Behind The Scenes Tag

Behind The Scenes Tag

It’s not very often that I take part in tags, usually I look at them and think I’m sure I’ve already covered this somewhere but when stashy tagged me in her Behind the Scenes Tag I knew I had to take part! This was meant to go up last weekend but I never scheduled it properly!

Tag Questions

1) What camera do you use?

Since January I’ve been using the new blogger cliche Olympus Pen 7 – It took me a while to get to grips to it but I now love it. I’m using the standard kit lens at the moment, but do have my eye on purchasing another that’s better for portraiture/fashion posts. I need to shop for my wedding dress first though and see how much I come under my budget! It’s great as it easily fits into my bag and is quite compact.

Prior to that I was using my Panasonic Lumix G2, a chunky SLR that still takes decent quality photos, but I wanted something that was a bit more travel friendly for New York, whilst also being great for blogging. If you want to see some non-beauty blog shots with it, take a look at my new york post for city shots.

Very, very occasionally I do use my iPhone 6s for shots of nail polishes as I don’t always find it easy to hold an SLR one handed.

2) What editing system do you use?

Photoshop CC, it’s second nature to me as I use it all day everyday, and it’s written off as a freelance business expense for that side of work that I do. I am thinking about moving to lightroom, or at least trying it out, I’ve heard it’s significantly quicker.

3) Do you use artificial or natural lighting?

As much as I can natural lighting. I try to photograph products in hauls, then photograph items whilst there fresh for review. I have about 100 folders of product review images waiting to be resized and edited and about 65 posts in my drafts that have been edited awaiting being finished. I despise using artificial light personally – I find I have to spend more time correcting the colours in photos afterwards.

You’ll notice that there will tend to be a set of posts in a similar style where I’ve photographed a few things in the same set up, those post will tend to come in a chunk more or less altogether. The next time I come to photograph it’ll likely be a slightly different set up.

4) What is the top item on your filming wishlist?

New camera lens, a ring light and I’d love a spare room to use as an office, swanky blog post image set and space to film youtube videos, Preferably a giant glass box with nothing around it to create shadows so it will always have great light!

5) What is your favorite day in the week to film write / photograph?

I wouldn’t say I have a favourite. I tend to get prepped as much as possible over the weekend- usually taking photos on a Saturday/writing on Sunday, if I can get everything scheduled/mostly scheduled for the week by the weekend before I’ve done well. More than likely though I finish atleast 2 or 3 posts off on my lunch break, e.g editing post pictures/proofreading.

6) Do you plan your videos posts. If so, how?

Yes and no, I tend to have a list of what’s being trialled and tested – do I have a set order of it will be this, then this, then that? Nope. I try not post things to close together e.g two lipstick posts one after the other, I like to mix it up and keep no set pattern.

7) How long does it take you to film an average video write and photograph a post

Write – about an 30 minutes – two hours depending on the post that it is. Photograph again it depends can be anywhere between two minutes and an hour! Editing photos then takes another 15 minutes – two hours depending on what it is. Some blog posts can be done and dusted under an hour, others will take four.

8) How many hours do you spend editing an average video post?

Half answered above! In terms of proof-reading I tend to half write posts as I go along to make the job a little easier once I have my full thoughts on a product, and I’ll re-read it as I’m writing several times, another once it’s all done with the pictures added. I normally then also re-read it in the morning just after it’s gone live to spot any mistakes!

9) Favorite types of video to film posts to write?

If you saw my change post you’ll know that I want to spread my wings from just the beauty category. Fashion, Food & travel are all things I want to cover in coming months and I’m already planning a load of posts. It’ll take a bit of time for those to start filtering through. But change is coming.

Some posts I’ve loved doing was my Maybelline the Nudes review and I have a first impressions/comparisons post going up tomorrow on the Violet Voss palette which I’ve loved doing as they’ve been a bit more in depth.

10) Do you people at your school or work know about your channel blog?

Yes they do! I used to blog anonymously, but decided I couldn’t be bothered with trying to hide it after one person found out. I’m glad people know now, I have lots of external support (and people are way more likely to recommend me things now too!)

11) What is your process of thinking of a video blog idea?

Get a product, review a product! I’d like to say it’s more sophisticated than that but it’s not. I have a running list in a notebook of skincare/lipsticks/hair care that’s awaiting review, I have a separate section for other ideas such as MAC collections.

12) Do you feel awkward filming in front of other people or in public?

