How to Make a Photo Tutorial

Ever wonder how those tutorials on Pinterest look so cute and professional? Want to create one of your own? Here are some tips on making your very own photo tutorial that's both appealing and accessible.

Carefully plan out your idea. Vague tutorials don't work. I know this from experience. Make sure you plan out each step and even write down the instructions ahead of time before typing them up.

Photograph as you go. I like to take pictures as I'm making my project/recipe/DIY idea, as opposed to making it, taking a photo of the finished project and typing up the instructions. People like to see the photos of how you did something and what it looks like in progress. It helps to keep your subject uniform too, especially when shooting a knit or crochet project!

Shoot in natural light. I know, you hear this all the time. But really - when that cloudy day rolls around where it's white light without the glare of the sun, take advantage of it! Shoot by a window using a single background (lacking a sheet, I used a white T-shirt for the photos above). Here's an example of natural light versus artificial lighting. (I never use flash)

Edit your photos! Honestly, this helps so much. I always play around with the exposure, adding a tiny bit of highlights and shadows, and upping the contrast just a tad. It clarifies and brightens your photos considerably. Also, don't be afraid to add fun captions and icons to your photos! Don't go overboard, but have fun - nothing makes a photo more interesting like a cool font (or series of fonts!) My favorite free editing program to use is PicMonkey - it's fast, Internet-based, and you can share your finished photos right from the PicMonkey page. Love it!

Plus the monkey is cute.

Stay open to new ideas. I live in a rental apartment with three other roommates. I'm not allowed to paint, hammer too many holes in the wall, or other larger-scale decoration projects. So when I realized I needed some shelves to hold my many skeins of mercerized cotton, I came up with this idea for shoebox shelves! They're temporary, sturdy enough for their purpose, and I like the decoupage look. Stay innovative and look for new ways to solve problems - and then document your process!

And last, share the heck out of your tutorial. Pin it on Pinterest, share it on Facebook, tweet it, Google+ it, etc.! Get the word out! Tip for sharing on Pinterest: make sure your caption is relevant. Certain words are keywords (i.e., DIY, tutorial, photo, step-by-step), and writing out the entire how-to title helps you be found in search too.

Hope these tips were helpful! Go have fun creating a tutorial! If you have any favorite tutorials or have made any recently, I'd love to see! Share a link and show me!