Some of my friends think it's a total waste of time.
Some of them think it is narcissism in a new form.
Some of us are addicted to it. I am, a little.
Why is Instagram so popular?
Here's a quick glance:
40 millions photos posted daily.
4 billion photos in its repository since it first started in 2010.
Oh yeah, Instagram is owned by Facebook.
Perhaps I am less informed but I couldn't think of any user-friendly online photo app and repository of this magnitude.
To the less-initiated, here's my take on Instagram. These may, to some extent, satisfy the narcissistic calling in you:
Square it:
Whatever orientation you take your shots, always bear in mind that Instagram is in 1:1 (i.e. square) format. So compose your shots with a square in mind. That will make it easier for editing later.
And since it is square, the rule of thirds in photography does not apply. A lot of photos you see on Instagram have their subjects smacked right in the centre of the frame. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Filters:
This is Instagram in its truest form. Basically you just take a picture using your phone / tablet camera or Instagram's in-built camera, apply any of Instagram's featured filters and you're done.
Here's a photo without filter and one using Instagram's filter.
#nofilter
Edited using Instagram's Lo-Fi filter with brightness on.
Pre-Instagram Editing:
I do this for almost all my photos. Pre-Instagram editing is where you use another photo editing app to edit your photos before putting the edited work on to Instagram for application of filters or direct postings. My personal favourites are Pixlr Express and Snapseed. Both have lots of very easy to use simple yet effective photo editing tools.
Here's the same photo above but this one has some minor edits using Pixlr Express before posting to Instagram.
Edited using Pixlr Express, then using Hefe filter in Instagram for this final result.
#ashtags:
I don't use hashtags a lot but hashtags will surely increase the chances of your photos getting featured or be seen under the chosen hashtags. It is quite simple actually. Just use the # followed by the word / term, eg. #love, #nofilter, and so on. Your photos will be instantly tagged to the hashtag and featured in the 'album' carrying the hashtag.
Quotes:
Towards the final step before posting your photos, you can include a line or two on each photos. Lines that describe the photo. Some compose a two page material. Some use it to promote their products. Some hashtag their photos. Your creativity is the only limitation, both in shooting that photo and putting in the words.
Geotagging:
You can also tag where the photos were taken. Pretty useful if you are on vacation and wants to share where you are and what you are doing, almost on a real-time basis. Just make sure you don't geotag those vacations with the mistress ;)
Selfies:
This is very famous Instagrammers' obsession. Mostly females who take self photos either using the front camera of their phones or their reflections off mirrors. Some go to the extent of doing selfies with very little clothes on. So guys, feast yourselves, if you will.
Foodies & Feet:
Some users seem to love taking photos of what they are having for lunch and there are some who enjoy snapping pictures of their feet (and footwear). Whatever their obsession is, it is totally up to them. We never fully understand humans anyway :)
Thai celebrities:
It is quite amazing that there are some many beautiful Thai celebrities out there. And it is also pretty (pun intended) amazing that most of them have hundreds of thousands of followers. Asians rock!
Beautiful Malaysians:
Malaysians are beautiful, regardless. Instagram or no Instagram. And I'm proud to be one!
Likes:
Take time to scroll through the featured photos. You will find some photos you like. Afterall, there are 40 million photos to choose from daily.
Liking someone's photos also increases the chance of getting your own photos viewed, liked and followers since every like is notified to the user, therefore if the user happen to click on your name, he/she may chance upon your photos, unless you set your account to "Private".
Follow:
Instagram allows users to 'follow' other users, worldwide. They may be people you know or those you chance upon at random. There is a lot of fun doing this as you might discover someone whose portfolio you like and you just want to follow his or her Instagram journey. Some users (especially celebrities) have millions of followers.
Interact:
Place a comment or two on the photos you like. You are instantly connected, if you so wish, to hundreds of millions of Instagrammers so why not make more friends? Just don't pass hate remarks or comments of someone's photos. It only reflects your negative self.
It's not a numbers game:
Posting 300 photos a day is not going to make you a star. Choose what you post and post what you really like.
Privacy control:
Setting your account to "Private" means you are only comfortable in allowing a selected few to view your photos and you need to 'approve' any users who wants to 'follow' you.
You still have some form of privacy so to speak. However in reality, it is still not total privacy because Instagram 'owns' all your photos, legally. To verify this, do read Instagram's Terms of Use.
Back-up:
You can back-up the photos that you post on Instagram. Online and the good old method. For online back-ups, just Google it and you'll find many sites and programmes offering back-up services, some paid some free. For the old school ways, well all the photos you post are still in your devices right? Then again there's always DropBox or its equivalent. Not forgetting, your computer hard drive. If you treasure your photos, you'll figure out a way.
Thanking your followers and 'likers':
Sometimes you'll get plenty of likes on your photos, at times, not a single one. But if you do get lots of likes and positive comments, do take a few seconds to thank those who've liked the stuff you posted. It goes a long way.
Finally, true to its narcissism spirit, do check out my Instagram at quartzimodo.
No comments:
Post a Comment