How to Take Good Pictures of Yourself for Instagram [Before vs. Afters!]

Raise your hand in case you’ve ever tried to take an Instagram-worthy pic of your self, solely to wind up capturing, deleting, reshooting, deleting, reshooting… you get my drift right here.

After some time, you simply need to quit and submit a pic of your pet as a substitute.

(Note: There’s nothing incorrect with that. Instagram may use extra puppies! )

But right here’s the factor: your Instagram feed may use extra images of you, too!

Why? It’s easy. People join along with your face. Posting photos of your self helps your viewers see that you simply’re actual and join on a deeper degree.

So how to take photos of your self for Instagram?

That’s what we’re masking intimately at present, so buckle up!

Plus, we wouldn’t be Tailwind if we didn’t go the additional mile for you and exhibit our personal earlier than and after images of these selfie-snapping ideas!

That’s proper – to aid you find out how to take good photos of your self, our courageous group willingly took questionable selfies to be posted on the web…

Forever. #CustomerService

So what are you ready for? Let’s have a selfie get together!

1. Use the Proper Device

First issues first – High-quality images in social media replicate the model’s high quality and id, even when it’s your private model. But, to obtain it, you want to discover a system that enables you to showcase all of the concepts you have got envisioned.

A high-quality picture will seize your viewers’s consideration, talk your message higher, and present professionalism; some even consider it relates immediately to elevated engagement.

The excellent news is that these days, there are a lot of obtainable DSLR cameras and smartphones that make this job a bit less complicated. So now, within the second of reality, which of these two is healthier? 

We requested our social media strategist buddies Marek and David and that is what that they had to say:

Image measurement is one other issue to think about as a result of a low-quality digicam won’t present the correct sizes to adhere to Instagram’s tips for images and reels. To higher perceive Instagram picture measurement, try our article.

2. Find Your Lighting

Arguably an important issue of an excellent selfie – LIGHTING.

If you’re puzzling over how to take photos of your self, the reply is unquestionably NOT doing it in dim rooms or super-bright synthetic lighting.

Our world-class Community Manager Melissa bravely volunteered to exhibit the distinction for you.

First, she snapped a pic below the fluorescent lighting in her workspace.

This harsh lighting tends to wash out your pores and skin tones and throw shadows into sharp focus.

Takeaway: Bright mild doesn’t equal good mild.

However, when Melissa moved over to a big window and snapped her selfie, it made all of the distinction!

The pure mild from the window illuminated Melissa’s options with out washing them out! Her pores and skin glows and her lips have shade once more!

Now it’s your flip! Here’s how to discover your greatest mild:

How to Take Pictures of Yourself in Great Lighting:

• Shoot by a window or in a shady spot
• If outdoors, keep away from photos in harsh mid-day lighting.
• Experiment with taking your photos mid-morning or mid-evening for delicate, flattering mild
• Avoid mild sources like home lamps (creates yellow mild) or harsh vivid lighting.
• Don’t use flash in case you might help it!

3. Practice Natural Poses

Let’s be actual: it feels actually awkward to pose for images in a manner that doesn’t look, properly… posed.

If you’re something like me when a digicam is pointing your manner you hit a variation of the identical stance with out even excited about it!

(Mine is hand on the hip turned barely to the aspect. Pageant fashion. )

There’s nothing incorrect with a go-to pose, however it may possibly rapidly get repetitive in your feed. To amp up your Instagram profile and hold issues enjoyable, recent, and fascinating, you want to discover natural-feeling poses that showcase you in one of the best ways potential!

I do know, I do know. Easier mentioned than carried out. That’s why our Chief of Staff Ellana supplied to exhibit!

In the earlier than picture, Ellana strikes a primary pose for her portrait.

It’s positively not a foul image however doesn’t showcase Ellana’s enjoyable, can-do persona.

In truth, by creating this enclosed form together with her arms, she’s unconsciously submitting a closed-off and unsure look to the viewer.

In the after shot, Ellana relaxes again into her seat, leans on the armrest, and cocks her head barely in direction of the digicam. She’s adjusted to catch the lighting, and the unsure posture is gone.

