{"id":58993,"date":"2014-01-26T20:14:12","date_gmt":"2014-01-26T18:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=58993"},"modified":"2025-07-02T00:55:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T07:55:31","slug":"instagram-guide-get-that-1000-likes-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/instagram-guide-get-that-1000-likes-image\/","title":{"rendered":"Instagram guide: Get that “10,000 likes” image"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this first episode of our guide to Instagram<\/a>, I’m going to\u00a0explain a few tricks from the professionals so that you can\u00a0take beautiful pictures<\/strong>, and get lots of likes. Photography is an art form, and is thus free by definition. A single subject can be shot in virtually any way. There are, however, some useful tips things that will\u00a0help you avoid common mistakes and let you take photos with shared aesthetics. In short, photographs that have appeal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Here’s our advice on how to gain followers for your\u00a0Instagram profile.<\/p>\n

What’s the subject?<\/h3>\n

The most common mistake to make is not clearly show the\u00a0main subject of the photo. Some photos\u00a0don’t have one\u00a0at all, while others have more than one. The result is an image that isn’t very interesting<\/strong>,\u00a0 or one that’s\u00a0difficult for the viewer to focus on.<\/p>\n

So it’s important that we make it clear who the protagonist is in photos. This doesn’t mean that it has to be be a person, but it should be a single subject – it could also be a road, the converging lines of a\u00a0building, a road sign, a herd of zebras, or a crowd in a plaza \u2013 it just has to be clearly identifiable. To ensure that the subject is clearly the star of a shot, there are various methods you can use. You could just take the photograph of them against\u00a0a neutral background<\/strong>, which doesn’t contain any distracting elements.<\/p>\n

Or you can fill the entire frame<\/strong> with the subject, as in a close-up shot, which means that there is no opportunity for other distracting elements to be in shot. Equally,\u00a0you can work on the depth of field<\/strong>, to make sure that only the main character is in focus, and not the rest of the image. We will have a look later on at how to do this. So remember \u2013 one subject only. This way, you’re (almost)\u00a0guaranteed a Like!<\/p>\n

The rule of thirds<\/h3>\n

This is usually the first technique you learn on photography courses, and is fairly simple. You should ideally divide the frame into nine equal parts by drawing two horizontal and two vertical lines, like these<\/p>\n

.\"Instagram<\/p>\n

The intersection points of the lines are the places where the eye most focuses its attention. And it’s on these points that you should try to place the main subject of your photo. Here are a\u00a0few examples using\u00a0Pindar, my tin warthog, as a model. In this first photo, it’s located in the center of the image. It’s not wrong, but the shot is static and not very interesting.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

In this second image, however, we placed Pindar a bit more to the left, on one of the intersection points we’ve just been talking about.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

The composition is more interesting<\/strong>, and the space that has been\u00a0left by virtue of the fact the viewer’s gaze has been\u00a0directed to the subject, makes the picture much more dynamic. Whether your followers are aware of this or not, the\u00a0rule still works.<\/p>\n

And if you stick to the rules, your photos will improve in quality as well as getting more people to\u00a0click on them. Of course, like all the rules that relate to photography, they\u00a0can be broken and this will still result in excellent pictures, but\u00a0for now, let’s play it safe!<\/p>\n

Managing light<\/h3>\n

Some smartphones do not allow you to adjust the exposure manually, but you can choose the point in\u00a0the frame that you want to use for calibration. When you focus on a subject, the smartphone might decide to adjust the exposure according to a point that is either\u00a0too dark or too bright. If it’s too dark, the shaded areas will be properly exposed, but those in the light will be overexposed.<\/p>\n

\"Light<\/p>\n

If it’s too bright, the zones in the light will\u00a0be seen, but the dark areas will be almost black.<\/p>\n

\"Light
\nBecause you want to see all areas in the photo, you have to use the light meter and\u00a0show the camera an area that is neither too dark nor too bright<\/strong>. To do this, simply touch the part of the screen you have chosen, and the\u00a0iPhone and Android will set the exposure.<\/p>\n

If you’re not satisfied with the result, tap different points\u00a0until you find the right one. Even so, always bear in mind the principle that we talked about previously: photography rules are made to be broken! A\u00a0photo that has clearly\u00a0overexposed or underexposed parts can be interesting<\/strong>, emotionally intense and creatively remarkable.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Sunset in\u00a0Swakopmund, in Namibia<\/em><\/p>\n

One last tip: The flash<\/strong> almost always produces a funeral\u00a0effect on the photos. If you’re planning to take shots at night or indoors, using the flash, it’s unlikely to be particularly pretty. Alternatively, you can use it when you’re shooting during the day<\/strong>;\u00a0for instance, it can be used to\u00a0lightly correct the shadowed areas of a face when you do a portrait, as well as\u00a0dampening the contrast between parts of a subject that are in both areas of\u00a0light and shade.<\/p>\n

To enable and disable the flash in Instagram, tap the lightning icon next to shutter button when you’re in Normal mode.<\/p>\n

