Autumn is here, and it’s the prime season for your Instagram to thrive. From fall foliage to fancy lattes, there are tons of opportunities to spruce up your probably kinda dry (no offense!) Instagram. As someone who is very passionate about having an artful Insta feed, I’m here to give you some tips.
1. Edit your photos!
The days of pretending we don’t edit our photos and “#nofilter” are over. I shamelessly edit all of my photos, and here’s why you should too. Take this photo of my good friend Zach, for example.
Okay, it’s a cute pic. But, you have to admit – it’s a little bland. The colors are kind of faded, the lighting isn’t great, and nothing in it really pops. For editing photos, I recommend the app VSCO. We all know the Instagram editor is kind of trash, so VSCO is always the way to go. Their filters are a lot more stylish, whereas Instagram’s filters scream “hi, I still live in 2012, how are you?”
For this pic, I used the filter C1. This filter automatically saturates and brightens your colors, but doesn’t make it look trashy and overly edited. I also really like using this specific filter for summertime photos, because it tends to make everything look super bright and happy. After a bit more tweaking (sharpening the photo, adding a bit of grain for that ~vintage~ look), I ended up with this:
Bam. We went from “plain college boy sitting on a bed” to “stylish, retro-looking boy having a cool time” in a few minutes with the help of our friend VSCO. (Side note – I edited this photo for him to put on his dry af Instagram, and it got DOUBLE the likes of any of his other photos. That’s proof of the power of editing, folks.)
2. Don’t have too many similar photos in a row!
My next tip will help with balancing out your Instagram feed – make sure you don’t have too many similar photos in a row. I am definitely a terrible offender of this crime, but every time I do it, I notice it and cringe. For example, I try not to have too many people-centered pics in a row. Three group pics and then two sunset pics does NOT look great on your Instagram feed, it looks unbalanced and weird. I like to have varied photos planned out for my Instagram just in case this seems like it’s going to happen – break up all those group photos with some landscape or food photos in between, and you’ll look a lot more interesting.
3. Have a theme!
Remember how I just said to post varied photos and not too many of the same type in a row? Yeah, so for that to look good, you need to have at least a little bit of a theme. I like to do my themes by the season and have them slowly fade into each other. For example, in the fall, I like to give my photos a bit of a warm theme. It’s okay to deviate from that a little bit, like if you have an awesome sunset pic, but for the most part staying with a theme will keep your feed looking super put together and stylish. This is really fun to play with, and if you’re really serious about knowing your feed looks good, you could create a “feedsta” like my best friend has – a private instagram account just for you, where you upload all your photos and test what looks good and what doesn’t.
4. Post at the prime times!
My last tip is pretty simple – post at the right times. I find that night, around 10ish, is the best time to post, because it’s when everyone is on their phones just scrolling. This might be different for different people, depending on your followers. Try to figure out your own little algorithm to when your photo will reach the biggest audience.
Those are my four tips for Instagram greatness – use ‘em, don’t abuse ‘em. And follow me! @robryson