I’m wearing my comfy writer socks today. I should say I am wearing a pair of comfy writer socks, because my mom found me three or four pairs and surprised me with them throughout the past year. (She’s a good mom like that.)
Today’s review is of the company Light & Airy Photography. I took an introductory course to photography in college, but I never felt like I quite got the hang of taking artistic pictures. I picked up some helpful tips about cropping and placement, but I could tell my images did not match the quality of the communications majors in the class. (Of course, my family always knew that my brother got the photography genes. That talent skipped me, which was rather unfortunate for someone trying to diversify their writing qualifications.) When I found Light & Airy Photography’s 5 day email challenge on taking fabulous phone photos, I hoped their course could turn my poor little iPhone photos into magic.
The Pros
- Days 1-4 have really good suggestions about the use of light, noticing the background, and adjusting the placement of the focal point to create clear, attractive photos. They also explain each suggestion in detail and show either before-and-after or compare-and-contrast photos so you can see what they mean.
- While the photos all have a consistent feel and coloring, Caroline and Anna show how the principles they teach can be applied to a variety of environments and situations.
- Day 5 had great step to step instructions on how to edit photos to get the light and airy feel they promote using Lightroom. While implementing the tips would definitely take some trial and error, the steps were clear, and they included screenshots so you could see exactly where they went for each step.
- The email challenge is, of course, to promote a product, which in Light & Airy Photography’s case is a set of editing presets for Lightroom. However, their promotion is not flashy, pushy, or annoying.
The Cons
- The cost of the Lightroom presets is very hard to find. I dug through the purchasing process up to putting in my credit card information before I could find the cost. As of today, the mobile presets (approximately 9 of them and two additional bonus packs) cost $47 before applying their holiday discount codes.
- Some of the Light & Airy Photography tips go against what I learned in my college class. My professor focused a lot more on contrast and deep detail, while the Light & Airy Photography style almost blows out the highlights. However, their results are aesthetically appealing and consistent with current trends.
- While the Light & Airy Photography style is very modern, the suggestions are not always easy to implement if you don’t live in a house full of whites and pale greys. They give suggestions for creating your own backdrops to get around that, but it does take concerted effort and rearranging.
- The company sends out LOTS of promotional emails (at least one a day), but they do weave in other tips and promote the work of others in the Light & Airy community.
What I Tried
- I followed the Light & Airy Photography suggestions to edit my sock picture. I did use Affinity Photo on my computer instead of Adobe Lightroom on my phone, (mainly because I wanted to play with my early Christmas present,) but I could generally translate the tips by comparing the colors and tones to the screenshots in the emails.
- When I am not editing my photos to be light and airy, the course still helped me understand how to use natural, even, and soft light in photos. I’m attempting to use lighter backgrounds, but our house was built in the mid-2000s and our furniture is newlywed-mish-mash-chic, so I sometimes struggle to get the background just right.
Initial Conclusion
If your work involves pictures in any way and you are not using stock photos, I highly recommend looking into the tips and presets that Light & Airy Photography has to share. They also have a really beautiful Instagram to follow if you enjoy looking at pretty pictures throughout your day.