By Hannah Elauria
We all know what happens during the holidays: bellies full of food, homes filled with family and Instagram feeds filled with cheesy photos. This social media platform’s transformation over the years is pretty complex. But even through all these changes, its focus has always been around visuals. It’s a simple puzzle: the better the photo, the greater the impact. So how exactly do you take the “perfect” shot? Don’t worry, we’ve got some helpful tips up our sleeves:
- Decide on when to shoot your shot. Ask yourself: does your photo have a story? Be the ultimate storyteller and focus on capturing meaningful moments. Think about what makes that: a wedding, holiday get-together or a hike that’s truly special. Remember, photos are meant to preserve a moment you want to keep forever.
. - Let there be light! Lighting can make or break your photo, but you don’t need a studio light set to get the perfect shot. Believe it or not, natural light is your best friend. Play with the lighting to get a unique angle. A simple way to adjust light on your phone’s camera is to tap your finger on the subject you’d like to receive the most light. Another way to please the eye is shadow play — adding shadows from windows or blinds can make for a compelling shot.
. - Balance it out. Composition is defined as, “the nature of something’s ingredients or constituents; the way in which a whole or mixture is made up.” Simply put, it’s the way the scene is set up for capture.Set up your scene with a sense of balance. Simply turn on “gridlines” on your camera settings and voila! You can place your subject along the lines or intersections to guide your composition. Implied lines can also lead the viewer’s eye to a certain element or direction; this can be in the form of trees, roads, buildings and more. And we can’t forget about depth! Capturing a three-dimensional world onto a two-dimensional photo can be done by tinkering with your depth of field and layering your elements.
- Keep it natural. When it comes to editing, less is more! The days of heavy filters on Instagram are virtually over; so the less editing, the better. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to inherit the #nofilter lifestyle — just keep it natural and light. That being said, here’s some of the Olives’ favorite photo-editing apps:
. 
. 
Now that you’ve got the fundamentals of how to capture the perfect shot, are you ready to tackle your Instagram feed? Shoot us an email at info@olivecreativestrategies.com and we’d be happy to help!