photographyreflections
How to Take Nice Instagram Shots with an iPhone + Easy Editing Tips
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Instagram has become a powerful platform used for multiple purposes, let it be commercial (brands), artistic or personal. To me, I see it mainly as an artistic platform where I can share curated photos of various things of my everyday life from food to fashion and from landscape shots to cafes. However, anyone who uses Instagram long enough knows that many of these photos are not completely accurate depictions of real-life. In fact, if you know a thing or two about editing, you're probably already familiar with or have heard of VSCOCam, Facetune, Lightroom etc. Third-party applications are becoming more and more common and gives more freedom to what your feed can look like. However, taking an already good unedited shot and making adjustments to it afterwards undoubtedly go hand in hand. Here are 5 tips and tricks to take great shots and to edit them while potentially gaining more likes/followers.
1. Good lighting is key.
I would say 90% of the time, natural lighting beats artificial light. Taking photos when there is daylight usually results in more freedom in choosing what shots to take. However, cloudy days can also be great for photos but keep in mind that the darker you take your photos, the grainier and less constrasted they will look if you try to raise the exposure or brightness afterwards. It probably sounds obvious to some, but it's easier to preserve the quality of the photo by darkening an already bright photo (if that's the effect you're going for) than to try to brighten a dark photo (unless you have a god camera then plz go away this is for #iPhoneOnly lolol) . Therefore, find the lighting that suits your photo best and minimize editing if your photos are already dark to keep them crisp and clean looking.
2. To make your feed more coherent, vary your editing techniques and edit every photo accordingly.
People often ask me what application I use for all my photos and what filter I apply to make my feed look coherent. Truth is, there's no universal editing pattern that applies to every photo I take. Each picture is different in so many ways (lighting, colors etc.) that in order to make them all "match", you will most likely have to vary your editing techniques. The main apps I use for Instagram are VSCOCam, Lightroom, Facetune, Afterlight and especially Snapseed. VSCOCam is great to keep track of your feed as it has it built in with a good variety of some of my favorite filters such as A6, SE3 and S2 (but remember, don't over edit with filters ! ). Snapseed is my second most used as it preserves the quality of the photo despite editing it on mobile and allows you to edit specific parts of a whole photo (ex. increasing the brightness in one spot). Be creative when trying the different apps as you can really play with what it has to offer. For example, I never use Facetune to edit portraits (which is primarily what it was designed for). However, I have found the teeth whitening tool to be incredibly useful to whiten various surfaces from bedsheets and tables to concrete floors and walls to make them look more clean/uniform. Find your own editing style and stick to it.
3. Use the grid on your camera if you have an iPhone.
This is pretty self-explanatory. Even if you think you don't need it, the camera grid really helps with proportions or simply to take straighter pictures from the start. It might take a while to get used to if you've always taken photos without it, but it's a useful feature to integrate. Additionally, you can also use AE/AF lock to focus and keep the same exposure on the main subject on your photo while changing angles by simply keeping your finger pressed on the area of focus while taking the photo.
4. Quality over quantity and engagement over numbers.
Take your time when trying to photograph something (take multiple shots of one thing! ) and be patient when editing it. One posted photo usually has many blurry or not so good ones behind it. It's better to post something that you're completely satisfied with than to post a bunch that you'll later want to delete because either you start seeing every single flawed detail about it or it simply doesn't match your feed and you're scared of losing followers. But on that topic, beyond the number of followers that is displayed on your profile, you should be reaching out for engagement from them. This way, it is also unlikely they will ever unfollow you. Comment back on their photos, use hashtags to find other people to follow with feeds that interests you or similar to yours or even DM them if they're in your town (considering you've had already had some sort of interaction). It's pointless to have 5k, 10k or even 50k followers if only a few of them even bother to interact you. I'm aware that it's currently a thing for some to buy followers but that just makes it even more obvious (by looking at the likes/comments) that they aren't real. And what does that bring to you? Absolutely nothing. Personally, one of the most things I'm most grateful about since I started Instagram is all the people I've been able to meet through the app. All kinds of people, with different backgrounds, from different cities.
5. Be authentic.
This is probably the most important tip I can give. You don't want to just have a figure behind a computer screen. If there is a meeting between Instagrammers, you don't want to come off as a completely different person than what you choose to share online. Behind your image on the Internet, no matter how many followers you have, you're a real person just like everyone else. Social media can help you build valuable real life connections but in the end, what will stand out is what kind of person you are both in real life and behind a screen. Show your personality through your photos and add your personal touch. If you're looking to collaborate with a brand, find those that genuinely interest you. For example, I love trying new skin care products and I'm mostly focused on food/ fashion-based collaborations.
Let me know if this helped x Happy weekend !
5 comments
Great post! The tips are very helpful.
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