How to Take Pictures for Instagram

24.10.2022
7 min.
24.10.2022
7 min.

You doesn’t have to be a professional photographer to succeed in Instagram. Nowadays the cameras in smartphones are able to shoot in a surprisingly high quality and can easily compete with reflex cameras. 

Content:

Our guide consists of easy but efficient tips on how to take good Instagram pictures and ideas for creating powerful online presence. 

3 Main Rules of Creating Awesome Pictures for Instagram

Pictures that are too way staged slowly go out of fashion; many users are tired of perfect images they constantly see. Nowadays such pictures, as a rule, don’t caught the audience’s attention because it is yearning for creativity.

So, here are the 3 photography rules that are still influential:

  1. Qualitative Instagram picture should transmit the specific idea;
  2. It is necessary to shoot bright moments with sincere emotions;
  3. Editing should be applied in appropriate extent and where it is suitable.

And, the main thing, remember to always clean up the camera lens before taking a picture. It may sound trite but it is very important.

Remember that creativity and emotions should be transmitted with the talent focused on achieving the goals. Otherwise, your followers will not stay long.

Tips on Creating Incredible Pictures

If you don’t want to penetrate into technical details, this part of our guide is just for you. These tips should be enough for you to understand the main principles of creating the photo and start working.

How to Take Pictures of Yourself

Selfie is not the only way you have. But for you to take the images yourself, it takes much more imagination to make a scene and create something visually exciting. Here are the 5 tips and tricks that will help you to make everything right:

  • Use the main phone camera for better quality of photograpghs.
  • Think through the composition and mark your place.
  • Hold the camera as far as possible and then frame.
  • Be natural: move or use the props.
  • Make sure that the light is set correctly.

How to Take Instagram Pictures of Your Girlfriend

Even though your girlfriend may like taking beautiful photos by herself, it is difficult to take a photo better than the one that has been taken by special person. Follow these tips to get your hand in taking simple photos and good pics for her Instagram:

  • Learn the rules of composition, symmetry and exposition.
  • Place her at the center of picture.
  • Ask her in advance about the angles she considers the most suitable.
  • Shoot natural poses or moments when she is not looking to the camera.
  • Take as many photos as possible so she could choose the best pictures for Instagram.

How to Take Pictures of Children

Kids cannot stay focused for a long time, they don’t listen and turn their mood from happy to grumpy in an instant. But they are always honest and feeling happy being with themselves, which is great. We suggest you the next tricks:

  • Start quickly, shoot quickly.
  • Photograph them the way they are, not the way you want them to be.
  • Get down to their level literally and metaphorically.
  • Choose simple background.
  • Ask elder brother or sister to help you and play along.

How to Take Pictures of Pets

Just like children, your pets don’t understand what are you trying to do and will not just sit in front of the camera. But professional photographers have succeeded to discover some nuances that might help you take good photos of pets for Instagram the way they are:

  • Use the treats for pets to stay in place or look in the specific direction.
  • Use a short exposure time, continuous focus and a burst mode.
  • Wait for a quiet moment.
  • Let them show their character.
  • Add people to bring some history to the picture.

How to Take Pictures on the Phone like a Professional

Now let’s get to the rules of shooting, composition, creative direction and editing. Although it may seem difficult, it is quite simple in fact.

To take good pictures on smartphone is possible for everybody. All you need to do is to use our recommendations as guidelines on practice. The more you practicing, the stronger your skills will be and, at the end, you will find your own unique style.

Setting the Phone Camera

If you using you your camera in the right way, it immediately will increase the quality of your pictures and provide you the whole space for editing and adding the filters. For example, you can transport built-in settings.

Turn Off the HDR Function

HDR-photos are hard to edit without going too far, which is why the risk to get surreal, fake and too intended pictures is high. Try to turn off the HDR function to make the images look soft and natural. Moreover, making the realistic editing you get an aesthetic picture that will fit into the Instagram quite good.

Don’t Use the Camera Flash

The camera in your phone is mostly calibrated for a daytime working. There are no good reasons to turn on the flash in the night time. Built-in flashes are barely able to light the objects at a one meter distance. As a result, the flash make pictures flat, remove the effect of depth and often makes the objects closed to the camera too bright.

Turn On the Grid

Camera grid allows to align photos by matching objects to straight lines on the screen. By aligning the image to horizontal or vertical lines, you can avoid bumpy, jagged photos. Plus, you will not need to rotate or angle your photos while editing.

