamp on my desk and fold the shade up, exposing the bulb, it sits just above my head and the shade let's my control the amount of light. I have also adjusted the white balance on my camera, '-1' to compensate for the overexposure.

If you would like to check out the other guest posts, head over here: