Instagram updates + how I found my aesthetics

#ootd: wearing my SheIn buttoned up dress (find it here)

Beauty basics I can't imagine my make up without anymore

Some of my favourite things - books, lingerie, coffee and flowers

Looking forward to wearing these shoes again in the fall

My freckled friend Clyde ♡

San Nicola Arcella - a Calabrian jewel I can't believe is real ♡

There has always been something aesthetically pleasing about empty corners of cafés

Ukoliko me pratite na Instagramu (ako me ne pratite, ovo je moj nalog) sigurno ste primetili da sam se okrenula drugačijoj estetici i da sam promenila stil u kome sređujem fotografije. Dugo sam želela da se postaram za to da mi slike budu međusobno usklađene a da se ne odreknem boja u svom stilu (jer da se ne lažemo, zaista je glupo nositi samo tri boje ceo život, ne mogu da zamislim sebe takvu) i u nekom trenutku postalo mi je jasno da ću to i postići pomoću aplikacije Adobe Lightroom. Jedini programi koje sam ranije koristila u svrhu minimalne obrade fotografija bili su PhotoScape i GIMP, ali kad sam počela da eksperimentišem s aplikacijom Adobe Lightroom postala sam mnogo zadovoljnija. Ukoliko i vi želite da obrađujete fotografije i delite ih na ovoj društvenoj mreži, bilo profesionalno ili amaterski, ovo su saveti koje sam sledila da bih bila zadovoljna sadržajem koji stvaram i delim:

1. Fotografišite i postavljajte stvari koje volite: bilo da su u pitanju vaše odevne kombinacije, životni stil, mesta koja volite da posećujete, prizori s putovanja, kozmetika koju koristite, dizajn enterijera, hrana, ili čak kombinacija svega navedenog, nemojte previše razmišljati o tome da li će se to drugima dopadati i nemojte postavljati ono što je trenutno popularno samo da biste se probili jer tako gubite autentičnost. Takođe, ako budete postavljali ono što je popularno, a to nije u skladu s onim što volite, nikada nećete biti zadovoljni i to će se pre ili kasnije odraziti i na sadržaj koji stvarate, a nećete postići ni željeni rezultat jer prekomernim uklapanjem u trendove nikad nećete moći da se izdvojite. Postavljajte ono što volite i što vas najbolje predstavlja i ljudi će to prepoznati. Takođe nemojte očekivati uspeh preko noći, već budite redovni i uporni i isplatiće se. ;)

2. Stvorite svoj "preset" ili uložite u neki bolji: tajna mnogih blogera i blogerki koje vidite na Instagramu leži upravo u aplikaciji Adobe Lightroom i nečemu što se zove "preset". "Preset" je neka vrsta skupa efekata spakovanih zajedno koji bi trebalo da, kad ih nanesete na fotografiju, promene na njoj određene parametre poput zasićenja određenih boja (saturacije), kontrasta, ekspozicije itd., i igrajući se tim parametrima lako možete napraviti i sopstveni, ali ne zaboravite da ih isprobate na više fotografija da biste bili sigurni da je to ono što želite. Ukoliko ne mislite da biste uspeli sami i vidite da se estetika nekog blogera poklapa s vašim afinitetima, možete ih nekad i kupiti od njih jer ih mnogi od njih i prodaju. Međutim, za neki veći izbor "preset" paketa preporučujem da bacite pogled na Etsy i Creative Market.

3. Prilagodite "preset" sebi i svojim afinitetima: bez obzira na to kakav "preset" koristite i koliko vam se dopada, retko kad će se desiti da vam je on sam dovoljan da fotografija izgleda tačno onako kako ste zamislili i potrebno je napraviti male izmene da bi izgledao bolje na nekoj fotografiji. Kako će "preset" preobraziti vašu fotografiju zavisi od osvetljenja, kontrasta, ekspozicije, boja itd. i nekad može da vam se učini da je "preset" za koji ste mislili da je idealan za vas potpuno pogrešan. Međutim, to što efekat nije savršen na samom početku ne znači da neće biti uz izmene koje možete sami da napravite - ukoliko su vam neke boje prejake, smanjite saturaciju dotičnih boja, ublažite ili pojačajte kontrast po potrebi i vrlo lako možete dobiti baš ono što ste želeli. Uložite samo malo truda u svoj sadržaj i bićete ponosni na rezultate. ♡

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If you follow me on Instagram (and if you don't, this is my account) you surely noticed that I'm leaning towards a slightly different aesthetics and that I changed my editing style. I've been wanting to have a better feed for so long and to make sure all my photos had something in common without giving up on colors in my personal style (because honestly, I think it's pretty dumb to only wear three colors every day of your life, I can't imagine myself doing that) and at some point I realized that I could make that happen using Adobe Lightroom. The only programs I used to use to minimally edit my photos were PhotoScape and GIMP, but when I started experimenting with Adobe Lightroom I was much more pleased. If you also want to edit your photos and share them on Instagram, whether as a professional or as an amateur, these are some tips that I followed to be happy with the content I create and share:

1. Photograph and post what you genuinely like: whether it's your outfits, lifestyle, places you like to visit, travel landscapes, beauty products you use, food, or even a combo of all of the above, try not to think too much about whether other people will like it and never post things that are currently trending just to break through because you'll lose your authenticity doing so. Also, if you keep posting what's trending and it doesn't match what you like you'll never be happy with it and sooner or later it will reflect on the content you create, and you won't break through because you'll merge with everyone else and you'll go unnoticed. Post what you like and what represents you and people will recognize it. Don't expect immediate success because it doesn't happen over night, be consistent and persistent and it will pay off. ;)

2. Create your own preset or invest in a better one: the secret of many bloggers you see on Instagram lies exactly in Adobe Lightroom and a little something called "presets". Presets are some sort of a pack of effects that, once applied to the photo, change the values of some parameters of the photos such as exposure, saturation, contrast etc., and by playing with some of those values you can create your own, but make sure to test your preset on multiple photos to see if you're satisfied. If you believe you wouldn't be able to make one on your own and there is a blogger whose aesthetics are similar to what you like, you can sometimes buy them because some bloggers sell their presets. However, for a wider range of different presets I recommend Etsy and Creative Market.

3. Adjust the preset to your liking: no matter which preset you use and how much you like it, it's not a common thing to just apply it on the photo and it turns out to be perfect so minor adjustments need to be made to make it look better in a photo. The result of applying the preset to your photos depends on the lighting, contrast, exposure, colors etc. and sometimes it may seem that the preset you liked so much turned out to be a wrong choice. However, just because the effect isn't perfect in the very beginning doesn't mean that it can't end up being just the way you like - if some colors look too vibrant you can desaturate them, enhance or reduce contrast if you need to and you can easily make your photo look perfect. Put in just a little bit of effort into your content and you'll be proud of the results. ♡