When it comes to computers, I’m about as much of a technological novice as is possible. I’m not a PhotoShop wizard, I have no idea what a “clipping mask” is, and when people start talking about RGB colorspace my eyes glaze over. When I started blogging, I knew I wanted to be able to “do that thing where two pictures are side-by-side.” A diptych, if you want to get fancy. So I tooled around in PhotoShop until I’d learned to put two images onto the same canvas with a small white border around it, and for me, this was a huge accomplishment. The only problem was that it literally took me THREE HOURS to format one engagement session for the blog. Something definitely needed to change.

Then someone clued me into BlogStomp and I almost cried with relief. The $49 price tag was a no-brainer- it was going to give me back my LIFE! Now, instead of agonizing over files for hours in PhotoShop, it takes me no more than 10-15 minutes to take a folder of wedding favorites and pair + resize them for a blog post. I can do images as singles, diptychs, triptychs, up to 40 images into one collage file. Because I set the image width, the photos are perfectly sized for my blog, meaning they load faster and I don’t have to worry about pixelation or weird distortion due to incorrect sizing.

BlogStomp and resizing for the web- Abby Grace Photography

One thing it DID take me a while to pick up on is the Sharpening feature. I was sharpening my images a tad in LightRoom, so I didn’t see a need to do so again in BlogStomp. It wasn’t until I looked at David & Heather’s blog post and high-res images in a PASS gallery side by side that I realized how hazy the blog post photos were (seriously, click both of those links and look at them next to each other- the PASS gallery is so much more crisp!). Sharpening means the images take 1-2 seconds longer to export from BlogStomp, but it’s completely worth the wait. It’s a small adjustment, but it allowed the images in my blog posts to really POP, and because your eyes are no longer straining to force the images into focus, you’re able to enjoy the photographs as you were meant to experience them.

When I was still adding my logo to my images, BlogStomp made it super easy to do so- it was part of my settings, so any time I’d Stomp an image, it would add a little white tab at the bottom with my logo on it. I don’t watermark my photos anymore though because I personally found it a bit distracting as I scrolled through my own blog posts. Many people watermark/include their logo on images within a blog or on Facebook because of the risk of someone stealing their photos, but in my opinion, if someone’s going to go to the lengths of screen-shoting my photos, they’re probably going to crop out the little white tab with my logo on it. So call me crazy, but I’d rather the images look as pretty and distraction-free as possible for everyone else to enjoy, and if my images get stolen? I’ll deal with that person individually.

Something I discovered whilst writing this blog post: despite the fact that I’ve been using “sharpen,” my horizontal images have still been frustratingly hazy. I just made a simple dimension adjustment in BlogStomp from 900 pixels across to 800, and holy cow- what a difference! Look specifically at Thad & Rachel’s cute faces or the detail on her dress to see what I mean. Yep, that’ll be a permanent change.

Thank you, BlogStomp, for giving me back hours of my time, and for making the process of prepping images for a blog FUN instead of daunting! Happy Friday!

BlogStomp, and that time I realized I didn’t need to spend 3 hours in PhotoShop

August 9, 2013

  1. Tiffany says:

    I LOVE BlogStomp. I started my photography business a year ago, but have been blogging since high school and I can’t believe how much more efficient it makes me. I like to use it for random collages for my blog and Facebook.

  2. Blythe K says:

    LOVE blogstomp!!! I’m going to have to play with it a little again! those last two images are a HUGE difference!! 🙂 thanks for sharing!!! xo

  3. SO good! In our rebranding phase, we’ve been talking about switching up how we post images on the blog. We even had time set aside for Ty to walk me through the photoshop deal. HANK NO! So thankful you posted this! I’ll now have 3 hours of my life back 😀

  4. Abby, great post! Thanks so much for sharing about the sharpening feature, I never knew about that before and am excited to try it out!

  5. Samantha says:

    Thank you so much for this great post! I’ve been debating getting Blogstomp because I was like, nah I don’t take that long in Photoshop…four hours later…You’ve convinced me!

  6. Morgan Leigh says:

    OH MY GOSH…Thank you so much for this post!!! I love how quickly Blogstomp processes my photos, but I have had such a hard time figuring out a formula to make them sharp on the web! I am going to try 800 pixels across for my horizontal photos as well, because my always look hazy compared to the vertical ones! Thank you SO much!!

  7. Oh my gosh… I can’t tell you how long I’ve been searching for something to help me with prepping images for the blog. This is amazing! Thanks so much for sharing!

  8. Rachel Wells says:

    Okay….definitely looking into BlogStomp! I have been a TERRIBLE blogger. I always dread resizing every single photo and “doing that thing where two pictures are side-by-side” (I’ve googled that many times! haha), so I’ve been putting blogs off completely! Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂

  9. Jean says:

    Glad you found such a wonderful tool. Your photos are always gorgeous.

  10. Matoli says:

    I just discovered BlogStomp a month ago! I love it. I was also really frustrated with creating blog post, so i purchased “Storyboard” which is a PS script. Although it helped, it was not very user friendly, by BlogStomp on the other hand is amazing! Thanks for discussing the sharpening feature, i have yet to use it because i figured Lightroom sharpening was enough…but there is such a difference!

  11. YES! That was me! I should have bought BlogStomp ages ago. It saves SO MUCH TIME!

  12. Rebekah Hoyt says:

    THANK YOU for showing me the sharpening – that helped me SO much!!

  13. JennyRain says:

    I JUST downloaded BlogStomp on Saturday too — still trying to figure out how to use it and I think I try and mash too many photos together… but I like it already!

  14. Evian says:

    Hey girl! Awesome post, thank you for the information. I have had my eye on blog stomp for a while and I think I will take the plunge and purchase it. If I may ask, what do you do to keep your facebook images sharp??

  15. Simon Dewey says:

    Thank you for sharing this. I do like blogstomp, but haven’t got round to exploring it outside facebook yet.

  16. Sam says:

    Abby — Just discovered your blog – thank you thank you THANK YOU for this tip!!! Just purchased this morning and am already so obsessed with blogstomp!

  17. Carrie says:

    Hello there! So glad I found this. I stumbled across it while looking for help with the sharpening output. Any advice there? I’ve tried no sharpening onto 80! Nothing looks quite right. Thanks for anything you can share!

  18. […] 2. BlogStomp- this is a great little app to help format images for your blog! I loooove this one! Similar to LR, prior to having BlogStomp, I was formatting all of my images-to-be-blogged within PhotoShop. It took me something like 2 hours the first time I did it. Then I discovered BlogStomp, and it took me a mere 10 minutes to format an entire wedding for the blog. Seriously- if you’re not already using this app, pony up the $49 and get it. It’s going to save you hours! (Read more HERE) […]

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