WENDY WILD

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An Inexpensive Way To Upgrade Your Insta Feed: Photo Hack

A fun and inexpensive way to add a little spice 🌶 to your photos! I did this with fairy lights which are smaller than standard Christmas lights, but I bet those would work too!

First, I did a quick test to see what the depth of field would look like by scotch taping one end of the string lights to the side of my lens:

Wendy Wild testing string lights for a photo shoot.

You can even do this with your phone camera. For the final project we chose a time that had more daylight, it worked out better with a friend to help by holding one end of the string lights in front of the camera for all the dreamy bokeh you can stand.

@wendywildradio

A fun and inexpensive way to add a little spice 🌶 to your photos! #alittlebitofspice #fairylights #nycphotography #funphotoshoot #photoshootideas

♬ original sound – Kaitlyn

Here’s the final edit:

Final Edit

What do you think of this idea?

For more Wendy, catch up on the latest episode of her podcast, Give Our Take.

How To Upload Sharper, More High-Quality Photos To Instagram

✨📣 TUTORIAL

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about my photography workflow, which I will make a separate video about soon. Since a ton of you have been asking how I am able to upload seemingly high quality photos to Instagram, here are a few of the things I do:

1️⃣ I hardly ever shoot with my phone camera. Not that these aren’t excellent these days, but this is just what I prefer. I mainly shoot on my Sony A7iii, but most importantly always in RAW format. It’s a larger quality format that holds more editing information.

2️⃣ Editing Apps: Listen, I used to be a VSCO girl too, and apps like that or Tezza are a great start. These days, I make all my edits manually using Lightroom Classic and Photoshop so I have more control.

‼ 3️⃣ EXPORT SETTINGS: This one might be the most important yet. You never want to upload a photo that is a small file or poor quality, that goes without saying. You do also want to be mindful if you’re using Photoshop or Lightroom not to fall victim to Instagram’s compression. If your file is too large this will happen, so make sure you crop/export to the 4×5 ratio at 1080 x 1350.

Make sure you have the settings selected I mention in the Reel and you’re golden! 🥇

For more Wendy, check out the latest episode of the Give Our Take podcast.

Snow Day Fun

I watched my boyfriend Dr. Nebraska patiently dig his car out of 17 inches of dense snow this morning. I kept peeking out the window to check his progress (and to make sure he was OK… we live on a busy street.) I think it was only a matter of minutes before the coat came off and he was breaking a sweat.

The kind of snow that hit the Tri-State was a dense, wet snow. Fun for snowpeople and snowball fights… challenging to clean up though.

After the day was done, we decided to go outdoors and have a little fun. My snow pants don’t exactly button up anymore (thanks pandemic), but with the coat over it no one could tell and we had a little snowball throwing… AND we paid respect to this beautiful snow woman I wish I could take credit for!

Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography

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Chris and Tara Get Engaged!

Wendy Wild Photography

A few months ago as I was just starting to get things rolling with my photography, my good friend Tara asked if I’d be available to do her sister’s maternity shoot. The concept was SO cool: Melissa lives and works with horses on a beautiful piece of property (so I had been told.)

As the date of the shoot was approaching, I asked Tara if we could schedule some time to scope out the property to see where we would ideally like to shoot, see how the light hits, etc… and then things got exciting.

Hearing that we would be headed to this beautiful piece of property to meet Tara and her sister, Tara’s partner (and one of our other besties), Chris jumped at the opportunity.

Eric and I almost died with excitement for these two. Then the plan went into action: Chris coordinated with Melissa, so that when they were done horseback riding, he would be there hiding in the backyard area waiting with the ring. OMG.

Now from a photography perspective, surprise proposals aren’t the easiest, for the obvious reason: one party has no idea what’s going on. We got there early and had a practice run with Eric standing in for Tara, praying the plan would go off without a hitch.

We thought this would be a good spot.

What a romantic moment it was! Just beyond beautiful… Tara, who is not easily surprised truly didn’t expect a thing. We were so thrilled to be a part of such a special life moment.

Here’s how the rest of the shots came out:

Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography

Aren’t they a gorgeous couple? Which photo is your favorite?

Photography Highlights

While this year wasn’t easy, I dedicated a lot of time to learn and and evolve as a photographer.

It’s strange to go back even just a few months and see how my editing style has changed. While I tend to favor the creative/dramatic/moody/punchy captures, some of my edits feel over-done when I look back. I’m still proud of these accomplishments and picked out a few highlights to share from this past year.

Wendy Wild Radio, Creative, and Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography
Wendy Wild Photography

If you’re an influencer in the New York City area, I am willing to collaborate and offer you a complimentary 1 hour (socially distanced/outdoor) session in exchange for you promoting/tagging my work on your platform. Please send me a message on my contact page, or DM me on Instagram (@wendywildradio).

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