6 Simple Tweaks and Edits to Make to Your Photos Before You Upload Them to Instagram

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Right now, being an Instagram influencer is taking the younger (and older) generation by storm, and it doesn’t seem like the hype is going to end anytime in the near future. People have taken a liking to the profession for two main reasons – one, it allows them to select a niche they’re passionate about to grow a community there and two, it helps pay the bills while also being a source of joy since you’re basically working a job that happens to be your passion.

However, the world of being a social media influencer can be really hard to break into. For starters, almost everyone is trying to be one right now so it can be really hard to create content that stands out, especially since the algorithm can sometimes be a bit unfair and overlook amazing content due to fewer views.

Additionally, it can be hard to make your content (which is mainly photos and videos) look different from everyone else’s since there are gorgeous people out there with the best makeup and equipment, which makes even trying to seem a little far-fetched.

However, it doesn’t need to be this way. It’s been proven that regular posting and quality content can in fact help you get a following, even if it looks like you aren’t getting much traction during your initial days.

Instagram currently has different ways in which creators can promote their accounts, so it’s only a matter of time before someone stumbles across an ad and decides to visit your profile. And what better way to get them to follow than by giving them quality content that will make them scroll twice?

In this blog, we’re going to walk you through 6 of the best ways in which you can tweak your photos to make them stand out before you upload them to Instagram – now let’s get started.

1. Use editing apps to fix (almost) anything on Instagram

Let’s face it, no matter how hard you try, there are bound to be a number of flaws in every high-definition picture you click. You could have dull skin, crows feet, a lipstick stain on your teeth, tech lines, and whatnot. And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because sometimes, showing your flaws can be beneficial and even make your post go viral.

But if you’re promoting a brand or product, it goes without saying that your photo needs to look as flawless as the brand desires it to be.

In such cases, it’s always a good idea to go the extra mile to make sure nothing is wrong with your photograph before you upload it, especially if you want to avoid being called out by other beauty gurus or influencers for a beginners mistake (like having lipstick on your teeth!).

But don’t worry, you don’t need a professional photographer to come help you edit your pictures – all you really need is an image editor like BeFunky which will help you quickly find and fix any blemishes, color issues, discoloration, dark spots, and other such issues before you upload your picture. There are many other free tools such as this which you can use to fix your pictures in no time.

2. Make sure the lighting is right

Most of the time, the issue with your photos isn’t that the angle is off or that the camera isn’t right, it’s simply that the lighting is bad. Lighting can either make or break a photo, so you need to make sure that you’re shooting your photographs in the best lighting. If possible, try to have your shoot in the open, since sunlight is almost always the best light for any kind of photo. The best part about this is that it always stands out as more natural and wholesome than studio shoots.

However, if you aren’t able to have an open air photoshoot, you can always make up for it by doing the next best thing – investing in a warm ring light. This has become one of the first things any influencer gets for themself, simply because of how easy it makes shooting photos.

Just to be sure to get a warm ring light that resembles sunlight, and find the perfect angle so it doesn’t look like there’s a ring in the shadow since this can be seen as a newbie mistake.

In case you’re done with your photoshoot and haven’t been able to get the perfect lighting, you can always edit the photo to make it look like it has the perfect lighting and angles to avoid redoing the entire photoshoot. Even though this won’t look as great as natural lighting, it still would look much better than a photograph that doesn’t have the right light in the right angles.

All you need to do is find the right software online – once you do, try to figure out which angle will look most natural to have the light falling from it and then start editing until you have a photo that you are happy with.

3. Make sure your background is clean

Once you’ve made sure that your skin and lighting is covered, it’s time to focus on the background. Even though the background isn’t the first thing people look at, it still plays a major role in making a picture appear classy and chic or messed up and ill-planned. Make sure you scrutinize every part of your background to ensure that there’s nothing you wouldn’t want to be there in it.

This is especially true if you’re shooting content inside your home, or other places where you can’t violate others’ privacy. Social media can be a tricky business, so you need to make sure that you don’t accidentally upload anything that can be either taken out of context or simply embarrass you.

With that being said, very often, it’s just that the background appears a little cluttered or messy when compared to the picture-perfect subject. To avoid this, try cleaning up the background by removing unnecessary clutter and keeping only the essentials. This way, your viewers won’t get distracted by a million other things in the background and will be able to focus on the visually appealing image instead.