6 Compositional Tips to Create Pictures with Better Quality Using the Phone

Anyone can point their camera and take a shot. However the best results can be achieved if picture is composed correctly. Composition is the key to create a visually beautiful photo and hold viewer’s attention. Here are the ways of getting the best pictures on Instagram with good framing.

1. Follow the “Rule of a Third”

The rule of a third is connected with a grid we mentioned earlier. Place the object of image on the intersection of dividing lines or along one of them. This way your photograph will look more balanced and the viewer will take it more natural.

2. Make Picture More Symmetric

Symmetry let us feel harmony and make photos look more aesthetic. You can see symmetrical objects in the world surrounding us and the trick is to find the most suitable angle. Look around you and you will definitely find the examples of horizontal, vertical, radial or reflected symmetry.

3. Try to Use the “Rule of Central Composition”

Central composition is a good way to highlight your object. Other than placing your object in the front and in center, also try to simplify the pic and remove all the unnecessary. It is not worth to use the central composition if you have no good reason for that.

4. Use the Leading Lines

Leading line leads the way which is easy to see to follow different photo elements. These lines are used for strong visual influence and creating the sense of movement. To define these lines, throw away all the unnecessary stuff and pay your attention to the place your eyes are initially attracted to. Roads, footpaths, railways, bridges and rivers are good for creating the leading lines on your picture.

5. Keep the Horizon Line Straight

Horizon line is important and this is probably the first and most fundamental rule in landscape (and not only) shooting at the open space. Not following this rule will lead to crewing up all the positive experience from the picture. The grid function can help but you could fix the sloped horizon on any photo later, while editing it.

6. Fill In the Picture

If you have a feeling that the main object doesn’t highlight in any way, just try to get closer and fill with it the whole picture. This guarantees that the object will caught all the viewer’s attention and nothing will be distracting them from the primary message. Just make sure your phone can keep everything in focus.

5 Tips on How to Reach the Best Light for Instagram Photos

Having the good lightning may become the main difference between success and failure in Instagram. It is also the basis of how to take good IG pics. Use the light as your benefit and make corrections depending on the way terms are changed. Doing this you will be able to set up the camera according to the environment you are shooting, and catch the right moment.

The most pleasant thing is that you don’t have to buy high priced facility and take it everywhere with you. Naturalness is trendy, besides, it often looks way more beautiful.

1. Use the Natural Lightning to Get Good Pics

Use natural light to create beautiful shadows, 3D-effect, bringing the texture and make the photos alive in general. There is no specific rule for every situation because you never know how the light will lay on different objects. We advise you to put up with the fact that it will be the trial-and-error method.

2. Shoot At the Appropriate Time

Approximately the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before sunset are known as golden or magical hours. If you want to create a soft image, then the diffused morning light is perfect for you. It is better to choose a midnight sun or sunset (with a warm color) for strong shadows. It depends on what result you want to achieve.

3. Don’t Overexpose the Shot

The most important tip of how to take a good Instagram picture is not to overexpose shooting of the main object, especially when shooting portraits. It is important to watch the sand when taking photos during travelling. The only exception for overexposing is when something is placed at the background and takes only small part of a picture.

4. Cloudy Or Sunny

We want to note that the perfect weather is a blue sky without one cloud. Mainly, sunny weather is suitable for almost every kind of picture. But during the foggy or cloudy weather you can transmit the dark and pensive mood.

5. Go Out When the Sun Goes Down

One more important tip that will help you avoid some mistakes and understand what will help to take picture for Instagram and how to do it better. Successful night shooting on the smartphone may cost a hard work. You will have to face the bad lightning, extremely high contrast and annoying camera noise. But, fortunately, you can creatively bypass these limitations:

  • Establish your phone sustainably to avoid photo blurring.
  • Use the benefits of high contrasts.
  • Use external light source.
  • Avoid digital zooming.

Some of the mobile phones are specifically made for night time shooting. Cameras in many modern smartphones were improved thanks to the list of functions, such as optical stabilization (OIS), bigger sensors, bright lenses and even optical zoom.

It is not enough just to learn how to take good Instagram pics. Editing may extensively make your pictures better and increase the engagement as well as make them worse. There should be just enough editing, it is important not to overdo.