Have Fun with Instagram
Part of the fun of creating images is sharing them with our friends, family, and the larger photography community. Although I actively use Facebook, I was late joining Instagram. After talking to others who use it daily, I decided to give it a try. In investigating the possibilities, I came across some helpful tips and tools to make the most out of the Instagram experience.
Show your work - As a photographer you can use Instagram to showcase your work and use it as a daily journal. Sometimes I share an event, but most often I use it to show the stories that I see along my walks.
Publish regularly - Like with most social media, posting often helps to attract followers. I sometimes lapse here, but when I discovered LR/Instagram, a plugin that allows me to export my images from Lightroom to Instagram, it opened up all kinds of possibilities! Once installed you just slide and drop your image into the plugin and publish it! Done! Unlike posting through the app on your phone, you need to go into your account and add comments and hashtags - a small inconvenience for being able to export directly.
Have fun - When I take an image with my iPhone I use the phone's camera, not the Instagram app, so that I can play with other editing tools, such as Snapseed, to do basic editing. When I am done, I upload the image into Instagram for final editing. The image on the top was edited in Snapseed. After uploading it into Instagram I played with filters to give the final bottom photo more pop.
By the way, I used a neat app, Diptic, to create the border around the images above. Check it out!
Layout for Instagram is another option for creating collages of your photos. Fun!
And you can add text to your photos using Over, an app with creative text styles.
Be courteous - when someone comments on your photos it is good to respond. Your response could encourage them to look for more of your photos in the future.
So after experimenting, I have found that Instagram is a good way to share my photos. I like looking at the photos posted by others. It is a good way to expand my creative skills. If you haven't tried Instagram, give it a try. It is free and you may enjoy seeing a feed that is only photos. We love hearing from you, so comment below, post on our Facebook page, or send us an email.
