Being a social media influencer has never been more lucrative than it is right now. Most major brands are already engage with influencers on extensive Instagram campaigns to reach their target market. And the brands that aren’t are almost certainly planning their influencer strategy, right at this moment.
While that’s great news if you’re an influencer, that also means a lot more competition. With over 800 million active Instagram accounts, and an ever-increasing pool of influencers vying for consumer attention, you need an edge that will help you stand out in the crowd.
Today we’re going to look at a few important tips that can help you take the “perfect” picture. If you’re an Instagram influencer, or an amateur looking to improve your photography skills, then you’re definitely in the right place.
1. Balance Your Elements
Framing your subject well is an all too often ignored factor when it comes to Instagram photography. The goal of good framing is to help draw the attention of a viewer to the primary subject of your picture.
While it is possible to take a good picture with multiple subjects, it’s important to make sure your image isn’t too cluttered. Too many focal points will draw viewer attention in too many directions, ultimately diluting the overall impact of your photo.
You can get around this by incorporating distinct “layering” in your images. This will draw viewer’s attention naturally (in most cases) from the foreground to the background.
Source: Pixabay
Also, be mindful of white space or negative space in your composition. Use white space to isolate an element or to add a minimalist aesthetic to your image, but beware of overusing this technique as it can make your work seem visually uninteresting and tedious.
2. Edit Your Photos Outside of Instagram
Instagram offers a handful of filters and photo editing options, but the editing suite provided in the app is still relatively barebones compared to comprehensive tools that many photographers rely on for perfecting photos. That said, editing programs can be costly and take a lot of time to learn.
Alternatively, consider hiring a professional editor. While this sounds expensive and only viable for the biggest and most successful influencers in the market, there are affordable and easy solutions that can work for anybody.
If you’d rather handle things yourself, you can choose photo editing apps like PicsArt and Afterlight. Both offer a range of tools and preset filters to help you edit your photos, so you can maintain a consistent style across all your images.
But if want more, use the photo editing apps like Mendr that connects you with certified freelancers who edit your photos for you, taking your pictures from good to incredible.
3. Respect the Rule of Thirds
If you’ve ever taken a photography class, you’ve probably heard about the rule of thirds. The idea is to arrange your composition so that the subject(s) of your photos are placed along gridlines or at their intersections. Most camera apps come with a grid feature, and you just need to enable it in your app settings.
Generally speaking, your end result will be an image that is significantly more visually pleasing as it better appeals to our instinctual aesthetic sense.
The video below provides a great tutorial about the rule of thirds and how to apply it to your photography, even at the post-production stage.
4. Make Better Use of Light and Colors
The interplay of various light sources and darkness often makes for some of the most dynamic and interesting images. Using natural light effectively is preferred. But when not possible, try to limit the number of light sources in your composition.
The contrast between light and the dark elements of your composition create appealing visual drama within your image.
This applies to the use of shadows and silhouettes as well. For example, by silhouetting the people in a photo, you draw attention away from them as the subjects of an image and toward other aspects of the image, such as what they are doing, or where they are without cluttering the composition with too much detail.
Source: Pxhere
5. Experiment with Various Angles
If you feel you’re stuck in a creative rut, try approaching a subject from an unusual angle. Shoot objects from a perspective that your viewer doesn’t usually experience.
Whether that’s high-angle shots, from the ground, or a top-down view is up to you. The key is to present viewers with subjects they may be familiar with, but which have never been presented in this manner.
6. Strategically Crop Images
Cropping images can help focus on their most notable aspect. This is useful when a composition, in retrospect, has too many elements and you want a simple way to declutter an image.
Effective cropping can also make an image more visually intriguing, allowing you to tell a story in a very selective manner and require a greater amount of engagement from the viewer to understand it.
Cropping can be used to break conventional rules. For instance, partly cropping a subject’s head can be used intentionally to make an image more evocative, or simply draw focus towards other elements of the image.
7. Take Your Time
More than anything, perfection takes time. The Instagrammers with the best pictures aren’t always the ones with the best cameras; more often, they’re the ones who take their time to set up and capture the perfect shot.
Frame what you want to capture, set up your shot the way you want it, and wait as long as you need. Having the patience to wait for the right moment is one of the most important skills you’ll ever develop when it comes to improving your photography.
Final Thoughts
With these tips and a little luck, you’ll be all set to start taking some fantastic shots for your Instagram account. Pair them with the right hashtags to boost your exposure, increase engagement, and grow your following.
And who knows, if you keep at it and play things smart, you may start attracting major attention to your content. You may even become an established influencer yourself and have a chance to turn your love of photography into a viable and lucrative career.
But remember, Instagram isn’t just about great images. Using the right hashtags and the Instagram Stories features are a big part of gaining visibility on Instagram, especially if you’re just starting out with a small following.
What did you think of this list? Do you have any great tips that we didn’t add to the list? Go on and share them in the comments!