When you get stuck and the shot isn’t what you were hoping for, it’s time to approach the issue just as you would any other challenge you encounter in life.
Look at it in a different way.
A simple shift to your angle changes your perspective and results in a new photo that you’ll likely fall in love with.
Peek over.
Look through.
Look up.
After just barely a month into the new year, I’ve watched numerous people whom I love following on Instagram share their disheartened stories about how they find no joy in posting anymore. They have 10s of thousands of followers and they just want to give up altogether.
It’s difficult to watch people who are so lovely and talented, who inspire me, feeling beaten by an imaginary set of rules, who feel as though they can’t win against some computer code.
I’ve gone through the same things as others by using this platform since 2011.
We all do. It doesn’t matter if you have 50 followers or 50,000.
The comparison and feeling like we don’t have what they have or can’t create what they do affect everyone. And many of us deal with the frustration of watching follower numbers stay the same year after year.
The platform isn’t going away for most of us. It still serves as a way to communicate with those who want to connect and as a way to share our foods, products, and creative works.
The truth is I don’t hate Instagram. I have to set boundaries on scrolling. I take regular, healthy breaks from it and I look forward to coming back and posting again, to flipping through my feed.
This mindset shift is due to four very specific things.
I evaluate my reaction to all posts that come through my feed. If what I see makes me feel anxious, jealous, or not good enough, I mute or unfollow immediately.
This isn’t the account holder’s fault. They can’t control our reactions to what they post. And life is too short to keep thinking that it’s our fault; that we need to change our reaction. This isn’t a relationship with a spouse or sibling that needs to be worked on. It’s social media. If it makes you feel less than, get it out of there.
I want every post that comes through my feed to trigger joy. To inspire me, to spark curiosity, to make me say - Good for them! And not - Woe is me.
And yes, I include myself in this. If you follow me, I absolutely love that. Thank you. But if anything you see from me triggers negative feelings. Unfollow me. Your wellbeing is too important.
I was just listening to the Hashtag Authentic podcast by Sara Tasker and her recent interview with artist Maria Wigge. Towards the end Maria shares how a photo of a painting that might get numerous likes on Instagram can be very different from a painting that actually gets the most sales from her website.
Likes are just that - likes. A thought, a cheer, a high-five. Instagram popularity doesn’t translate to sales. Liking an image is much different than trading money to put a piece of art in your living room, flowers on your table, or food in your kitchen.
So why do we let likes and views dictate whether our work, our products, have value? Stop letting likes shake your confidence in what you create. Don’t give them the power to change how proud you are of your piece of work whether it’s a photo you’ve created, a piece of pottery you’ve handmade, or a vegetable you’ve grown. Put what you love most and what best reflects your brand or business out there.
Filling your feed with numerous people who do the same thing that you do only leads to comparison and feeling less than. Filling your feed with only people that do what you wish you were doing is only going to take you down a path of trying to create the same things they do in the same way that they do.
You’ve heard me say this before, I only follow a handful of food and drink photographers. Only those who truly inspire me and don’t trigger envy. The rest of my feed is inspiring artists and growers who post content that makes me think about my work in a new way. Their posts give me ideas that I can take back to my own niche.
My feed is full of gardeners, florists, painters, brand designers, interior designers, landscape and nature photographers, ceramicists, textile artists, vintage collectors, travelers, and dogs. (Don’t be afraid to throw in lots of animal accounts if they make you smile. We all need more smiles.)
The correlation between Instagram followers or likes and sales is minimal for most of us. It’s highly unlikely that Instagram will ever make you any money, even indirectly.
Let’s be honest here because I’m tired of the - build-your-business on Instagram mentality. That if you don’t have thousands of followers who lead to sales on your website then you are doing something wrong. In reality, there are many forces working against your ability to do this. The platform would much rather you pay for ads to get that kind of attention instead of giving you that for free.
It’s not your fault. Approaching the platform with monetary gain as the priority only sets you up for feelings of failure.
Instead, approach it as a way to have real connection with people. I assure you it is not a wasted effort to be a real person behind your handle.
Some of the people who have made the most impact on me have 10s of thousands of followers…and they still respond to their comments and DMs…themselves. They set aside the time to connect.
And guess what. Because they acknowledged that I was an actual person, and didn’t pitch me something in return or give me a generic like or heart in response, I buy their courses, their products, and their foods. Lots of them. Show people that you appreciate the time they took to reach out. We all seek acknowledgment.
Chase the connections, not the money.
Implementing these four things won’t solve all your problems or radically change your life. But if Instagram is an essential part of sharing what you do, like it is for me, making these changes will definitely lift your mood and bring more joy to posting, sharing, and engaging.
A lot of my recent client work has involved really simple photos. Single subjects like a handful dried fruit or a scattering of whole spices with instruction for very minimal propping.
Despite their simplicity, creating appealing photos like that can be some of the most challenging assignments. Especially for someone like me who LOVES adding things to photos - an edge of a bowl here, a pile of crumbs there.
When I struggle with a photo, whether it’s that the subject is less than beautiful or I can’t nail the composition, my solution is to add stuff to it.
So when I’m technically not allowed to add stuff due to it being a commissioned image for a paying client, it presents me with a big challenge.
And over time I’ve realized something. When I’m trying to figure out how to keep things simple, I start to pull into practice the core skills that I’ve learned over the past 11 years of doing this work.
The truth is:
How? Here are 4 ways.
When you only have one subject or even a small handful, it’s easier to find your hero spot and fine-tune your focus, something that is super important regardless of how much stuff you have in the shot. You then start to bring this back to your more elaborately styled photos.
When you have one subject you can move it anywhere within the frame. You’ll start to trust your eye and see what looks most interesting or appealing. Once you have this foundation you can build more complex images with a true sense of appealing composition without the confinement of following a predetermined swirl, x, or zigzag.
For most of us, initially, space in a photo makes us uncomfortable. We feel the need to fill it. Shooting simply allows you to sit with space for a bit and gradually the anxiety of it being there fades. You will start to see how you can use it to your creative advantage.
With one subject and a prop or linen, the only way to get creative is to start exploring light. Right, left, back, harsh shadows, soft rays…In the process, you learn exactly how to naturally light your subject, putting focus and shadows where you want them.