SECRETS TO CREATING AMAZING INSTAGRAM PHOTOS

Not following me on Instgram yet? What the heck are you waiting for! You’re one click away from the cutest squirrels you’ll ever see.

One thing you should all know is that there are dirty little secrets when it comes to creating cute-eye catching Instagram pictures. As much as us bloggers want to convince you all that are lives are just magically cute-as-can-be, the truth is every single photo is given a lot of thought and attention.  This is good news for you all, there are ways to enhance your photos and create a feed that shows off more than the predictable brunch + Yorkie pictures.  Okay, let’s get real the Yorkies aren’t going anywhere but listen to how I get people coming back for more.  Whether you are a starting out blogger or someone who just wants to create beautiful photos here are some tips to making sure you get it just right.

1. Perfect Lighting.  Make sure you have good lighting when shooting photos.  Natural light will create the clearest most eye catching photos.  If the lighting sucks but you love the photo just throw in into black and white. This is one of my favourite tricks.

2. Take the photo in “square”.  This is one of my biggest secrets.  The worst is when you capture the most gorgeous photo only to realize it won’t fit on your Instagram.  Prevent this from happening and start off by using square in your camera setting (instead of Instagram itself).  

3. Choose the right filters or editing tool.  I personally like to stay away from filters and just use the editing tool on Instagram but if your feed is carrying out a certain colour theme then be consistent with what filter you choose.  Some others to consider are VSCO Cam, A Beautiful Mess and Snapseed. 

4. Stage your photo.  This is something I have to constantly remember to do because I don’t  necessarily like making things look too “perfect”.  But it helps to make sure your background is clean and tidy if you’re doing a mirror shot or when having brunch the table is set up nicely ant not an overwhelming disaster. 

5. Straighten it up.  Make sure your photos are straight and you can achieve this by using the Instagram editing tools.  Click on the little wrench (I think it’s a wrench at least, ha!) and then hit adjust.  There will be lines to guide your judgement.

6. Be True To Yourself.  There is nothing worse than creating this fake persona of who you are and when people meet you in person and start getting to know you they realize they liked you better on the internet.  If you are a sassy biatch, then be that! People are going to love you for you not for trying to be someone you aren’t. 

7. Never Show To Much White of The Eye.  This can change the whole feel whether it be a selfie or someone taking a picture of you.  Try looking at the camera or just off to the side to prevent too much of the whites of your eyes from showing.  Don’t believe me?  Give it a try.  I can go from me to a Michael Jackson look alike in the split of a second.  

8. Photograph Your Good Side.  Okay, I seriously can’t decide if any of my sides are good sides and I’m still working on this but I’ve seen it do wonders for others.  Naturally we look better when being photographed from one side or another.  Whether this has to do with comfortability or symmetry it doesn’t really matter just find what works for you and work it.

9. Post For Yourself and No One Else.  I find if I ever try to post pictures I feel my followers will like, it never ever works out that way and they seem to be less engaged in the ones I assume they will like.  If you like a photo post it.  This will ultimately generate a more organic feed and create a sense of connection with your readers.  

10.  Be Your Self.  I will say this 100 times over.  Nothing is more tacky or classless than seeing a photo I took repeated exactly the same, with the same background and the same outfit and not to mention the same pose.  Be original  This ALWAYS gets back to the original creator and unfortunately will only taint your brand creating a bad name for you and your business.  The same rule also goes for captions.  Be original in what you’re saying because if you’re not only knocking off someones images once you include words and style a lot of laws are being broken.  This is completely obvious, tasteless and not to mention against the law. Nobody wants to deal with a blogging lawsuit–that could be a bitchy situation.