Now she’s simply effortlessly cool!

Here’s how to take your personal aesthetic selfies:

• Use a mirror to examine your poses. This would possibly really feel bizarre at first, however you’ll get a really feel for which poses really feel pure and expressive of your persona!
• Use Time Lapse, an intervalometer, or picture bursts to attempt just a few completely different poses in entrance of your digicam to give your self tons of choices to select from!
• Take 1,000,000 check selfies placing every kind of poses. Find 3-5 signatures that you simply love, and apply till they’re second nature!

Test All of Your Angles

Do you realize your greatest angles? If the reply is not any, you’re not alone. According to many group images, I nonetheless haven’t discovered mine!

The excellent news is, they’re fairly simple to discover with some devoted apply! Ever heard somebody cease an image snap proper to change to their “good side”?

That means they know their greatest angle, or probably the most flattering angle to place their face or the digicam in.

Our Pinterest Product Specialist Alisa volunteered to exhibit a before-and-after of digicam angles.

In her earlier than selfie, Alisa has the digicam angled down in direction of her face.

At the identical time, she’s angling her face towards the digicam 3/4ths of the way in which.

This adjustments the way in which the sunshine hits her face within the shot, and accentuates away from one of her most attractive options: her eyes!

Boom! In her after selfie, Alisa is serving us a serious smolder with two slight angle adjustments. She’s positioned the digicam degree together with her eyes and tilted her chin at a slight angle.

Completely completely different look, proper? Now you possibly can see her eyes and the planes of her face are highlighted in all the suitable methods.

Here’s how to check all of your angles for excellent Instagram photos:

• Set up your shot along with your desired settings, publicity, and focus.
• Use the TimeLapse, Photo Burst, or intervalometer (on most DSLRs) to rapidly take variations of the identical picture from the identical digicam angle.
• Focus on angling your chin, brow, head, and physique in numerous positions and angles. Keep full, 1/2 (profile), and three/4 (turned barely away) in your thoughts for all of these.
• Reposition your digicam increased or decrease and repeat!

You will completely have 1,000,000 images to take a look at, however you’ll rapidly get a really feel for the place the digicam wants to be and the place your face and physique ought to be angled to get probably the most flattering seems!

5. Grab a Tripod

Unless you have got the money to burn on a live-in photographer, chances are high you’ll be taking images by your self most of the time.

Knowing how to take photos of your self alone will change your selfie sport.

One of the very best methods to do it? Grabbing a tripod! You can discover extraordinarily inexpensive telephones and digicam tripods on Amazon.

Many of them are even outfitted with a useful Bluetooth distant that enables you to snap an Instagram image with out touching your telephone!

Our ace Customer Success Associate Sarah was very happy to exhibit for us!

Here’s Sarah’s earlier than selfie.

It’s tremendous cute!

Buuut you possibly can see Sarah’s “selfie arm” that makes a self-portrait look rather less polished than we’d like.

Plus, while you maintain your digicam your self, you possibly can’t catch all the main points of your nice outfit. Boo!

It’s additionally robust to seize full life-style photographs that inform a narrative this fashion.

In Sarah’s “after” selfie, she’s ready to again up and strike a flattering pose utilizing a easy stand and her iPhone’s self-timer.

Adorable, proper?

Here’s how to take good photos of your self alone with a tripod:

• Attach your system to your tripod and examine for potential slipping and stability.
• Adjust your publicity and focus to your required settings.
• Mark the place you want to stand for your greatest photographs.
• Snap away!

6. Perfect Your Composition

Composition is a key half of an excellent picture, whether or not you’re taking product photos with your iPhone or a selfie!

Our Customer Success star Doricia was readily available to present you the distinction composition makes. Let’s have a look!

In her “Before” picture, Doricia serves us a serious look from a sofa.

This picture is nice, however the steadiness and composition are a little bit off.

If you imagined a grid over this picture, dividing it into 9 squares, you’d discover that it’s off-balance.

There’s extra white area on the high of the picture, and the topic skews to the left.

