Mobile Photography Basics for Instagram Success

Join celebrated Instagram photographer Tyson Wheatley (@twheat) to learn the ins and outs of smartphone photography so that you can authentically build your photos, followers, and brand on Instagram!

In this 30-minute class, Tyson explores DUMBO, Brooklyn, capturing photos of people, landscapes, and street scenes. He shares tactics for capturing unique photos, tricks for editing in essential apps, and ways to reflect your personality while establishing an Instagram aesthetic.

By the end of the class, you'll have the necessary tools and skills to create great photographs, perfect for sharing with the vast Instagram community.

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What You'll Learn

• Introduction. In learning photography on Instagram, you’ll discover what it means to be a good member of the Instagram community, the process Tyson Wheatley uses in taking his Instagram photos, and which editing apps are worth exploring.
  
• The basics of shooting with your phone. Where you go is key when shooting for Instagram, and in this course, you’ll take a look at one iconic Instagram shooting spot. You’ll learn the best times of day to take photographs, how many photos to take in a session, how to shoot in manual mode, and what sorts of basic photography rules Instagram breaks. You’ll also get a crash course in getting dramatic lighting when taking portrait photos.
  
• iPhone photography accessories. You’ll learn the limitations of shooting with an iPhone and explore some accessories that can help overcome those limitations. You’ll also learn to improvise when needed. You’ll also look at makeshift accessories Tyson uses — bet you didn’t realize a shoe could act as a tripod?
  
• Apps for capturing images. Tyson will take you through several iPhone apps he uses to capture movement and arrive at a photograph’s ideal exposure.
  
• Snapseed. You’ll learn how to use the editing app Snapseed. With this app, you’ll learn how to use the “details” tool to adjust the structure of your photograph, play with shadows and saturation, and hone in on specific parts of your image to make localized changes.
  
• VSCO Cam. The app Tyson uses most for editing Instagram photos, VSCO Cam, offers many preset filters that create film-like effects. You’ll focus on how to pick which tones and colors to highlight in your image in the app.
  
• SWRT, Photoshop Express, TouchRetouch, and Afterlight. You’ll discover what you can do in four photo editing apps, SWRT, Photoshop Express, TouchRetouch, and Afterlight. In SWRT, you’ll learn to use its detailed grids to locate and counter small imperfections in your photograph. In Photoshop Express, you’ll focus on noise reduction. Touch Retouch will let you get rid of blemishes, and Afterlight will help you crop your wider shots into square compositions for Instagram.
  
• Sharing strategy. Instagram is, above all, a social platform, and Tyson acknowledges this with a lesson on how to caption your Instagram photos. You’ll learn to approach your captions as opportunities to tell a personal story, and you’ll learn the ins and outs of hashtags and tagging people, and places.
  
• Storytelling strategy. It’s important to think about what you have to offer by telling a story on Instragram. Tyson will take you through a couple examples of Instagrammers who have exceptional jobs or live in exceptional places, which make their accounts worth following. You’ll also get to see how someone with a more ordinary, everyday life can create an exceptional Instagram presence using the resources they have at hand.
  
• Editing in Instagram. You’ll explore Instagram’s built-in filters and learn how to make adjustments to them.
  Instameets. You’ll learn tips for attending an Instagram meetup and connecting with others through the platform.