Imagine a place where your outfit photos get a ton of likes on Instagram, where your outfit photo is so amazing that no one can resist double-tapping.
If that is something that you have ever thought of before, then you have come to the right place. After this, not only will you be way more informed of what makes the best photos on Instagram, but you will also be swimming in hearts. Trust me.
Now, I have been on Instagram for a decent amount of time, and I would say that I get excellent engagements for my audience. But that wasn’t always the case.
So, I didn’t always get numbers like this. And also to clarify, I have never bought anything. No followers, no likes, nothing. So, over time I have picked up on some key points that always leads to more engagement on my photos.
So, if you follow these tips too, you will hopefully get similar results.
Tips on taking outfit photos for Instagram
I again want to clear it up that I am no Instagram mastermind. I don’t know all of the tips and tricks on Instagram. Neither am I a photographer. So, I am just telling you what works for me.
Thus these tips might not work for you immediately. But I suggest that you do these outfit photo tips consistently for a month or so, then I promise you that you will see a very noticeable increase in your engagements.
1. Good Lighting
Needless to say, But lighting is everything. If you take your photo at a very dark place of your photo’s exposure is very low, then it will not catch on to the eyes very quickly. As a result, your engagement will not be significant.
But there isn’t much synopsis to give about lighting, so here are some general tips to make sure you nail your lighting in every picture.
- Make sure always to take your pictures during the day.
- It is good to avoid taking pictures when the sun is directly above your head.
- Do not take your pictures at night.
- Natural light from the sun is always the best source of lighting.
- Overcast weather is also perfect for photos.
- Photos at the golden hour (The period shortly after sunrise or before sunset during which daylight is redder and softer than when the sunsun is higher in the sky) usually looks excellent.
Another thing to note is that you don’t need fancy studio lights to make your photos look amazing. In my opinion, natural light from the sun is always the best.
2. Angles
Personally and many of my Instagram friends like to take our outfit photos at a shallow angle. Why? Because that elongates your body, making you look taller and leaner.
So, what I want you to do is, the next time you are taking a photo, tell the person who is handling your photo to crouch down and get as low to the ground as possible. By doing that, you will instantly look slimmer and taller. Because it makes it as if you are being looked at from a kids perspective, and kids always think that you tower over them. Yeah, that is the point.
On the contrary, if you take a photo from like eye level, then you will appear as if you are much shorter than you are.
Also, try and find creative vantage points to take the photo from. Since this is for Instagram, then you will most probably be out on the street. So, maybe you can take your photo from behind a car, behind a telephone pole etc. Try to get creative with it because that is the most fun part.
3. Keep A Straight Horizon.
There is nothing much to say here. Just make sure that the photo is parallel to the frame of the photo. Uh, it is a bit hard to explain. Well, to put it simply, you can see that the walls are parallel to the photo frame. That is why the overall picture looks cleaner and better. So, when your photographer is taking your photo, make sure to tell them to keep the horizons straight.
4. Background
‘Focus of the picture’. Say it with me. ‘Focus of the picture’. What does that mean?
To put it short. The focus of the picture is you, or in my case, my outfit. So, I want myself/outfit to catch the eye more than anything else in the picture. That is when people will get the central message of the photo.
Here are some things you can do to achieve that.
- Find a place where the background isn’t too cluttered. Because if it is, then it will take away all of the spotlights from you.
- Make sure to be in the middle of the frame. Or not to the complete side. Because the main focal point is you, and think about it? Who scrolls down on their feed looking at the scroll bar? No one. Their eyes are focused in the middle.
- Try not to have too many colours in your background, especially red, blue, green, etc. But colours like black, white and grey are fine.
- Use apps like snapseed, Lightroom or Photoshop to darken the background a bit to make yourself pop even more.
- Also, make sure not to have a background wearing the same coloured clothing. So, don’t have a black background if you are wearing black clothes. It is all about contrast.
5. Quality
Now, this is the thing that you probably did not want to hear. But yes, quality matters. Because so many other people are taking their outfit photos with very high quality and expensive cameras, you will fall behind if you don’t post HD photos.
Now I am with you here. None of my photos on Instagram is taken with a DSLR. Actually, like 80% of them are taken from my phone. That is the beauty. The smartphone that you are probably using to read this can take better photos than ever before.
So, don’t be discouraged. Make the most of what you got because I assure you that your phone can take amazing photos. If you use it well, then you can make your photos look amazing by editing them.
Bonus Tips
I have a special treat for you because you made it this far. Here are some bonus tips for you to make your outfit photos even better.
- Photos with a lot of contrasting colours do well.
- Decreased shadows look very well.
- A higher amount of highlights also look very nice.
- Neutral coloured backgrounds are always the best.
- Get creative with sunlight.