Ever wonder how your favorite food blogger gets her overhead steel cut oatmeal shots to look that appetizing? Or how that fashion writer makes the colors in her outfit pop so much? We got the women behind some of our favorite feeds to spill their techniques for taking such tap-worthy photos.
Keep It Bright
The best ‘grams are taken indoors with great natural light or outside in daylight. Natural light provides the best clarity and colors, making your image sharp and crisp. Light from the side makes your subject look more three-dimensional, highlights texture and creates a moody effect; subjects lit from the back look dreamy and glowy; and light from the front is the most flattering.
Leave Room to Crop
Give yourself more options by shooting vertically, then try different square crops to find the image that looks more interesting. You can be more spontaneous shooting in landscape or portrait and cropping later; it gives you more flexibility.
Restrain Your Editing
Use a light touch with the tools—you don’t want to distort your photos too much. When in doubt, the brightening one is best because it sharpens the picture and makes colors more striking. Skip the Instagram filters for a more authentic feel.
Know Your Angles
For still life, it’s all about the overhead shot—you want to be directly above what you’re shooting, so don’t be afraid to climb on a chair or even get on a ladder to snap the perfect shot. With outfit pics, hold the camera high and close to your chest and stand up straight so your clothes are just peeking through and the majority of the frame is the floor below
Take Color into Account
Less is more when it comes to the color palette in your pics—images with a lot of shades can be distracting and appear messy. It’s important for images to hang together well from one post to the next, so it should be all about the colors you naturally respond to.
Mind the Background
For outfit shots, “pretty walls and tiled floors are Instagram candy,” says Khanna. For beauty products, a white background is the safest option, but anything from wood to marble to a placemat adds texture.
