Before Facebook bought the most popular photo-sharing social media app Instagram, it only had 22 million active users. Today, there are more than 300 million people posting over 70 million photos and videos every day.
Even with the sudden boom of users, Instagram has managed to stay with its old ways, maintaining a creative community, continuously challenging and shaping the social media with mobile photography
Instagram has their unique way by sharing photos in square format, they also taught us the power of tilt-shift and adding filters to images to make it more presentable. Instagram basically works for everyone from the President of the USA to an aspiring photographer taking creative shots in mount Everest.
So whether you have been shooting portraits of people to shooting materials in flat layout, we have come up with these awesome pointers to improve your Instagram feed.
Shooting
A photo posted by Ritz Aguspina (@marcritzz) on May 7, 2015 at 12:41am PDT
When it comes to taking photos itself, there is this unwritten law that we have to take our Instagram photos using our phone’s native camera. Rarely we will see someone who uses the app’s camera to take photos because we want to have that flexibility in cropping and zooming. Paying attention to the composition of your photos is the main thing that will make a difference. There are a lot of good-looking compositions for photos on Instagram; You could go for the black and white theme, an OOTD style, or even a minimalist look with a lot of white space. Whatever your taste, there are some basic guidelines for square format images that will make your shots look more streamlined.
Play with the size of your subject
A photo posted by Ritz Aguspina (@marcritzz) on Jun 26, 2015 at 3:32am PDT
Instagram will always be a mobile app, and mobile apps are always viewed in small and compact phones. Playing with the size of your subjects can either take away or add more focus, so best if you took multiple photos in multiple sizes to get the perfect one.
Center your subject
A photo posted by Ritz Aguspina (@marcritzz) on Jun 4, 2015 at 5:48pm PDT
While it’s somewhat of a dull and old school technique to do this in modern photography, centering your subject in the picture works perfectly for Instagram’s square composition. Also keep in mind that if your subject is the strongest part of the image and everything is similar to a blank space it will be best if you center it.
Practice symetry
A photo posted by Ritz Aguspina (@marcritzz) on Oct 10, 2014 at 10:13pm PDT
Symetry won’t always be applicable to all images. But with Instagram’s square format it will always look good.
Play with lighting
A photo posted by Ritz Aguspina (@marcritzz) on Jun 8, 2015 at 6:08am PDT
Getting the right light isn’t always the right way to do it. Sometimes playing with lighting will give your images more depth and quality.
Always mix it up
One of the biggest mistake of being on Instagram is when you are using the same type and look of image. Your feed will most likely look dull and boring because of the same photos. Although some popular Instagrammers have their own personal theme, they are still looking ways to make their feed more creative.
Edit and add filters
Editing your images is very important. Instagram has a large number of tools, like its new fade and color options, but face it, if you’re an avid Instagram fan, you are always editing pictures using third-party apps. Here are some of the apps used by many:
VSCOcam – my personal favorite, it has a full feature editor used by some of the best photographers, you can get the gist of it by searching #VSCOcam.
It’s a good app for tweaking things such as composition, sharpness, temperature, exposure, contrast and white balance. It also has a large selection of presets as well, both paid and free.
Camera+ – this app is for experts in photography. It has an impressive in-app camera with 6x digital zoom for close-ups, an image stabilizer that will automatically take shots if your hand is not moving. It also has a feature called “The Lab” where all the tools you need are located like Duotone and Clarity Pro.
Share your photos!
Sharing photos is the main reason why Instagram is made. You can always have your private account to share just within your circle of friends, but if you want to build a good number of following and be involved in the existing community of the app, I suggest to have your profile in public.
Using Hashtags are the best way to get your pictures noticed (unless you are already famous and has a large following). Using them properly and sparingly is the key. Always keep in mind that you should keep your hashtags specific, relevant and creatively to the image. Avoid using so many hashtags, people find it annoying.
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