Unless your last name is Kardashian, or you mastered the art of the flat lay early on, getting all the #instalove ain’t easy. From blurry selfies and cat photos to a ‘gram that shit or it didn’t happen’ approach, Instagram has morphed into a seriously popular social media platform.
While you might not be phased about wracking up a massive following, there are a few things that can be done to up your Insta game. Whether you want to capture your summer in the prettiest way possible, or instil some serious food envy, we’ve wracked our Insta brains and come up with 30 ways to create the feed of your dreams.
- Don’t edit your photo to oblivion. Filters are your friend but are there to enhance, not destroy images.
- Choose your theme or colour palette and stick with it. Is it surfy vibes? Minimalist black and white? Or pops of colour? Whatever it is, make sure your images work in harmony.
- Bank your best photos to use for later.
- Don’t take yourself too seriously. Let your personality shine through and for the love of God, don’t get hung up on likes.
- Consider your lighting sitch. Natural light usually works best.
- Shoot for yourself, not for others.
- Remember less is more.
- Use the odd pun in your captions. Everyone loves puns.
- Calm your farm on the hashtags. If anything, #follow4follow will ruin your Insta cred.
- Use your eyes before your lens.
- If you want your Instagram to grow, be social. Sitting back and waiting for people to fall for the mysterious being behind the lens will get you nowhere. Be nice with the likes.
- Tag businesses. Who knows? You could get a cheeky re-gram from your fave café.
- Use an editing app to play around with your photos. VSCO is pretty damn good.
- Make sure your bio reflects you and what you’re about.
- When taking food shots, think #foodporn. Whether you’re shooting a cheese-oozing burger or super salad, make it look ridiculously delicious.
- Flat lays sometimes work best when most of the white space is filled. Flat lay Queen, Margaret Zhang makes sure there aren’t any awkward blank corners in her shots.
- Symmetry is a thing. Use it.
- Keep an eye out for moments rather than creating them.
- Use the new full portrait and landscape mode. No more weirdly cropped images!
- Practice, practice, practice. Epic Insta shots don’t happen without a bit of the old trial and error.
- Quality over quantity, always. Plus, no one wants to see your wheatgrass smoothie Every. Single. Day (unless you’re @symmetrybreakfast).
- Steady yo’ self and use the auto-focus lock by holding your finger down on the image until ‘AE/AF LOCK’ pops up. No more blurry pics for you.
- And take more than one shot. Try different angles, props and lighting.
- Tap into your creative side and aim to produce an image that will make people stop scrolling.
- If you need to stand on your chair in a busy restaurant to get the perfect overhead snap, so be it.
- When shooting outfits, opting for a simple back drop will let your fash do the talking.
- Some photos aren’t meant for Instagram. If you’re still desperate to share your new bikini or #gymgains with your nearest and dearest, use Snapchat.
- Life is short. Don’t waste it trying to take the perfect selfie
- Try and play it cool. Don’t come across like you want thousands of followers (even though you totally do). But don’t be a snob… it’s a delicate balance.
- At the end of the day, it’s just social media, don’t let it take over your life.
Image credit: Just Like Sushi