Feed Photography Checklist

So you have your content strategy, you have your Instagram up and running, how do you get good photos? Check out my quick guide to take Iphone pictures worthy of your brand's feed.

1.     Lighting:
- Set focus and exposure for clear, well-lit photos
- Try natural light if possible in the morning or evening when sunlight is less harsh.
- Lock the focus using the AE/AF lock feature on the iPhone camera
 - Use the exposure slider to get the perfect amount of light
 - don’t be afraid to play around with flash, external lighting, and natural light.

2.     Styling:
 Think about the story you are trying to tell through the photo
- Use simple backgrounds that make your subjects pop
- Use attractive props that enhance the story of the photo
- Look at it with the naked eye, and through the lens to get a feel for how it looks
- don’t be afraid to copy a photo layout you like to get a feel for how to style something

3.     Shooting:
- Shoot between 9-11am/4-6pm for soft, diffused natural light
- Use a reflector to increase light in your scene
- Switch on the grid on your iPhone for better composition
- Use the Rule of thirds to compose interesting shots - Take the photos in the actual camera app, not a third-party app such as Instagram

4.     Editing:

- Use the Snapseed app to edit your photos, or one of the other apps listed.
- Intensify the colors in the photo with the saturation tool
- Use the healing tool to get rid of dust in your photos
- Use the same filter to maintain consistency in your photos
- use the same image size to maintain consistency in your photos.
- feel free to play around with different white boarders to create an interesting feed

5.     Export:

- Shoot photos in "Photo" mode for more flexibility during editing
- Save photos and export in full-resolution for high-quality
- Use iCloud or Dropbox for storage
- Don’t text your photos to yourself, as this reduces image quality.

Helpful apps

Priime, allows users to copy and paste their editing technique from a single photo to a collection of photos, enabling them to have a consistent aesthetic across their imagery.

VSCO Cam's main function is to edit images but the app's layout was recently updated, bringing more attention to social functions.

Snapseed was acquired by Google in 2012. This filter app enables you to edit photos using its HDR filters, and share across other platforms. service to create imagery on par with work by professional photographers.

Afterlight offers 74 adjustable filters, 78 textures and 128 frames available to iOS devices, and 59 filters, 66 textures and 128 frames to Android devices.

BLACK is an app that acts as a black and white film emulator. This free, simplistic editing tool permits users to swipe left or right to access different variations of pre-created filters that were inspired by and developed to resemble traditional black and white films.

Whitagram allows users to access traditional editing mechanisms such as brightness adjustment, as well as play with the background border by adding one of the many color options to their photo.

A Color Story offers more than 100 filters which enhance the colors of an image, along with 40 effects that work to tweak the lighting, angle and more, and over 20 tools for minor final touches. A Color Story also allows users to make custom filters and save them for future editing purposes.

PRIME tells you the best time of day to post for your audience. Its powerful algorithm processes hundreds of thousands of data points to determine when your followers are online, their activity, their relation to you, and, ultimately, when you should be posting to Instagram.

LATER helps you schedule your Instagram Posts out well in advance.
Word Swag Easily allows you to add text to images.

REPOST App lets you repost other’s Instagram images, while still giving them credit.