Instagram is all about making your everyday life look more attractive and bringing out the artistry in your smallest and most mundane moments. Sitting on the grass by the lake in the sun can be made into a beautifully poetic image, while a cup of coffee on the window sill can feel as though it tells the world’s greatest story.
This can be ideal for a business, of course, as it invites them to make their products and services seem equally idyllic. And you can take that same approach to the rest of your social accounts when you use Stories.
While anything can be made to look amazing, though, some things lend themselves particularly well to the world of social media and are likely to be featured prominently by businesses. Here we will look at some of those things, and then provide tips on how to really make them look appealing. By doing this, you’ll get an idea of how to make any product or service look more appealing.
Technology Products
Gradually, technology has reached the point where it is no longer mostly made up of large gray machines with lots of wires. Today, our tech can be part of our style and things like Kindles, iPads and Surfaces make great ‘lifestyle accessories’.
At the same time, this portable technology suggests a way of life. An appreciation for technology, and possibly also an entrepreneurial streak if you like working on your portable devices on the move. Your Instagram pictures need to capture all this.
Placing your technology in different surrounds can also be a great way to capture this concept. This at once gives it context and suggests the travelling/working/surfing lifestyle, and at the same time can be used to create a great sense of contrast. Picture yourself sitting on the edge of a waterfall while working on your MacBook Air, or your laptop sitting on a table on a train with a cup of cappuccino to go next to it. What makes these images so great is that they allow the viewer to make up the story themselves, and to imagine themselves in the situation.
Show off the way technology affects your lifestyle – not just the technology itself (though that said, awesome desk setups can make a great picture if you have multiple monitors and an executive looking table-top). This suits itself perfectly to Stories, which are all about showcasing your lifestyle.
Beauty, Health & Jewelry Products
Jewelry, health and beauty is very different to capture when compared with technology. Here you are trying to show off the item itself rather than the effect it has on your lifestyle, but sometimes this means removing it from focus. If you’ve ever seen a watch advert, then you’ll notice that the watch is rarely the main image in the picture – instead it will be a suited guy looking suave with a great watch just poking out from underneath his sleeve. This is a great way to sell the watch because the picture will be composed in such a way that the eye is drawn to the wrist, making it the most impressive thing on the page regardless of it being one of the smallest. You can force this issue slightly by using the filters and the blur effects in order to make a ring or pendant really stand out.
That said, sometimes a super-close up picture of a skeleton watch or of a diamond can make for a beautiful and deep image.
Notice how different products are better served by different types of photography? Play around with the options when creating your shots!
