Tips for Taking Instagram Photos

Hey y’all and happy Friday! I get questions all the time about what I use to edit my photos for Instagram. So I thought I would share a few of my most helpful tips for taking Instagram photos. I’m also adding in a few tips on how to get that cohesive look on Instagram. So let’s get into it shall we!

Tip #1 Use Natural Lighting

To get that bright and airy look to your photos you don’t ever want to use any warm lights that cast from lamps or overhead lighting. I know that weather can permit that sometimes so I try and plan all my photo taking on one or two days out of the week when I know it’s going to be sunny. I also know the times of day when each room in our house gets the best lighting, so I typically wait for those peak times to take photos. For Instagram I typically just use my iPhone XS Max for all of my photos. If I’m doing an involved photo shoot for my blog I will use my Canon camera for that but I still edit on my phone. I will link all my equipment below as well.

If you have a bathroom or room that doesn’t get any natural lighting the best tip I have is to switch our your light bulbs with these LED bulbs. The higher on the kelvin scale the better. These bulbs are 5000K. We just switched out our basement bulbs with these GE Refresh LED bulbs and it makes such a difference when I’m taking photos. They don’t cast a warm light so you don’t have to take the warmth out of you photos. They make it look more like daylight, but not fluorescent looking if that makes sense.

I also have umbrella lights as well that do come in handy when you need that extra lighting behind the camera. I set these up in my kitchen sometimes to get that added studio style lighting if natural light just isn’t enough. You do have to be careful to set them up in a way that does not cast shadows.

Tip #2 Never use the Zoom with your phone

I always get closer to the subject and never use my zoom on the phone. It can come across as grainy when you do this. I also click on the subject on the screen to be sure it’s focused on the correct thing.

Tip #3 Edit your photos

I have three favorite apps for editing my photos on my phone. I use Snapseed, Light Room, and Face Tune. I have created my own preset in Light Room after months of tweaking my photos. I use a lot of colors in my photos so I like to have the max color payoff. Of course I have to adjust the brightness for each photo, but other than that I typically use the same setting for each photo. Light Room is wonderful for that. There are many presets available out there that you can buy from other influencers. Personally I wanted my photos to reflect me and my particular style, so I created my very own. Maybe one day I will get to share that with y’all. I highly recommend saving your settings as a preset in Light Room so all of your photos on Instagram will have a consistent and cohesive look to them.

The Face Tune app comes in handy when you need to smooth something out or whiten a particular area. For example, my ceiling in this picture below was looking a little shadowy so I used the whitening tool to brighten up the ceiling. If you’re taking a picture of your bed and notice that your bedsheets are looking a little wrinkled. No biggie..you can just use the smoothing tool to “iron” those sheets right out!

I use the Snapseed app if I want to add a watermark or any text to my photos. You can also add a watermark with Light Room, however I like to hide mine in my photos. Snapseed allows you to put text anywhere in your photo. As you can see below I hid my watermark on the side of the counter. I do this so people who want to use my photos can’t pose them as their own without credit. Of course they could try and crop them out, so I try and put them in places that are harder to crop out or delete.

Tip #4 Set the Mood

If I’m wanting more ambience in my photo I will light a candle instead of using any sort of lamp or overhead light.

To make a room more cozy you can drape your favorite throw over a chair or your sofa and make a cascade on the floor. It just helps to add that cozy factor to any of your photos.

If you have a pet. Put them in it! People love seeing your furry children! Thankfully my cats are super curious anytime I have my phone out. They somehow always looks so dang cute, so I always take a lot of photos to get just the right one. Take multiple bursts when taking photos of pets. It’s rare that they sit completely still. You are sure to get a good one if you keep snapping.

Tip # 5 Angle Variety

When I’m taking photos of my home I like to get multiple angles of the same subject. I try to not to have three photos in a row from the same angle for example. Of course straight on shots are the best, but sometimes you need to switch things up a bit and give your followers a different perspective.

Flat lays are awesome too! The key to a good flat lay is that you are directly above the subject and that you use the square photo. Symmetry is very appeasing to the eye. Even if that means you need to stand on a chair to get the shot. With the iPhone if you turn on the guidelines it will show you when your phone is level which is such a helpful feature.

Tip # 6 Use Florals and Fruits

This sounds kind of funny, but I love to use flowers and fruits for an extra pop of color to my photos. They don’t have to be real y’all. These lemons you see above are faux as well as most of my florals. Of course I love fresh blooms around the house, but I typically only get them for special occasions since my cats love to eat them and it’s hard to keep them away from them. See those pears…yeah they are faux sho not real. See what I did there. Lame joke. Moving on.

Tip #7 Vary Your Shots

I recommend varying your shots on Instagram with close up shots to full room shots. This will give your Instagram feed a varying look. Of course full room shots tend to get more likes on Instagram, but you want your feed to have different varying angles and a good mixture of subjects. Think about it. You really don’t want to see 100 shots of the same room from the same perspective. Your viewers might lose interest. Keep things interesting and try showing different areas of your home.

My Photo Equipment

Canon EOS Rebel Camera

Umbrella Lights

GE light bulbs

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Thank you for flying by today friends! Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo,

Robyn 🙂

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