Six Ways To Make Instagram Both Beautiful and Bearable

Hey friends!  Can we talk about Instagram?  Does it feel like it’s gotten out of our hands?  Like everyone is everywhere doing everything (with cocktails) and we’re… distinctly not?   Instagram has become a beautiful and nearly unbearable place.  Here are my tips to contributing and carrying on.  

•  First, we all owe one another an apology.  I’ll go first.  I’m sorry I make everything look perfect on Instagram.  In fact, nothing is perfect. Everyone is, in fact, doing the same thing.. hiding their pain and disguising their anxieties behind various overhead shots of coffee and doughnuts.  I’m sorry.  I’m guilty of the same.  Let’s forgive people in advance for their perceived perfection, see past it and love each other anyway.  

•  Let’s be generous with our likes.  I mean, why not? We follow each other for a reason and that reason is probably that we like each other, or you have cute kids, or a sweet looking cat, or go on excellent food adventures, or have a great sense of humor.  Double tap.  Like.  Or unfollow in which case… peace out, nothing personal. 

•  There must be an element of beauty to Instagram.  We’re scrolling (with increasing speed) through visual images so our goal is to share our unique perception of beauty.  It’s about what you see, what speaks to you, and what you want to share…. and a proper amount of apps to edit and filter the beauty we see.  I love VSCO CAM for overall filters and white balance, sharpening, and general loveliness.  There’s a down and dirty VSCO food editing tutorial here for a few quick tips!  

•  Let’s talk about the nitty gritty of our food photography composition.  Here are a few tips I like to work within when photographing the food I make and eat.

Tighten and clutter up the frame.  This is a ‘more is more’ approach.  Add layers of texture and ingredients to the frame and inch them atop and very close to each other.  We’re creating delicious chaos.  Don’t be scared.  

See:  Fresh Raspberry and Gin Slushies

Opposite of the ‘more is more’ technique:  allow for some breathing room in your photograph.  Leaving empty space in a photograph is a nice rest for the eye.  Simplicity is best!   

Remember the rule of thirds?  Same applies for (ooey gooey) food photography on Instagram.  It’s about placing a subject in the lower third, center, or upper third of a photograph frame creating concentration and tension in a picture.  Also, all sticky buns look delicious so… this was too easy.      

•  Here are some of my favorite food folks on Instagram.  

     •  Probably This  •  Minimalist Baker  •  Nicole Franzen  •  Tracy Shutterbean  •  The Candid Appetite (picture above)  •  DinexDesign  •  BelleAnnee  •  Kitchy Kitchen  •  LocalHaven

•  Last, it’s (just) Instagram.  More specifically it’s your Instagram.  Do what feels good to you.  Stand on a chair in a restaurant, style your friends hands just right.  Forget the photograph and just dig into those cheese fries.  Do what feels good to you. Perfection has it’s charm, but so does a real real life.  Ain’t no shame in the game.  

Oh also… all the cool kids are using Snapchat now so… what are we even doing? 

Instagram:  joythebaker.  Holla at your girl.