In Pursuit of the Perfect Feed: A Beginner’s Guide

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Despite pleas to “#makeinstagramcasualagain”, the once tacky and over filtered app now serves as a platform for beautiful photography and online branding. If you’re just getting started or simply looking to share your favourite moments with friends, you probably only have access to an entry level camera or your iPhone. Don’t worry! Keep reading to get our tips about photography in general and shooting pictures of yourself (by yourself, of course).

#1: EXPOSURE & LIGHTING

We’ve all seen photos that could’ve been amazing if not for dingy yellow lighting or overexposed patches. While mastering the lighting in your photos takes practice, using natural light is a great place to start. Try standing near windows, taking your photos in different types of weather or times of the day, and experiment with different angles and supplemental light before deciding on a final shot. Additionally, if you’re using your phone for your Instagram content, pay attention to the exposure of your picture. Generally, phone cameras tend to overexpose and over-highlight bright areas. To correct this, try locking your camera’s focus on the brightest area and adjusting the exposure with the brightness lever. It’s much easier to edit an underexposed photo brighter than correct a blown out one! Lastly, check if your phone’s HDR setting is on. This function basically uses many exposures of the same photo and puts them together to give you more detail. However, this can lead to unnatural looking photos, so try switching the setting off for a few versions of a shot.

An example of bad lighting causing blow out

Check out the difference in this photo compared to the first one (source: Unsplash)

#2: COMPOSITION

Composition refers to how elements in a photo are arranged. Depending on how elements are arranged, photos can look more or less interesting to the viewer. There are many ways to achieve good composition, but one of the most important techniques in photography is the rule of thirds: placing subjects in the sides or top and bottom of your photo, as opposed to directly in the centre to keep it engaging and interesting. If using a phone, make sure you turn on the grid setting to properly align your photos and subjects. Additionally, choosing leading lines in your photo to match with the grid can help to keep your pictures straight. In terms of background, a less cluttered background is generally better, especially in photos of yourself or other specific subjects. You can also try adding a soft blur to the background of your photo to really emphasise your subject, either while taking the photo or in editing it afterwards.

An example of the rule of thirds (source: Canon)

#3: PICTURES OF YOURSELF

Taking good pictures of yourself is an entire art form of its own, but there are a few things you can do to make it a bit easier.

1: Your Setup

Using a tripod, remote shutter, and a mirror behind your camera is a bare bones way to take a good picture of yourself. With these tools, you’ll be able to get an idea of where you are in the frame, and take photos without running back and forth to set a self timer. Marking a spot on the floor with tape can also be handy.

2: The Pose

Creating natural and “candid” movement will make your photos much more exciting than a regular, static pose. Walk around as you shoot, interact with other objects or your environment, or pretend to talk to capture a more natural looking photo.

Here, movement in the subject’s hair creates a more natural and exciting photo (source: Unsplash)

#4: USING THE RIGHT EDITING APP

If you’re just getting into editing, VSCO is an intuitive app that allows you to edit photos manually or choose from a variety of presets. Using a filter can give your Instagram feed some cohesion, but it’s definitely not necessary to stay militantly consistent; there’s beauty in exploring your visual style. For more in-depth features like removing unwanted subjects in the background or tone adjustments on specific parts of your photo, the app Snapseed successfully balances extended functionality with ease of use. Lastly, Lightroom Mobile by Adobe can also meet more advanced needs such as tone curves, healing brushes, and selective adjustments. Regardless of the platform you choose, remember that a little goes a long way when it comes to photo enhancement, and most of the time your subject or scene speaks for itself!

A look into the VSCO interface

#5: YOUR FEED

While you don’t need to stick to a particular filter on every photo, having some idea of a theme or a colour palette can help bring your page together. Using apps like Planoly allow you to plan your feed in advance and avoid clashing photos. Think about what you’re trying to say with your page as a whole, what colours and styles convey that, and then work on developing content from there.

Bonus tip: Remember to always take a step back from your photos before posting. Our eyes can get adjusted to our edits so spending an hour or two away from the screen is a great way to recalibrate.

Hopefully you found this guide helpful in getting started. If you’ve picked up any handy tips in your photography that you think others should know about, we’d love to hear them in the comments. Good luck on your photo-taking journey!

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