The key to a popular Instagram account is a gorgeous feed that makes people gasp in amazement. This will then draw in more followers and will help you be featured on accounts, which will bring you to fun collabs with cool companies. You don't need to be a professional photographer to have perfect photos. All you need is some tips on posing, shooting and editing your photos. And perfect for you because I am here to give these tips to you! Of course my Instagram is @alexa.springer and my professional one is @alexannephotos. Comment down below your IG handle and I will like and comment on some of your photos! :) PosingThese tips are relevant to being behind and in front of the camera. Knowing how to pose others for photos as a photographer, benefits yourself when you want to be the model (and vice versa). I used to be really uncomfortable in front of the camera until I got more practice taking portraits. I also watched lots of YouTube videos on posing. I recommend watching tips from models, for non-models, like this one. She also has a part two. Another favorite one of mine is 100 Poses for Instagram. You can see how below how having knowledge and experience of looking good in front of the camera can make a major difference between having an okay Instagram vs an amazing one. Tip #1 My favorite pictures are always candid and/or action. All of the photos above are when I was naturally moving. While I was twirling, walking or flipping my hair, I made sure it was effortless and natural. It is also way easier to have someone inexperienced, like your younger sibling, take photos of you when you are acting the way you normally would. Tip #2 Angles are always better. Having your body bent and at a side angle looks more flattering than a pencil pose. Always tilt your head slightly and have your legs slightly separated, with one leg bent forward or leaning on your back leg. Also I have learned that sometimes the more dramatic, big and excited your movements are, the better they look on camera. Tip #3 One of the hardest parts of posing, is finding somewhere for your hands to go. My go to is play with my hair or put them up in the air, like in a shaka or peace sign. Figure out what few hand placements looks the best + most natural for you and use them throughout your shoot. ShootingYou do not have to have a super nice camera to have good photos! A lot of the pictures you see on the blog and ones I post, are I-phone pictures! Let me know in the comments if I should do a blog post on how to take better I-phone photos! Some of these tips may be obvious to some, but brand new to others. These are tips that some of my favorite photographer friends have given me and it has helped a lot with the improvement of my feed! Tip #1 Use props subtly, such as the picture above with the Polaroid. Take pictures of someone against a mural or colored wall. If you are taking family portraits with youngsters, pretend like you are fixing your settings on your camera so they will stop posing for you, and capture them frolicking in the flower patch or picking up shells. This way, you can get them in their natural habitat. Tip #2 Never shoot into the light. This seems obvious but it can ruin a lot of photos. And shoot with natural light from windows and outdoors. Tip #3 Think creativity instead of standard. This is where you discover and input your style into your photography. This is how I realized that I love portrait photography. Play up the angles and directions instead of flat, straight landscape. Incorporate some foliage into the foreground. Get close ups on the details of the dress. Get a picture of the crowd huddling around the Mona Lisa instead of the painting itself. editingThe editing process is crucial to having an epic feed! I like to use Lightroom, VSCO and Snapseed. The key to mastering editing is to make the photo enhanced, but not to seem like you had to edit it. Most photos I leave untouched for the most part, unless I am just brightening it. The word "filter" has such a bad rep, but really it is a preset of already adjusted brightness, saturation, contrast, highlights etc. Everybody has their unique way that they envision their pictures to look like, so apply these tips to your individual taste! Tip #1
Keep your photos consistent. Everyone has heard the term "theme", but personally I prefer consistency. Be consistent with your filters and the type of photo you are taking. If you like simple photos then make sure there is one focus and it is usually taken from a distance. If you want all of your pictures to be of you, then change up the angles and perspectives of yourself, so they don't all look the exact same. Tip #2 I used to use the same filter on every photo, but not every photo looks good with the same filter and it would come off very over the top. Now I use a few similar filters or presets so everything is cohesive. My current favorites from VSCO are HB2, A4, A6 and M5 to get a simple, white and blue, beachy look to my photos. I also tone down the filter by 50-75%, to come off less saturated or contrasted + more natural. Tip #3 Straighten all of your photos. This seems basic but it is often forgotten and can make your feed look like a professional account with all straight, crisp, simple photos. Even if your photos are not the best, if you can edit them well, then you will pull it off.
