How To Take Your Instagram To The Next Level
Over the last few years when I decided I wanted my Instagram to have an aesthetic and took the time to edit my photos with a similar look & feel, I started getting compliments from co-workers and friends alike that I had a beautiful feed, and I’ve often been asked how exactly I get my feed looking so pretty – a lot of which I credit to my education in graphic design & therefore my understanding of consistent branding. For a while, before the Lightroom mobile app really became a thing, I’d use the VSCO app to edit my photos with a specific one or two filters, depending on the lighting, content & what looked best for my feed.
To this day, I get comments and DM’s from strangers and friends, complimenting images that I post, and the overall look of my feed, so today I want to share with you some tips & tricks that I’ve come to learn over the time of trying to create a consistent look and flow in my feed to help you create a consistent look to your Instagram page as well, should you find yourself interested in upping your Insta-game. This will be a lengthier post, so buckle up and let’s get started:
Establish a Colour Palette That Fits Your Look
Before you start taking any photos, the best thing you can do for yourself is establish exactly what colour palette you really want to work with. If you look at my profile, some of the colours that you primarily see are blue, pink, yellow & white (as well as other neturals). Does this mean I can’t post photos with some green, black or orange? Not at all! But, I’d say that I like to think of adding those other colours into my feed as the 80-20 rule; 80% of my content should fall into the main colours I like using, and 20% can fall a little off of that path. Establish rules first, and then you’ll know when to break them.
Invest in Lightroom Presets
Once you’ve decided the look you’d like to go for, I cannot suggest investing in some Lightroom presets that fit that look enough. I personally love to have a lighter-toned, airy feed, so I use presets that match that look. If you like something similar to my feed, some of the presets I highly suggest are: Jilly Presets, Meghan Rienks Presets, Monika Hibbs Presets & Aspyn Ovard Presets. You may be wondering why on earth someone should spend money on presets that are basically filters when you can just use the built in ones on Instagram, but this will help you to create a consistent, unique look on your feed, and once you buy them, they’re yours! (Many presets work across both the free Lightroom Mobile App, as well as the paid desktop version, just be sure to check before you purchase) Investing in presets will also give you a quick one-button editing process with the ability to play around with the settings of the lighting and colours in much more detail.
Take Some Time & Plan Out Your Feed
I think this has to be one of the most important tips on this list, and that is planning out your feed. There are many free apps out there that you can download to help your plan out your feed, but my two favourites are UNUM & Planoly. You can upload your content right into the app, which is synced with your feed so you can see if your newest photo(s) matches up with the rest of your photos that are already uploaded. Be forewarned, most apps have in-app purchases to pay for a subscription, and depending on the app, you may have limited uploads if you opt to continue just with the free version.
Mix Up the Content on Your Feed
I don’t know about anyone else, but my favourite feeds to look through are the ones where the content of the images are changed up from photo-to-photo. It’s totally fine if you all you want to post is selfies, but if you’re interested in switching it up, and posting a variety of images, I’d definitely recommend it. I generally like to stick to a format of a photo of me (which includes photos of my hands, legs, etc, not just my face!), followed by a photo of objects (ex. Flat lays, food, home décor, etc.) and then back to a photo of me. One thing I like to make sure I do is ensure that if I post a photo of food, I try to keep about 5-6 photos between my next photo of food, to keep my feed interesting. If you’re a food-Instagram page though, post as many shots of food as you’d like!
Phone Photography Tips
Now that you’re armed with all of these editing and content planning tips, I want to provide you with some basic tips and tricks to take better photos. I’m lucky enough that my boyfriend, best friend and former co-worker are all photographers (yes, I have a lot of photographers in my life!), and I took some photography courses while in college, so I do have a basic understanding of how to take better shots. I’m well aware that not everyone has access to this knowledge, or even know to look for it, so here are some of the best tips to help you take better, clearer photos:
Clean Your Lens: Before you start taking any photos, do yourself a favour and wipe off your lens. No, you don’t need to have a big, fancy, DSLR camera – just take your shirt and wipe off the camera on the back of your phone before you start. There’s nothing worse than foggy-looking images after you spent tons of time taking photos and setting up.
Lighting: Lighting in your most important tool! The best lighting you can ask for is natural lighting, so taking photos in natural lit spaces is going to be your best friend – and the best lighting is actually overcast (which is why you generally hear wedding photographers say that overcast weather is the best for your wedding photos!), so park yourself near a window that lets in some good light. Another tip that goes hand-in-hand with lighting, is not taking photos in dark spaces, or spaces that are lit with tungsten or florescent lighting. Try it and you’ll instantly see why natural light is much better for the quality of your photos (hint: there’s going to be a lot of grain, and less than desirable colouring that you won’t be able to correct).
Turn on the Grid for your Phone Camera: If you want your photo to have nice composition, go into the settings on your phone & turn on the grid built into your phone camera. This will show you see visually the rule of thirds, and will help you to see if the composition you have set up is working.
(If you have an iPhone, follow these steps: Settings > Camera > Turn on Grid).Take Tons of Photos: Take a ton of photos! You may think you only need one or two, and you got it, but I can promise you sometimes the photo that turns out the best, or you like the most are the ones that you didn’t even think of. Sometimes I’ll set up a shot that I clearly want it as an overhead (birds-eye view) image, but then I’ll switch up the angles, props or positions of certain props and I’ll end up with something I like so much more! So take lots of photos from tons of angles, remove props, add props, re-adjust the props, and snap away. I promise you won’t regret it – it’s always better to have more options than not enough. When you don’t have enough options, or you’re disappointed in what you have, that’s when you’ll regret not taking a little extra time to take more photos.
Don’t Be Afraid of Using Props to Style: Speaking of props, don’t be afraid to use them! Want to take a photo of your smoothie bowl you just made? Don’t just put it on the counter and snap a photo, add a spoon into the bowl, lay some flowers or extra fruit & granola around the bowl, and then try taking some photos. Not only will this create more of a visual story (ex. I just made this smoothie bowl, look at how beautiful it is and I still have some of the left over ingredients sitting around, waiting for me to clean them up), but it’ll also create so much more visual interest! Just give it a try, if you don’t like it, take it out. It’s that simple!
If you’re looking to up your Instagram game, I hope this blog post helped you and presented you with new skills and tips to assist you in getting your look there! Remember this – everyone has a brand. You are your brand! So if you’re thinking “I’d like to do this but I’m not an influencer or business, I don’t have a brand”, yes you do, and who cares?! Do whatever makes you happy, and if a well planned, aesthetically pleasing feed makes you happy – go for it. If you learned something new from reading this, drop a comment below on what you learned, and leave your Instagram handle! I’d love to follow some of you (mine is @emily.lavinskas); see you again next week! Xo.
