I know it is not Monday but I have a special collaboration post for today! Instagram photos are always a struggle! Even though I have my sister as my personal photographer and my own in home studio. It hasn’t always been that way. Today I am coming at you with 5 tips for taking Instagram photos!

This is a collaboration with Katie from The Cozy Corner! We met on Instagram and have been supporting each other through our various creative outlets.

1. What to wear

Now, when choosing what to wear it all depends on your background but regardless, it should be something you feel confident in. Something that you love to wear. For me, this is usually dresses. I have a slight obsession with dresses, but that is not for everyone. Choose what makes you feel beautiful. It makes posing and the rest of the shoot go much smoother.

2. Find a backdrop

Now, this can be tricky, especially if you are searching for only space inside. I recommend using your shower curtain. Sometimes people have busy shower curtains though. So you can always try throw a plain sheet over the top of it too! I did this before I had all my fancy photography gear. It will definitely provide for a good backdrop and consistent theme.

If you are willing to adventure outside, I suggest putting your garage door down if you have one and using that as a backdrop.

3. Use Natural Light

Now yes, I love my indoor photo studio, but I still make every effort to go outside for photos because honestly, using big strobe lights is hard. You have to manipulate them to get the perfect set up- one with no shadows but enough light, which can be hard. So, your best bet is going outside where the sun is so you don’t have to fiddle with light placement.

4. Time

The light depends on time of day. So note that midday is not the best time for taking photos. Can it be done? Of course-it just will take a lot of experimenting with camera settings. And if you are not an experienced photographer or know how to use your camera well.. then I would stay away from shooting at noon.

5. Posing

As you may know (or I guess maybe you don’t) I am a photographer so I have worked with others. This means I know how to pose myself pretty well. I know what poses work well for me and what don’t. I take most of my sisters, Instagram photos and she has her own poses which look different from mine. We have totally different styles so it is natural that we pose so differently.

Of course, not everyone has had experience in posing so I recommend looking around at Pinterest for pose ideas. Try a handful and see which ones fit you well and which don’t. It makes it easier knowing this especially when you are out and about in public taking photos.

That is it! I hope this post really helped you tune up your instagram game! Don’t forget to checkout Katie’s post titled Lightroom Mobile Tutorial | How to Create a Light & Airy Preset that she did at The Cozy Corner! Happy Instagramming!

Until Next week & Much Love!