since the start of the year i have been changing my instagram around. i’m now managing three accounts but focusing on growing one right now and so far it’s going pretty well. i’m trying really hard to find a photo theme and setup up that i really like and what aesthetic i think works well. i’m trying to take better photos with my camera and my phone. i’m trying to display flatlays differently. it’s been fun!
i try to set up and take all of my photos in one weekend for the following month which can be really exhausting and very time consuming. i then go on and schedule them through the facebook creator tool. i have a business account so i’m currently playing around with peak posting times to see how they make a difference to my my engagement and i’m def seeing some changes.
what photo props do i have?
currently i have two vinyl backdrops from capture by lucy. they’re seconds (not that i can tell the difference) that i picked up from blogon in september last year. i have a pink and a brown one. i want to move to cooler, darker photos and i think the brown copper one does this better. i might look to get another in the future that might offer a bit of contrast but still remain in the same theme.
i’ve also got a little selection of artificial flowers, a strip of black lace, candles, paperclips, coasters, gems and frames. i’m still playing about with these and finding what i like to photograph.
mostly, i’m taking pictures of books and book boxes. thanks to book boxes i’ve got more useful items as well as props to photograph, and i’m getting new bookish merchandise which fits some of the fandoms. when it comes to choosing the book to photograph. i know to some a book photo might not be their type of thing to follow but oh my gosh there is a big and wondeful community that are totally bookish and i love it.
choosing what to photograph
currently i’m looking for photo challenges to join in with. this helps me find book specific hashtags that people are joining in with. it also helps to give me some inspiration and ideas of what to post. sometimes i’m not very familiar with the abbreviations or what the prompts mean. the book boxes i get also have regular photo challenges and prompts so i like to join in with those to show off my unboxings as well as being in with a chance to win a free box. i have a lot of books and new ones coming in from book boxes so i can change the theme. i’ve also found small businesses that do bookish merchandise such as madame alchemie and ash and quill candles which have lovely products which can help theme photos.
how my photos have changed
i cant offer any advice as i’m no photographer but im really pleased with how my photos have changed from the start of the year. as you can see below the first few changes took a bit of time to come through. there was all sorts of filters, no consistency at all and no real theme or aesthetic
i then tried to change to creating a theme throughout march but i wasn’t particularly happy with it in the end. it didn’t really feel like the sort of theme i could do forever. but i felt i did a better job with the lighting and enjoyed trying to do different things with this one.
my last few pictures have been quite different. i took the time to set up a corner in my living room to create a sort of backdrop and keep the theme consistent. however i think i used the wrong table because there wasnt a lot of space which really limited how much i could move about.
what i do like about this one is the darker photo and the pops of colour which is how i’d like to move forward with the types of photos i take. they’re not perfect but they’re becoming better and i’m having a bit of fun with the creative side of this. i’m following many bookish accounts who take beautiful pictures that brighten up my feed. they’re fantastic inspiration.
i think for may i want to stick with setting up a specific area, keeping the darker background and then sticking to one colour. i might leave the photo challenges for this unless they fit the theme rather than trying to theme my photos around the prompts. hopefully over the next few months something will develop from this and i’ll have a theme i’ll be happy with.
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