Instagram is one of the most popular social media apps used in Nigeria at the moment. From businessmen to companies, entertainers, and regular people who just use it for fun, everyone is drawn to the elaborate optics and the opportunity to follow the activities of their customers, stakeholders, family or friends.
The average ‘Instagrammer’ is always looking for ways to glam up his or her feed, as a creative and eye-catching feed is the perfect tool for dominating the platform. Also, there is a higher chance of gaining more followers with strategic aesthetics as users prefer to follow accounts with great appeal.
Luckily, you do not have to be a professional photographer or own an expensive camera to master an attractive Instagram feed. Jovago.com, Africa’s No.1 online hotel booking portal has some ideas to transform your grid into a gallery worthy of recognition:
Capture pictures in bright light Photos are much more alluring when taken in bright light: either when the sun is out or when there is proper lighting in the background.
Models and professionals understand the important of light and shadows and so they invest a lot of time setting their lights and cameras at the right angles. While you may not be a professional, look out for an angle that seems most flattering, before taking the picture.
Proper lighting will help to bring out the details in your photos and make your picture more attractive. Pictures that appear grainy or blurred are usually as a result of bad lighting.Follow a theme
Rather than post different pictures with different colour schemes randomly, settle on a theme for your pictures. Ensure that the theme you select is a ‘look’ that you love and would like to replicate in your image, that way you are consistent with it.
Consistency is a key element of any appealing Instagram account, so work on giving your feed cohesiveness. Whatever look you are going for, loud and bright colours, pastel shades or minimalist shades, try to keep it uniform for at least nine photos before switching things up. Also, write down a few words that you want people to associate with your account and use them when captioning the pictures.
Edit your photos
Editing your picture is a great way to jazz it up. A lot of people are not huge on filters, but there are other elements that could be adjusted to make the picture pop while remaining candid. Experiment with the Photo Editing tools in your Instagram app. There are options to adjust brightness, contrast, warmth, shadow and highlights and of course, saturation. You can also use other apps such as Afterlight or VSCO, to brighten up your photos, alter the contrast, boost color and more. To maintain consistency, it is important to use the same techniques and apps when editing your photos .
Avoid too many Pic Collages Picture collages can be fun, but they may not be the most effective when looking to jazz up your instagram feeds. Not only is it super distracting, it can actually put a viewer off as it sometimes makes your feed look too busy and frankly, unappealing.
If you are a die-hard fan of collages, you can stick to including just a few photos in one post and make sure the picture you select for the collage have similar lighting and content. It is important that you use them sparingly though.
Ndem Nkem
Travel/Tech Writer
Jovago Nigeria