How to create a photography page on instagram

How to Set Up a Photography Instagram Account — Anna McNaught

Bio: It's important to keep it clean, easy to read and professional. I recommend adding a few words about what you do, how people can get in touch with you, and some social proof, ex: as seen in Forbes (optional).

CTA: The Call to action is one of the most important sections on your bio that most people seem to miss. It's a chance for you to tell your followers why they should click your link to learn more about you or buy from you.

I am constantly updating this and changing it so keep that in mind when you make yours. It doesn't have to be perfect just yet.

URL: This is the only active link on your whole page (other than stories past 10k followers) so use it wisely! Most people put their website or freebies, advertisements, blogs, YouTube account, webinar announcements. etc. I also recommend checking out Linktr.ee. This site allows you to use multiple links. I personally just use a page on my website with buttons for each of my offerings.

Contact: I recommend writing out your email in your bio. If you have a business page, there will be a place for someone to click on your email but having it visible at all times suggest to other photographers, business owners, and brands, that you are open to collaboration. Example: Collaborate: [email protected] or Business inquiries: [email protected]

If you have a Facebook page, now is the time to enable Instagram for businesses. This will pull information from your Facebook page and create a CONTACT button that will link directly to your email for fast communication. Make sure your account is public and tags are set for automatic.

This will also allow you to use analytics, create promotions and tag brand partners, and select a category for your page.

Analytics are one of the best ways to test and track. You can see how many followers you are gaining per week, your impressions and overall engagement, and how one post performs compared to another. These are key for learning and improving on the state of your page.

SETTING THE FOUNDATION

Start with at least 9 solid photos on your Instagram account before following anyone. Don't worry about the time frame on these and just build your profiles foundation. Choose some of your best saved photos and post! Be sure to write an engaging and interesting caption to go along with each post and include 15-30 hashtags.

Don't worry if you don't have anything yet; we will get into the details of photography later on. In this case, just post one or two photos of yourself or a favorite image of yours with a caption introducing yourself to Instagram!

POSTING

Once you chose a photo, you'll see some options for filters and editing. I recommend never using Instagram filters. They usually look amateur and can easily ruin a decent photo. Instead, either make any necessary changes with the editing sliders or edit your photo outside of Instagram in Snapseed or Lightroom Mobile (or on your desktop in Lightroom or Photoshop. )

Captions can be directly related to the photo or a random thought, quote or idea. I see people using their captions like a journal to tell a story about the photo or about something that is currently going on in their lives. Captions are just as important as the photo and can add more value and interest to the image.

Longer captions tend to perform better on Instagram but this doesn’t mean that you have to go crazy writing a novel on every post. Just write something that is interesting and relevant to your audience. They’re also a great place to share tips, announcements, or daily thoughts.

Add a call to action (you can do this now, or start later on as your account grows)

Ask a question. It can be as simple as "how was everyone's day today?" Or say for example you post a beach photo, you might ask your audience, "Where are your favorite places to travel to?" Questions will encourage your audience to respond which in turn brings more engagement and boosts your posts in the Instagram algorithm.
Direct viewers to a link in your bio
Ask for viewers to do something specific such as participate in a contest or follow a page that you admire. Just don't be spammy and ask them to follow you - that makes things awkward.

Next, add your hashtags. I recommend using 15-30 on every post and mix them up. Click below to read more about hashtags.

Click here to read more about hashtags and download a FREE hashtag list

Now that you have a basic foundation set up on your Instagram account, it's time to start following a few people. Start with people you know. Click on your profile and click on the upper right corner to connect with people from Facebook and your contact list. Past clients may already be on Instagram ready for you to follow.

Start following and liking people's posts. In most cases, they will start following you back.

Click on the little heart Icon at the bottom of the phone screen to see who has "followed you," "liked" and "commented" on your photos.

Spend a bit of time familiarizing yourself with the platform.

Ready to learn even more and grow and make money from your Instagram? Check out our full Instagram Course!

Congrats on your new Instagram account! Grab the free checklist below so that you never miss a step!

Related: Establishing Your Insta-brand

12 Steps to Successfully Promote Your Photography on Instagram

Instagram is an excellent way to attract attention, gain followers, engage with likeminded folks, and even improve your photography, but it’s all easier said than done, right? Plenty of photographers post on Instagram and get nothing out of it – no followers, likes, or even views.

So how do you use Instagram the right way? How can you promote your photography on instagram and come away with likes, followers, and comments galore, not to mention a great community?

