MY INSTAGRAM TIPS

Who doesn't scroll through their insta once a day? Don't answer that. I know. We all do it. Some accounts we follow, be it travel, food, fashion, just seem to have their style ON POINT. And then you go to your own profile and think to yourself how can I make my feed look consistent and coordinated? These tips might help you in being successful on Instagram by cultivating your insta aesthetic. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. So how about a feed full of pictures that highlight each others best traits?

Choose your style
What is the look you're going for? Minimalistic? Colorful? Do you want to use a lot of bright colors in your insta feed? Then learn how to use both the brightness and saturation tool. Do you like to coordinate your photos to the four seasons? Go for a moody theme with appropriate color scheme in fall and find out which filters fit your style best. And stick with it. If you make sure all your uploads are somewhat consistent in style elements this helps tie the story together. No loose ends ;-).

Edit in the same way
Within the app of your choice experiment with all the available options. The best thing is to have a preset or sequence that you can apply to all your photos. Just open your phones notes and write down all the tools you use. Besides Instagram I use VSCOcam and sometimes Afterlight. On Pinterest you can find dozens of examples. Search for 'Instagram themes'. I personally like to have good quality photos, no grain, bright, no heavy colors. This is also something I keep in mind when choosing photos to upload. You don't have to post every photo you take so if it doesn't look nice, even after editing, just keep it offline on your phone.

Choose the same angles
Angles can have a lot more impact on the overall look of your feed then one would think. And I'm not talking about the 'same girl, different angle' type of photo. When taking food pictures for example, find an angle that works for you and use it time and time again. I like to shoot from the top straight down for a birds eye perspective. For your outfit photos, don't shoot just anywhere but pick 2-3 backgrounds in and around your house for you to stand in front of. If no one's around to take my photo I always fall back on the mirror selfie. Try it sometime! Do this for all your themes from tip 2 - tell a story, and you will see how much of a difference it makes to be consistent in the angle of your photo.

Tell a story
You need to ask yourself what it is you want to show on Instagram. You can upload everything you capture making your insta look cluttered or you can choose 5-8 themes. This can be anything you want such as outfit of the days, interior design, hair styles, pictures of your breakfast and your cat. You name it, it's your little place on insta. Not only will this help in creating a common thread, it also makes it easier for your future followers to know what they can expect if when they hit the blue follow button.

Plan your Instagram
It is quite contradictory to the name Instagram but it really works for me: schedule your feed with a tool. Always think about how one photo will look next to the other. Even better, think about how your last nine photos work together. This is the first thing a potential follower sees when he or she finds you. I use an app called UNUM which let's me upload 18 photos into the app. These photos I can mix and match to find the order in which I like to upload. It feels like you're making your own jigsaw and it's kinda fun. But most importantly, this allows you to look a few steps ahead and think about what and when you're going to post. Another thing I like to look at is my last and my third picture. Those are the photos my new upload will touch on the right side and below. If these photos already are quite detailed or busy, it will be more pleasing on the eye to upload a calmer photo. Are the last and third pictures of food? Then choose a non-food photo to upload next.

Archive your old photos
Maybe all of you know this already but I only found out recently this awesome new feature on Instagram. It allows you to hide photos you once uploaded by archiving them. This can come in handy if you want to conceal but don't want to delete a certain upload. For example old photos or photos that don't suit your current style. Simply go to the “...” menu on a photo, among other options such as edit and delete, you can find the option to archive the image. Your photos are now private and only for you to see. This action is reversible. Now you no longer have to delete your beloved memories from insta, simply hide them and magically make them reappear if you miss them.

These tips I personally use on a regular basis but sometimes I'm not worried about this at all and I just post, post, post. To me Instagram is a place where I can be creative and exhibit my art. It doesn't have to be perfect. I like it a lot when there are some quirky, original photos in someones feed. The last thing I want is for you to feel like there is a certain way in which we have to shape our feed. That is the beauty of it, you can do with it whatever you want :-). Happy 'gramming!