How I Edit My Instagram + A midweek Rose Gold iPhone SE treat for you!
20.7.16Hi, I’m Michelle and I’m a self-professed unashamedly obsessed phone addict.
It’s true. It probably began when I lived in Hong Kong and for some reason everybody is surgically attached to their phone, and, well, when in Hong Kong…! Of course as a blogger and budding Pokemon Master, I’m destined to be cursed with this technology ailment forever.
Something I’m asked about all the time is how I edit my Instagram photos. By no means am I Instaqueen or do I even follow a ‘theme’, I gave up on that gravy train a long time ago, but I do enjoy making my feed flow and look a little more uniform that most. Here’s how…
The Shots
Lately I’m all about the composition and perspective of a shot. Despite the fact that Instagram handily allows non-square photos, I still prefer a square composition on IG, it retains that modern-digital allure and magic for me. Take time to look at the variation of colours in your shot, are there lots of brights? Perhaps the colours are all delicately washed in pastels? Have you applied the Rule of Thirds? I tend to stay away from the cliche flatlay nowadays as I don’t blog so much about things as I do experiences and moments and memories. However, when flatlay-ing, consider the natural light, a variation of shapes and sizes of props, is there too much color in one corner and not enough in another. Is the photograph/camera itself shooting in a straight line?The App
Right now, I solely edit my Instagram photographs on VSCO. The interface may have changed a little but at heart, it does what it’s meant to: applies elegant filters to amateur photography. There’s a shop full of filters and a separate photo-sharing platform, as well as a huge library of photo editing tools that are oh so simple to master.The Filter
I currently use two filters on VSCO: A6 - a brightening filter that makes up about 99% of my feed, and HB1 - another brightening, slightly blue tinted filter that I use on more ‘difficult to work with’ images.The Finer Adjustments
As far as other edits go, I always elevate the Brightness and Contrast of all of my shots. I’ll straighten the image if needed and amend the Perspective, then tweak the Temperature and add some Fade. Et voila! VSCO also allows you to copy and paste edits, so once you’ve edited one photo, you can copy and paste it over for a mindblowingly pleasing uniform look.Filter: A6
Brightness: +2/3
Contrast: +2/3
Saturation: -1
Temperature: -1 (usually)
Fade: +2
The Grid
Last but not least, the infamous ‘grid’. I find great joy in creating a feed that flows from one image to the next, never too dark in consecutive photos and never featuring the same subject too heavily. Key things to keep in mind (for my feed, anyway) include, a mutual color between one photo and its new replacement, outdoors shots complemented by flatlays, and a great balance of your personal and genuine interests and lifestyle. My lifestyle, for example, consists of spending time in my office writing for clients, walking the dog, cooking vegetarian meals, visiting new places, exploring with my boyfriend and taking in nature.Quite excitingly, today I’ve teamed up with the guys at Three to offer one of my wonderful Daisybutter readers a Pinterest-perfect, Instagram mirror selfie ready iPhone SE 16GB in Daisybutter-approved Rose Gold with a Three SIM card, pre-filled with £10. It’s the perfect smartphone for a casual (or serious!) blogger as the camera is awesome and it has plenty of memory to store photos, apps and keep the iOS ticking over speedily.
To enter, simply take your chances on the Rafflecopter widget below, as usual!
iPhone SE 16GB in Rose Gold Competition T&C’s
- These terms and conditions are the rules which apply to this competition. By submitting their entry, entrants will be deemed to have agreed to be bound by the following terms and conditions.
- This competition is run by Daisybutter in conjunction with Hutchison 3G UK Limited, operating as Three, Star House, 20 Grenfell Road, Maidenhead, SL6 1EH.
- To enter the competition entrants must complete the Rafflecopter online raffle system before 23:59 on Wednesday 3rd August 2016.
- Entrants must be aged 18 or over.
- This promotion is open to residents of the UK, except for Three employees, their families or anyone else associated with this competition.
- No responsibility can be accepted for entries that are lost or delayed, or which are not received for any reason.
- Winners agree to participate in publicity as Daisybutter and Three may require.
- The prize on offer is a 16GB iPhone SE (Rose Gold) and a Three sim card loaded with £10 of credit.
- The prize is only as stipulated and cannot be transferred and/or exchanged for cash.
- Confirmation of the prize will be made by email to the winner by Sunday 7th August 2016.
- Reasonable efforts will be made to contact the winner. If the winner cannot be contacted, or is unable to comply with these terms and conditions, Daisybutter and Three reserve the right to offer the prize to another eligible entrant. Failure to respond and/or provide an address, or failure to meet the eligibility requirements may result in forfeiture of the prize.
- Daisybutter and Three reserve the right to amend these terms and conditions at any time. If we do this, we will publish the amended terms and conditions on the competition page.
- Daisybutter and Three reserve the right to end this promotion at any time, and without notice.