4. Add text when possible on Instagram content

If you’re uploading a reel or a video, then make sure that your photo has the right text to make it captivating to users. This is because your caption can attract viewers from the Explore page, so you want to have an interesting tagline while also making the text look funky and cute.

One of the best ways to do this is by creating handwritten text instead of typing it out – this will stand out more and will also leave more room for creativity. Additionally, you can also add cute frames, doodles, or stickers to attract your target audience.

For instance, if your vlog is going to be about your house plants, then adding cute cacti to your thumbnail will immediately attract the right audience who are looking out for videos that are related to plants. It’s really that simple.

5. Use the right filters for the right aesthetic

This completely depends on the niche you’re going for. If you already an established account, then you know that when people see that you’ve uploaded something, they have an expectancy with which they start consuming your content. Maybe they expect to see dark academia or a vintage filter that makes all your baking videos look like it was done in the Victorian era.

Whatever your niche is, make sure that you completely commit to it and stick to it. This doesn’t mean that every single post of yours needs to have the exact same filter (that can come off as monotonous and cause you to lose followers in the long run) but instead focus on having content that looks similar in some way, even if it doesn’t look completely the same.

The best way to do this is to find a filter that works for you and then go with it for every post by simply making slight tweaks to the filter to change the color and lighting every now and then.

However, this will ensure that there’s a continuity between all your posts, and won’t look like every single post of yours is wildly different from the others. This is also important because it shows that you’re staying true to yourself and your content – without spending too much time editing pictures to make it look flawless.

6. Adjust the colors and brightness

Once you’re done with everything, make sure that the colors and brightness are still true to what you wanted them to be in the original post. Editing photos can sometimes make them look way different than you intended it to be, which can then come off as ‘fake’ to your users.

Be sure to go through your picture as a final step and compare it to the unedited photo to see which aspects look nice and which need to be changed. Even if your skin looks flawless, it’s likely that your clothes look a tad too dark or dull. If that’s the case, then you can select the parts you want to brighten using tools like PhotoShop and edit only those portions while the rest of your image stays intact.

It goes without saying that you’ll need to follow the same steps with the saturation, sharpness, and color intensity – these are things which usually don’t look the same in photos as what they did in real life, so you will need to manually make these changes using a photo editing tool. Once you’re done, you’ll be able to see a finished version that looks perfect.

Also, be sure to double-check if the quality of your image remains as good as it first was. Very often, putting your photography through multiple rounds of editing can make it pixelated or blurry, so make sure that it isn’t the case with yours. If it is, then you can quickly fix the issues using the ‘Healing’ tool, especially if your skin starts to look blurry or discolored.

Conclusion

Here’s a list of everything you need to keep in mind when creating, editing, and uploading content to Instagram as a social media influencer:

Make sure that everything is right with the subject of the photograph since it’s what’s going to be scrutinized by all users right from the start. It’s even a good practice to nit-pick if you must until you’re left with that perfect photograph.
Always click photos in good lighting, but if you haven’t, make sure you add in the lighting to ensure that it looks more realistic.
Be sure to double-check all your content before uploading it to ensure that you aren’t accidentally putting something that isn’t supposed to be out there. For instance, clear up the background and make sure that you aren’t showing anyone’s face or private information without their content because your post can later get pulled down for this if someone reports it, even if you have millions of likes on it. It’s always best to be safer than sorry.
Try to make your content as engaging as possible by adding in fun text and captions to reels and videos – this will not only make it accessible but will also get more users to click on it simply by looking at the thumbnail. Fun text, stickers, and frames go a long way in making the thumbnail stand out in a sea of other posts in the Explore page.
Stick to your page’s usual aesthetic and don’t break away from it unless you want to make a statement. If it’s just a regular weekly upload, make sure that users who view it will be able to immediately associate it with you even before they see who posted it – this is how you’ll be able to create a strong following.
Edit the final photo to make sure that the colors, saturation, and sharpness is right.

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Cyrus Nambakhsh

Cyrus is a serial entrepreneur, product-led-growth expert, a product visionary who launched 7 startups. He has built scalable platforms to help businesses and entrepreneurs. Contact: [email protected].