\"instagram\"<\/p>\n

Keep it straight, please<\/h3>\n

This is another rule that seems obvious, but isn’t. Most of the pictures where the subject isn’t\u00a0facing\u00a0the professional photographer, are crooked<\/strong>. The feeling that a picture isn’t straight, whether you’re particularly aware of it or not,\u00a0is\u00a0annoying, and it’s then hard to give someone a like for it.<\/p>\n

\"Unstraightened<\/p>\n

Crooked photo <\/em><\/p>\n

\"Straightened<\/p>\n

Straight photo<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

What to photograph and how<\/h3>\n

Point of view matters a lot\u00a0in photography. The angle from which\u00a0a subject is photographed often shows more of the chosen subject. Our advice is to showcase people and things from a point of view that\u00a0differs\u00a0from the norm<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

One\u00a0example is children (who always manage to look good in pictures). As adults, we are used to seeing them from above, so if you photograph them from that perspective, you’re only showing\u00a0something that’s already been seen, and so it will be more difficult to get likes.<\/p>\n

But if we photograph them from the ground, looking upwards, you get a\u00a0whole different perspective, which will easily\u00a0attract more attention and people will happily ‘like’ the photo. Another trivial example is the image of the\u00a0keyboard and mouse, below. Seen from above, as we usually\u00a0see them, the picture doesn’t\u00a0say much.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

But when viewed from an angle that’s unusual, if not compelling, then it at least looks a little more interesting.<\/p>\n

\"Angled<\/p>\n

\"Angled<\/p>\n

Another interesting topic is the beauty of detail<\/strong>. Again, this is something unfamiliar to us, because we almost never pay attention to it, but that’s\u00a0why it’s a great photographic subject. The details found in\u00a0a mundane object can be very interesting indeed, and, with a bit of luck, will also tell a story.<\/p>\n

Depth of field<\/h3>\n

A narrow depth of field is a valuable ally when it comes to giving\u00a0more prominence to the subject that we’re photographing;\u00a0in fact, if we can maintain\u00a0the focus of the subject and blur the rest, then it prevents the person who is looking at the photo from getting\u00a0distracted.<\/p>\n

\"Background<\/p>\n

Background elements are less distracting when out of focus<\/em><\/p>\n

But what is\u00a0depth of field? Put simply, “it’s\u00a0the distance in front of and behind the focal subject that appears to be sharp” (Wikipedia<\/a>). Professional and semi-professional cameras allow you to manually adjust nearly\u00a0all of the\u00a0parameters, including shutter speed <\/strong>and aperture<\/strong>, as well as\u00a0framing several objects, as required.<\/p>\n

It is these three elements that affect the depth of field. Lenses with large focal lengths (telephoto lenses<\/strong>, for example) tend to reduce it (but this also depends greatly on the use). Something that has a greater effect on the depth of field, is the aperture opening: the\u00a0greater it is, the smaller the depth of field. But these parameters, in most smartphones at least, are set automatically.<\/p>\n

So, what leeway do we have? If you also take into consideration the fact\u00a0that the lens on a smartphone\u00a0is a wide angle, and therefore has a very small focal length (and consequently a large depth of field), how can we try to decrease the area in focus when\u00a0photographing objects or\u00a0taking\u00a0portraits?<\/p>\n

Basically, there are two ways: the distance from the subject<\/strong>,\u00a0along with\u00a0blurring in post-production<\/strong>, which is something that you can do in\u00a0Instagram. The closer we are to the person or thing that we are photographing, the smaller\u00a0the depth of field, and the more of the subject will be in focus along with what is behind or in front of it, while if you\u00a0increase\u00a0the distance\u00a0from the subject, things become progressively more blurred. In this way,\u00a0you can get physically\u00a0closer to the subject<\/strong> in order\u00a0to blur the background and give the subject\u00a0greater prominence.<\/p>\n

\"Large<\/p>\n

This large\u00a0depth of field fails to highlight the subject<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Small<\/p>\n

Here, however, the depth of field is smaller, because we have gone in close to the subject<\/em><\/p>\n

In a great light…<\/h3>\n

In this article, as we’ve said a couple of times, it wasn’t our\u00a0intention to make photography into something governed by a series of rules and regulations. Our recommendations are only based on the experience of many photographers, who through experimenting have found that there are certain things that work better than others.<\/p>\n

Now, it’s over to you to try things out\u00a0and see if our recommendations have increased the number of likes you get for your photos!<\/p>\n

In the next installment of this guide<\/a>, we’ll\u00a0explain how to manage the privacy settings<\/a> on\u00a0your Instagram account.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this first episode of our guide to Instagram, I’m going to\u00a0explain a few tricks from the professionals so that you can\u00a0take beautiful pictures, and get lots of likes. Photography is an art form, and is thus free by definition. A single subject can be shot in virtually any way. There are, however, some useful … Continue reading “Instagram guide: Get that “10,000 likes” image”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2047,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[],"tags":[2354],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-58993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-app-subdomain-redirectioninstagram"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2047"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331475,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58993\/revisions\/331475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58993"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=58993"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=58993"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=58993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}