Want to create an irresistible Instagram feed? With some simple smarts and perhaps a few accessories, you easily elevate your photography to attract a serious following! Here are my essential tips to help you create a feed worth following on Instagram:
Lighting is key
I think most people understand the basic process that powers photography—a moment of light is recorded onto a piece of film, or in most cases today, a digital image sensor—but sometimes it can be easy forget the crucial step of ensuring good lighting before snapping a photo. Our cameras don’t perform like our eyes, and the cameras on our smartphones tend to perform even worse than a regular camera in low-light conditions (although technology is continuing to improve). No amount of editing, exposure tweaking, or Instagram filtering can salvage a poorly lit photo, so make sure your camera sees the light before you say cheese.
Natural lighting will almost always perform better than its alternatives. When you are shooting outdoors, try to save the photo sessions for early morning or late afternoon so the natural light is softer and more diffused than during the harsh, midday sun. Overcast days can produce a similar quality of light.
Pro tip: Photographers call the hour right after sunrise and the hour right before sunset the “golden hour” because it produces it is the exact time of day that produces the most optimal natural light for photography.
Also considering adding some gear if you are looking to elevate the quality of your photos even more. Switch out your current iPhone case for a LuMee, which features a built-in light with a powerful stand-alone battery. I have absolutely fallen in love with this thing. It is a game-changer for selfie-takers and comes really handy when shooting live video. It even has a dimmer switch so I can adjust the amount of light on the fly. Another sweet lighting accessory is the Diva Ring Light, which is super versatile and will really make your eyes pop. And if you’re really looking to step up your indoor photography game, look into a soft box lighting kit to produce studio results.
Change your perspective
Make things interesting with angles.
Angles. Use them. Don’t be afraid to move around. If you need to squat down or stand stand on a chair to switch things up, do it. Move in front of objects to get a better view of your subject, or move behind objects to blur the foreground and intentionally obstruct a portion of your shot. Always look to increase depth. Instagram even has a Tilt–shift feature that allows you to change the focus of your shots to produce an effect similar to what you can do with a manual-focus lens. Put simply, creative angles will make your photos turn out more interesting and engaging to look at.
Quality over quantity
Always aim for a consistent level of quality in your photos. Of course you have to keep the content stream flowing, but don’t sacrifice the quality of your feed just for the sake of making a post. If you get caught up focusing on vanity metrics such as likes, you will be more likely to post something that is less than stellar or perhaps just not a good fit for your feed. Instead, focus on steadily growing an engaged following. The decision to follow someone on Instagram is almost always made when viewing the gallery as a whole, so even a couple dud photos can throw off your content strategy and turn off a potential new follower.
Some final quick tips
- Take your photos outside of the actual Instagram app. If you want the most control of your phone’s camera capabilities, stick with your native camera app on Iphone or Android.
- Hold your phone horizontally. Vertical shots have their place, but shooting landscape will give you a better chance of cropping a fantastic shot.
- Focus on the small things. Sometimes a simple object can tell a big story.
- Don’t always use your front-facing camera for selfies. Selfie-sticks (monopods) and tripods allow you to use your phone’s primary camera, which has way better specs.
- If you’re using a tripod, your iPhone earbuds can be used as a remote! Plug them in and press up on the volume button to snap a photo.
- Check out third party editing apps. Your best editing will probably be done outside of Instagram with more robust control inside apps like Snapseed or VCSO cam.
- And finally, take lots of photos. Lots and lots of them.
If you haven’t yet, follow me on Instagram here ? @cassiah
Have your own Instagram pro-tips to share? Let us know in the comments below!
Leave a Reply
Leave a comment