In this article, I’m going to share my personal secrets for Instagram success. Specifically, I’ll offer techniques to get better exposure for your photography, build a community, and grow as a photographer through Instagram. I assure you, I know what I’m talking about; my personal Instagram account has 15,000 followers (and counting). So you know this advice works.

Let’s get started.

1. Only show your best work

What’s the difference between a good artist and a great artist?

Great artists only show their best work. While nobody is expecting you to rival National Geographic photographers right away, you should pay close attention to what you’re sharing. It only takes one bad photo for people to lose interest in your photography.

In short, if a photo doesn’t make you say “Oh, yeah!” when you see it, don’t post it.

Also, don’t post too often. Unless you have a really good reason for spamming your follower’s feeds, don’t do it. I recommend sharing one or two images a week – it’ll keep people interested without getting annoying. So post the great stuff, and leave out the bad, the mediocre, and even the good.

2. Find your niche

This is key to defining your brand and to your growth as a photographer. It’s about determining what makes you different from everyone else and about using that difference to create something unique and interesting.

The amazing thing about Instagram is that it’s composed of people across the world, each of whom have a different interest. I’ve seen fantastic accounts focused on street food in Vietnam, rock climbing in Utah, and architecture in Turkey.

But despite these differences, the best accounts all have one thing in common: a focus around a central theme. And it’s this theme that captures their audience’s attention (and keeps it).

Exploring the ancient #forests of Vancouver island, @kaitross and I found that even these giants succumb to time and the winds.

Don’t forget: the only person who should define your niche is you. Do you love paper maché and dinosaurs? Then become the best photographer making seaside portraits of paper maché Velociraptors.

I love to travel and explore nature, so my account reflects that and only that. You won’t find photos of my food or my family. If you want to share snapshots from your daily life, get a private account for your friends and your family to follow, because they’re the only ones who (might) want to see that stuff.

3. Use a dedicated camera, not just your smartphone

Your shiny new smartphone may take gorgeous snapshots, but constantly relying on a smartphone is like trying to perform a piano recital on a kid’s electronic keyboard.

Yes, smartphone cameras have come a long way in recent years, and yes, there are plenty of outstanding smartphone photographers out there. But unless you’re an experienced photographer with a lot of compositional and lighting knowledge, I highly recommend getting a “real” camera, such as a DSLR or mirrorless model.

Why? For one, it’ll force you to learn key photographic skills, such as exposure, depth of field manipulation, and proper handholding technique. Plus, it’ll give you additional focal lengths to play with, so you can shoot birds in the distance, sweeping landscapes, stunning close-up shots, and more.

4. Take the editing process seriously

Instagram may lend itself to a snap-and-post style of photography, but producing excellent photographs doesn’t work that way. Great photographs aren’t taken – they’re created.

This means shooting in RAW, then working in your favorite image editing program (I recommend Adobe Lightroom). Learn how to manipulate light, shadow, and clarity until your final product is something you can be proud of. The Instagram app just isn’t built for this level of sophistication, so ditch all those cheesy filters and effects and do your work on the computer.

5. Share a story with your photo

Great photography leaves an impression. So do well-written stories. But when you combine strong images with powerful words, you’ll evoke an emotional response in your viewer and help them connect with your work.

It wasn’t until I realized this and started sharing the story behind my photos that my account started getting real interaction – people writing about how the image or words affected them and their own experiences.

Nobody expects the next Hemingway to come out of Instagram, but some carefully chosen words in a thought-provoking caption will do wonders for connecting you to your fans.

After the frenzied atmosphere of Shanghai’s urban jungle, the fresh air of Huangshan’s Yellow Mountains was exhilarating. Still in the low season, March snow clung to the boughs of trees while distant clouds made it feel like the horizon could go forever. One of China’s better-developed tourist attractions, Huangshan has a long history: first recognized in 747 AD, it was said to be the place from which the Yellow Emperor ascended to heaven. This year, over 1.5 million visitors (mostly Chinese) will wander its paths. I caught it on a quiet day, and these peaceful memories linger with me still.

6. Ask questions in your captions

What’s the difference between a story and a question?

A story builds an emotional connection between the viewer and the image; a question builds a personal connection between your viewer and you.

So tell stories, but ask questions, too. Your questions should be open ended and create a space for your fans to contribute some of their own stories to the community. Remember that many Instagram users are new to digital photography and are looking for people to connect with. By asking questions, you can encourage them to engage with the community (you might even make friends along the way!).

