As the most widespread photo sharing social media platform, Instagram allows users to showcase their P.O.V’s in a fun and visual way, letting us get creative while also providing a platform to build brands, communities and drive customers (or would be customers) to businesses and websites. But building the perfect Instagram feed to embody your brand’s vision can be tricky – it’s easy to just post and repost content, which leads to an Instagram feed that looks like a mish mash of everything (and does little to strengthen the brand). As believers in the power of pretty pictures, here are some tips on how to make your Instagram feed look amazing.

 

#1 Decide on a theme

It could be your favourite colours, a certain typeface or a ‘feel’ of your brand. How do you want your brand to feel? Is it feminine or masculine? Light and minimal or dark and moody? Or perhaps you’re going for that endless tropical summer vibe? Deciding on how you want your brand to feel will help you decide on a theme and its colours. We also love Planoly, which helps us manage and plan our content (read: keeps our feed visually pleasing!) easily.

 

#2 Choose a Filter

Choosing a specific filter for your Instagram feed is much like choosing a style for your personality aesthetics. Decide on what you and your brand is most comfortable in, and be diligent in portraying that vibe. If you’re unsure of what your brand personality should be, take a look at the Instagram feeds that you love and take note of the style and colour themes. With plenty of photo editing apps like our faves VSCO and Unfold, you can choose presets that suit your look and theme so that each time you apply the filter, the pictures look cohesive.

 

#3 Turn On Your Grid

Don’t you just hate it when you thought you snapped the perfect shot on your phone only to realize later that background – or worse, the subject (!!) – is not straight? Which is why we like to switch on the gridlines on our phone’s camera settings. Not only does it help keep everything straight in our shots, it also helps with the rule of thirds. More on that in our next point.

 

 #4 Mind the ­Composition

The way the subjects are arranged makes a world of difference. Forget the old practice of placing subjects smack in the center of your shots. Instead, try the rule of thirds. Photographers would be familiar with the concept but for the uninitiated, it refers to ­creating a balanced composition using equally spaced gridlines with the subjects placed along the lines of the intersections. So if you imagine a photo being divided into three parts both horizontally and vertically, place the subject of the photo along these lines or at their intersections.

 

#5 Lighting is Everything

Whether you’re going for that light and airy feel or dark and moody, lighting is everything in helping you perfect that shot. Wherever possible, go for natural lighting and forget the flash as it tends to be too harsh in most cases. If you can set aside some time in the day and dedicate it to taking pictures for your Instagram, make it during the Golden Hour, which is around an hour after the sun rises an an hour before the sun sets. During this time, the sun is low in the sky shines lighting that is warm and dimensional. The result? A golden glow that makes everything and everyone look good.

content marketing instagram instagram feed lighting photography social media