my top 9 liked images in 2016
Hi guys, I am having an Instagram week over here. I started my Instagram account in September of 2015 from 0 followers and I took images with my iphone and was very proud of them. Early in my blogging adventure, I remember going to a blog conference (just 5 months after I started my blog) and a girl was looking at my images and telling me how good they were. It gave me such a boost of confidence! It was the first time I thought I might be able to actually do something with it.
I kept working on my Instagram and focused on getting better images. In the summer of 2016 my sister gave me her fancy camera as an investment in my little blog. It was beyond generous of her! Since then I have been using it and been trying to up the quality of my images. My Instagram audience has grown from a few thousand to over 49k in that time and I think some of that has to do with the images, right ;). I wanted to go over the equipment I use to get my images in case any of you are out there trying to do the same-
camera
Camera– My sister gave me this camera and I have been loving it! Confession- I still mostly shoot in automatic. One day I’ll fully learn how to use it. Even in automatic mode, I find the images beautiful and professional looking and would recommend it to anyone.
lens
Lens– My sister also gave me the lens. I love using this one (not the one that came with the camera). It has a better zoom and helps stabilize the image. It produces natural looking images and is good for a variety of shots.
Blogger Lens or the Fifty Nifty– one of my favorite investments is the 50mm lens. It was around $100 and worth every penny because it takes super clear and sharp images. There isn’t a zoom function, but I am obsessed with it for close up shots. It’s also light weight so it makes your camera smaller and easier to carry around. If you are wanting a lens for blogging, I’d suggest starting with this one.
Wide Angle Lens– when photographing inside my house, I kept needing to get the bigger picture. This lens does that! I only use it for 1-2 shots with each project, but it gets every angle even in a small space. It does give a bit of a fish eye distortion, but its worth it for getting all of the floor and all of the ceiling. I wish I had bought this one earlier. It was around $300 even with buying an off brand. It works great on my Canon and I love this lens!
tripod
Tripod– Having your camera level and not shaking is super important to a clear image. I got this tripod of Amazon and love it! It folds up super compact and is easy to use. I’ve used it for flat lays and images of myself and my home. I definitely recommend it! $22
remote
Remote– I’ve slowly been incorporating more images of myself in my Instagram feed. To do that I used to wait until my husband was home from work. Since we only have a few hours once a week when there’s good sunlight, it was a pain. For Christmas I received a timer that connects to my camera. I now just press the button on the remote and can take the classiest selfies ever! I use this with the tripod and love it! $17
tethering cord
Tethering Cord– I’ve been on a lot of professional photo shoots. One quality that sets the pros apart from the amateurs is the tethering cord. What this does is connects your camera directly to your laptop so you can see image nice and large. That way you can make tweaks based on the image on the bigger screen. This will help you get the perfect image because you can better see the imperfections. $8
wifi sd card
WiFi SD Card– When I first starting taking pictures with the fancy camera, I’d get frustrated at the process of downloading the images on my camera, email myself my favorites, and then Instagramming them. I finally figured out that you can get an SD card with WiFi on it. So you can wirelessly upload the images right from the camera to your phone and then Instagram away! It’s SO convenient. Such a time saver. I love this game changing tip!
lighting
Lighting– I recently purchased a set of two lights from Amazon for $60. I love to do video in my kitchen, but it’s too dark in there and so it goes grainy quickly. These lights are amazing! They are a nice white light so they don’t mess with my aesthetic (like yellow lights do). The one down side to these is that they have a super short cord, so I have to use an extension cord with them. I’ve used them for photos and videos and am so happy I made the investment!
reflector
reflector– I read a photography book recently and the author strongly recommended having a reflector to help with shadows. When I saw that they are only $17 I bought it right away! I like to shoot right next to my window which means that one side of the photo is beautifully lit and the other is covered in shadows. With the reflector, I put it on the shadow side which bounces light into the dark part of the photo. This helps the image looks evenly lit.
So there are all of my tips on how to get the perfect Instagram shot! I still do most of my editing in Instagram’s app (although, I did recently upgrade to Lightroom and have been loving it!). I go over full details on how I edit through Instagram in my free ebook on Flat Lays. Let me know if you have any questions!
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