Instagram is everyone's favourite social media platform right now, isn't it! For a long time I didn't really know what I was doing with Instagram and just smapped photos of any old thing, added a filter and a couple of naff hashtags and forgot about it. Over the last few months I have suddenly become obsessed and can spend absolutely ages scrolling through and liking pretty pictures. The way I used Instagram is certainly different to how I used it say this time last year, heck even about 6 months ago I was using it totally differently! A few people have asked me how I found my Instagram style, so I thought I'd write a little post.
From the perspective of a reader, I know I follow accounts that are consistent in their content, layout and editing, so that's what I try to apply to my own Instagram posts. I want my followers to enjoy my photos so I try to put myself in the shoes of the person seeing my feed. I aim for quality over quantity; if I don't have any photos that I feel are good enough I'd rather just not post anything at all.
CONTENT. Firstly, I thought about what I was sharing and why. My Instagram account is an extension of my blog, and my blog is a family lifestyle blog. I wanted my Instagram to give instant snippets of my life. A snapshot of my life at that moment in time, like a live version of my blog. Most of my photos now are of my boys, with lots of children's fashion, a few lifestyle shots, pictures of the blooms I buy every week, or pretty food I might be eating. It's not an exclusive list of what I share, but you get the idea.
LAYOUT. My photos now are deliberately taken in certain rooms of my house. My house is very odd and my living room gets barely any light. It's ideal for vampires, but I am not one! So many of my photos are taken in Little N's room, which is a bright room and gets lots of light. Even food photos have been taken in there! Yes, I carry my dinner up to my son's room to take a photo of it. What can I say, it just looks prettier. I try not to have a cluttered frame and tend to have quite a bit of empty space around the subject I'm photographing.
EDITING. I'm not a fan of the Instagram filters at all anymore but I do edit my photos before posting. It's like a compulsion, I have to edit them even just a tiny amount! I do like the brighten button and I am fond of a little bit of a fade, and sometimes I increase the saturation just a touch. Once I found the editing that I liked best on my photos, I then tried to stick to it for all of my posts. Every now and again I do change every so slightly because I'm finicky like that, but when I do I try to stick to the same edits for at least 3 photos so that the consistency isn't lost.
This is a great post :), personally I'm still trying to find my photo style for instagram and my blog lol... trying to get the right size and look etc is hard but hopefully I'll get there in end. Your photos give me the motivation to keep trying anyhow :) xx
ReplyDeleteAww thank you! It's fun to play around and see what you like x
DeleteI don't have a style. I've got into the habit quite by accident of having a photo of N every 3rd photo which is now annoying me but probably helps get the followers who want something more consistent. But they're generally not the IGers I follow. I like to see a mix, that's what my blog is and therefore what my IG is.
ReplyDeleteI don't use filters either. Similarly I edit with brightness, a bit of saturation and maybe increase/decrease shadows.
I'm proud of the photos I take but they're real. They're rarely staged, they're taken where I am at the time and that's what I like in photos.
Hehe I had a similar thing recently where my flower photos were every 3rd photo and it annoyed me. Yes my photos are just every day life too, I've dabbled in flatlays as I do like other people's but my boys come a long and mess it up!x
DeleteLove this post. I am the same as you - it took me a while to get into Instagram. I used to post any old thing. I'm still finding my way with it, but I now have a definite style and, like you say, see it as an extension of my blog. Your photos are beautiful. x
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting post - thank you for sharing! I go through phases of intense love and intense hate for Instagram! I think of all the social media platforms it can be the worst for comparisons and I get frustrated by how much work you need to put in to grow it (if you don't want to cheat and buy followers as so many accounts seem to do!). But I love the prettiness of it and also the hilarity of some accounts too. My own style is bright and colourful. I love yellow and it's a colour that seems to pop up a lot. Lots of shots of my girls and me, as well as fashiony bits and plenty of interiors. What can I say - I'm an insta-cliche!
ReplyDeleteI'm fairly new to Instagram and still getting my head round it, but steadily developing a bit of an obsession too! :-)
ReplyDeleteMine too is an extension of my blog type stuff, so post family type photos and things I like.
So your tips are great and relevant for me! :-)