Do you ever look at photos on your Instagram feed and wish your images looked just as crisp, professional and gravitating? As a marketing/communication pro or entrepreneur, you wear many hats, and sometimes that includes photographer. It’s important for your images to appeal to your audience, look professional and be visually engaging and representative of your brand.
So how do you take pictures like a pro? We rounded up our top 10 tips tips for easily capturing those perfect Instagram photos you’ve been dreaming of:
1. Use your phone’s built in camera. Taking the photo directly through Instagram only allows you to take one image at a time, and forces you to post or delete it at that given moment.
2. Take multiple images from different angles, then decide which image to post.
3. Use natural light whenever possible. This is why if you’re outdoors or inside a building with ample windows, it’s best to capture images in the early morning, late afternoon (an hour before sunset) and on overcast days.
4. Adjust the white balance and brighten up your photo. If you’re indoors and stuck with artificial light, your photo will likely look slightly dark or even yellow. To correct this, bring down the temperature (“warmth” in Instagram’s editing tool) a few notches and increase the exposure.
5. Play with light. Touching the screen of your iPhone to focus on lighter elements before taking an image can bring more light into your photo without using the dreaded flash.
6. Don’t forget to focus. Use your finger to touch an element on the screen that you want to focus on (on an iPhone a yellow dot will appear). This will ensure your picture focuses on the right subject – making it more crisp and clear.
7. Draw your audience in with a clear point of interest. This might be a person in the foreground or a landscape with lines that pull you in.
8. Look for strong colors, shapes and lines.
9. Take advantage of white space. Keeping it simple and clean is sometimes the best way to go – giving your image room to breathe.
10. Pay attention to composition. Most images aren’t perfectly symmetrical. Try the rule of thirds – breaking the image into three horizontal and vertical sections and capturing the subject along those imaginary lines as opposed to in the center. Turning the grid feature on can help you learn to do this.
What tips would you add?
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