Taking and Editing Aesthetic Photos for Instagram: Complete Guide

Almost everyone owns a smartphone and a camera these days which also means that almost everyone who has access to the internet has an Instagram account of their own. Instagram, a social media platform that focuses on sharing visual content: images, videos, text, and the longer the platform has been running for, it has become even more saturated with various kind of visual content especially that businesses have started to make use of the platform for marketing purposes. Independent users of the platform have also found ways to express themselves better by creating aesthetically pleasing visual content for their audiences. Taking good photos, editing quality visual content, there are no limits to the type of content that can be shared.

Following the rules of photography

There are rules needed to be followed if you want to take good pictures. This website by ephotozine listed some rules to follow for when taking pictures. 

• Follow the rule of thirds

When you open your phone camera, most likely you will see a grid, right? Well, this is simply because our phone cameras are following the rule of thirds composition. As explained by an article from Wikipedia, the rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guidelines and their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear features in the image to flow from section to section. The main reason for observing the rule of thirds is to discourage placement of the subject at the center or prevent a horizon from appearing to divide the picture in half.

Here’s a video that shows how you should position your camera when using the camera grids:

• Making use of symmetry

The use of symmetry in photography is no stranger to anyone. This is simply because there are different patterns that exist around us, may it be natural or man-made. Taking account these patterns and capturing it through your lenses can create a whole new different story on its own. 

Picking a color palette that suits your personal aesthetic

Color dictates how you want your feed (or your photo) to be seen and judged. That is why deciding on a certain color palette to use for your Instagram feed is important so that the colors that you want to place on your feed and photos compliments from the moment you snapped the photo, to editing, and until you decided to post it. Even specific colors have implications when used in photography. Another use of colors is to make sure that there is some kind of harmony with your photos. 

For example, when using yellow tones for your feed, it can imply that you want to give out a bright, summery, open vibe. Including pictures of sunflowers or a clear view of the sky would give out this type of feeling.

Another example would be using pink tones, which would give off a childish and cheerful vibe. Most soft girls use this color pattern since it using a palette to make them seem petite and child-like.

To repeat, choosing the right color palette to use to your feed helps so much when it comes to the kind of personality that you want your feed to have. Though, maintaining such consistency needs discipline. You might be tempted to make use of different colors but that would only disturb the harmony that your feed should have. 

Choosing a color palette could also mean choosing between soft colors or hard ones. This matters especially if you want a certain personality to employ to you alternate persona in Instagram. Making use of soft colors such as pastels could signify that you are affable by personality. This means that you give off a carefree effect to your viewers. This could also mean that your content would center around positivity or about flowers and stuff. So as compared to someone who chose an aesthetic that has sharp color and higher contrasts, the personality of the aesthetic could give off a strong image.

Post pictures with inanimate objects

Including various inanimate objects to your feed can help your feed feel less crowded. Besides, we don’t want your content to feel a lot redundant, so we try to incorporate different types of things, aside from your selfies and pictures that center on your life (like pictures of your dogs, family, etc.). 

The thing is, if you constantly place these repeated content as the subject of your feed, then your audience would most likely feel bored seeing your content. Do you keep posting selfies? Sure, you can do that but were there any ways that you did that spice up your selfie game? Or were you only using the same angle for your selfie, using the same location, using the same getup? Then, most likely your audience wouldn’t feel any excitement when it comes to the content that you are bringing to them.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that the opinions of others are what’s important for when developing the aesthetic of your feed. You just need to think that if you are losing followers, or there are fewer people than usual liking your content, then you’re probably doing something wrong, right? Besides, we are going for an Instagram feed that provides a pleasing aesthetic, and doing repeated subjects for your content is hard to make as the basis of your aesthetic. You will eventually need to spice your photo game, hence why we recommend that you post inanimate objects as your subjects for your feed. 

A few examples of inanimate objects like these are the following:

• Making use of nature as subject of your photos

This does not entirely mean that you need to go to the woods just so you can get photos worthy of putting to your aesthetic feed. You can however, add nature related things to your feed, such as a flower that you picked early this morning, or a rock that caught your attention while strolling along your backyard. Nature is already there and there’s not much that you can change of it, so make use of your surroundings if you think that your feed’s content lack the charm that comes from nature.

• Modern (or vintage) infrastructures are art, too!

Have you ever considered taking photos of your surroundings? Maybe just saying surroundings is too broad, so how about buildings of your city? Or perhaps the farm that you always pass by every day? The beautiful walls of your school’s bulletin? Or how about that one building that seems so tall to you? Well, ain’t that a lot! Your surroundings can be an asset to your own personal feed if you just know how to fit them to your aesthetic!

If you decided to go for a strong aesthetic, then going hard on architecture will definitely suit your style, especially if we are talking about vintage architecture here that brings strong imagery. Strong, concrete buildings are also perfect for this aesthetic. And well, if you are going for the soft aesthetic, then it helps if you choose to go for the farm photos, sunsets, and bulletins. But if you want strong pieces placed in your feed too, then this is where you have to tweak your images by editing them to fit the style of your aesthetic.

How to take selfies and photos

• Test your angles

You can do this by taking various selfies of yourself doing different angles and also try various gestures. This may take a lot of time to perfect but just know that knowing your angle makes a lot of difference and may save you some time when the next time you take your photos.

• Make use of mirrors

Mirror selfies are fun! And if you haven’t tried that yet, then you totally should. You can take your time testing your angles through using mirrors, too! You can also test other ways to take your selfies this way, like for example, hiding your face to give more focus on your outfit.

•  Have someone take photos for you

Well, having someone to take photos for you makes a lot of difference, too by the way because the person taking the photos gets to observe your gestures and the way you bring yourself in front of a camera. There are a lot of good ways to take photos when you have a designated photographer so they can test out various angles for you, too. One famous way of taking that is through taking your camera from a lower angle. This doesn’t only make you look taller, but it also give you a good look from that lower angle.

Editing your photos

When it comes to editing your photos, it is important to know the basic of photo editing. And if you are new when it comes to photo editing, here is a blog that talks about the basics of photo editing.

• Install a photo editing app

But for starters, you can always start with installing a photo editing app that you like. As for me, I often use Adobe Lightroom, as it is simple to use and it has the basics that I need for me to edit my photos. You can also use Google Snapseed if you are looking for another photo editing app that only focuses on the basics.

Now that you have your photo editing app and you have decided on a certain aesthetic, you can start editing your photos.

• Checking your image's angles

First is making sure that your angles are in the right place that you want them to be. Also, make sure that the edges of your subject doesn’t feel off. Align the lines of the edges of your subject if you think they’re not aligned (you can do this with the perspective tool).

• Edit the elements of your photo

Next, you edit the elements of your photo.

The elements that are mostly used for editing photos are saturation, contrast, hue, and exposure. Tweaking these elements can help you achieve the effect that you want your photo to have. You can achieve this by going to contrast and drag its button to the left. Are you going for the soft aesthetic? Then you need to soften the elements of your image. What this does is that it lightens the colors of your image so that not one element in the image is standing out. 

There are also another app that you can use that already has ready-made filters, called presets that you can use already called VSCO, so go ahead and try it!

Satisfied with the guide that we gave you? Tell us if you want to have a more comprehensive way to edit your photos in a specific aesthetic so tell us your thought in the comments below!