It seems just about everybody is on social media, and in particular, Instagram. There are so many impressive accounts with stunning pictures and photography – and most of them aren’t even ran by professionals!

So how can you make your account look like that? We put together a straightforward guide on how to capture the perfect shots, edit to perfection, and make your account really stand out from the rest!

Lighting

If there’s one thing that lets your photos down, it’s dodgy lighting. We’re sure your bowl of fruit salad would look far more appetising and colourful if you just took lighting into consideration more. The best form of light is natural – so sit near a window if you’re inside and stay clear of artificial light as this can give your photos a yellow tint.

Colour Palettes

Choose a colour theme you love and stick to it! Warm colours work best for travel themed Instagrams, while cool and neutral work best for lifestyle and fashion. It’s also best to keep it minimal as too many colours can clash and make your account look messy!

Composition

Successful composition has one goal, and that’s directing your audience to the subject of the photo. An easy way to achieve this is to look at and use the grid feature when taking photos; the image should flow from square to square. It works great if you want something to be centred in your image. You can turn on the grid tool in your phone’s camera settings.

Underexpose

Photos that are too bright and totally overexposed are deemed useless; no amount of editing will fix it. But by keeping photos underexposed, you can always brighten and tweak it later when you edit. To underexpose photos on your mobile, when you’re taking a picture simply tap the brightest area of your potential shot, and you’ll see how that refocuses it. You can mess around with this until you have perfect exposure.

Think Ahead

Instead of thinking of your photos as individuals, think of them as one giant one on your account. Is there a signature going on? Do they all compliment each other? So before you post an image thinking, “that looks cool”, make sure it suits the rest of your Instagram first.

Editing

Everyone will have a different opinion on what’s a good photo editing app, but whichever it is, make sure it works for your image style and unique perspective. If you’re a travel enthusiast, you can see here the top photo editing apps for that niche. But for those looking for basic editing that’s quick, easy, and still brilliant – check out Afterlight. To download videos from Instagram for free, try Insta video downloader. If there’s one thing to remember when editing your Instagram photos, it’s that LESS IS MORE.

If you’re worried about the effect social media is having on your relationship, click here.