Instagram Photography Tips: How To Compose Your Photos
There is no doubt that my business has been built off the back of my photographs. Yes, my blog and content has been vital too, but almost always my photos on Instagram are the first thing that people find, and draw them in to learn more. And really, I’m an amateur photographer – I shoot on Auto (and previously, an old iPhone) and, to be honest, find the technical stuff a bit boring and, well, technical.
So here are my Instagram photography tips, honed from trial and error, conversations and many, many hours on the app.Before we start, here’s a little something to bear in mind: good Instagram photography is not always the same as good photography. Good Instagram photography weathers the specificities of the platform (they have to make beautiful thumbnails, they have to catch the eye in a crowded space, they have to reflect the trends in the app, they have to communicate personality), whereas good photography doesn’t consider these things. This is often why you see photographers’ accounts that struggle to grow – because Instagram isn’t about the most technically ‘good’ photos.
So, how do you make your photos stand out…?
What’s the story?
This was my biggest take-away when I did The Insta Retreat 18 months ago: your image needs to have a story. Instagram gets a bad rap for being all very superficial and overly aesthetic (which in some places may well be true), and that can make us think that we need to create images that are perfect-looking and not worry about the substance. I’m thinking about all those flat lays, vignettes and arrangements that are just pretty things together but that don’t have any meaning – yes they probably get a lot of likes, but genuine wholehearted engagement? Not so much. What I have found over the last year or so is that images with a hint of story, of narrative, of humanity, are much more engaging.
I’m not asking you to write Wuthering Heights in photography here, the story can be as simple as a new bunch of flowers in the sink waiting for their vase, an open book and a cup of tea on a chair with the owner just out of shot maybe grabbing a slice of cake, a crumpled blanket on an unmade bed where a lazy Sunday morning has been spent.We are a curious species. We love stories and we are drawn to other humans – they both engage us and hold our attention. Whenever you’re composing a photo, always ask yourself ‘what’s the story here?’ (I always do) and add or take away elements to communicate that little narrative moment. In the two images above, the first had a really strong story about going for a micro-picnic and representing that, whereas the second, I'll admit, was more about being pretty - and I think that shows in the images. (A caption can also play a part in fleshing out your story - I've written about creating engaging Instagram captions here).
Read left to right
This is something Jess and I discussed on our curiosity weekend. As we analysed our best performing images, the posts we’d saved for inspiration and the photos on our Explore pages, we noticed a thread running through the images that engaged us – they all ‘read’ left to right.In the West, at least, we learn to read left to right, top to bottom across a page, and this affects the way we view the world – we approach everything, websites, images, landscapes, left to right. Think about whenever you’ve been at a beauty spot or on top of a mountain, everyone taking panoramic photos turns to their right, it feels weird to go the other way. Side note – if you grew up reading right to left I’d be so interested to hear your perspective.
So when composing your frames, think about how people look at your photo: starting at the top left corner and moving down and right. Your job with your composition is to help guide the eye in that direction and not jar with the way it wants to go. So have your negative space on the left hand side, aim your light source to be coming in from the left, and use your props or subjects to guide the eye downwards towards your subject (see in the image above how the rose guide the eye right and down towards the chair and the book).This isn’t one to do every single time, it would make your feed very samey and other compositions work well on Instagram too (more on this later). It is something to experiment with though, and be mindful of – while you don’t need to be tyrannical about it, know that it’s best not to load all of the subject on the left hand side because that blocks the flow.
Graphic VS detailed
These are the two main types of composition on Instagram and ones you can spread through your grid. What I call a ‘graphic’ composition is one that feels almost geometric – the power is in the bold shapes, straight lines and angles and simplicity of props. A detailed composition, on the other hand, is slightly more fiddly – it has some detail that is not quite legible at a thumbnail level that draws people to click. You can of course, slightly mix the two together as well. The graphic elements are there in the strong geometric shapes of the cup, book, rug and table (and actually, the shaft of light), whereas the small writing in the book, the teaspoon and the texture in the rug adds a level of detail that one would have to click to see properly in the app.I’m also finding that the amount of engagement each composition gets varies with the seasons – during the summer the graphic images seem to be doing better, while in winter the detailed images seem more popular.
This is probably due to the how people are feeling in each season and how much time they're spending on social media. In winter people tend to be spending more time indoors, and therefore have more time to really look at the pictures and spend time with them, and they crave the cosiness that detailed shots can provide. Whereas in the summer people are generally spending less time on the app, so want content that's really easy to digest quickly.Of course, as with everything, this isn't a hard and fast rule (the image of the tea and the slippers was posted in winter and is one of my best performing posts). But if you're having no joy with one kind of composition, think about external factors like the seasons and use that to change things up.
Recreate your best stuff
I’ve said this before: in our businesses generally we hit on something that resonates, that does really well, and then we think ‘right, what can I do that’s completely different but equally as successful?’. Somewhere along the line originality became fetishised and we all feel that we need to be constantly reinventing the wheel with what we’re creating.My advice is that if you’ve struck gold, keep exploring that seam. You’ll see that the big Instagrammers are always creating variations of previous images and re-working successful compositions, so follow their lead. Look at your most popular images (you can do this easily in your analytics if you have a business account). Which scenes can you recreate? Are there spots (a windowsill, a table etc) that come up over and over again? Is there a composition you can recreate for a new season (i.e., replace tulips with sunflowers, or slippers with sandals)? Let these successful images be the tropes you use again and again.T
Take the two images above - the first I posted in January, the second in July. The first image had done well when it was first posted, so I used the same composition but made the props lighter to fit the season I was shooting in. Most of all, however, get curious. Look at the photos you're drawn to and rather than double tap and move on, analyse why you like them. What is it about the composition that makes it successful, and, crucially, how can you recreate that in your own way? Maybe it's the direction they've got the light coming from, maybe it's where they've put the subject in the frame, maybe it's the textures. Do the same for your own work too: yes, recreate your good stuff, but also the not so good stuff. Rather than blame the algorithm for an image that didn't do so well, analyse what in the image may not have resonated (in my experience, the answer is always in the image). And lastly, experiment. Go take some photos that would never make it to the grid just to play with light and composition - your audience will love you for it :)
