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26 March 2014

guest post | instagram for dummies

one of my regular advertisers is taking over the blog today to share some of her tips and tricks to getting the most out your instagram feed. if you're interested in advertising alongside her and the other fab ladies hanging out on the sidebar, head over to the sponsorship page for more info!...

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Hello, I'm Toni - a twenty something lifestyle blogger from Sheffield in the UK; you can find me over in my little part of the web, on my blog Lemon Freckles. I'm super excited to be able to share a few Instagram tips on Erica's gorgeous blog today, as I've been hanging around on the side bar for a few months now and thought it might be about time to say hello again...
I fell instantly in love with Instagram three years ago when I became a member of their online community, over the past few years the way I use Instagram has changed dramatically, I used to just upload anything and now I'm a little more selective...well sometimes, sometimes I just see something adorable and have to share it no matter how bad the photo but ignoring that for now.  I thought I would share a few things I've learnt and I'm still learning in creating a beautiful/follow worthy Instagram feed.

Find the right angle.

I'll let you into a little secret, when I take a photo I don't take one, at minimum I take three although I admit usually it is a lot more.  If your photo subject isn't likely to quickly change position then why not have a little play around with different angles, it is amazing how much of a difference a bad/good angle can make to a photo.  So spend a little time taking a few different photos, that way you can play around with them later and choose the best photo, instead of just choosing the only photo you have.

Hide, remove and deny. 

I don't know why I find this so annoying but it is a big annoyance for me, I'm always surprised by how many photos are ruined by laziness.  I can't tell you the amount of photos I have taken where it looks wonderfully clean and beautiful but the reality is if I was to use a wider lens you would see wires/rubbish/mess, who wants to see that though?!  Just spend a minute pushing the mess to one side before capturing your image, no one wants to see that black ugly wire ruining what could be a beautiful photo.  Instagram photos are only small, so make the most of that space, don't let something that could distract from your subject ruin your final photo.

Remember your brand.

This is something that over the past couple of months I've been trying to remember more and it has made a huge difference to how appealing my photos are.  Just like your blog/business, your Instagram photos should also have a brand, a style.  I try to make sure my Instagram photos all fit in perfectly with my blog, I've actually started to use the same photo editing app on the majority of my photos to help them flow better.

Find inspiration.

I've not done this for a while but it is a must for the next month for me, have a Instagram day.  Go on your own, with a friend, with a group, go anywhere you like with the purpose of taking photos for Instagram, find hidden photos in the every day.  I'm not saying upload them all on that day, create a library of photos to use on Instagram at a later date.  Have fun with your camera, explore and tell a story with your photos.

 
I would love some of your Instagram tips! 
What do you do to help make Instagram beautiful? 

Bloglovin / Twitter / Instagram

thanks so much for toni for popping by to share some of her tips on getting the most out of instagram. i for one am a huge fan of her feed, and now that i know how she does it, i can utilise these tricks myself! do make sure you check out her blog and her instagram; you won't be disappointed!

Add your comment

  1. These are great tips, I love taking Insta Photos xx

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  2. Oh two of my favourite blogs combined in one post! Thank you Erica and Toni. Loved this post - Instagramming is such an art and I love the idea of a 'brand' but I have yet to find mine.

    I use PicFx a lot for my images but am always on the look-out for other apps so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know :) I love clean, defined images but sadly my life isn't quite like that.

    I also find that I get quite self conscious about taking photos in public - does anyone have any tips for that too?

    I tend to keep my instagram full of objects and lanscapes (and lots of food) and rarely post pictures of people and selfies.

    Love this post! Thanks girls!

    Jo xxx

    She Wears Burgundy

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  3. aw, glad you're enjoying the collab!
    picFX is good for apple but isn't great on android, which sucks for me, so I tend to use A Beautiful Mess app prior to uploading it to Insta; I find the colours clearer and more defined on that app.
    as far as taking selfies, it's just something you need to get over! every man and his dog (literally) takes pics of themselves these days, so you'd certainly be no different! after the 1st few it will become natural and you won't worry anymore!
    thanks for reading Jo!
    xx

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  4. Hey Jo,

    Just stumbled upon this post after following Toni on IG and finally remembering to look at her blog!

    When you say you get self-conscious about taking photos in public I can totally understand - I used to / occasionally still think I must look like a right prat in public as I tend to take at least 3 photos of the same thing from different angles. But I've since taught myself to not care, as I always know I'll regret it if I don't take the photo. Now I don't tend to even think about it anymore, I know it'll be worth it as I still look back over old photos and think 'I'm so glad I went for that one!'

    By the way, you would probably like the Rhonna Designs app if you haven't got it already, that's my favourite one so far. Definitely worth the purchase price if you ask me. :)

    Badgertails x

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thank you for your comment, you lovely thing you.