I have tried vlogging a few times and never got enough footage to actually put it out as a video. But in short, no couldn’t give a crap about filming myself in Public. The first shots I ever filmed were in Nottingham City center surrounded by people, literally not bothered. Myself and Ben are potentially going on a city break at the end of September, and if he’s down I’d like to vlog it, I’m thinking of getting a go pro as I’d like one for our honeymoon anyway – haven’t approached the subject with him yet though!

13) Do you and your Youtube blogging friends plan out videos posts together?

I haven’t done many colabs in the past – but I would love to do some more. If you’re interested let me know! Does anyone actually plan stuff together other than that?!

14) What is your subscriber goal by the end of the year?

Honestly I don’t really have one. I hit 1000 WordPress subs a few weeks ago and I’m happy with that. I’d love to hit 1000 twitter followers by the end of the year, keep growing bloglovin which recently hit 500 – BL requires so much effort though, and concentrate on putting more effort into my Facebook page. Please subscribe to any you aren’t already, I’ll also repay the favour if you’d like me too:

FacebookInstagram | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr

Stashy tagged a lot of the people who I would have tagged for the Behind the Scenes Tag, so I’ve kept it short and sweet, but feel free to join in if you would like to! Hopefully I haven’t duplicated you being tagged I’m writing this a good few days before I go on holiday – sorry if so!

LucieLeanneXO, JustJay & Karen at Confetti & Curves


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Helpless Whilst Drying

Email: helplesswhilstdrying@gmail.com

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19 Comments

  1. August 6, 2016 / 10:58 am

    Congratulations on hitting 1,000 subscribers on WordPress! I hope you achieve your other goals as well!

    • August 8, 2016 / 9:43 am

      Thanks Chanelle – I think once you hit the big 1000 it becomes easier to grow WP too – I’ve gained almost another 100 followers in less than a month. Stupid how the world works! xx

      • August 8, 2016 / 9:46 am

        In what way does it become easier to grow WP? x

        • August 8, 2016 / 9:48 am

          I don’t know – my stats and growth just seem to have gone through the roof since hitting 1000, I’ve gone from getting maybe 10 followers a week to about 5 new ones a day and I haven’t changed a thing! I know the more followers you have the more wordpress pushes you as a recommended blog to follow so maybe that comes after a certain threshold and is making a difference.

  2. August 6, 2016 / 4:02 pm

    I agree, Bloglovin’ requires so much effort but I love watching mine slowly grow! Congrats on 1000 on WordPress, that’s a huge achievement! If you’re ever looking to collab, I love collabing with other bloggers!

    • August 8, 2016 / 9:42 am

      Shall do sofia, I’m taking a blogging backseat for a few weeks to rethink my content moving forward but when I’m back I’ll drop you a line!
      Silly thing about any social media including bloglovin is when you hit a threshold it becomes easier to keep it growing. Since I hit 500 on Bloglovin it’s now growing with basically no effort!

      • August 8, 2016 / 3:31 pm

        I agree, it has been much easier to grow since I hit 100. I can’t imagine how nice it is to be at such a milestone like 500! I’m excited to see your new content!

  3. abim0ss
    August 6, 2016 / 11:47 pm

    Loved this!! Xo

  4. August 7, 2016 / 1:11 am

    congrats on 1000 you go girl! Loved this tag!

    • August 8, 2016 / 9:39 am

      Why thank you! It’s a tag that feels a bit different to the normal, helpful to know how other people organise and pick up a few tips along the way!

  5. August 7, 2016 / 2:27 am

    Yay you did this! 🙂
    I have to be more organized with my photos. I don’t have them separated into folders, I just have them chronologically and when I have to find something it’s a nightmare!
    Weekends are so hard for me to get photographs / writing done – especially in the summertime – I’m usually not home during the day. In the winter, I’m more likely to stay home… hibernate. 😛
    How did that person found out about your blog when you were blogging anonymously? 😮

    • August 7, 2016 / 10:16 am

      If accidentally shared something and they realised it was my hands in my photo due to my notorious “blender finger”. We normally have one day at home over the weekends to chill and catch up on house work – and part of my jobs are blog related, which annoys the crap out of Ben!

  6. Anne
    August 8, 2016 / 7:47 pm

    Always fun to read these behind the scenes posts by other bloggers 😀

  7. missandrada
    August 8, 2016 / 10:24 pm

    Congrats!!! A collab sounds amazing ❤️

  8. August 9, 2016 / 4:07 pm

    👐 Your work is AMAZING and the hard work you put in it shines through. New to your blog, have to check out all your posts but this tag was GREAT. Thanks for following my blog 💕

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