Photo Tips to Make You Instagram Famous

Guest post by Daphne Lefran

Daphne Lefran has been writing about photography for many years and currently writes on behalf of cloud digital frame providers at Nixplay. In her spare time, she enjoys capturing moments through a camera lens, traveling to new places and cheering on the Florida State Seminoles. Follow her on Twitter @daphnelefran

Instagram has only been around for 5 years but has proven itself as a powerhouse social media network. With 300 million active monthly users and an average of 70 million photos shared per day, Instagram is proving that it is here to stay.

Instagram was the first mobile-only social network. Nowadays, camera phones have become the go-to camera; everyone with a smartphone can document their life, tell their story through images and share them with the world in an instant.

But among the millions of Instagram handles out there, there exist those few ‘Instagram famous’ accounts that appear to have the most perfect, photogenic lives. The question is, how does one separate themself (and their Instagram) from the rest of the crowd? How does one capture appealing images that boost the number of double-taps and Instagram followers? Here are some tips for taking your Instagram page to the next level.

Shoot pictures outside of the Instagram app.

Instagram allows you take a picture and edit it within the app itself. However, the iPhone’s native camera is much more useful. The native camera allows you to take multiple pictures at once, which ensures that you capture the perfect shot. It also has grid lines and a zoom feature to help set up the composition of a frame. Last, it allows you to take horizontal or vertical full-framed images. Afterwards, images can easily be imported into Instagram from the camera roll.

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Instagram displays photos that fit within a square, as well as landscape and portrait. Thus, iPhone cameras now have a feature that allows you take a photo within a square frame. Avoid using this option because it can constrain your photo and limit your editing process.

Underexpose your photos.

Photographer Chris Ozer recommends intentionally underexposing your photo when shooting. The iPhone camera tends to blow out highlights and shadows, which results in a loss of definition in photos. To fix this, tap the screen and hold your finger over the part of the frame that needs to be focused or darkened before snapping the photo. This locks the camera’s exposure while you compose the image however you wish.

An underexposed image will capture all the details and textures in your image while making the post-editing process much easier.

Edit your photos with different apps.

Skip Instagram’s built in options and edit with different editing apps. These apps can be used for cropping, adding filters and making major adjustments such as sharpness, temperature, exposure and contrast.

Many of these apps have features that save your favorite photo edits and adjustments. Whether you prefer a minimalist and airy feel or a saturated and crisp look to your photos, the edits to achieve these effects can be saved as presets.  This way you can easily create an Instagram page with a coherent and consistent style.  Some popular photo editing apps include VSCO Cam, Afterlight, Camera+ and PicTapGo.

Don’t be repetitive.

Mix up your shots within the theme of your Instagram. Play around with different types of angles and compositions. Experiment with cropping, symmetry and the rule of thirds to achieve a wide variety of perspectives.

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Also, change up the subject of your photos. Take pictures of beautiful scenery, food, people, architecture and even some selfies! Fun fact: When taking selfies, the duck-face selfies generate 1,112% more Instagram likes than traditional selfies. Long live the duck-face.

Lighting is everything.

Lighting can make or break your picture. Also lighter images can generate 24% more likes than dark images.

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Natural soft light that shows the details in the highlights and shadows is ideal. The best time to take pictures is the hour right around sunrise and sunset when the sun is low and produces a warm soft glow. It is also recommended that the sun be directly behind the photographer and facing the subject.

Pair a unique photo with an interesting caption.

An interesting or informative caption can help drive a message home. Humor also works great too. A common misconception among many Instagram users is that shorter captions work better on Instagram since it’s essentially a visual network. However, a study by Simply Measured found there was no statistically significant correlation between caption length and audience engagement.

Therefore, don’t stress over your caption’s word count. Instead, make sure that your caption conveys your message adequately without distracting from the photo.

Hashtag and geo-tag.

Many Instagrammers skip the hashtags because they think they look tacky or spammy. However, posts with at least one hashtag get 12.6% more engagement on average. So add some relevant, unique and creative hashtags to your captions. If used correctly, hashtags can help reach your target audience. You can even come up with your own original hashtags that represents your brand image. Just don’t be that person that adds 30 hashtags to each photo and you’re good to go.

If hashtagging just isn’t your thing, another option is to geo-tag. Instagram posts tagged with a location receive 79% more engagement. Yes, you read that number right…79%. Tagging your location is another strategic way to get your content discovered. A simple tag of a local restaurant, a business or even your neighborhood can bring people to your Instagram page.

Photograph people.

Have you ever found yourself taking a picture of something such as a scenic sunset or a new jacket you just purchased, but choose to exclude people from being in the photo? Many people post pictures like this to maintain the focus on a specific subject, such as the scenery or a product.  However, a study done by Georgia Tech found that Instagram photos with faces get 38% more likes.

(Source: http://www.gramfeed.com/p/2RnPPXqmTO/)

We are naturally attracted to faces, so adding faces to photos can easily boost the amount of likes it gets. Also, featuring the faces of your loved ones in your photographs adds a personal element that is desired for displaying the photos in photo albums and digital picture frames in your home.

There is no key formula to creating the perfect Instagram photos. With just a little effort, editing and creativity, you can step up your Instagram game in no time.