How I Shoot and Edit My Instagram Posts

Good morning/afternoon/evening guys, I was in for a more Instagram-related post, so here it is: the way I edit my posts.

VSCO Bro
VSCO Bro
Jul 25, 2017 · 4 min read

I get DM’s quite often, asking questions about how I shoot and edit my photos. “What camera do you use?” “What filters do you use?”
This article is here to answer all of your questions.
Instagram — for me — consists of 3 main parts: shoot, edit and post.

Shoot

Everything of course starts with shooting. I usually browse through Instagram for Inspiration or I grab some objects that I already have and compose them for a new picture. Then I grab my camera: the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

The S7 Edge and its’ case.

For the shots of my S7 Edge I use my Nexus 5, that is currently broken.

The environment I shoot in is just my room. I use my desk to display the things I have. Lighting isn’t an issue either, since my desk is next to a window, so I use natural lighting.

Edit

Shooting is fun, editing is even more fun to me. I like how editing software can completely change the look of your photo. When I’m done shooting I open my laptop and go to Google Photos, where the pictures I just took are. I select the ones I like and download them.

Photoshop’s built-in B&W filter

After downloading I open Photoshop and my editing process begins;
I usually select every object and paste it in a new layer, until I have everything in a separate layer — usually sorted by color of the object, so I don’t have too many layers. Then I use Photoshop’s black and white filter to make the desk look extra white and usually I have to adjust the exposure as well, to compensate for studio lighting for example.

Every object in a different layer

When I’ve done that I go through my separate layers, editing and adjusting them until I like them. With my laptop for example, I usually turn down the Brightness and turn up the Contrast, to give it more of a space-grey kinda look.

With displays in general I try to reduce reflections and darken it as much as possible when I have a dark wallpaper.

So much for the PC part, cause this is usually when I’m done with Photoshop.

I send the photo to my phone (usually through Telegram actually, cause that’s open all the time and there’s no compression).
On my phone I open, you’ve guessed it: VSCOCam. (VSCO.Bro, duh)
I import the photo and start editing it. The adjustments are different for every picture, but the basics remain the same:

  • A9 filter

Sometimes I like to copy the edits from my previous post and paste them onto the new one, this works around 20% of the time for me, I almost always have to do adjustments so it looks the way I want it to.

Post

When the editing is done I save the image to my gallery, go to Instagram and post. I almost always post when it’s an exact hour (like 1 pm, 2 pm), cause that’s me #ocd :)

I tag brands and people and include hashtags, and then I hit the upload button. After that I post an image to my story as well, that I’ve either made earlier in Photoshop as well or just the one from Instagram.

These steps take my images to a more minimal level:

Before and After

I hope you enjoyed my “tutorial”, go ahead and try it out! My question for today is:

What is your favorite image editing app?

You can comment here, on send me a DM on Instagram:

Hope you have a great thursday!

VSCO Bro

Written by

VSCO Bro

Minimal photographer that likes tech.

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