eBooks for Bookstagram Tutorial

BOOKSTAGRAM TRICKS: HOW TO TAKE PHOTOS OF EBOOKS

by Lyn (Nomadic Worlds Book Blog)

In this world of rapid technology, an eBook Reader is handy for all the books you want to read or carry around with you, without dragging a weighty suitcase behind you everywhere you go. But taking Bookstagram photos of eBooks can be tricky. If you are a book dragon like me who’s also an avid Bookstagrammer, this a major source of frustration for you. Here’s how you can take pretty awesome photos of eBooks.

1. Photo arrangement First of all, set up your photoshoot with the props and the tablet/eBook Reader/ phone you want to use for your eBook. I love using origami—they add such bright colors to your photos. You can either already have the book cover on your tablet/eBook Reader/phone or leave the screen blank. Save your photo on your computer.

As you can see in the photo below, I used my tablet and left the screen blank.

2. Book Cover If you don’t have the book cover for the eBook you want, you can google it. You can find a copy on Goodreads, which is a great site for all the books you want to find. Save a copy of the book cover on your computer.

3.Pixlr Editor Next up, we will use an online photo editor (https://pixlr.com/ editor/) to add the book cover to your photo. Don’t worry, it’s a free site. You just need the know-how and you will need to make sure flash player is on/allowed on your computer to run Pixlr Editor.

3.1 Click “Open Image from Computer”

3.3 You will see the image appear as such:

3.4 Go to Layer and choose “Open Image as Layer”.

3.6 Adding the book cover Here, you will distort the layer to fit the blank screen of the tablet. It might look overwhelming, but trust me, you got this. Go to Edit and select “Free Distort”.

3.8 – Voilà! After you drag and fit, here’s how it will look like:

3.9 Apply the changes and save the photo to your computer. Then you can send the photo to your mobile and from there, upload it to Instagram.

As you can see, the finished photo has the cover perfectly fitted and it looks as if you took the photo of your tablet itself with the book cover already on it.

Lighting One of the best tips anyone can give you about Bookstagramming is “Lighting”. Play with the light– white, yellow, sunlight. You never know what kind of shots you might turn up with. I once took a photo of an eBook without using an editor on play of light alone for the book A Curse So Dark & Lonely:

It took some experimentation but the reflection of real thorns to the ones on the cover was an added bonus that made the photo better.

I hope you find this article helpful and remember to have fun with your Bookstagram!

Connect with Lyn: Instagram: @lyn_nomadicworlds Twitter: @ Nomadic_Worlds Website: https://nomadicworlds.wordpress.com