Skip to main content

Follow these three styling tips for better still-life Instagram photos

3 Styling Tips to Make Your Instagram Photos Not Suck
If you’re sick of your Instagram photos not looking as good as the others in your feed, take a step back, breathe, and watch this short tutorial from YouTube channel Mango Street.

Throughout the two-minute tutorial, first seen on PetaPixel, Mango Street breaks down three simple styling components you can take note of and follow to improve your still life Instagram photography.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The first piece of the puzzle is perspective. According to Mango Street, there are three common perspectives from which you can choose from when composing your image: neutral (straight on), 45 degree angle, and bird’s eye (straight down). Each perspective serves its own purpose and evokes a specific response, but none is no less right than another for any given photo. Experiment with all three and find out what works best.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Next on the list is overfilling the frame. Many still life images put the subject matter in the center of the frame and snap the shot. Mango Street suggests letting some of the subject matter spill over outside the frame to effectively tease the audience and make it feel as though there’s more to see.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The final tip is to take into account what sort of organization will best work for the type of image you’re trying to capture. Mango Street notes that subject matter in a straight line tends to bring a stronger, more masculine feel to the image, while arranging the subject matter in an S-curve gives the image a softer, more feminine feel. Like the perspective, there’s no definitive right or wrong, but it’s worth trying out both organization schemes to see which one best fits the aesthetic you’re going for.

Aside from Mango Street’s suggestions, my bonus tip would be to practice these techniques at home instead of at your local coffee shop. No one wants an Instagram photographer setting up a tabletop studio while people are trying to order their peppermint lattes.

Editors' Recommendations

Gannon Burgett
Fujifilm’s successor to the wildly popular X100V has just landed
fujifilm unveils x100v successor x100vi

FUJIFILM X100VI Promotional Video/ FUJIFILM

Fujifilm has finally unveiled the successor to its super-popular X100V camera.

Read more
How to download Instagram photos for free
Instagram app running on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Instagram is amazing, and many of us use it as a record of our lives — uploading the best bits of our trips, adventures, and notable moments. But sometimes you can lose the original files of those moments, leaving the Instagram copy as the only available one . While you may be happy to leave it up there, it's a lot more convenient to have another version of it downloaded onto your phone or computer. While downloading directly from Instagram can be tricky, there are ways around it. Here are a few easy ways to download Instagram photos.

Read more
Astronaut captures stunning images of a snowy Grand Canyon
A snow-covered Grand Canyon seen from space.

In the final days of his six-month stint aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen took some time out of his science work to snap some striking photos of a snow-covered Grand Canyon.

The images were captured from the station in recent days as it orbited Earth at an altitude of around 250 miles.

Read more