7. Use hashtags effectively

I never understood the value of effective hashtagging until I started weaving them into my posts. You should be hashtagging important nouns and verbs – stuff people will be searching for.

And get specific, too. The difference between #fishing and #instagood is huge for obvious reasons: people who might be interested in your photo are much more likely to be searching for their favorite hobby than some meaningless, catch-all term. So don’t add a bunch of generic hashtags that say nothing about your work. Instead, use descriptive hashtags that target certain users.

Speaking of hashtagging, do a bit of digging to find effective hashtags you might be missing. It wasn’t until I came across the hashtag #explorebc that I began connecting with a ton of great local photographers who eventually featured my work on their account (resulting in a huge boost of exposure for my photos!).

8. Post in the morning

The morning is when most Instagram users check their feed, so keep this in mind and set your posting schedule accordingly. I live on the West Coast of North America, so if I post at 8 AM, I’m already late for my East Coast followers. Aim to get your posts out early in the day for the time zone you’re targeting (of course, if your followers are worldwide, this is less useful).

Is there a best day of the week to post? Studies show that Sundays have the greatest number of interactions, which makes sense given that many users spend Sunday relaxing at home. Otherwise, stick to weekday mornings.

Build a community by actively finding photographers you respect and developing relationships with them. I won’t lie – this is a long process, but it’s necessary and worthwhile.

It’s also pretty simple: Just find a hashtag that speaks to you and your work, then check it whenever you can to see who’s posting. When you find photography you like, leave a thoughtful compliment and follow the user. Chances are, if they like what you’re posting, they’ll check out your account and reciprocate.

Whatever you do, when commenting, don’t ask people to check out your account or follow you back. It’s tacky and makes you look desperate. Instead, be thoughtful, complimentary, and ask for nothing in return.

10. Cultivate champions

A champion is someone who genuinely engages with your work. They comment frequently, and their comments are thoughtful – not just “Nice” or “Love it,” but lengthier, meaningful content explaining what they like about the posted image.

Champions are great for both your community and your popularity, but how do you get them? What makes champions comment on your photos?

Here’s the best way to draw in champions:

Foster relationships with other users.

Of course, this is easier said than done. But if users are leaving you thoughtful comments, return the favor and respond with something more meaningful than “Thanks!” If someone cares enough about your work to awkwardly type out praise on their smartphone, they’re worth their weight in followers. These are the people who are going to follow along through your adventures and refer their friends and followers. Do enough relationship building, and these delightful unicorns will be out there promoting your work for you.

11. Bring others into the conversation

Bring others into the conversation by photographing with them or referencing them in your posts. Two amazing women from Vancouver kicked off @localwanderer several years ago, in which they document their travels around North America and feature the hidden gems in communities.

Where the @localwanderer creators really excel (in addition to their photography and writing) is in their ability to constantly bring local shops, restaurants, and people into the discussion. By doing this, @localwanderer introduces its community to someone new, who in turn will introduce their community to @localwanderer.

So think about who or what you can reference on your account. If you’re a nature photographer, you might try tagging local parks; if you’re an architectural photographer, you might try tagging the owners of local buildings/businesses. The specifics will depend on the photography you do, but as long as you’re creative and you persevere, you’re bound to make some valuable connections.

I’d rather have 100 fans who interact with my work than 1,000 followers who never like and comment. Your goal shouldn’t be about quantity of followers – instead, it should be about the quality of your community.

Speaking of numbers, don’t be afraid to clean up (and block) followers, especially those who are clearly inactive or fake. The last thing you need is a bunch of zombie accounts clogging up your Instagram. Also, one danger of having many inactive followers is that your account is less likely to be recommended to other users of Instagram.

There you have it: 12 tips for success on Instagram. As long as you follow these tips, your account will grow and your engagement will skyrocket.

Now over to you:

What are your tips for promoting photography on Instagram? Do you have any success (or failure) stories you’d like to share? Let’s hear them in the comments section below!

How to make a website out of Instagram posts (before it's too late)

Columns March 16, 2022

Speakers March 16, 2022

Damir Feizullov

Director of Digital & Social media, PR Partner communication agency nine0005

Svetlana Zykova

After the news about the blocking of Instagram in Russia, businesses and ordinary users have a question about saving their content from the social network. RB.ru has already told you how to download data from Instagram. The application from VKontakte allows you to upload photos from Instagram to the social network.

