Do you use Instagram? Want to do it better? Here are tips from the pros who use Instagram to share some of their best work.
After you create your Instagram masterpieces, bring them over to Animoto. With a click of a button you can directly import Instagram photos to Animoto to create awesome videos with your edited pics! Here’s a short with pics from our guests.
Marcus Bell [@marcusbell]
Marcus is an Australia-based wedding photographer. We love all the travel photos he posts so that we can keep up with Marcus’ busy schedule.
Favorite Filter? Valencia
Favorite Effects? The contrast (Sun icon)
Favorite types of photos to Instagram: Pretty much everything, Mostly personal and travel, however I’ll occasionally take a snap on my iPhone at a wedding and Instagram that as well.
Do you take the pictures directly in the app, on your phone or with your DSLR and then import? Why do you do it that way? 99% of the images are taken directly from the iPhone with the standard Apple camera app. That way I can always alter my cropping in Instagram later on.
Favorite person to follow: I like the “Popular” view the most to see many people sharing different images.
Add-on apps you recommend that go well with Instagram (or websites to view photos online): Snapseed. Nice to occasionally do some selective dodge and burning now and again.
Rod Evans [@rodevans]
Senior portrait photographer who uses Instagram to push images to his social media networks during the shoot.
Favorite filter: My two favorite filters are the Earlybird and X-Pro II.
Favorite effects: Love the tilt shift look with the blur filter.
Favorite types of photos to Instagram: Mostly Studio pics, some personal pics to show I am a human with personality because to me, that is the point of Instagram – to show the life of a creative photographer. I share behind the scenes shots of me working, people having fun at my studio, clients picking up big orders and then the shots I got.
How I do it: Most images are from the iPhone, but some are from my DSLR (the after shots). I want to shoot on the iPhone for candid studio images, but want to show the result of the behind the scenes with either a shot from the iPad or shot from the DSLR – pretty easy to do as all the images from my DSLR wirelessly go to the iPad immediately.
Favorite person to follow: John Pyle [@johndpyle]. He rocks his Instagram!
Add-on apps you recommend: If you want to rock out your Instagram images use Snapseed or Filterstorm. It’s pretty much like having Photoshop filters on your phone. Also use lenses for your iPhone to make your images standout. A fisheye lens especially looks so cool for behind the scenes shots, but the images that get the most attention are close-ups.
How do you use Instagram in your business? We use Instagram as a way to push our images to Facebook and Twitter – which helps build a nice following on instagram!
Kenny Kim [@Kenny_kim]
Kenny is a destination wedding photography and primarily uses Instagram to post images from before, during, and after the wedding he is photographing.
Favorite Filter? It’s a toss up between Rise or Sierra.
Favorite types of photos to Instagram: It varies but I mainly like to share my travel photos. As a destination wedding photographer, I have been fortunate to travel to some neat places recently. Instagram gives me a platform to share them effectively with many people.
Do you take the pictures directly in the app, on your phone or with your DSLR and then import? Why do you do it that way? I do a little bit of both. I believe in the philosophy that the best camera is the one you have in your hands (I think it was originally quoted by Chase Jarvis). So somedays I take images using my iPhone and somedays my DSLR (Canon Mark 1D IV). When I use my iPhone, I like to use Camera+ app. When further editing is required, I’ll then import it into Snapseed app by NIKSoftware.
Favorite person to follow: It’s hard to narrow it down to just one. There are so many talented folks out there. I do enjoy @instagood and @instagramhub because it selects a community of Instagrammers so that you can browse talents around the world. As far as individuals, I love checking out the works of my fellow photography friends as it allows me to visually keep up with what’s going on in their lives.
Add-on apps you recommend that go well with Instagram (or websites to view photos online): Statigram is a great website to manage your instagram account online. It allows you to browse all your followers in one window with the option to like and comment on their images. It also gives detailed statistics about your account.
