The art of a good Instagram picture

 We've all been there. Iconic outfit, unmatched hair, makeup like never before and such a perfect spot, it would be a pity leaving without a good picture. So you hand your friend, partner, sibling... your phone, trusting they'll take a photo worth of your expectations.

And when they finally hand the phone back you see it, and you want to die inside. They took only three pictures, terrible lighting and even worse framing. Nothing like the pictures you showed them from instagram. And they look so proud: "You look great" they say, and you can't just tell them they're horrible photographers, so you turn your phone off and delete everything when you get home. Another cute place and you have no picutres to show off on instagram.

It had happened to me more times that I can count. I was yesterday on one of my friend's birthday, and on our way to the restaurant, we found this super cute spot on our campus. It was golden hour, you know, and we looked absolutely great, as we had put on formal clothes for the party. I was wearing this long vintage black dress, V neck and my hair up in a clean bun. I looked amazing. So I took pictures of all my friends. They all looked amazing. We were all so dressed up and looked so cute, I couldn't help it. So I started spamming pictures of each one of them. One by one, pairs, trios, a selfie... Pictures so good, three of them used them as profile pictures after it. 

And then the time for my own pictures came. I wish I could've taken my own. I wish there was a way of being on the picture and behind the camera at the same time. First of all, the framing was terrible. Tilted pictures, messy composition and instead of taking burst photos, my good friend H decided it'd be a good idea to just take a couple of great ones. Spoiler, none of them turned out great. 

At first it started out good. I told her how to put the phone and I positioned myself on the sweet spot. Not too far, not too close, cute background, golden light hitting my face just right. I started posing but after the first one she stopped and told me it'd be better if I moved. She positioned me against the light for the photo. She said my face looked terrible with the golden light on my face, said it made me too pale. I was a bit unsure but I followed her instructions. She took them on her phone. We all insisted on doing it on hers because she has the latest iphone, and her camera is the best of them all. Anyway, as we were busy later having dinner at this super cute sushi restaurant and then going to this club, I didn't ask for the pictures. And I should've, because the lighting and framing disaster went on for the rest of the night and while the other girls got amazing instagrams posts, I had nothing and ended up just posting a group selfie story. 

So how did I end up like that?
I had it all, right? Hair, dress, makeup... I even wore my new kitten heels that make me look great! This shouldn't have happened. 

Well, I should tell you girls, as a photographer expert, I ought to show you know, a couple of tips so you know how to take the perfect pinterest pic (or teach your friends how to do it) so what happened to me last night, never happens to any of you. 

#1 CRIME: Lighting. 

Light is the most important element of your pictures. It doesn't matter how good your posture is or how pretty the background looks if the lighting is bad. It's the thing that makes a photo either pinterest worthy or straight to the trash folder.

The best times of the day to take pictures are during the morning or sunset. First hours light has that bright but soft look that makes everysingle one look efforlessly cool. And golden hour is just THE lighting. We all deserve a cool golden hour picture. A really good one can make you look like an absolute godess and I swear you'll want to use it everywhere. 

And girls, I know seeing yourself with a pale face due to lighting can make you doubt yourself but I swear DO NOT STEP OUT OF THE LIGHT. Let the sun hit your face, let it bring up your natural beauty. Make sure you're facing where the light is coming from, either it is daylight or a flash. If you think it's too bright, you can always bring it down on your phone while taking pictures, but please trust the process. You want your whole body to glow, to be the main character. It doesn't quite matter if the background stays a bit dark because, girl, you are it. This is your picture, not your background's picture. 

If, by any matter, you want to be facing back the light, either because you want to show something or because you want the sky to be visible, make sure your face doesn't look too dark. You don't want to be in the shadow. For that, you can use your camera flash or a direct light. Adjust it until you look your best and it doesn't look too noticeable. 

#2 CRIME: Framing. 

Framing might be the next most important thing. You don't want your photo to come out looking funny just because your friend positioned you on the corner of the camera. Like, c'mon. I know the sunset behind me is beautiful, but I don't want my arm to be off frame, right? 

Either you want your pictures to be on horizontal or vertical, you'll want to activate the grid on your camera. This was a game changer for me. You can use the grid for the rule of thirds, and to keep your lines straight, keep the shot from looking messy. For a portrait you may wanna try to position the person's eyes on the higher line, making it look much more balanced. You can also use the grid to place yourself or other elements on the centre, or to create more composed photographs. 

I know, I know this isn't exactly a crime. Photography is an art, it's something you can change and modify and if you someday see that not following the grid is making the picture look perfect, then do it. My list isn't a book o rules you must follow, but some tips to make your next instagram post stand out. But you also must be brave and dare to try new things if you think it'd be cool. Just make sure you don't crop anything important out and please PLEASE don't tilt your phone too much. 

I know this part is a little bit hard to understand, but it's all about practice and taking pictures and pictures until one feels just right. I'll put here an example but feel free to ask if you have any questions. 

#3 CRIME: Not using photo burst. 

I promise you this is the ultimate photography tip. My pictures have been unmatched since I started activating photobursting. I know just spaming the camera button feels the same, but it's nowhere close.

Photo bursting is ideal for us girlies. You can just start making poses and you won't fear a bad picture anymore because it's impossible to have one if you've taken a thousand. 

On my latest trip to Paris, I started using this method and I swear I've never had better pictures. It took half the time to have way better pictures. I could just move around and my friend would capture that efforlessly cool candid picture we all dream of.

I promise girls, photo bursting is the secret pinterest girls have been hiding from us. You don't even have to know how to pose right, the camera will do the work for you. 

#4 CRIME: Not checking the pics. 

DO NOT FEEL BAD ABOUT ASKING TO REPEAT PICTURES. I swear, no girl I know will feel bad if you ask to check the pictures and then ask to repeat them. I wouldn't feel bad. You don't like how you look? That's okay! Let's change that. 

So don't make my mistake, don't assume your pictures look good just because you imagined they did. Check, see the mistakes, try to avoid them. Take your time to find the perfect picture and it'll all be worthy.  

#5 CRIME: Details.

Okay, okay, this isn't quite the crime, but just a tip I have to share with you because I used it on my last photo dump and it changed EVERYTHING. I used to get just likes or hearts and this made me get so much compliments.

Don't forget to picture details too. You don't want your whole instagram feed to be just you and huge things. Say you're going to Paris. You don't want all your pictures to be: Eiffel Tower, you, Louvre, you, Disneyland, you. Everyone has pictures like those, and yeah, they're cool, don't stop making them just because everyone takes them too. But don't forget to picture small beautiful details too. The floor on the street, a beautiful table, food, grass, flowers, a detail of an important monument no one stops to look at. Those are the little things that make your photo dump lived in instead of just a regular travel post. 

Also, small tip for when you're taking those photos. Point at the thing you want to take a picture of and then click on ×2 zoom. Not 1.75 or 2.25. Just ×2. The quality is better than other zoom positions and it'll make your pictures look cuter. 

Those pictures can also be things like the sky or a detail of your outfit. Please, I'm begging you, it'll make your life feel like an pinterest board. 

And I think that's about it, girls. I hope you enjoyed it and can now apply my tips to your wonderful pictures, I'm sure you'll all look like absolute godesses. Love ya, Auds.