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Instagram’s a chore, but a necessary one – how else are you going to project your shiny, happy life to your friends (and enemies) online? Having a carefully curated gallery of excellent summer selfies frees you up to do other necessary and important things, like re-watching all the non-hobbit bits of ‘Lord of the Rings’ whilst eating cereal in bed. Think of an Instagram snap as a shop window: we all know the garments on display have been steam-pressed and bobby-pinned into place, but we prefer to suspend disbelief. And there’s nothing like a sunny day to get people pounding the Instagram high street, staring into shop windows. But how to maximise your ‘gram so that you’re not just posting the same sunset snap as everyone else in Peckham?
London-based urban photographer Nico Goodden says:
‘Bottom line is that a sunset is a sunset, we’re not reinventing the wheel. However, there are things you can do to stand out from the rest. I tend to look for unusual angles. Why stand and shoot straight from eye level, that’s what we all see, isn’t it? Look for diagonals, shoot with your camera angled at 45 degrees and lower yourself to ground level. Sunsets create a silhouette of anything between it and you – make use of this. Silhouettes of buildings and people all work. And for the love of God, wipe your lens to avoid that soft porn effect, unless it’s your style. I see so many photos taken with a greasy lens.’
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