On Instagram, there’s so much content. Want to attract users to your page? In this blog post we'll outline solid tips and mobile apps that will help you take and edit Instagram photos
If your photos are getting lost in the midst of the gram BUT you want your posts to stay seen there's a number of adjustments you can make to improve your engagement. The first place to start to achieve your goal will be to produce solid photos.
A solid photo is a picture that has good lighting, a good set, and complimentary colors/hues. To achieve this, you’ll need to find the right balance between filters and effects. While this might not sound so easy, with our tips, you’ll be taking and sharing memorable pictures with your followers in no time. Check out our advice below!
Tips for the Perfect Instagram Photo
Now, you don’t really need photography lessons to start taking and editing perfect Instagram pictures. There are quite a number of Instagram users that share really fabulous pictures without professional help. By incorporating the right ideas into your photos, you’ll be able to gain massive attention on the platform.
Here are our best tips and tricks to take your picture game to a whole new level:
- Use Proper Lighting
A poorly lit environment will always affect the overall quality of a photo. Instagram is a pretty demanding social media platform, so if you really want tp feel good about your posts, you’ve got to use proper lighting. Whenever you can, use natural light over artificial light. If outdoors, the best time to capture the sun’s glow within your pictures are early mornings or late afternoons. This way, the beautiful lighting enhances your photos. Chances are, you might not even need a filter!
- Show Emotion
As often as possible, try to convey some form of emotion through your photos. The show of emotion is really what defines a photo, making it timeless. For amateur photographers, it may take some time to figure out how best to take emotional shots. But if you keep working the angles, your expressions, and the pose, your photos will turn out perfect in no time.
- Capture the Scene before the Picture
In other words, use your eyes before the lens. Many professional photographers can attest to the power of the human imagination. Our eyes capture details that even the best cameras may miss. So before taking a shot, look around you. Take in the environment. Enjoy the scenery. Try to work out the view in front of you. This will give you better ideas for composition of the perfect Instagram picture.
- Be Gentle on Edits
Too many Instagram users are fond of slapping one filter over another, hoping their pictures turn out great. Most times, such a process leaves a lot to be desired of these photos. Over-editing can worsen the quality of your picture, so be gentle with the edits.
Focus more on basic editing features such as contrast, warmth, shadows, and brightness. Tweak these filters slightly until your photo feels just right.
- Use Effects and Filters Creatively
Effects and filters have a way of enhancing the quality of our photos. However, it’s important to use these features in a reasonable fashion. For amateur photographers who know nothing about editing, pre-set filters and effects can be very helpful. Experiment with different effects and filters to get the best results. And, don't forget, sometimes less is more!
- Make the most of Editing Apps
Classic Instagram edits can be a bore, especially when third-party editing apps offer a lot more options. Even if you’re not a pro photographer, you can use editing apps to add great effect to your pictures. You can enhance the texture of images; improve color and lighting; remove photobombers, edit out blemishes, or replace the background of your photo. Really, with these editing tools, your options are endless.
What’s more, you can use editing apps on your iPhone, iPad or Android device. Here are our top 5 photo editing app picks:
1. Adobe Photoshop Fix
If there is any editing app that doesn’t need an introduction, it’s the Adobe Photoshop app. The best part about Adobe Photoshop Fix is that it is available to iPhone, iPad and Android users as a free download. This is a powerful tool that enables easy, yet powerful image retouching and restoration features. It even has a facial edit feature which allows you slim down your cheeks, widen your smile and remove blemishes.
2. Lightroom
Want to replicate your favorite influencer’s Instagram posts; Adobe Lightroom is an editing app that can make your photos look pro. The app runs on major platforms including iOS and Androids. If you need to edit on the go, Lightroom comes with ‘Presets’ that are absolutely delightful to use. You can make basic edits to brightness, shadows, etc. Lightroom also enables adjustments to color and gradients, creating layers upon layers of photo aesthetics.
3. Beauty Plus
Beauty Plus is a selfie camera and photo editor exclusive to Apple and Android. Like the name implies, this is a powerful tool that beautifies images. It currently has 100 million downloads on the play store and is a favorite tool amongst Instagram influencers. Impressively, Beauty Plus comes with a unique acne remover and teeth whitening feature. This tool is also free and easy to use.
4. Facetune 2
Created by award-winning visual-creativity company, Lightricks, Facetune 2 is an easy-to-use photo editor that retouches selfies and enhances personal photos. Majorly used for portrait and selfie editing, Facetune 2 is a great third-party editing tool for Instagram- influencer aspirants. It’s free to download, but you can unlock wonderful features for a very affordable annual subscription fee.
5. Lens Buddy
Lens Buddy is a self-timer camera app designed for iPad. This app takes continuous pictures of you, removing the need to press buttons repeatedly. All you need to do is place your device on a tripod, set the time interval and let the camera roll. You could literally have a photoshoot all by yourself. It is also a free application,
Conclusion
The perfect Instagram photo doesn’t require professional photo editing skills. With our tips and third-party app suggestions, you can create high quality pictures that are appealing to users. Let us know which app you enjoy most, and what tip worked for you in the comments below!