But there is another way - to create a site from the Instagram feed through Yandex.Business. Damir Feyzullov, Director of Digital & Social media at PR Partner communication agency, spoke about how to do this. nine0005

Svetlana Zykova

Material content:

What is Yandex.Business
How to transfer data from Instagram to Yandex.Business
Functionality of the Yandex.Business personal account
Material Transfer Parts

How to transfer data from Instagram to Yandex.Business

First you need to go to your Yandex.Business account using your Yandex login and password. When you first enter the account, the “Connect Instagram” button will immediately appear on the main page. Here you will need to confirm access to the contents of the account. There are two options:

confirmation of access to basic account information only,
confirmation of access to basic information and materials (media files, posts, etc.). nine0028

To transfer all materials, click both checkboxes. Next, you need to enter the name and select the type of activity of the company. Start typing the word in the line "type of activity", and the system will prompt you with options from the list that opens.

Next, enter a contact phone number for communication and create a page.

A questionnaire form will open where you need to specify the site name and company description (up to 150 characters), as well as upload a logo in the size of 150x150. The logo will be displayed on the main page of the site and in your personal account. nine0005

Almost done! Now we select a key phrase that will transfer the client to the messenger. "Yandex.Business" provides various theses for communication, for example, "Select an apartment" or "How to find us?". The phrase depends on the type of product/service. We save data. New page is ready!

The system will automatically create a site based on content from your account. The site looks good on both mobile devices and computers.

Yandex.Business personal account functionality

There are additional site settings in the Yandex.Business account. You can add the organization's working hours, links to social networks and current mail. It is worth taking care of the company name in English.

There are six main sections on the main page in the office: "About the organization", "Advertising", "Statistics", "Application form", "Website" and "Instagram accounts".

In the "About the organization" section, you can add photos and publications to the site. Pay attention to "Promo materials" - a layout for creating business cards, pyramids and QR codes. nine0005

You can run ads on the new site from your personal Yandex account. After re-logging in, the main tab "Advertising" will display three options for an advertising campaign:

organization with an address;
your website or social network;
site on Yandex.Business.

To import Instagram, select the "website on Yandex.Business" option. Next, you need to select "advertise a site or social network." In the line "website address for advertising" enter a link to your Instagram account. Next, select the region for display and advertising and open Yandex.Business access to your posts. It usually takes several hours to confirm that a site has been created. nine0005

It's easy to track traffic in your account. Inside the “Statistics” tab there is up-to-date information about page transitions: where a certain percentage of visitors came from for a specified period of time.

"Application form" - these are messages sent to you by users through the questionnaire on the site. We recommend turning on notifications to respond to requests faster and not miss important messages.

In the "Instagram accounts" section, you can add multiple accounts and customize pages on Yandex.Business. You can hide your page and re-edit the site. nine0005

Content transfer details

When transferring content from Instagram, there are some details to consider:

The system transfers only the cover of the post. If you have a series of pictures, only the first one will be displayed.
Video transfer is not provided (such a post will be transferred as a static picture).
Reels also cannot be transferred.
The system will add up to 100 posts to your new site.
At the moment, it is not clear if the followers and likes metrics are carried over, or if comments are saved. nine0028

Cover photo: Unsplash.

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How to create a mosaic on Instagram*

October 27, 2017 Web services

Turning your Instagram* into a work of art is easy. It is enough to evenly cut the photo you have taken. nine0005

What kind of mosaic?

Just look at what @micahnotfound or @c.syresmith are doing with their accounts. You can do the same.

How to do?

Desktop editors

You can cut a photo into equal parts in any graphics editor such as Photoshop or GIMP. Just open the photo in the editor, divide it into equal square parts and save each part as a separate file.

Photoshop

From the View menu, choose Show → Grid. Go to the Edit menu and open Preferences → Guides, Grid and Slices.

You can divide the image into parts depending on the panorama you want to create. Just enter the desired value in the "Internal division by" field.

Now that your image is divided into parts, select and copy the desired fragments into separate files.

GIMP

Go to the View menu and enable the Show Grid and Snap to Grid options. Then click on "Image", select "Adjust Grid" and split the image into parts. nine0005

Select parts of the image one by one, copy and save to separate files using "File" → "Create" → "From Clipboard". Use the hotkeys Ctrl + C and Shift + Ctrl + V to speed up the process.

Web services

Divide a photo into equal parts using web services such as Griddrawingtool.com and Imgonline.com. It's faster and easier.

When the image is cut, you can start downloading. Just remember to upload the bottom right piece of the photo first and the top left piece last. nine0005

Mobile Apps

There are many mobile apps that create and upload mosaics to Instagram*.