In her after selfie, the composition of this shot is far more balanced. Doricia is centered within the picture, and it’s balanced on both aspect.

Here’s how to excellent your picture composition:

• Enable the Grid in your digicam (below Settings > Camera)
• Practice lining your self up with a vertical line on the Grid, or on the intersection of two traces
• Balance your picture as a lot as potential with symmetry (in case you fold the picture down the middle, there ought to be an virtually equal quantity of element on both aspect)
• Scan your environment for ugly muddle, particulars, or objects that may distract the attention.

7. Put Finishing Edits on Your Photos

While we’d love to nab the right selfie on our first attempt, most images may gain advantage from just a few ending touches in an enhancing app.

From lighting tweaks to blemish removing and softening, you can also make your self-portrait shine with only a few faucets!

Our Inbound Marketer Jordan demonstrates the delicate results of just a few edits utilizing a selfie, and Adobe Lightroom.

Jordan’s “before” selfie is nice!

However, it’s only a smidge too darkish, which might make element arduous to see.

Plus, she’s taking her image towards a greenery wall, which seems a tad pale.

A punch of further vibrance will make that colourful backdrop stand out!

Just a few lighting and shade tweaks and voila!

Jordan’s face is illuminated with a delicate nudge of publicity, and the shadows on her face now aren’t as harsh.

You can even tweak selective colours in most enhancing apps.

That made it a breeze to enhance the saturation and luminance of the inexperienced backdrop!

To put the ultimate touches in your selfies, obtain an Instagram photo editor (we focus on the professionals of our 5 high favorites!) and experiment with edits till your selfie is excellent.

8. Play with the Settings on Your Camera

Before you undergo the method of importing your selfie to an app and making tweaks, poke round and see in case your digicam settings can’t handle some of these edits already!

For instance, the settings in my iPhone 11 Pro usually take away the step of enhancing my Instagram images!

Here’s my very own instance selfie!

In this shot, I used the Portrait setting on the iPhone. This softens the background of your picture and makes the picture topic clearer!

The lighting is fairly good as is, proper? #ThatNaturalLightTho

However, I usually add the Studio Light setting to get a little bit further brightness and crisp focus to my images.

I’ve added that Studio Lighting to my after picture. Overall, my face, eyes, and hair are a pinch brighter and stand out extra!

And the very best half, I didn’t even have to open this selfie in a single of my apps for enhancing.

How to Take Good Instagram Pictures of Yourself with Your Camera Settings:

• Take your self on a tour of every digicam setting to perceive what they do, and their greatest makes use of!
• Set and lock the main target of your selfie (you!) to just remember to don’t lose sharpness or readability.
• Pre-adjust your publicity and lighting in your digicam earlier than snapping your shot – this removes a typical of completion!

Check Out Our Photography Webinar for More Tips!

Whew! That was rather a lot of ideas and tips for taking good images of your self for Instagram! And guess what? There’s extra the place that got here from!

Sign up for our FREE Smartphone Photography webinar to go even-more in-depth on:

• Different sorts of lighting and the way to work with every
• The artwork of picture composition and fascinating tips to attempt
• Perspectives and angles (with examples)
• Step-by-step enhancing tutorials in Lightroom (you possibly can apply these to any of your favourite apps!)

Did we point out it’s completely free? Don’t hesitate- view our webinar proper now!

9. Start Scheduling Your Selfies to Instagram

Now that you simply’ve realized how to take good images of your self for Instagram… it’s time to get these beauties onto your feed! You can simply and rapidly schedule all of your lovely posts with Tailwind’s publishing device.

Just add your images into your drafts and organize them with our visible Instagram planning device – the 9- Grid Preview.

Our Smart Schedule device will analyze your greatest occasions for engagement and create calendar slots for every. Tada!

And in case you choose to set it and overlook it, simply allow Auto Posting for Instagram Business accounts! Tailwind for Instagram will do the heavy lifting for you and submit your wonderful selfies in your behalf at the very best occasions.

Can’t wait to attempt it out? Sign up for the endlessly free plan of Tailwind for Instagram – no bank card required!

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