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2/1/2018 1 Comment things to do in londonLondon is a vibrant, energetic, sophisticated and busy city. It is the perfect trip for a Europe first timer because the sites are familiar, it's English speaking and there are endless amounts of places to explore. I know that it is a city not known for its pristine weather, but I was lucky enough to get all sunny days when I went last summer. I have been to London twice and I cannot wait to go back this summer for a quick trip! Watch a play or musicalLes Miserables is my favorite musical and it was so wonderful to see it in London. It is a once in a lifetime experience to watch a play or musical at Queens Theater and I 100% recommend it. Other popular shows are Wicked, Matilda, The Lion King, Hamilton and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I would book way in advance and plan to attend the show near the end of your trip so the jet lag will not make you fall asleep and waste your money. ride on the "Hop on, Hop off" busesThese buses were one of our main modes of transportation around the city. Not only is it iconic, but it's super convenient! The buses came around often and were easy to locate the stops. We hardly waited more than 15-20 minutes and we rode through majority of London. You can put in earbuds and listen to the audio history tour as you pass by specific areas. I sat on the top level for some bomb picture ops, which I would not have been able to take if I was in an Uber or on the Tube. If you are booking your plane ticket to London for the first time, definitely use these buses as your way around the city to easily see the biggest sites of London. The deal we bought came with a Thames River boat tour and it was so cool! Thames riverThe river tour was super cool! We got to see all the famous sites in London such as Tower of London, Big Ben and the Eye. The boat takes you down the whole river and lets you drop off at Greenwich for a few hours at the end. This tour was included in the purchase of the hop on/off bus passes. The tour announcer/guide was entertaining and shared the expected historical background and some pop culture, like where the famous people live along the river. greenwichGreenwich was the cutest town! In the few hours that we had from the boat tour, we went to the market and got some tasty Indian food and vegan Argentinean churros. We window shopped all the cute stands in the market and then walked along the cobble stoned homes and past some local pubs. There is a big park and we wandered through it, to then climb the hill to see the best view of London. tower of londonTower of London was my favorite destination in London! This is something that I was not expecting to like, especially because we did not plan on going up and it was very spontaneous. This is one of the few things we paid for. Walking on the across the bridge is free, but going up to the towers and walking on the glass bridge you pay for. If you are scared of heights, I would not recommend it, but seeing the glass floor was super cool! I got the coolest Instagram pictures here. free MUSEUMSLondon has so many cool free museums! Normally I am not one to recommend museums, but London and Paris had the best ones ever! It is a great way to spend time when the weather is poor or when you need a free, family friendly activity. Some of the best ones are the Victoria and Albert, British Museum, Tate Modern and the National Gallery. I really enjoyed the V&A because it had an interactive (and huge!) theater section, a giant jewelry collection exhibit and fashion through the years. TRAFALGAR square + PICCADILLY circusTrafalgar square is London's prime city life spot for night and daytime. Its hustling and bustling and beautiful. Many compare it to Times Square. It is a short walk from the iconic Piccadilly Circus. We ate at a delicious Shake Shack and looked through the stores at Piccadilly. London parksWalking through the gorgeous parks in London is one of the best things to do! There are so many great ones like Hyde Park, Regent's park and Kensington Gardens. They are perfect for pictures, nice for picnics and seeing cute dogs! This is something you definitely cannot miss. It is like visiting New York and seeing Central Park! buckingham palaceHow can you come to London and not see the palace?! We were lucky enough to see the flag up, meaning that the queen was in. We also saw the end of the changing of the guard and we saw a royal mail delivery. It was worth it and I loved seeing the royal palace up close. Big ben + parliamentLastly, one of the greatest things to do is to walk around London's main tourist area and see the historical and famous sites like Parliament, Big Ben, the Eye and Westminster Abbey. Exploring this area leads right down to the river where you can see more of this magical city.
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June 2018
CategoriesAll EUROPE FRANCE HAWAII HOW TO LISBON LONDON PARIS PHOTO DIARY PORTUGAL TRAVEL GUIDE |