How To Take Insta-Worthy Images And Get Noticed

1st May 2020

Posted by Laura Rich on 1st May 2020

Top tips to make your interiors images insta-worthy!

We love seeing and sharing images featuring our products. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing a beautifully finished space showcasing insta-worthy images of our furniture. We also get several requests a day to collaborate with us (i.e, we send you a discounted or free product in return coverage on your account). With that in mind I have put together a few pointers for taking insta-worthy images and getting noticed by brands like ours.

Your Equipment

If you have a DSLR then you’re probably already a bit of a dab-hand at taking photos so this blog will be aimed at those of you who are using a smartphone.

Tip one: use your phone’s camera rather than the image option via the instagram app to take insta-worthy images.

Lighting For Insta-Worthy Images

Always use natural light if you can. That means turn the artificial lights off. Even a small amount of natural light will yield better results than any artificial light. Make sure the flash is turned off on your camera.

Filter the natural light for a softer feel. Hang sheer curtains or drape a white sheet over any window that is delivering harsh sunlight. Direct sunlight can cause a glare on your image. Even taping paper to the window will help if you don’t have material to use. This is especially useful for glass or mirrored items.

An example of an insta-worthy image using natural light to create texture on shiny surfaces — Check out all the lovely shiny surfaces in this image by @thealexandersnest! This shot would have been completely bleached out if she hadn’t strategically closed the shutter blind to diffuse the light from the window and create a lovely patterned texture on the high gloss Imperia Table.

Edit Them Insta-worthy!

Experiment with the filters on the edit facility of your phone. If the natural light didn’t quite cut it, try adjusting the brightness and/or contrast. Use the fade tool to lessen the saturation and soften the colour.

Keep filters to a minimum. Instagram has lots of options, maybe choose one or two that you use often, then your images will have a cohesive feel to them.

Staging & Composition

Hide stuff! There’s the obvious stuff to push to one side, like your everyday clutter, papers, magazines, keys, washing up etc but consider hiding things like electrical cords - unplug and tuck behind the furniture. Waste paper bins, move them, they don’t need to be in the picture. Remove extra things from the background and any other furniture in the shot that doesn’t add to the overall image. And if you need to move furniture to get the shot? Do it, it’ll be worth it.

Experiment

On a similar note, if the best shot of your dining room means setting your tripod up on a chair on the hallway then it’s worth going the extra mile. Experiment; take lots of images and narrow down to the best ones for editing. If you don’t have the time or energy to move stuff then consider some nice close up/detail shots.

Accessorise

Think about the smaller details. Move the clutter but think about how to dress the room. I’ve written here before about the use of colour. Think about using different textures in your space. A few choice decorative items to draw the eye into the picture and give it a relaxing feel - a faux fur throw draped over the back of a chair for example adds a layer of luxury and texture.

Draw The Viewer In

Think about what is in the foreground of the image - does it add to the scene? Does it pull the eye away? If it’s the latter, take it out. You want the focus of the image to be in the middle ground of the shot. Don’t over-do the little details, instagram is a busy place, clean sharp images with a bit of negative space offer somewhere for the eye to rest.

An example of an insta-worthy image showing how to use diffused natural light on shiny surfaces. — This image by @hannahs.home.styling illustrates how to dress a small space and still get a good shot. The blanket on the bed adds texture and tone and draws the eye into the middle of the image, showing one of our Console Table off perfectly. Also note the beautifully diffused light from the window. Without the sheer curtain, the light on the mirrored surfaces would have been too harsh. Spot on.

It’s All About Angles

Finally, although it’s not always possible in a smaller space or an unusual shaped room (we all love open plan right?), SQUARE OFF your images. The quality of your image will be markedly better if you try to square up the room, vertically and/or horizontally.

Most smart phones have a grid option within the camera settings (for an iPhone, go into settings, camera, and then grid on) If it’s not possible to square the image at the point of taking it then use the edit settings (the grid in the crop function) on your phone to crop the image as squared up as possible. It’s all about balance folks. Also, think carefully about the angle of your shot, it’s easiest to square your images off if you get level with the furniture, i.e get low down and level to the room just like @homewiththedarlings did for this shot:

An example of an insta-worthy image showing how to use angles well.

Squaring images doesn’t mean you have to take them all straight on. If you have diagonals in the shot, try to make sure the verticals are straight. In this case, the walls behind and the legs of the coffee table are straight.

@at_home_with_the_pells is one of our favourite collaborators and she had this top tip on her grid recently:

An example of an Insta worthy sunroom painted white — “A quick insta tip for you: angles. No matter what you are taking a photo of, angles are everything. These photos are taken from being stood in the exact same spot, but one was taken with my arms extended strategically.” @at_home_with_the_pells

A zoomed out image of an Insta worthy sunroom painted white — “A quick insta tip for you: angles. No matter what you are taking a photo of, angles are everything. These photos are taken from being stood in the exact same spot, but one was taken with my arms extended strategically.” @at_home_with_the_pells

Getting Noticed By Brands - What We Are Looking For

Images

We are looking for really good images that are light and clear and show our products off. I especially look for images that will work really well in our advertising campaigns on social media. Landscape images don’t work so well for this.

Engagement

You may think you don’t have enough followers to attract brands. But Instagram algorithms favour engagement over followers. If you have 20k followers and not much engagement then we won’t be interested. If you have 5k followers and massive engagement then we will. We will ask to see your figures, a screenshot of your reach and impressions and we will notice how often you post to your stories and whether you reply to comments on your posts. It’s a big bonus if you have over 10k followers because then you can add swipe ups to your stories directly to our website.

Genuine Reviews

A perfectly insta-worthy image of our Corona Chairs taken by @at_home_with_the_pells — @at_home_with_the_pells bought our Corona Grey and Chrome Chairs and said:
”Meal times are starting to be slightly more civilised at ours now. After nearly a year of looking for the right chairs to go here, Sam finally found these from @furniturebox_uk. Every other ones we’ve seen were either the wrong colour, too expensive or a non-wipe material which is an absolutely no go zone.”

We found @at_home_with_the_pells because she bought some of our chairs and posted awesome insta-worthy images of them, tagging us in the post. We got chatting and hit it off. Her image of our Cambridge Bench is one of our most popular and most used images. It is completely and utterly insta-worthy!

The Cambridge Grey and Chrome bench in front of a mirror — Our Cambridge Grey and Chrome Bench taken by @at_home_with_the_pells

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