Would you love to have better pictures in your Instagram feed?

It’s easy to improve your photos for Instagram and you can start by following these 7 simple steps.

1. Lighting is the key. Make sure your subject is facing a window if inside, but not in direct light – big & north facing windows are best. If you are outside, shoot in the open shade to avoid harsh shadows – buildings provide awesome open shade. Cloudy days are my favorite -it’s like a big filter in the sky Avoid shooting at night when possible, the low light availability causes blurriness in your images. Always have your subjects face the light!
2. Don’t use the Instagram camera. Instead, take your pictures with your camera’s phone or even using the Camera+ app. Both will create better images that have more clarity. Then select them from your photo album once you are in Instagram.
3. Use better editing apps. Instagram’s ﬁlters have been outdone by better apps including VSCO, Camera+, Photoshop Express, and many more. If you want to up your photography game, then you need better ﬁlters and editing options.
4. Get creative. Use angles, compositions, and even vary the distance from your subject. Don’t be afraid to take many pictures and just choose one. Playing around will stretch your creativity and help you develop more originality.
5. Add blur. Using the blur function within Instagram is a great mimic to the “shallow depth of ﬁeld” that can only be created with DSLR cameras. But if you’re not shooting with a DSLR, then just add blur.
6. Avoid zooming in all the way with your camera phone – it will lead to pixellation because the lens in your camera phone is not equipped to handle that amount of zoom.
7. Make sure your compositions fit into the instagram square ratio. To make sure you have enough room left to right, you may have to take a step back to get in the square composition. You can always crop and adjust to the square ratio in your editing. Just remember that it’s easier to crop something out then to add something that isn’t there.
Here are some photos of my son using these Tips & Tricks To Better Instagram Photos.

I hope you learned something :)

And as always with photography: practice, practice, practice!

Holiday Lights, Long Exposures & Lens Distortions

I hope you had a wonderful Holiday Season!

I for one, am glad the holidays are over and I can get back into a normal groove instead of going everywhere all the time. Don’t get me wrong… I LOVE the holidays: the energy, the decorations, the activities, the lights, the spirit of Christmas, the coming togetherness – ALL OF IT! But I find it exhausting, especially being a single mom trying to do it all. I like to settle down into a winter slumber, be cozy and focus inward. Over the holidays I found a new favorite thing to do with my camera, my 24-70mm lens and a tripod = long exposures at night with Christmas lights. Omgoodness, these are too cool and I had to share them! It all started by my boyfriend and I going to Detroit for the evening over the holidays. We went to Campus Martius Park downtown Detroit and fell in love with all it’s glory! The lights, the energy, the food, the shopping! We found a rooftop overlooking the park and took some stellar shots – I’m beginning to think he loves photography as much as I do! I just had to share long exposures of holiday lights at Campus Martius Park!

Another favorite thing… long exposures at night with Christmas lights WITH lens distortions! You have to check these out!! These are too fun to photograph and too fun to see the results! These are from local light displays. We drove around, found them and I jumped out of the car with my camera and tripod and fired away. It’s interesting to see how unique they are from photo to photo. I hope you love them as much as I do. Enjoy!