Instagram has changed a lot over the last few years and photographers, filmmakers, creators... basically anyone who uses the platform has to adapt every year to keep growing their account. We've had changes of the algorithm, more advertisements. Also some useful changes like Instagram Stories and being able to post longer videos.
Now, last year, something changed again and this time, it affects the way you should edit your photos for Instagram and it makes a huge difference. I'll show you how it affects your Instagram photo editing but also the overall look of your account. And at the end of the blog, I'll throw ina bonus tip, something that just blew my mind. The problem guys, the big problem... Dark Mode. All apps these days have dark mode and don't get me wrong, it looks great but it's very possible that all your photos and your account look horrible now if you keep doing what your doing. You have to make some changes yourself. Now, don't worry too much because most Instagram photo editing tips still apply and most of my workflow for Instagram is also still the same. It starts with selecting the right photos for Instagram. And that's actually the most important thing you need to do if you want to grow your account. If you already have a lot of followers then you know what kind of photos do well. If you don't have a lot of followers: Here are some tips that worked for me. Instagram is all about consuming photography and images at lightning speed so, you have to get the attention of potential followers in... less than a second.
Because they're scrolling and scrolling and you might get a like but really make them go to your account and follow you, you haveto get their attention. So, for Instagram always suggest to use boldcolors and I don't mean overly saturated but strong bold colors. I find that blues work really well, for example. Another thing that works really well is anice strong contrast. And again, nothing crazy but a nice punchycontrast. And finally, simple compositions that standout. So, usually what I do when editing photosfor Instagram is pay attention to colors and contrast and I make them pop a little bitmore than I would do for clients or for my website for example. I add a little bit more saturation and crankup the contrast just a tad more. Okay, now, there are a few problem with thenew Dark Mode and how you should edit and present your photos on Instagram and let meshow you the problem. I have a blue background now but let's switchit to... red.
Looks different, right? Okay, now let's switch it to... white. Wow, again a totally different look and feel. And now finally, let's turn off the lights. Again, totally different. You see my point here? Okay, let's go back to... blue. Okay so, as you can see changing the colorof the background changes the whole look and feel of the image and it also changes whatI look like. The color of my skin, my T-shirt and it'sthe same with Dark Mode on Instagram. It changes the look and feel of your photosand your whole account. So, you need to keep that in mind when editingyour photos. When Instagram was still white, I always editedmy photos on a white background and that's really important because if you edit yourphotos on a black background, then your editing will be different, the end result will bedifferent. Not necessarily because you want it to lookdifferent but it's just because that background color is different. That's also why you should never edit yourphotos in a room with bright yellow walls for example. Neutral grey walls,that's the best optionfor an editing room.
Okay, so, Dark Mode, I have no idea how manypeople are using Dark Mode or how many people are using White Mode but I would think morepeople are using Dark Mode because it just looks better. Now, funny thing is, my iPhone is way tooold so... I don't have Dark Mode but that's anotherstory... So, I mean, you could try to edit your photossomewhere in between on a grey background and then check what it looks like on a whitebackground. Check what it looks like on a black backgroundand then finally post it. But then you're making things way too complicatedso I would suggest to just go for the black background because I think more people areusing it anyway. And it's not that if you edit on a black backgroundthat it will look horrible on a white background. It will look different and depending on yourediting style the difference might be small or big but it won't look horrible. And all of this is not just important whenyou edit photos for Instagram. Also for your website for example. If you have a white website, make sure youedit your photos on a white background.
If you edit photos for a client and they'regonna use the photos on a black background then make sure to use a black background. The second problem that comes with Dark Modeand this is where it can get ugly, the white borders. A lot of photographers, including me, wereusing white borders because it looks better or a little bit more professional or whateverbut now with Dark Mode, it looks absolutely horrible so that's something you can't doanymore. And there are two solutions. You can start using black borders becauseI think black borders still look a little bit better on a white background than whiteborders on a black background but the best option: Just lose the borders. I think that works best and then your accountlooks good in White mode and in Dark Mode. Now, if you absolutely want borders but youdon't want to mess up the overall look of your account then there's like an in betweensolution. You can post two versions of each photo. One without borders, the first one that youwill see on your overall account and then one with borders where people can scroll toif they wanna see it. So, then when people see your account it willlook nice and slick and clean but they can still scroll to the version with borders ifthey want to.
It's not ideal but it's something. So, that's how Instagram created a new photoediting problem and I know it's not a horrible problem but it's something you should thinkabout when editing photos. Not only for Instagram but also for your websiteor for clients. The background is really important. And for Instagram, just start thinking dark because I think more people are using Dark Mode anyway. Okay, time fo the bonus tip and I found this out after watching a YouTube video that's already a year old but I really didn't know about this so maybe a lot of you do know about this and you'll be like: What, you didn'tk now?". Okay, so, uploading on Instagram. I always use my phone. I edit on my computer and then I send the photos to my phone so I can upload them but it turns out you can just upload from your desktop computer. What you need to do on Safari. Go to thee Develop menu, then go to Responsive Design Mode and then just refresh the page. Don't forget to refresh. Now, Safari simulates a phone and you can just upload your photos from your desktop. In Google Chrome it's similar, just go to the View, Developer and go to Developer Mode and then this icon here which will switch the view to a mobile phone. Refresh the window and boom.
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