How to Take and Edit iPhone Photos for Instagram

I've had a lot of questions about what filter I use on my Instagram photos. The truth is, there's more to taking and editing photos than just adding a filter. So I've decided to make a post to give you a little insight into how I photograph and edit my photos.

What to photograph

Straight and center:

I personally like my photos to be straight on (instead of corners of a room) and level. You don't have to follow this rule, but it tends to be the aesthetic I'm attracted to. To make sure your photos are level, you will need to turn on the grid feature on your phone. Here's how to do that:

1. Launch the Settings app from the Home Screen of your iPhone.

2. Scroll down and tap on Photos & Camera.

3. Scroll down again towards the bottom of the page and under the Camera section, there is an option for Grid. Turn the feature On by tapping on the slider.

Take a step back:

When you're taking photos of a room or landscape, consider taking a step back to get the a full shot of the scene instead of cropping all the beautiful detail out. Doing this can add flow to your photos so your eyes keep moving over the photograph. Also be careful with cropping. Sometimes seeing the ceiling or floor can be less confining to the viewer and pleasing to the eye as the space appears larger.

Keep it natural:

There's nothing natural about a posed smile. There's a reason we look back at our yearbook photos and cringe. Documentary photography is much more natural and true to life. Photographing someone in the middle of laughing is the most natural and authentic way of photographing someone in their element. No backdrops or studio lights required.

Something else that is really important to good photography is natural light. If you are planning to photograph your beautiful meal, coffee or flowers, make sure to find a table by a window. Artificial light puts shadows and yellow into your photos that is not flattering.

How to Edit

There are many photo editing apps that allow you more options for editing your photos without being confined to the handful of filter options on Instagram. The app I use for editing my photos is Afterlight. The app is available through iTunes for .99 cents.

Once you download the app, you can choose to take a photo in the app or upload an existing photo. I like to take photos with my Camera app and then upload into Afterlight.

If you took a photo that is not square and are posting your photo to Instagram, you will need to crop it to be square before doing anything else. To crop your photo, click on the icon second from the right.

Choose the square option and decide where you want to crop. Click the check mark when finished.

The next thing I do is click the second icon from the left and click the fade icon (the gray box on the upper right).

The fade bar will start in the center. Leave it there and click the check mark.

There are two filters I use depending on the photo I'm editing. For photos taken at home, I use the Russ filter under 'Guest'. For outdoor photos and almost all of my Montreal photos, I use the Idaho filter on the far right-hand side under 'Guest'

After applying the filter, click again on the icon second from the left to adjust brightness (sun icon) and contrast (half circle icon). Up both to 50% and click the check mark when finished.

Once again, click on the second icon from the left. Click on the icon on the far left to Clarify. Do not adjust anything, and click the check box.

Click on the frame icon on the far right. Click 'Original' and up the frame to 12. Click the check mark.

To save your edited photo, click 'done' in the top right corner.

Here, you will have the option of where to save your photo. I always save to my camera roll.

I know this seems like a lot of steps, but once you get into the habit of going through the motions, it will come naturally and not take any time at all.