How To Maintain a Nice Instagram- lifestyle

Instagram is a social media platform used to share photos and videos, but how can it be more than just a place to share photo, how can it be something special? Instagram can be used to create a profile of your life, photography, anything you want it to be. Here are a few tips on how to make your instagram a step above the rest:

• Take a lot of pictures so you have multiple to choose from

• You want to have options so you can choose the best possible picture to post. Narrow it down to about 5-10 pictures and edit them all so you can see which matches your instagram best. After narrowing it down and editing, an extremely helpful app to use is UNUM. On this app you sync up your instagram and you’re able to see how different pictures look with your feed without actually having to post the picture.

• Quality control

• A quick and easy tip is to make sure you post high quality pictures. This does not mean you can only post pictures that were taken on the absolute best camera; this just means that you should try to post pictures that have a level of quality to them. Nobody wants to see a picture that is overly pixelated or a picture that is so poorly lit that you can’t make out anything in it. This section is completely based on your own opinion, just keep in mind what would look best quality/resolution wise.

• Keep your feed consistent

• You want to try and make sure your pictures remain consistent. This is not saying that all of your pictures have to look like each other, they should all just flow together nicely. This can be done in many ways whether it be editing/filtering your pictures similarly or giving all of your pictures the same white border. My personal favorite app to use to edit pictures is VSCO. It comes with free preset filters but you can download more for free or for small costs. The filters usually come in packs and suit a specific type of theme such as moody and warm or crisp and clean. Besides filters, you can also toy around with exposure, shadows, highlights, clarity, skin tone, etc. Finding a perfect set of edits for your photos is key to make sure everything matches together. Instagrams tend to be much more appealing when there is a sense of cohesion to the pictures. For example, I like to keep my theme more on the warm and brightly saturated side so my edits usually consist of the filter E1/Essence Pack at about +2.5 - +4.0 depending on the lighting, a slight boost in skin tone (+0.7 - +2.0, again, depending on lighting), saturation at about a +0.6 - +2.0, then I toy around with shadows, highlights, exposure, clarity, contrast, and temperature which usually varies a lot because different lighting, setting, and camera settings are the deciding factor on how a picture needs to be edited. The main goal is to just make sure your pictures match an overall theme whether it be all similarly filtered, lit, or colored. The app UNUM can also help with figuring a consistent theme because you’re able to load in a bunch of pictures to your instagram to see what looks consistent to everything else and what does not.

• Find your peak time

• A peak time is the best time to post a picture on instagram so it gets the maximum amount of attention and traffic. A universal peak time is usually 7 PM. If you post at 7 PM in your timezone you will most likely get the most amount of activity towards your picture. However, this may not be the case for some, but there is way to find your own personal peak time. On the app Followers+ there is an option called “Optimize”. If you go into that section it will come up with a graph showing you the best times to post everyday based on your specific instagram.

• Express yourself

• Make your instagram you!! Show off who you are through your pictures and what you post. Stay true to what and who you are. Make your captions exactly what you would say, not some manufactured caption to appeal to everyone. Maybe your picture is at a beach and your favorite song has a lyric about a beach, throw that into the caption! A huge way to stand out in the instagram community is being 100% you and expressing your interests to the world. Don’t hold back on showing off what you love and what you’re into through your feed.

• Don’t overthink it

• Finding the perfect picture, nice theme, and best peak time may seem overwhelming and over the top but it’s actually pretty easy. The theme you decide to stick with does not have to be an elaborate, exhausting editing process if you don't want it to be, it could simply be that your pictures always have a pop of green in them or that your pictures all have similar borders. The main goal is that it looks nice and cohesive without it looking like a messy stockpile of random images. Instagram is supposed to be fun so make sure it stays that way, don’t overthink it. Post whatever you want just try to keep it consistent.

all of the pictures on @lucafersko 's feed aren't overly edited but they all go together bc the lighting and positioning of subjects are similar

For @illegalciv they use a common theme of colors that pop and photos that are generally busy

A simple feed with a color scheme of browns, whites, overall just a neutrally toned instagram.

The same or similar filters are put on every photo and the lighting tends to be brighter. Flower backgrounds also add a pop so everything doesn't look overly uniform.

For @hannhmae's feed she uses pictures that are very light one editing. There are pops of color here and there with token black and white pictures that are from the past. Everything flows because of similar lightings and quality.