Social Media plays a massive role in our daily lives. Globally, more than 4.26 billion individuals used social media in 2021, and this figure is expected to rise to approximately six billion by 2027. Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms with one billion active users. This nifty little platform started as a forum to share pictures and videos and has now become a powerhouse of followers.

As of now, most small businesses that want to grow their brand tend to favor Instagram over any other form of media. This is because Instagram offers a more vivid form of storytelling via its reels and filters, which directly connect with the viewers. But, no matter who you are – a blogger, an influencer, or a business- photo editing is a basic problem everyone on Instagram faces.

While a large part of user engagement boils down to your content, the quality of photos plays a critical role in captivating the user and drawing them towards interaction (likes, comments). So, here are 5 simple tips to edit your Instagram photos and attract more viewers.

5 Simple Tips To Get a Perfect Instagram Photo

1. Take High-Resolution Photos

You need to dress up your Instagram post with a gorgeous image if you want it to receive hundreds of likes. While some bloggers choose to utilize DSLRs, others choose cell phones with capable cameras to capture their photographs. This might be an iPhone 11–12 Pro or the Samsung Galaxy A12, which is a more affordable option.

But you should avoid posting just any picture that comes your way. Instead, your photo editing process should start from the time you click the image. Take the following points into consideration when getting your photo clicked.

• Click in Natural light: Choose natural illumination above artificial light sources wherever possible. The best times to schedule the photoshoot outside are during the sunrise and golden dusk hours.
• Focus on the main object: Before you begin taking pictures, make sure the focus is correctly set. A defocused picture can come out as a blur and boring image.
• Trust the grid: Use the grid that your camera or smartphone provides to correctly arrange the photo. Follow the fundamentals of composition and maintain the horizon level.
• Use a tripod, if possible: If your smartphone doesn’t come with a trustworthy internal stabilizer, invest in a cheap tripod to reduce camera shake when shooting pictures.
• Get the RAW photo: Make sure your camera is set to RAW if you’re taking pictures. The RAW format captures the most information about an image and is more convenient to edit.

Even after implementing all these points, if your picture doesn’t come out perfect, don’t worry, as there are many editing techniquesavailable to help you get the perfect photo for your Instagram feed. Additionally, you can also approach a professional photo editing company if you have the budget to spare for high-end editing.

2. Focus On the Size of the Photo

You’d best prepare yourself by learning about proper sizes and formats if you don’t want to spend hours resizing and editing photographs for Instagram.

The largest possible picture size is 1080 pixels wide and high. That is a square in every way. You can enlarge a photo to a 1080 x 1350 pixel size if it doesn’t fit a square design. You can only upload JPG or PNG files. Keep in mind that you can also utilize Instagram’s Carousel feature to add up to 10 photographs to a single post.

30 MB is the maximum size for an acceptable picture on Instagram. So, you can compress a bigger image from one of the popular editing tools, such as Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop, if you have one. You will find free online photo resizers, but they will negatively impact your photo’s quality so professional software is a better choice, even though they charge a fee. If you don’t have the relevant software and need the job done at a reasonable cost, you can go for photo cutout services from any professional photo editing company.

3. Aim For the Perfect Portrait

Getting a good portrait is always a challenging task. But, when it comes to Instagram, you cannot go for anything less than perfect.

The issues with portraits are wide-ranging. You have to work on the background, posture, and minor details like dark circles, shadows, etc. Some of them can be managed while taking the shot, but others are better handled with the help of a proper editing tool.

For instance, you can use the Crop tool to enhance the composition of the image. You can adjust the image on a color scale and experiment with its exposure, contrast, white balance, or saturation. Many editing tools also have features to clean certain spots in an image. If you want to go a step ahead and do some detailed cleaning, use masking, layers, or Dodge and Burn in Photoshop. You can also use tools like PicsArt, Snapseed, and Adobe Photoshop Camera.

4. Color & Exposure Adjustments

No matter how well-lit your images are, you’ll probably need to make a few adjustments before posting them online. This mainly includes color correction and basic exposure correction. You have a few ways to make these changes in your images.

• In-built Instagram feature: Instagram Lux is a feature available on the Photo Preview page. This tool provides options to adjust the elements of an image and create an HDR-like effect in the photo by brightening the shadows, lowering the brightness, and boosting contrast to help make the image seem more eye-catching.

• Third-party tool: There are many other apps available like SnapSeed, Adobe Lightroom (for mobile), Movavi Clips, FilmoraGo, etc., with the help of which you can edit the images the way you want. However, most of these charge subscriptions.

There are a few tips that you can consider when you are in the process of color adjustments:

1. Keep it natural: Adjust the tonality of colors but refrain from making deliberate shade changes.
2. Change the color temperature: Depending on the mood of your image setting, changing the color temperature can help create the intended effect.
3. Use contrasting colors: Using colors opposite to one another on the color wheel (analogous colors) may evoke a sense of calm or confinement, so use them to change the mood of your image.
4. Subtle adjustment: You can intensify a particular color (or all of them) by adjusting the saturation levels.

5. Go For Desaturation

A frequent error when editing photos is oversaturating all tones, which has a significant impact on the final image in a negative manner. This is why most professional photo editors suggest people consider desaturating if their photos feel unnaturally bright or light. Partial desaturation is also a powerful trick for effective image adjustment. As image adjustment is not as easy as it seems, bloggers will always have the option to outsource image editing services to get their images transformed at their best.

Conclusion

If you are a budding blogger on Instagram or any other platform, well-edited pictures will certainly help improve your popularity. However, you should always stay updated about the latest trends in social media photography and accessible photo editing so you can create the results you want while staying within your budget.

I hope these tips proved helpful to you. For more tips like these, stay tuned to this space.