1. Pick a Color Scheme
When finally making the decision to put a little more effort into your Instagram account, wether it be to look more presentable for job searches or just because you’re tired of being jealous of that one girl you know that happens to always be doing amazing things, you have to decide on a color scheme. If your dream is to have your feed look like an amazing vacation to the Bahamas but you are a student in the rainiest urban jungle 300 miles away from a beach, don’t focus on a beach themed Instagram feed. Pick something that works for the environment you spend most of your time in or you will run out of material quickly. Some schemes that usually work are: white, blue, grey, and black (colder scheme) as well as yellow, brown, white, reds (warmer color scheme).
2. Pick an Editing Style
If your editing style is not consecutive your feed won’t be either. Don’t edit one photo with a cold filter and the next with a warm toned filter. Your feed will look random and every photo will look out of place. My favorite editing application is VSCO – they have a bunch of free filters that you can be adjusted by intensity. Find your favorite one and stick to it!
3. Take Photos of Everything and Anything
The most important part of putting effort into your feed is creating content. If you’re not constantly looking for content you will get stuck with what to post on your feed. My personal motto is that you’re never going to look back and say “Wow! I wish I took LESS photos!” So take photos of everything and anything. If you think, “hey, that window looks really cool in this light” and you take the photo and it sucks, there is no consequence. Maybe that same photo of the window looks amazing in a filter and goes perfectly in your feed in a week. Try to be creative and open your mind to what would look good. Sometimes photos don’t look that great by themselves but can help bring together a feed.
4. Take Untraditional Photos
Take photos of yourself, your friends, crowds, the floor, etc. All from untraditional artistic angles. If you take the same photo every time you feature yourself on your feed and every time it is you smiling in front of the same blue wall in your apartment, try to switch it up! Take a photo of different unconventional poses in front of new backgrounds or play with different depths like close ups and landscapes. The variety will help make your feed look connected yet interesting.
5. Download Unum
Unum. Saves. Feeds. Lives. Unum is an app that helps you see what your feed looks like before you post. You can add photos to what looks like an Instagram grid and position them around other photos that you think look good. I used this app for my internship this past summer, for my personal Instagram, and my food Instagram. It helps you plan what to post in advance and keep track of what content you have that actually works for your feed.
6. Spread Out Texture, Landscape, and People
The key to figuring out what looks good cohesively in a feed is mixing up texture, landscapes, and people. Don’t post three photos in a row of people, don’t post three photos in a row of landscapes. Use Unum to determine what looks good where. A quick rule of thumb is put a person, a landscape, and a close up in thirds. This means that hypothetically your last three photos should be some mix of those three. My personal taste is that you alternate person, something visually pleasing, person. That prevents your feed from looking too person-oriented.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Oregon chapter.