Photography isn’t something we are all natural at; thankfully you have a whole host of editing software, filters and cropping at your finger tips.
- Don’t use the Instagram app to take the photo. Immediately you will lose zoom, focus and personally I lose macro, night & a whole host of other VERY useful modes.
- Use as much natural light as you can. This not only makes your photo brighter, lighter and more colourful it gives you more power with editing later on as you will have more depth.
- Textures are visually astounding when editted in the right way – take your time and find the right settings.
- Instagram is designed for the insta-share but you don’t have to. If you have the time, take 3 or 4 shots, find the best one, edit and THEN post.
- Experiment – Unlike a normal snap with a camera you need to test out different angles to find the best.
- Instagram can be a huge tool in your social presence, start looking at the world in tiny squares. Can you tell a story in that shot?
- While borders are FABULOUS, the wrong border could ruin your shot. Before you post your pic think about what you are trying to show. Will that grunge boarder ruin your wonderful lines? If so – drop it.
- Instagram is a glorious way to share ‘moments’. Yes it is lovely to see beautifully staged teapots on fake grass with a perfectly crumb free plate with a very round cake, but don’t be afraid to share snaps of real life. If you find something interesting there will be someone else out there who will too. In other words – don’t be too samey.
- People are viewing your picture on the same devices you’ve used to take it. Brighten it up to account for screen discrepencies!
- Watch the crop. Cropping is one of the most powerful tools and the most simple. A sweet crop can cut out blur, mess and other people. A bad crop can cut lines and ruin the flow of a photo.
- Straighten – It takes a minute and has a helpful grid. Whenever you have a horizontal line in the shot straighten that bad boy up, it really does make a difference.
- #NoFilter. You don’t need to slap a bunch of filter effects on. Sometimes the best thing to do is play with the contrast, saturation and temperature. Try it!
- Less is more. Unless more is more. If you are trying to show off your beautiful new teapot then try not to clutter your shot with 20 tea cups, teas towels, your brand of tea bags and lots of fuss in the background. Give your teapot some time. One cup, one pot, one tea bag and a clean background.
- Play with shadows
- If in doubt, black and white usually looks fabulous and takes little effort to inject some quick textures, depth and detail into a shot.
- Apps to take a look at: Whitagram, Snapseed, Photogrid, No Crop, VSCO Cam & Afterlight – so much fun you’ll be lost in editing heaven.
Want to know how to maximise your Mobile Photography & Social presence on Instgram? Check out my post : Mobileography – Why your mobile is your best camera.
