Easy Steps to Perfect Instagram Photos

I am slowly turning into an Instagram blogger. So… here are some easy steps to perfect instagram photos that I have been trying out!

Why Instagram? I love the platform because it is photo/image focused and photography makes me oh-so happy! Instagram has become a huge blogger promoting tool and it is imperative that your photos are high quality and your theme is consistent. What I mean by theme is when someone goes to your page and sees a grid of your photos- they should all follow a theme, whether color choices or content. More so a consistent post processing theme! That grid is your business card. It is what makes others want to actually click on a few pics and then hit that “Follow” button! For me, I am drawn to more white/black, stark contrast and cooler edited pictures. I also love a good “faded” and matte feel to photographs. I am just not a vibrant loving image girl. It looks awesome for others but it does not capture my essence! So I stick to that script when taking my photos for IG and editing them.

Here are a few of my absolute favorite Instagram themes feeds:

After I snap a picture on my iPhone 5s (yes I need to get with the times and upgrade), I usually check out how it looks with the fade filter that is found right on the iphone. I also decrease the cast a little bit because I like my pictures cool toned. If I like the way it looks then I move on to the next step but more often than not, I go straight to….

#1 VSCO: Although I own every single filter in the app, I really only use: HB1 and SE3. Those are my go-tos and they ALWAYS give me the look that I am going for. After choosing one of these 2, I sometimes up the contrast and decrease the temperature because I do not like warmer toned images. I just like the cold feeling I guess. Please remember though that you have to look at the image and determine its mood also. I go out of my way to use pictures that work best with a cool tone.

#2 Snapseed: After choosing one of the VSCO presets, I then mosey on over to Snapseed. I typically only use Snapseed when my picture has alot of white in it. I will click on selective adjust and choose certain areas to brighten and desaturate. Often times the lighting inside a house give my whites a yellowish tint that I loathe. I went out of my way and bought natural light bulbs to take away the yellow cast but often that does not work to my liking. So Snapseed to the rescue. I will click on an area and first desaturate it (pulling the slider down until I see the S) and then I will bring it back up to the B (Brighten) and brighten it up so it is EXTRA white!

#3 FaceTune: easily my favorite app and worth the cost in my opinion. I use the whiten portion (teeth whitening) of the app to draw in more whitening on the picture. Sometimes if I need to change a color completely I will use the tones feature and then pallette, go all the way to white and then white out what I need. This is REALLY drastic though and I rarely use it. After whitening, I click the details and bring up the clarity on various portions of my picture and then the pic is typically ready to post. One thing to caution on details… I don’t use it on people ie faces or skin. It gives it a really weird effect that it not appealing to my eyes. I will do a full post dedicated to just FaceTune but for now we are sticking to my most used functions in the app.

Once I get to Instagram: I sometimes brighten it up once again, up the contrast and add a bit of sharpening and then it is ready to post!

Even in the after picture above, I can see that I need to white/ brighten and de-saturate the right side of the picture. It is more beige than white.

What are your tips to perfect instagram photos? I am always open to learning and I tend to be a teeny bit of an app hoarder!

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