In today’s post, I’ll tell you all about how I take my Instagram photos and a couple of things that are very important for me- like a clean background and good lighting.

1.FIND THE LIGHT

Bright pictures always look better so take your photos by the window or another place where there’s a lot of natural light. If you have a blog and most pictures in your feed are blog-related, always take your pictures during the day (especially if using your phone). The lights in your home can leave an ugly, yellow cast in your photos and colors will not look true to what they are. If you can’t find a spot bright enough to take your pictures, use a reflector to brighten it up and minimize shadows.

2.DON’T OVER-FILTER YOUR IMAGES

I  rarely use filters on my photos  since I noticed that pictures that are filter-free, bright, shot on clean surfaces get a lot more interaction/likes. If you take your picture in a bright place and use a steady hand, your colors and textures will already work for you, and you won’t feel the need to use a filter. If you do like using filters, you can use the scale to tone it down a little, making sure that they don’t look too intense.You can also use contrast and if you use Lightroom app (it’s my favourite app) use the ”whites” and the clarity to make it better.

3.EDIT

This one is a must for me. I usually use my camera to take my IG shots, and even when using good settings, bright light and awesome set up, I always edit my pictures. Now, I’m going to share a little secret with you guys. Usually I just edit my photos in Lightroom , but when I share pictures that don’t come from my blog (like motds, etc) I edit them using a beauty app- an app you’d use to edit your selfies that smoothes and brightens your skin. It’s very easy to overdo it with these apps, because they make your images look overly smooth and give it that “photoshopped” loo, so you have to be careful when doing this.

4.CLEAN BACKGROUND

This is also important, especially when taking “flatlays”- clean, uniform background won’t be distracting and pull focus away from your subject. I love simple, neutral backgrounds- they seem to work the best for me. Another thing to keep in mind when “styling” your shots, is not to put your subjects too close together- unless you work with perfect lighting. Otherwise it can create shadows- especially when working on simple and clean backgrounds. Having a reflector helps out a lot here too.

Are you guys as obsessed with Instagram as I am? Link your accounts down below so we can check them out!

xoxo Maria Pasiali