Taking Instagram Worthy Pics

Taking pictures, or being photographed, seems like the easiest thing in the world these days. Our society is saturated with pictures of everything from professional, amateur and just for fun. Of our food or morning coffee, a sweet paper our kindergartner brought home, our new outfit, or nature, photography is everywhere and the whole world is our muse.

So with all these images, literally thousands of any subject matter, at our fingertips, how do we make our pictures stand out?

When starting a blog, you may not be offering anything particularly new (child antics, food interests and recipes, clothing, reviews, poetry, etc.). But we can make our approach unique and fresh. When I started my mommy blog, one of my favorite fellow mom bloggers was a woman who drew stick figures. Her blog, Parenting with Crappy Pictures, is now hugely popular and she even has a book published by the same title. Again, it wasn’t that parents writing about their children was an innovative concept, but her funny approach and deliberately ridiculous illustrations made it something new.

For me, breaking out into style and fashion blogging and photography is new, but not for the Instagram world. There are so many beautiful accounts of women modeling their latest outfit. I’m in awe most of the time, especially with the knowledge that these are not “professional models,” but learned how to be along the way.

As my husband and I played around with taking pictures, styling outfits, and finding that perfect “accidental” pose, I realized I have much to learn! It’s more than the clothes and the makeup. It’s the setting, your angles, how to hold your hands, knowing your “good side,” and just having fun with it. But all this takes practice as we become more comfortable in our attempt to make our non-professional love of fashion, blogging and photography become professional.

We played around this weekend – he with exposure, framing and angles – and I with modeling and being comfortable. I’ll share our very raw practice shoot with you now, then a few videos that I’ve been watching to help me. I have a long way to go, and that is why I’m sharing now! It’s a process, and I hope to help others on their journey also. Whether for fun, #forthegram or something more!

We used the front of our house for all these pictures. In this shot (which I did overexpose on purpose in my edit), my shoes are not showing. I need to work on my stance also. Being naturally curvy, certain ways of standing amplify that more than I would like.

I did not edit the color in this one so as to show you the contrast from the first. As the primary focus of the images, I want to be what stands out, not what blends into the background. A background can add a lot of personality to your pictures, but it shouldn’t distract. I feel I blend too much in this one. I simply look like the accidental camera phone shot of a woman walking out her front door.

I cropped out much of the background I blended into with the previous picture. My entire outfit is showing. My angle looks a little more natural and flattering. However, the lighting and background still need work.

With the color choices in this outfit, I stand out much more than in the previous pictures. Again, the background needs to work with and for you, but should never make you look a part of it! In the second of these two, my head is intentionally cut partially from the frame. This adds more focus on the outfit.

I’ve never been comfortable in front of a camera, and that shows through each and every time, unless they are candid shots. This picture was an attempt to look candid in order to offset my discomfort for traditional poses. Still learning all things!

This picture is also an attempted “candid” shot. We overexposed the background to bring me out as the main focus of the picture.

We will continue practicing and sharing our progress! Here are a few helpful videos for modeling and fashion photography whose tips and tricks I’ll be utilizing practicing in my next shoot:

Over the Shoulder and Other Poses